Stuck in Traffic with Josh Reeves

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the Mile Hi Church Podcast. We're so glad you're here. I'll bet you're

[00:00:05] [SPEAKER_00]: here because you are a spiritual seeker and we just happen to have all sorts of

[00:00:10] [SPEAKER_00]: classes at Mile Hi Church online and in person. Come and learn more about the

[00:00:16] [SPEAKER_00]: depths of your spiritual nature. Come and learn about how to expand and create

[00:00:22] [SPEAKER_00]: the life you want. Our classes start the week of September 9th. Go to

[00:00:27] [SPEAKER_00]: MileHiChurch.org and click on classes to learn more. It's Labor Day weekend and

[00:00:33] [SPEAKER_02]: when I get to give a sermon on Labor Day, I mean it for everybody but I

[00:00:37] [SPEAKER_02]: especially mean it for the hard-working busy people. Where are you hard-working

[00:00:43] [SPEAKER_02]: busy people? People that might even be in church today because you're working

[00:00:47] [SPEAKER_02]: this weekend. How many of you are or are close to the top of the list of the

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_02]: busiest people you know? We're here. Okay. Hence our message today is for you but it's

[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_02]: for all of us. I hope we all get something out of it. Stuck in traffic.

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_02]: And I'd like to begin by talking about the experience you may have especially

[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_02]: if you live around the Lakewood, Colorado area of these two-legged little stop

[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_02]: signs. Have you seen these guys around? Yes. How many of us maybe even

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_02]: recently have gotten the opportunity to stop and pause at the entrance of these

[00:01:28] [SPEAKER_02]: little critters? And if you're like me, your first reaction is oh no. Don't you

[00:01:37] [SPEAKER_01]: guys know I have somewhere to go? Don't you know I have plans? You got to go

[00:01:45] [SPEAKER_02]: back to your area. This is my road. And yet with a little bit of reflection, we

[00:01:52] [SPEAKER_02]: stop and realize that perhaps these little creatures aren't impeding on us

[00:01:58] [SPEAKER_02]: but that their presence points out that we are impeding upon them. That with all

[00:02:05] [SPEAKER_02]: of our roads and highways and optometrist offices that are 50 miles away

[00:02:10] [SPEAKER_02]: and are busy lives, these creatures remind us that sometimes nature knows

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_02]: a little better than we do. And that for all of our plans and desire to achieve

[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_02]: out there, there's sometimes greater wisdom in not having any at all and taking

[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_02]: a nice pause. I was at Jamba Juice with my daughter a few weeks ago. She's five

[00:02:40] [SPEAKER_02]: years old and I said, Nancy, do you have any plans for today? She rolled her

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_02]: eyes at me and said, Daddy, only grown-ups have plans. Clearly she had been

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER_02]: studying the ancient Chinese philosopher Lausa in the Tao De Ching who tells us

[00:03:00] [SPEAKER_02]: a good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving. A good

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_02]: traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving. My talk today is about

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_02]: traffic, but it's really about living in the present moment. Something in this

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_02]: day and this era and this social media smartphone in your pocket, busy, busy

[00:03:34] [SPEAKER_02]: life is harder and harder for people to do because most of us live the majority of

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_02]: our lives in traffic. Not just traffic of the road, but traffic of the mind,

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_02]: traffic of the heart, traffic of the conflicts in our relationship, traffic

[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_02]: of the stresses that come with completing a to-do list before it totally ends

[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_02]: and completes us. Traffic and the number one thing that traffic as a consciousness

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_02]: does is it keeps us from the present moment. We wind up living in the manufactured time

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_02]: almost like a survivor or a soldier would in the military. We live in this survival mode

[00:04:28] [SPEAKER_02]: telling ourselves the present moment isn't good enough because it's so important to get where we need

[00:04:34] [SPEAKER_02]: to go. Forgetting that the present moment has so many gifts for us, so many gifts

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_02]: that in this present moment there is rest. In this present moment there is rejuvenation.

