Accepting what is

I have been reading a book titled "Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change" by Pema Chodron. She writes about the notion of suffering, and in particular, about the fact that the way we choose to think about things impacts how we feel and how we behave. An example of this concept played out for me just yesterday. As I was driving along through town, I was pulled over by the local police for speeding (unintentionally this time, really!!) As I was pulling over, I made a deliberate decision that I was not going to get mad about this event, but rather, I would simply resign myself to the fact that I had been distracted, I had indeed been going too fast, and now I was due for my very first speeding ticket! In the past,an event like this would have really made my blood boil. I would have been irritated and would have spent considerable time thinking that I was having a terrible day and that nothing was going to go right, etc. I like to think that my yoga practice (and Pema Chodron's book) helped me and enabled me to step back from "awfulizing" the situation, by simply accepting the event just as it was. Maybe my calm demeanor is the reason why (or maybe the officer was just feeling generous)I drove away with a warning and no ticket. Who knows! I do know that my day went smoothly and my mood was calmer and more relaxed as a result of simply accepting things as they were as opposed to wishing for circumstances to be different.