Trust your feelings. It is often good advice that cuts to the quick of a dilemma, or moment of emergency. But, is completely useless when scooting a motorcycle along the left side of the road when your well worn synapses cascade an inky constriction of fear and a magnetic pull to the other side of the road, as the vehicular bio-survival circuitry laid down for a right side of the road world tappity-taps adrenaline into the blood.
A constant mantra cycle of reassurance and the flashbacks of learning Taipei ruled traffic provides enough incentive to stay on the road long enough for the eyes to adapt to scanning direction and velocity as if looking through a mirror. There are times when feelings are nothing more habituated responses; responses in immediate need of an upgrade.
Motorcycles were a big no-no in my family. They were considered a surefire prescription for trouble and medical bills. That has not kept me off them. Nor does the lingering whisper of disaster keep me from pushing off in directions of two wheeled exploration. The illusion of security offered by staying off a twist and go scooter, has none of the vitality of that comes from going places best accessed on two wheels.
I suspect that much of what passes in our lives as feelings of security or safety are in fact simply habits ingrained from our experience, or the concerns of others whispered and believed. What we do in service of a sense of security may in the long run have little to do with it, especially if inaction and an unexamined clinging to the status quo masquerades as safety. The illusion that things are not changing is perhaps the greatest danger of all; it blinds us to what new opportunities are unfolding before our very eyes.
There are times when what feels wrong, is nothing more than a misplaced or antiquated habit leaking neurotransmitters, epinephrine and misplaced belief. They are frequently disguised as sensibility or undeniable truth.
There is a difference between habituated response and genuine feeling.
How to untangle habits from feeling? The methods are endless. With one being, to spend a few hours on a motorcycle in a country where they drive on the other side of the road.
New habits are quickly formed in the presence of oncoming traffic.