[00:04:53] [SPEAKER_02]: In this present moment, isn't life as I think it is, it's life as it is and guess what? It's always

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_02]: going to be greater than I think it is. There is so much to connect to in the present moment

[00:05:05] [SPEAKER_02]: that we need for living balanced fulfilling lives and the consciousness of traffic

[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_02]: takes us out of it and it all starts with these plans.

[00:05:19] [SPEAKER_02]: Look at me, I have plans. I'm a very important person. I'm going somewhere

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_02]: and I am an important person. I do have lots of plans. It does make me special

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_02]: but when you get out on the 405 freeway in Los Angeles heading to the airport,

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_02]: guess what? I'm not the only one with plans. That's the first sign of traffic consciousness.

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_02]: If we could leave the slide up please is we fall under the illusion that we're the only ones

[00:06:06] [SPEAKER_02]: with plans, that it's all about where we're going. We've got to remember those wise words

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_02]: from the great John Wooden who said, talent is God given, be humble. Fame is man given,

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_02]: be grateful. Conceit is self-given, be careful. When we head out into the world what we discover

[00:06:29] [SPEAKER_02]: is that there's all sorts of people who are the lead in their own stories trying to get where they

[00:06:39] [SPEAKER_02]: need to go. Traffic begins when we think getting where we want to go is the most important thing.

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_02]: Then people and their vehicles become not supporters but obstacles in our way to getting

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_02]: where we want to go. Is traffic really the result of congestion or is it competition?

[00:07:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Is it losing our composure and not caring about someone's path or way?

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_02]: That's where this traffic consciousness begins to cultivate itself and we start to get lost.

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_02]: We lose ourselves in traffic. I have to admit I've been getting grumpier on the roads lately.

[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_02]: Anybody here? You know, so you're a little bit more honoree than maybe you were 10 years ago?

[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_02]: It's these darn phones. Get off your phone! You're driving, right? It goes on and on

[00:07:44] [SPEAKER_02]: and I used to never honk and now I recognize myself that I've honked after I've done it

[00:07:52] [SPEAKER_02]: and it's all good and well until you pull up next to Darling Mary Kay from church.

[00:07:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Hi Reverend Josh! Thank you for honking at me. Last year it's Tuesday morning and I'm driving my

[00:08:05] [SPEAKER_02]: daughter Nancy to preschool right here at Mile High Church, our Children's Enrichment Center.

[00:08:11] [SPEAKER_02]: And there's some traffic and I'm waiting to make a right turn. There's a lot of cars in

[00:08:15] [SPEAKER_02]: front of me and there's a man in a minivan behind me and he must think that I have room to move

[00:08:23] [SPEAKER_02]: because he's going like this. And I know it's true of all of us but in particular ladies,

[00:08:28] [SPEAKER_02]: us men we prefer to communicate like this. So he's going like this and I kind of go

[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_02]: and look back and go, hmm? Hmm? I won't translate what hmm means but you can imagine what I want him to know.

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_02]: Traffic finally opens up and I pull into the parking lot to drop Nancy off at church

[00:08:54] [SPEAKER_02]: and guess who pulls in? It's the driver. He's got kids that go to the preschool too

[00:09:05] [SPEAKER_02]: and I'm embarrassed. I'm a little ashamed because I've lost myself once again in traffic. There's

[00:09:16] [SPEAKER_02]: something about the anonymity that comes and being in a machine that allows me to sacrifice my

[00:09:24] [SPEAKER_02]: humanity. There's something about being someone with plans who has to get somewhere on a dead set

[00:09:32] [SPEAKER_02]: time that can cause me to give up my virtues. There was no conflict. I'm sure this person was

[00:09:39] [SPEAKER_02]: totally understanding but my goal as a minister at Mile High Church is to be an uplifting

[00:09:47] [SPEAKER_02]: presence to people and even though I didn't know he was a congregate at Mile High Church,

[00:09:53] [SPEAKER_02]: shouldn't my composure to be an uplifting presence for everyone? So I lost it.

