I had a terrible experience driving to work, I looked north and the lane was clear far into the distance, I looked south and there was a long string of cars heading north. I turned onto the highway just as a car in the long string moved out to pass. I was 2 metres away from a head on collision and I do not remember engaging my brain or deciding what to do next, I instantly turned onto the shoulder and avoided the crash. It was two weeks ago and I still get shaken to remember it. The thing that I think about is how I did not plan, did not analyze my options, did not even form a thought, I just acted. In this case it probably saved my life. The reflection here also is how much of our experiences and reactions are we controlling and how much do we just automatically react to. Our brain is a wondrous machine that is wired for survival, and we have these responses engrained in our brain that we can draw on in danger- that is a good thing. I think there are many times we have to have a second look, to truly see what we are facing, to challenge our engrained responses and check our bias. We have to move past the auto response to a thought out response that is based on fact more than survival mode thinking. However, like my morning highway entrance, thank heavens we have our well worn response mechanisms- our life can depend on it.
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