Mindful Driving

Mindful driving as I see it involves driving in a calm, relaxed way focusing on your driving.

Why is this helpful? Well, firstly it may help you to drive more safely and avoid accidents. Secondly, and this is what I want to focus on in this blog post, it can help you to be less stressed, more balanced and more productive in your life in general. Mindfulness (which you can read more about at Introduction to Mindfulness) has two aspects: one is formal meditation practice, the other involves adopting a mindful approach to daily activities. Driving is an example of a daily activity for many of us which we carry out almost on autopilot, worrying about other issues in our life as we drive or raging at other drivers or gritting our teeth in intense effort to get to our destination on time. If instead you decide while driving to focus in a calm way on just that - your driving - and not get caught up in anxious or angry thoughts, you may well find it's a far less stressful and more productive way of going about things and an approach which you can also try in other activities.

So the next time you get in your car, remember your aim is to drive in a calm, relaxed way focusing on your driving. If your attention or emotions wander then draw yourself back to the mindful approach. Notice the difference!

If you don't drive, then you can still try the mindful approach to cycling or walking or other daily activities. The same benefits are possible there from a mindful approach!

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