Driving Irish is TCC with Wheels

Courage is being afraid but still proceeding with the act. Okay, so the thought was how hard could it be to do a self-drive from Dublin to Shannon? A manual shift is no problem in the States, so what if it is on the LEFT in Ireland? Ha, ha, ha. Feeling like a fish out of water, I have to re-learn how to drive. Everything is awkward on the left. Heck, how many times do I use my left hand for intricate tasks? Remember learning T’ai Chi Chih for the first time? Did you feel like your eyes saw and your brain understood some things but your body just could not get it? Where the heck was third gear? For two days it just couldn’t be found. And, then sometimes it was found and then lost again. And, all of a sudden third gear was a no-brainer. Yes, that is where my foot/hand should be.

And, the narrow roads with no shoulders! Just to be safe, a number of times the car just had to be stopped to allow the oncoming car in the next lane to pass. Yeah, the side mirrors were so close to touching. All right, I did close my eyes for a second a couple of times, it was that close. Okay, and maybe someone on the first day may have had their side mirror “touched” by ours. My niece and navigator said she had found religion and would go to church after this. What was she talking about? We just screamed a few times when another car or truck was coming a little too close for comfort. Remember Accreditation or the first time TCC “encouraged” something to bubble up? Oh, the rush of the rapture and Chi.

Then, all the twists and turns on almost every roadway. You never knew what was around the bend. Exciting though it was, driving was never so in the “now.” There was no time and way to take a sip of anything and drive at the same time. The radio? It was never turned on. Concentration, alertness, but a relaxed attitude was key. How many times in the States do we drive on autopilot, mindlessly getting to a place and wondering how we got there? Justin reminds us not to do T’ai Chi Chih carelessly. How much in the “now” do we practice?

There were road maps but they were crude to our standards and at the end of the trip we understood why even natives had difficulty explaining routes. Sometimes you just have to go with your gut instinct or flow with the Chi to get there. There was no booklet to explain the road symbols. Even the local police could not provide one. You were on your own and had to ask people what some meant. The language used, “heed the speed” and “no surface cover ahead” made you stop and say, “I think I know what they mean.” Like soft knees. There were no stop signs, just yields. Softness and continuity with traffic.

In New Jersey we are dismantling all our circles or you may call them rotaries. In Ireland, roundabouts were everywhere. “You go straight on the roundabout.” What? “You make the left on the roundabout.” What if the roundabout has more than four roads stemming from it? Which left are they referring to? Polarity? Circularity? These directions too were somehow magically understood in the last couple of days of driving. Practice, Practice, Patience, Patience, Time, Time. All unfolds and is understood at some point.

One of your fears comes up. You have to face it head on. What do you do the second it unfolds? Rounding a bend, all of a sudden a herd of sheep covering the whole road is at a gallop. Hitting the brakes hoping the person behind is not too close, I heard laughing. My own. What could we do? We had to go with the flow and just accept. All of a sudden the sheep dodge left directly in front of us. There was the farmer’s lane just there and we did not know it. You could not prepare. You just had to accept, let go, and go with it.

Then, you drive to Dingle and all the signs are in Gaelic. Gaelic is not a romance language, so do not try to figure the phonetics. Note my first name only seems to roll off the tongue easily there. For the first time, I did not have to explain it and spell it everyday. Yeah, I know I have a rough life! Ha! I cannot explain it, but when my niece kept asking if I was sure I knew what the Gaelic sign meant and I kept saying yes. Somehow I was confident that the Gaelic spelling for certain towns, I clearly understood. We got there without having to stop and ask directions or look at a map. Was it the trust in the Chi?

Ireland is magical and challenging. So is T’ai Chi Chih. Sometimes I want the explanation, at other times I just like to marvel in the wonder of it all. We got back safe and sound, but touched, inspired, changed a bit, and we just have to go back for more.