Experiencing Traffic Like Julius Caesar Never Could: A Temporal Perspective Shift

This morning, on my drive to work, I found myself in the usual tangle of traffic. Normally, I’d be gritting my teeth and wishing I were anywhere else. But today, I was listening to Mark Nepo’s “The Fifth Season,” where he talked about opening yourself up to all of life’s experiences without judgment. So I decided to try exactly that.

I started looking at the traffic through fresh eyes. Instead of seeing it as a frustration, I reframed it as a unique privilege of our modern era. After all, the fact that I’m stuck in traffic means I can drive a car—something that great historical figures like Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, or Napoleon never got to experience. They never had the chance to complain about a traffic jam!

In that moment, I realized I was experiencing a kind of “temporal perspective shift.” I was seeing my modern inconvenience as a small wonder of living in this era. And honestly, it made the drive a little lighter.

So instead of diving into the latest outrage on social media or letting my mind spin in a hundred directions, the traffic actually gave me a moment of quiet. It let me focus on what was right in front of me and set out into my day a little more kindly.

Final Question:

What everyday inconvenience could you see differently today if you just gave yourself that same quiet pause?