Your Angry Vibration Is Messin’ With My Peaceful Vibe!

     Imagine mixing Friday rush hour traffic (in a city known for the nation’s worse congestion) with a tropical storm deluge.  Such was the beginning of a multifaceted adventure on Friday.  I’ve never taken a bus between major cities.  In the spirit of experiencing new things, Megabus, a shiny blue double-decker bus, was our chariot between DC and New York City.  Departure time: 2:30pm.  More than an hour late the bus finally pulled up.  With record-breaking rain, Tropical Storm Andrea created travel havoc.  I felt peaceful, balanced, calm, and happy—a great vibe for a great adventure.  Off to see family and friends in the Big Apple.

     We plopped our sore legs, knees, and backs into plush seats happy to be underway.  We traveled six blocks after 30-minutes in bumper-to-bumper traffic.  The rhythmic stop and go lulled me to sleep.  An hour later I woke.  Rubbing my sleep-filled eyes, I realized we were about 15 miles out of town.   A long, long trip was ahead.  The bus was quiet as folks slept, texted, or listened to music.  Two young women behind our seats carried on a conversation that seemed louder than necessary.  I bent my book back to read.  Concentration was a challenge.  I’ve named the two young women Melissa and Courtney for this journey and a lesson.

      4:30 pm “Ugh, I just can’t believe we are going so slow.  It’s just ridiculous that MegaBus can’t be on time!”  Groaned Courtney in a high nasally voice.  “Yeah, I know, this is just crazy.  We’re going to be late for dinner at the apartment.”  Melissa chimed in exasperated.  “Now I have to call everyone and let them know that we’re not even in Baltimore yet!  I can’t believe we’re going to be late.  This sucks!”

     The decibel level increased as Melissa called her mother, father, and friends.  The phone calls were increasingly exaggerated as a new person was dialed.  “Hi, Danny.  Oh my God, you’ll never believe this.  Dumbass Megabus left late.  Now we’re stuck in this stupid, ridiculous traffic.  The traffic is just bumper-to-bumper.  It’s going to make us late.  I think we’ll be an hour late maybe.  I just hate this!”  Melissa carried on almost 30 minutes.  Between each call, she and Courtney commiserated loudly about how horrible and bad everything was.  I could feel my wonderful, peaceful, balanced, calm, and happy—a great vibe for a great adventure ebbing away.  I redoubled my efforts to read.  After about 30-minutes of re-reading the same page, I closed my book.

     6:30 pm “I’m so hungry,” Courtney whined to Melissa.  “This is just taking so long.  We’re supposed to be in New York in 30-minutes.  This is just not right.  It’s just not FAIR!”  Courtney’s whine amplified by her high, nasally voice.  PENETRATING WHINE.  The whining didn’t abate only interrupted as the bus driver pulled into a truck stop.  Stretching his legs after more than four hours driving in terrible weather and bumper-to-bumper traffic.  “Why are we stopped?”  Courtney shrieked to Melissa.  “This is so stupid.  What a dummy!” “Ughhhhh!” Melissa squawked.  “I have to call everyone and let them know that now we’re stopped in some stupid, ridiculous truck stop.”  An exasperated groan penetrated my ears.  Melissa began dialing numbers.  She recounted in AGONIZING DETAIL how horrible the ride was.  “I just don’t understand why we are stopped.  We shouldn’t be stopped.  This is just making us so late.  You all might as well eat.  We going to be so late ‘cause we’re making all these stupid, f$%king stops.”  The angry vibration behind my seat with its venom and frustration settled like a heavy wet blanket on me.  I began humming Christmas songs.  Christmas songs…anything to maintain my peaceful vibe.

     7:30pm  Re-read 4:30 and 6:30.  The whining, frustration and phone calls didn’t stop.  Melissa attempted to track how far we were from NYC on her phone.  The GPS apparently wasn’t working well.  She got excited when she thought that our destination was only 45 minutes away.  We were just passing the Delaware Bridge—another couple of hours to go.

     8:30pm  Re-read 7:30, 6:30, and 4:30—yes, really.   Add a heightened whining, feeling sorry for one’s self, and cursing from Courtney whose nasally voice developed a tired, broken-glass-fingers-on-chalkboard whine about how hungry she was and how she was going to die if she didn’t eat.

9:30 pm Thank you, God, for delivering us from Melissa and Courtney’s misery.  A four-hour ride that became almost seven had ended with our safe delivery at our designated station.

     Why am I sharing this ripped from the headlines story?  This experience made me keenly aware of how words of complaining, anger, frustration, intolerance, and ignorance about things beyond our control are common banter.  Too many of us are intimately familiar with using words in a way that depletes our strength and resolve.  What we may not consider is how our words also adversely impact others around us.  Melissa and Courtney’s anger and frustration vibration literally began to change my peaceful, calm vibe into one of anger and frustration.  Life is filled with situations and circumstances beyond our control.  I invite you to reflect on one or two circumstances or situations where your response has been to express anger, rage, or frustration.  Reflect on how your vibration may have affected others around you—children, spouse, co-workers, partners, or innocent bystanders.  Consider a new response.  A response that keeps you in a peaceful place and radiates a positive energy/vibration to those around you.

Peace & Blessings~

Jenny