In downtown Fort Collins the other day, I saw a driving school car with a sign that said, “Patient Driver Please Be Student.” I laughed out loud. Obviously, you normally would see a sign on a driving school car say something like “Student Driver: Please Be Patient.” I don’t think the author of the sign put the words in the wrong order by accident. I think the author of the sign was being funny, saying something different to catch our attention or deliberately asking us to be thoughtful.
I like any of these options. The world needs more laughter, so if the goal was just to be funny, I am happy for the chuckle it gave me.
If it was to catch our attention to be more mindful with a student driver, then mission accomplished.
If, however, the author was hoping that we would dig into our own psyche to figure out what “Patient Driver Please Be Student” meant to us, well I like that too. For me, the saying reminded me that, in life, I am a student, regardless of my age, degrees or careers. There may be some things that I am an expert in but there are plenty of situations where I will learn best by allowing myself to be in student mode. I will learn more by not judging myself when it takes me a few tries or even when I fail at first to accomplish the desired outcome.
Recently, Ginger Withee lead a healing circle for embracing our inner child of the God/Goddess. The energy we focused on was the trust, surrender and innocence of being a child of the God/Goddess. Whether the author of the sign was asking us to embrace the trust, surrender and innocence, I don’t know. But, it feels like this is a message for me to ponder. I need to embrace this innocence, this child energy, this student energy. It will help me heal cynicism and other energies that we take on in our “adult” roles.
Finally, the sign also reminded me that being patient as a driver and as a human, with others and myself, is in the highest good of all. By holding divine patience, I will serve mother earth and humanity positively and more consciously. As suggested by Gandhi, if I hold divine patience, I will be the change that I want to see in the world.
Gratitude to Pixabay.com for the image above.