[00:10:01] [SPEAKER_02]: It's okay to lose yourself in traffic but if traffic is the only kind of consciousness that you live in,

[00:10:08] [SPEAKER_02]: you'll lose yourself again and again. There are several spiritual laws that we might say

[00:10:15] [SPEAKER_02]: apply to traffic. If on your morning commute between your house and the highway,

[00:10:23] [SPEAKER_02]: you run into three jerks, you're the jerk. Good law. The more you complain, the longer it's going

[00:10:34] [SPEAKER_02]: to take. That's the old school water fountain rule, remember? I love and I want to focus a little bit

[00:10:41] [SPEAKER_02]: on the great spiritual law that was articulated by that incredible sage George Carlin who asked

[00:10:48] [SPEAKER_02]: the question, why is it that everyone driving slower than you is an idiot and everyone driving

[00:10:56] [SPEAKER_02]: faster than you a maniac? Do you resonate with that when you're in traffic and on the road?

[00:11:05] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm on a two lane highway. My spouse is sitting next to me and we're behind someone.

[00:11:10] [SPEAKER_02]: Sweetheart, what's the speed limit? Does this person have nowhere to go? What an idiot?

[00:11:18] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, so we pass them up and keep driving and five minutes later there's a car behind us

[00:11:25] [SPEAKER_02]: and it passes us up and moves in front. Did you see that maniac? Should we capture the license plate?

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_02]: Maybe we should call the police department. This person seems like they might be dangerous

[00:11:40] [SPEAKER_02]: all within that inner knowing within myself that I was their idiot. Right. Now it's funny

[00:11:48] [SPEAKER_02]: even when we apply it to the traffic of the roads, but in the traffic of our lives,

[00:11:56] [SPEAKER_02]: how often do we allow plans to take priority over people? If you're only in this destination

[00:12:06] [SPEAKER_02]: consciousness, never willing to enjoy the destination that is here and now before you know it,

[00:12:13] [SPEAKER_02]: everyone in your life becomes either an idiot or a maniac. Everyone becomes an obstacle as opposed

[00:12:24] [SPEAKER_02]: to a destination. It's a struggle at work when we do that and don't see people. It's a tragedy at home

[00:12:33] [SPEAKER_02]: when your spouse is an obstacle and when your kid is an obstacle and trust me they know it.

[00:12:40] [SPEAKER_02]: They know it when you don't see them as a destination, but as something in your way.

[00:12:45] [SPEAKER_02]: We all can do it. We can all slip into it, but let's remember that there is a reason that Carlin

[00:12:55] [SPEAKER_02]: asked this question. There is an answer to why when we're in traffic everyone seems either like

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_02]: an idiot or a maniac. Before I share that I want to share some more wisdom from the Dow.

[00:13:08] [SPEAKER_02]: He who stands on tiptoe doesn't stand firm. He who rushes ahead doesn't go far. He who tries to shine

[00:13:18] [SPEAKER_02]: dims his own light. He who defines himself can't know who he really is. He who has power over

[00:13:25] [SPEAKER_02]: others can't empower himself. He who clings to his work will create nothing that endures.

[00:13:31] [SPEAKER_02]: If you want to accord with the Dow, just do your job then let go. The great thing about comedy

[00:13:42] [SPEAKER_02]: is when it's true, right? That what can make it so funny is that a comedian is able to articulate

[00:13:50] [SPEAKER_02]: a truth that we either haven't thought about or are too afraid to say out loud and it makes us

[00:13:56] [SPEAKER_02]: laugh. George Carlin, who is a very spiritually hip cat, also saw the dark side of humanity

[00:14:06] [SPEAKER_02]: and so when he asked this question why is it that everyone driving slower than you

[00:14:11] [SPEAKER_02]: is an idiot and everyone driving faster as a maniac? I think he has an answer and I'm going to put

[00:14:18] [SPEAKER_02]: it in terms of the question I'm going to ask you right now which is how comfortable are you

