Our Car

What If Our Car Was Our Body?

How would we respect it?
How would we listen to it?
How would we view it?
How would we take care of it?
How would we pay attention to it?
How would we communicate with it?
How would we open the doors?
How would we close the doors?
How would we keep it tidy?
How would we clean it?
How would we maintain it?
How would we check in with it?
How would we appreciate it?

What if our car was talking to us about what is going on in our life?
What if the way we drive is telling us about the way we live our life?

What if we are always angry and frustrated at others when we are driving?
What if we have a habit of swearing and shouting when we are out driving?
What if we have the odd beer or glass of wine and think we are ok to drive?
What if we do drugs and have been getting away with it when it comes to driving?
What if we think we are above the law when it comes to rules on the road?
What if we always have the foot on the gas and drive fast for no reason?
What if we get the flat tyre because we are feeling flat and exhausted?
What if the flat tyre is saying we are refusing to keep going in the flow?
What if we are flat as we have no air left to move on to the next phase in life?

What if the gears are out – could it be because our life needs to change gear?

Could it be because we are stuck in first gear and it’s time to move to second?
Could it be we are refusing to move gear as we do not want to move on in life?

Next – do we stop and consider asking questions when something goes wrong with the engine?

Do we have the time and space to ponder on WHY this has happened or are we hell bent on getting it fixed so we can get back into the driving seat?

Do we ever wonder that our engine is like the internal organs of our body?

Do we ever think that if our engine is off sync then something might be out with the harmony of our internal organs – the engine of our body – the things that make it work?

What if the engine is not working because we are not flowing in life?

What if our car is showing us a direct reflection of the way we are treating our body?

Next – how do we approach our car before we open the doors?

How do we open the doors?

Do we open and shut the doors depending on our mood?

Are we aware of the loud bang every time we shut the doors?

Is slamming the doors our preferred way for our car?

What if the door slamming was a force that travelled back up our arm and the jarring was actually felt by our delicate heart?

What if our body hardens to take the loud hit when we bang our car doors?

Next – how do we actually drive our car?
Do we give the utmost consideration to others on the road?
Do we drive with little regard and focus, which is simply care-less?
Do we only think about getting from A to B and not bothered about anything else?

Do we not want to be aware that how we drive may affect others?
Do we drive to impress others with our skills?
Do we drive to check out and be in la la land?
Do we drive thinking about this, that and the other?
Do we drive on a mission to get to the other place?
Do we drive with fear, thinking we are going to have an accident?
Do we drive indecisive, dithering and over cautious adding more confusion on our roads?

Next – how clean is our car?
Do we treat it with the utmost care and decency?
Do we treat our car like our body by trashing it?
Do we use our car like a dumping ground?
Do we litter our car with anything and everything?

Do we have a dirty car that we never bother cleaning?
Do we clear out the rubbish after every road trip?
Do we pay attention to the detail in our car?
Do we give our car a regular wash and dry?
Do we have a car that is really clean but a home that is not?

Do we have a super fresh sparkling clean car and pay lots of attention to keeping it shiny but we have no time for our body?
In other words, we do not treat our body with the respect it deserves.

What if the stuff we leave in our car – that we can’t be bothered to deal with is the same type of stuff we have in our life – call it issues that we are not dealing with?

What if our dirty car was simply a mirror of the parts of our life that we ignore and neglect?

What if our car was precious and valued and deeply appreciated?
In other words, what if we treated our body and our car the same, giving them both the utmost attention to detail, love and care that they deserve – consistently.

What would happen and how would that look and feel in our lives?

Dear World,

What if our car is telling us something about our own body and to ignore it simply confirms that it is easier to not know that there is any connection because if this were true, then we would need to look at that word RESPONSIBILITY?

In other words, we would need to take full Responsibility for the choices we are making in every moment.

Could it be that Simple?


Comments 24

  1. There are many things I would not do in my car or to my car – yet, do I treat my body the same way? I keep my car well maintained, full of petrol, clean, tidy, shiny, bright, it is insured, taxed etc and I am super careful when I drive it. Why would I not do exactly the same to my body and treat it with that amount of care consistently so? As when I do take super care of my body – just like the car, my body runs well, and feels great.

  2. Our cars are a great reflection of our bodies. Both incredibly complex things that do amazing things that we all basically take for granted, untill they stop doing what we want.

    And considering how complex they are they, they really do not require alot of maintenance to keep them going.

    The key is the consistency of the maintenance. Because if you forget to do something, it can cost you big time in the future.

    Simple Living Global’s Back to Basics program is a great maintenance manual for the human body. I have been following the recommendations for 7 years and it has totally rebuilt my body. I look like I have had a new paint job, a thorough cleaning in and out, new brakes (definitely needed those), new suspension to support me, and tuned up my engine and electrical system.

    The difference between the body and a car is that our bodies have infinitely more intelligence, in ways we can not yet comprehend. But if we take simple basic care of ourselves this amazing intelligence just happens. It is what our bodies were designed to do.

  3. Such a great analogy for life.

    Whenever I make a decision in the car that requires fast acceleration, I notice a change in my body: adrenaline and a heart rate increase. This can be very slight, but it’s un-ignorable.

    It prompts me to question whether that manoeuvre was actually needed or if I was pushing, rushing or being impatient.

    I usually find that the way I’ve moved the car is a direct reflection of what’s going on for my body and my mind – it’s much more than just what’s going on in the road.

  4. 5 years ago I made some big changes in my life through changing my choices in life to loving caring ones of commitment, inspired by the teachings of Serge Benhayon.. part of which was moving house and area. I had had a long term illness which from my changes I was stepping out of. On the way home from viewing a potential new home my gear box and my clutch broke, my car was a write off. A week or so later I bought another car, this car has never let me down, it is super reliable. This was such a great reflection to me of the change in myself I had made as I moved out of my illness to have a healthy reliable body.

