I take my safety seriously, especially when travelling. It’s not a lottery. I am responsible for me. I have had my fair share of accidents in the past, in cars and on horses and these, along with other incidents, have prompted a radically different way of thinking and behaving today.
For instance, when I was studying in London and then in the early days of working there, I was attacked twice. Once out running and the other time on a tube train. I was lucky to escape unharmed on both occasions though, obviously, I was shaken up. At the time, the big lesson was to take practical measures to protect my safety such as avoiding using public transport late at night, not running in dubious parts of London and, at all times, exuding confidence in my body language, as well as crossing the street to move away from any one or anything that looked suspicious
Later on, I had a number of accidents on and around horses resulting in injuries which had long term consequences such as head injuries, an amputated finger, ripped cartilage and muscle and torn ligaments. The big takeaway from these situations was to be fully ‘present’ at all times, so I was aware of subtle behavioural clues which spelled danger and also to be aware of the environment. If I had niggling doubts about anything, then I registered the fleeting feeling in my mind and adapted what I was doing – safety first, even if it took longer.
I also wrote off three cars. On one occasion, I ended up hanging from my seat belt upside down in the car (the result of skidding on ice on a country lane) and on another occasion, the car spun through 180 degrees after hitting water at 50 mph on a busy dual carriageway, where I was surrounded by juggernauts. It went airborne, flew over the the road and landed nose downwards in a nearby ditch. In both situations, I felt a weird sense of calm and protection as the accident played out in ‘slow-motion’. And on both occasions, I got out and walked away without a scratch. I wasn’t even in shock as, by this stage, something had changed.
I had started to consciously use the power of thought in all manner of situations including protection. Before each journey, I imagined my car surrounded by a brilliant light which preceded me as I drove, creating a safe space. I had already learned that thought is energy and has a cause and effect relationship with what’s around me. So, if I invoked the intention for safety, then I considered it done. Divine intervention and intuitive synchronisity would deliver it, even in the event of an accident.
Later, this became the intention for ‘perfect timing’ (the subject of a recent podcast called “What is quantum”). Perfect timing implies safe arrival. So I now expected to be guided intuitively to avoid accidents – through choosing the day and time I travelled, the route, any stops on the way etc. And I used another version of this when I got on a horse, imaging coming home safely.
One welcome side effect I noticed when driving was an end to ‘road rage’ – for me, at least. Most of us have the occasional ‘near miss’, usually because of someone else’s dangerous driving, which raises the heart rate and leaves you incandescent with rage. However, by intending a safe journey, expletives and horn honking are now history. They have been replaced by a simple ‘thank you for saving me’ because I am in charge of me and not a victim of chance.
This sort of re-framing is useful in many situations and I was prompted to think about it recently when giving a mentoring session to a rider who had been in danger riding out with her horse. They both emerged unscathed but, afterwards, she played a tape over and over in her mind of all the dreadful things that could have happened. Her confidence had evaporated and she couldn’t bring herself to ride out any more. By re-framing the experience to one of ‘thankfulness for being unharmed’ and also invoking safety before getting on the horse, progress is being made. So much in life is a mind game!
Picture: Spending time in nature amongst amazing trees in Petworth Park during a recent road trip where, of course, I intended for perfect timing and safety on all legs of the 500 mile journey!