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_02]: being right where you are? How comfortable are you being right where you are in the skin,

[00:14:35] [SPEAKER_02]: in this moment, in your circumstances, in your challenges? Because as much as we say we despise

[00:14:45] [SPEAKER_02]: traffic perhaps all it really is is a defense mechanism against being right here and right now

[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_02]: because if we were to have to be right here and right now we might have to listen to all the

[00:15:00] [SPEAKER_02]: feelings that have been welling up within us. We might have to listen to what the many large

[00:15:07] [SPEAKER_02]: committee of voices is trying to tell us in our lives. We may have to surrender what we think

[00:15:13] [SPEAKER_02]: ought to be to accept what is and we may have to accept who we are in this moment

[00:15:21] [SPEAKER_02]: and sometimes for some of us that's uncomfortable. That can be a painful process to be in this here

[00:15:29] [SPEAKER_02]: and now. I've learned that if I want to get out of traffic I have to get back to my own pace.

[00:15:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Traffic is always a sign when it's in consciousness that we're sacrificing our own pace for somebody

[00:15:49] [SPEAKER_02]: or something else's and what I want to point out today is even when the roads are fully congested

[00:15:56] [SPEAKER_02]: you can still get back to your pace. Do you know what your pace is? For some of us it's slower

[00:16:05] [SPEAKER_02]: for some people like me it's pretty fast. Your pace is your pace. There's nothing wrong with

[00:16:11] [SPEAKER_02]: it there's nothing particularly right about it. It's how you flow, it's how you get into

[00:16:16] [SPEAKER_02]: your groove. It's how you relate with the present moment. Some of us get there by meditating,

[00:16:27] [SPEAKER_02]: some of us get there by taking a walk around a lake, some of us by talking with a good friend,

[00:16:34] [SPEAKER_02]: some of us by putting some good tunes on in the car. We all have these things that help us get

[00:16:39] [SPEAKER_02]: in our pace and the goal when you're living a busy life is to make sure these pace-cessors

[00:16:46] [SPEAKER_02]: are all around you that you're filling your life with them.

[00:16:53] [SPEAKER_02]: Traffic doesn't just come from cars it's happening all around us. I remember having an experience

[00:16:59] [SPEAKER_02]: when my daughter was two years old we're out in the backyard and fall had just happened and here's

[00:17:05] [SPEAKER_02]: this two-year-old discovering fall, a brown leaf smelling the crisp air looking at the blue sky

[00:17:14] [SPEAKER_02]: rolling around and feeling the grass. And I know, I know there's some part of me that knows,

[00:17:21] [SPEAKER_02]: gosh Josh in 10 years you give your left arm just to be right here for 10 minutes

[00:17:26] [SPEAKER_02]: having this beautiful experience but what was I doing? I was on my phone.

[00:17:31] [SPEAKER_02]: I was on my phone because I was in that traffic consciousness. There's something that

[00:17:37] [SPEAKER_02]: must be fixed. There's something that needs my attention. I have plans. There's something

[00:17:43] [SPEAKER_02]: going on this weekend that I need to be planning for. See there's so much from our smartphone to our

[00:17:49] [SPEAKER_02]: car to the never-ending 24 hours news cycle that's calling us into traffic and it's up to us to

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER_02]: remember those things that help us set our pace. Like I said my pace is pretty fast.

[00:18:05] [SPEAKER_02]: I like to think fast, talk fast, write fast. I do a lot of things fast and so the thing that causes

[00:18:14] [SPEAKER_02]: traffic for me is whenever I'm asked to wait even a minute for anything it starts to drive me crazy.

