Finding Synchronicity in the City

Being up in the Woods is really only half of what we do. A large portion of our day is also driving around the City, picking up your dogs to allow them to escape into Nature.

I have always enjoyed driving, but I know that others find it tedious.

Over many years driving each and every day through Oslo you start to find the patterns. Pattern recognition can be a great game, and also a way in which to Flow more efficiently through those driving hours.

In time you know all of the traffic lights and junctions, and in what ways to get ready and or approach them.

Here are a few examples…. Without naming the specific locations, so that you can discover them for yourselves.

There is little to no need to crane your neck and look up through the windshield at the red light, which is not changing. Certainly not when you know that to your right you can watch for the Green Man to light up on the pedestrian crossing, and then one second later your light will go green.

Why squeeze into that tight gap between the left turning lane and the bus line when you know that the left turning lane will be moving before the main traffic light goes green.

When you approach a green light and you see that the green pedestrian man on the side is flashing, then you can count to three before your light will go Orange and then Red. It gives you the opportunity to anticipate how far away you are, and whether you will make it, allowing you to brake gently, instead of slamming on the brakes.

Maybe you are thirsty and approaching a major junction? The left turning lane has just gone Green, and yet even when it goes back to red, you can count to 9 in your head, before your green light will appear. This type of added knowledge allows you to put your bottle away safely, and in good time, before you need to find first gear.

In understanding the way that the traffic lights and junctions are synchronized you do not become frustrated in having to wait for that red light to change.

There is of course the added excitement when suddenly a junction changes the way in which the traffic is ordered, and you get to expand and update your knowledge base.

These types of games and understanding certainly take away from the tedious, slightly monotone driving hours.

Personally I find that it helps me get into the Flow State, and therefore the time rushes by just as quickly as it does out in the Woods, becoming a pleasant experience.

Doggies: Pippi, Lucy, Haraka and Leopold