The Traffic Light Moment (an echo within)

 

15th September 2025

Earlier today, I stopped at a traffic light. I wanted to turn left – which is allowed if no cars were coming – but the car in front of me was waiting to turn right.

In moments like these, I often take notice of the kind of driver ahead of me. Some will edge a little to the side so that others can pass. Even when their effort doesn’t actually clear the way, I find myself appreciating the consideration, the simple act of thinking of others. But when a driver makes no such effort, I often feel irritation rise sharply. Especially when I can see they have a lot of space in front of then but still make no effort to move forward. My mind quickly labels them: “Such an inconsiderate …” (and depending on the intensity of my annoyance, the words that follow may not be so kind).

This time was no different. When the car inched forward only after a while, I thought, “You could have moved sooner. I’d have been gone by now.” That judgment felt familiar, almost automatic.

But then something else surfaced: a quieter - gentle voice, an inner echo.
“Maybe he couldn’t move earlier. Maybe the car in front of him was too close. And when that car shifted, he finally could make space for you. Isn’t it good that, once he noticed, he did move forward?”

That softened me. The irritation gave way to a calmer perspective. Gratitude, even.

And as I reflected, I realized the Echo is not only the voice of my past conditioning, nor just the inner critic or old wounds. It can also be the ever-present self, the authentic part of us that is calm, compassionate, less quick to judge.

It even made me wonder: perhaps this is also the inner child. Not only the wounded self longing to be healed, but also the innocent, unguarded part of us that still knows how to be accepting, curious, and kind.

We often think of the inner voice as a leftover from our past – old messages, judgments, or wounds that keep replaying. Many see the inner child as that, but truly it’s not only the wounded part longing to be seen or healed, but also the innocent, unguarded part of us that is naturally accepting, naturally kind. The child who still lives within, not broken, but whole.

Sometimes, that voice (the Echo) isn’t the past at all. Sometimes it’s the ever-present self, our truest self, reminding us to pause, to see differently, to return to calm.

What struck me most was this: my own understanding of the Echo – a concept I’ve written about before (in my book The Echo Self: Listening Within Remembering Who We Are) continues to deepen. What once felt clear has now grown in clarity. Perhaps that’s the nature of growth itself: even the ideas we think we’ve understood are still unfolding, waiting for us to see them in a new light.

And maybe you’ve had your own “traffic light moments.” Times when irritation, judgment, or impatience gave way to a gentler voice within. If so, I wonder – what did your Echo whisper to you? And how might listening more closely to that softer voice shift the way you move through your day?