[00:18:22] [SPEAKER_02]: There was an exchange between two of my favorite philosophers the great Alan Watts,

[00:18:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Nick, counterculture philosopher lived on a houseboat in San Francisco

[00:18:33] [SPEAKER_02]: and the great Joseph Campbell straight laced proper gentleman. So I never knew that they were friends but

[00:18:40] [SPEAKER_02]: they were and Campbell was sharing with Watts one day that he had just been married and he's worried

[00:18:45] [SPEAKER_02]: that things aren't going to work out because his spouse is always late. Campbell at least 15

[00:18:51] [SPEAKER_02]: minutes early to everything. He shared with Watts that you know if we agree to meet at a cafe

[00:18:57] [SPEAKER_02]: at 11 gene takes that as the signal to start getting ready and she shows up 45 minutes later

[00:19:03] [SPEAKER_02]: and I'm just furious. Watts gives Campbell the simplest advice you have to learn to appreciate

[00:19:09] [SPEAKER_02]: the moment. Enjoy your coffee, look at the Canadian geese walking by bring something to read or

[00:19:18] [SPEAKER_02]: bring out a pad of paper and start writing a poem. It's simple but profound and meaningful

[00:19:24] [SPEAKER_02]: advice. I like to put it this way don't wait meditate don't wait appreciate don't wait accentuate

[00:19:37] [SPEAKER_02]: whenever something or someone or a circumstance is taking you off your pace move back into your own

[00:19:45] [SPEAKER_02]: groove into your own flow and you may just notice that the highway clears that things start to open

[00:19:54] [SPEAKER_02]: up as we close today a few rules for facing the facts but through transforming ourselves when

[00:20:05] [SPEAKER_02]: we're confronted with traffic. Number one I may be not in control but I am always a choice.

[00:20:16] [SPEAKER_02]: I am not always in control but I am always at choice. I love what Khalil Gibran once said he said

[00:20:24] [SPEAKER_02]: our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future but from wanting to control it.

[00:20:31] [SPEAKER_02]: Traffic of the roads and traffic of the mind and heart always to me is a reflection of

[00:20:39] [SPEAKER_02]: my illusion of control and it's not until I'm willing to let go of control and move back into a

[00:20:48] [SPEAKER_02]: place of choice that I can choose trust again that I'll get there when I'll get there but I'm not

[00:20:54] [SPEAKER_02]: going to lose my composure. I get to teach a workshop today in the vote after service 1130

[00:21:00] [SPEAKER_02]: 35 ish that's about virtues and for me I can always choose my virtues and in the workshop you choose

[00:21:10] [SPEAKER_02]: for that you get to use and apply to your days months and year but for me when I can get back

[00:21:16] [SPEAKER_02]: to my virtue I can get back to my pace I can get back into my flow. I don't lose my composure

[00:21:24] [SPEAKER_02]: and I admire I embody the kindness or the creativity or the listening that I am traffic gone. Next I may

[00:21:35] [SPEAKER_02]: not be able to speed up but I can always slow down I may not be able to speed up but I can always

[00:21:45] [SPEAKER_02]: slow down. Traffic is a great visual for reflecting back to yourself the state of your own

[00:21:56] [SPEAKER_02]: consciousness. If you close your eyes right now and imagine that you're on that 405 freeway

[00:22:01] [SPEAKER_02]: what does the traffic of your mind look like? Is it pretty clear or is it bumper to bumper

[00:22:12] [SPEAKER_02]: and you're running out of gas and your thermostats on h and you could break down at any minute?

[00:22:21] [SPEAKER_02]: How would a freeway reflect your consciousness? Now how would it best reflect your pace? Maybe for all

[00:22:30] [SPEAKER_02]: of us it doesn't look like being on a motorcycle in a wide open road maybe it looks like some

[00:22:35] [SPEAKER_02]: congestion but people are getting along and they're letting people over and you honk your

[00:22:41] [SPEAKER_02]: horn to say hello not you know what it's good sometimes to go to these visuals to reflect

[00:22:49] [SPEAKER_02]: back to ourselves to remind us that I may not be able to speed up past this condition

[00:22:54] [SPEAKER_02]: but I can slow down and reclaim myself and not surrender my well-being over to it. Lastly I

[00:23:03] [SPEAKER_02]: may be late but I can always be prepared I may be late but I can always be prepared

