Honking – the Monkey in the Mind
Have you ever felt that your mind has been nuked from the shrill sounds that all the honking monsters produce on the roads? I bet you are not alone in having this feeling.
I recently witnessed 3 such:
- A man on a two-wheeler, with his wife and a few months old kid, continuously honked to me. So much so that I had to get him to stop and ask why is he honking so much only to get a stare in return? (I found myself, only in my mind, at least care for your little kid’s eardrums).
- On a freeway, a young brat with his friends, in a big car, honked away to glory. It appeared he was just subjected to a show of The Fast and Furious – 7.
- In yet another one, on a narrow stretch on a relatively large highway the traffic stuck for a while. And that led to chaos. In those few seconds, blaring sounds of the horns, enough to shatter your eardrums, came out unapologetically from the vehicles. The guys just wouldn’t stop.
The most common occurrence takes place on a busy traffic signal where as soon as the signal turns green, everyone expects to have the first right of way. Those behind honk constantly to remind those ahead that they are the lesser mortals and they should move aside so that the royal carriages can pass through.
You see we just simply assume that the others are some dumb-wits who were offloaded onto this planet by sheer accident and have no sense that a green signal means they would move forward.
I bet you have done that too, at least once. Admit it!
This honking nonsense has reached to a point where its almost looks like a mental disease. I believe that people who indulge in this mad honking, most likely, have an extremely disturbed mind. Honking is just an external manifestation of this ‘disturbed mad monkey in their minds‘.
So, how do you get rid of the issue? I suggest Meditation and Money. First, let’s meditate.
Buddha’s meditation comes to help!
You might wonder what has meditation got to do with this? Actually quite a lot. I have done it too.
Meditation is the way to control the monkey in the mind. With meditation, you watch the thoughts that come to your mind. As you do this over a period, you reach a point where you can see your thoughts just as “clouds in the sky”. Clouds are the thoughts, the sky is your mind. They come and go.
As you learn to differentiate the two more and more, you almost get into a mode where you can control what do you want your mind to think. Isn’t that powerful? You control your mind. Awesome!
Take this further. Your mind controls your actions too. The thought occurs first in the mind, which then triggers the action. So, if you can control your mind and hence the actions… do I need to tell you what comes next?
Now meditation does not come so easy. If it were, we would have Buddha’s all around us and not just at Dharamshala.
Yes, meditation has profound benefits too and we understand (or seem to understand), yet we can hardly get ourselves around to doing it. The idea of sitting in an asana in a silent space and focusing on the thoughts itself seems like too much of an effort.
That is where an easy alternative meditation tip comes in to help.
It is simple and it does not involve sitting in a corner in an asana. Let me call it Honk Meditation.
Basically, you can turn your honking evil into a supreme act of meditation.
To begin with, observe your honking. Every time you honk, watch it, everything about it, thoroughly. Your entire act from the trigger that caused it, to the length of the time you honk and then the feeling that you have. Just see the whole thing.
Do it for a day and then another day and yet another day. Over time, you are going to have sort of enlightenment. A sense of calmness will descent on you. You will gradually find yourself withdrawing from the act of pushing the HORN button, doing it far lesser than before.
That’s how I started 2 years ago. I was an evil honk guy till one day when the hooter like sounds from a dying truck almost turned me deaf. Today, I press the horn just once a day, if at all, that too gently to remind a wandering soul on the road to move to the safer side path.
In the process you would make several other wins too, not counting the least, saving money.
Money and Progress too
Meditation leads to a clear mind and a clear mind has great virtues. You will be patient, willing to wait, enjoying silence, letting other’s go first, more generous and giving. Wow!
You will also now be able to spot opportunities. Once you are into HONK meditation, you will be able to spot a lucrative deal, seal a tie up with a large distributor or negotiate a huge win-win.
Not to mention that you be also be saving on all the fines that you could be subject to by the traffic police when you honk incessantly. Yes, traffic laws are much tougher now.
Don’t forget to take into account the wonderful healthy environment that you will contribute to by not causing noise pollution. As a result there is a likely reduction in brain haemorrhages or eardrum problems for kids, senior citizens as well as others. Of course, they and you will save on massive hospital bills resulting from treatment of increased blood pressure, hearing impairment and heart diseases.
Nirvana!!
Not yet.
Problem still remains Unsolved
While HONK meditation is a simple idea that has a lot of benefits, I still have doubts about how far it will go.
We easily don’t take up what is good for us. Physical Exercise is one such thing. Does that remind you of your unused /expired gym membership?
So that still leaves the problem unsolved. Honking will continue to ruin our eardrums, our children’s and our parents!
I believe this presents a huge opportunity for entrepreneurs.
There are solutions appearing left, right and centre for almost every single habit that an individual has from playing games to using email to fitness to doing gossip, you name it. So, why can’t we have one that changes honking habits of people?
I don’t know today how will it happen or who will pay for it? But I certainly feel this is one problem that needs urgent attention. In fact, I would nominate it for the Nobel Prize for ‘Contribution to World Peace.‘
And I feel there is one of you out there, who can deal with this menace effectively.
I am sure you too want this problem solved. I am sure you too want peace on the roads. And I am sure you too want to contribute to larger social good.
Yes, it’s time to take up the challenge! NOW.
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You can catch me on twitter @vipinkh