The other day I was coming home from town and approaching a pedestrian
crossing. As I pressed the button at the crossing, I noticed a couple of
cyclists sitting astride their bikes right next to me, one looking at
his phone. I was intently focused on waiting for the lights to change,
when the guy with phone said to me, “Excuse me can you help?” and I
said, “Yes, sure”. The next thing I knew, the lights changed and I found
myself saying, “Sorry, got to cross now!” I saw his surprise and
disappointment as I began to walk across the road, but strangely I
didn’t look back, and went on my way. I wasn’t in a hurry, I didn’t have
anything in particular on my mind – I had just been on auto-pilot I
suppose. On reflection, it was a bit rude and mindless of me and I did
feel kind of bad about it. I should have stayed and tried to help rather
than just going across the road.
It is so easy to be caught
out and it can happen when you least expect it – even when you think
you’re being Mindful. More practice required? I don’t think so. Just
adding the recollection of this direct experience to the catalogue of
direct experiences in my everyday life, so that I can learn from this
and maybe next time – who knows – I will be more Mindful in those
moments as they unfold!
Anyone else experience momentary lapses like this?