[00:23:11] [SPEAKER_02]: What is the greatest fear for someone who's in traffic? It's not their lives right and we see how

[00:23:19] [SPEAKER_02]: they behave they put those at risk all the time it's not offending anyone we see how people can

[00:23:27] [SPEAKER_02]: behave in traffic it's being a minute late to anything and people will sometimes risk their

[00:23:34] [SPEAKER_02]: lives and their kindness just to try and get where they need to go in that set of time

[00:23:39] [SPEAKER_02]: and yet all I've learned I can do in this life is I can't control if I'm on time but I can always

[00:23:47] [SPEAKER_02]: control on whether or not I'm prepared did I prepare for the talk I'm giving today

[00:23:52] [SPEAKER_02]: did they prepare for the meeting that I have across town that I'm going to be late for

[00:23:57] [SPEAKER_02]: am I prepared to be present to my good friend that I'm going to be late for

[00:24:01] [SPEAKER_02]: it's okay to be late if you're fully prepared to be present and on time

[00:24:09] [SPEAKER_02]: the great John Wooden also said that failing to prepare is preparing to fail

[00:24:17] [SPEAKER_02]: if we've simply done our best what else can we do but get back to our pace and go with the flow

[00:24:24] [SPEAKER_02]: so I wish for you this morning that you stay eternally in your groove

[00:24:33] [SPEAKER_02]: that you enjoy immensely your lane that you recognize your flow not as something alien

[00:24:42] [SPEAKER_02]: but as something ever becoming who you are and that you live a life even with so much congestion

[00:24:49] [SPEAKER_02]: and busyness going on that is traffic free moving into prayer today I invite any of our

[00:24:56] [SPEAKER_02]: incredible prayer practitioners who'd like to stand to join me please know for those folks here in the

[00:25:05] [SPEAKER_02]: sanctuary that they are available right up in front of the stage for prayer at the completion of the

[00:25:09] [SPEAKER_02]: service so just being aware of what may be the traffic of our minds just being aware that

[00:25:20] [SPEAKER_02]: there may be a part of us that's resisting being in this here and now

[00:25:27] [SPEAKER_02]: and why might that be it may be because today I don't feel prosperous enough

[00:25:35] [SPEAKER_02]: it may be that I resist this moment because in this moment I don't think there's a love one

[00:25:40] [SPEAKER_02]: I can be connected with it may be because I don't think I'm good enough or that life is rich

[00:25:46] [SPEAKER_02]: enough in this moment and I invite us to perhaps just ask ourselves that this may not be a limitation

[00:25:54] [SPEAKER_02]: of circumstances but a limitation placed upon ourselves in our own mind that as we remove

[00:26:02] [SPEAKER_02]: the obstacle that we may indeed reconnect with this now moment in a way that reveals to us just

[00:26:10] [SPEAKER_02]: how very rich we are that reveals to us how it is impossible to be disconnected from those we

[00:26:18] [SPEAKER_02]: love the most and for those who love us that reveals to us what a miracle it is to be living

[00:26:26] [SPEAKER_02]: this life at this time and how precious life is giving in to this now moment the greatest

[00:26:33] [SPEAKER_02]: sacrament there ever was and ever will be we allow the divine to touch us to inform us

[00:26:42] [SPEAKER_02]: to rewire us to rejuvenate us to ground us in the love and the truth of who we are

[00:26:51] [SPEAKER_02]: may we allow this now moment on this time of celebrating the work we've done but more

[00:26:58] [SPEAKER_02]: importantly to rest to be to open up to that divine wisdom that gives us all the energy we need

[00:27:06] [SPEAKER_02]: not to move forward with frantic energy but in a divine flow that puts us in touch with that

[00:27:14] [SPEAKER_02]: true nature of who we are and who we're meant to be we let it be and become and so it is.

[00:27:23] [SPEAKER_02]: Thanks for listening to the Mile High Church podcast this podcast is made possible by the

[00:27:28] [SPEAKER_02]: generous contributions from listeners like you to make a donation please visit milehighchurch.org