It seems to me that some of the simple things in life, like a red street light, present an interesting opportunity. Opportunity?….. I am sure you are thinking, no way, no how. Red lights by design seem to be made to frustrate, take time out of my day, to delay me, and to take control away from me. And you can rightly come to this conclusion. I have found myself many a time wondering aloud what the city planners where thinking. Is there a plot against me? Why is it so hard to get this process to work better? Well, I know one thing, the more I try to solve it (in the car) the less effective I become. I truly have no influence over the way the street lights work and so why use up any energy thinking about why I do not like it. And then it dawned on me, there is an opportunity and a challenge here.

THPL, as we have been exploring, asks of us to think differently, to maximize our potential and to seize opportunity in Life, Learning and Fitness. And if we are true to this mission then we need to turn this red light “problem” into an opportunity. Here’s how…..Ask yourself these questions and see what you can do to create your own Red Light Opportunity.

What can you do at a red light that would make it a productive time? Can you control your emotions enough such that you do not get frustrated by the waiting? Is there some new habit that you can develop and practice at each red light that will be transferable to other parts of your life?

Bottom line is that you / we need to take control. We cannot let others set our mindset (certainly not the red light programming guy), we will be better for it when we do not let this happen……

Now if we could just get drivers to slow down at a yellow light instead of speeding up – that would be remarkable.

Loving life, sitting at a red light, yup

Ciao

joe