I learned this tip from a Cup of Jo post about "not taking the bait." She specifically mentions getting yelled at by a driver while biking. All of my most rage-filled moments have involved cars, and people often recommend all these mental tricks of rejecting the negative energy, not taking the bait, dropping the rope in tug-of-war, etc. This doesn't work for me, at all. But a commenter on the post changed my life: "And if you’ve managed to avoid biting the hook, yet you’re still carrying a bit of tension from being baited, try this: focus on a time when an interaction caused you to feel the opposite – appreciated, valued, honored, seen. Let your mind rest there." So now when a car almost kills me for simply trying to get home on my bike, I think of, for example, the time a woman in her car patiently waited at the top of a one-lane road while I huffed and puffed with my kid on a (non-electric) cargo bike and she lowered her window to cheer, "You're a champion!"
7 days ago
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