    My car requires small work occasionally and from what is needed it is always showing me what needs addressing or confirming what has changed.

    I always thank my car after a journey whether short or long and likewise I am appreciating my body for how it always serves and guides me.

  5. Very much appreciating this blog and the enquiry it offers.


    I really don’t like it when my car is dirty – inside or out – it just feels wrong. Yet clogging up the boot is a different matter.

    I will regularly put stuff for the charity shop in the boot, as I want to get it out of the house straight away, but it might take me a few weeks to get round to dropping it off so it’s languishing in the car, heavy and waiting.

    Reading the above makes me realise I’ve done an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ thing on it, but what’s really happening is I’m delaying finishing the job.

    Great to see that so clearly.

  6. I have noticed how easy it is to feel drained after driving for long periods.

    I have experimented with why this is and found that the more I ‘check out’ and drive on auto-pilot whilst thinking about other things, the more drained I feel.

    But if I stay super-switched on while driving, that doesn’t happen – aware of the road and all that’s around me, aware of my hands on the wheel, aware of my feet on the pedals, aware of all my mirrors etc; not letting my mind wander.

    What a simple way to increase your safety on the road and look after your energy levels at the same time.

  7. I got caught speeding earlier this year and had to attend a speed awareness course. I knew instantly that this was a call for me to slow down, having not listened to the messages earlier on about this this was my big one which I could not deny. I took heed and slowed my pace, got out of the drive I was in, rushing about.

    This has been hugely beneficial to my awareness with how I am in life and the impact it would be having on everyone else. It has also allowed me to connect more deeply to my stillness within and bring this to the life rather than my rush.

    I learnt a lot from the speed awareness course, why the speed limits are set.. the stopping time they allow, and why sticking to them saves lives and prevents unnecessary accidents. Interesting the reflection this offers..

    There is so much having a car offers in way of reflection on how we live.

    1. I got caught speeding a couple of years ago and attended a speed awareness course. It really got me thinking about the ripple effect of the way I was driving. Any carelessness not only affects me or my car, it could affect the lives of others too. It was a real wake up call.

  8. How do we approach our car before we open the doors?

    I like this question and am going to apply it to the next few days and see what it reveals, how much am I with my body or thinking ahead for where I am going. What momentum am I walking to the car in.. how have I been living up to that moment, loving , caring, present, stillness?.. which I take to my car. How present I have been in all I have done to this point.. what quality am I bringing to my car and journey..

  9. I love how our car is a reflection of us – I can drive my car one day and it feels smooth, and steady and another day and it feels jerky and clunky – which is a reflection of the way I am feeling and of my movements. Similarly for the way my home feels – it can feel together, flowing and on track or untidy, out of flow and off track – again a reflection of how I am feeling and a reminder to me of how I am moving in life. Everything in life is a potential reflection for us to learn from – if we choose to observe and be aware as we go about our day.

  10. I had a dream about leaving a car parked with the engine running and when I came back to it the breaks wouldn’t work.

    I was telling my kids about the dream and one of them said ‘it’s telling you to stop rushing’.

    Strong symbolism indeed.

  11. What a great blog. We MOT, insure and service our car yearly but do we have the same commitment when it comes to taking care of our body? Our car and even our home is a reflection of how we Live.

    I have a friend who has a state of the art car but when you look inside it is filthy and messy. Could it be that we pay attention to what we THINK we need to but IGNORE what we Really should be paying attention too!

    Our body is like an engine, if we do not take care of it, it will crash and burn out.
    This blog is spot on!

  12. Thanks for this top blog Simple Living Global.

    It’s amazing the lengths most of us willingly go to, to ensure our cars are looked after the way they should be from correct fuel, regular servicing, regular maintenance, cleaning, MOT, tax and insurance.

    And even more so when the car is new.

    But giving our bodies that same respect and dedication is somewhat harder to comprehend and even harder to maintain on a consistent basis.

    It’s quite ironic really in that the care we give our cars is not the same as we give ourselves considering that our car can be changed when it starts to look shabby, starts to break down or just starts to look old but our bodies are with us our entire life.

    If something goes wrong with our car and the car is a way of showing our bodies a reflection of how we are living – is it possible that everything that happens to us, in every area of our lives, is also a reflection of how we are living?

  13. I am not a regular driver as I prefer public transport as I get to meet people, observe what is going on and see the world. This is a choice, but living in London with so much transport around, it is not hard.

    However, a car works for the launderette run as there is plenty of washing that I use the jumbo dryers for. This week even in the short journey, I noticed how people drive rough on the roads, not paying due care and attention. Driving fast on tiny side streets is dangerous to say the least.

    So if our car was our body, then how are we moving it as we are in the driving seat?

    The other thing that I am big into, is keeping it clean and tidy at all times.
    I make sure everything is cleared out after any journey, big or small and the tissue box is not on empty, the blanket on the back seat is folded and the water bottles are not half used in the passenger seat doors. ALL this is part of the normal maintenance.

    I then let my husband know that the car needs cleaning, as after any motorway trip it seems to hit the dirt and needs a good bath. I do not get involved with this bit.

    Finally, I use a cushion and a soft blanket to support me and this is regularly cleaned too.

    ALL of the above are part of the deep self care that I have for me in daily life, so it makes sense to have the same for my car. I see no difference between the car and the house or my office or workplace.

    Everything gets the pukka treatment as it makes sense to me.

  14. What if as Simple Living Global are asking, our car is showing us a direct reflection of the way we treat our bodies?

    How would our relationship with our body and our cars be different if we considered this?

    I feel that this is a super important question to ask as we may then stop trashing our cars and seeing them as a piece of machinery to get us from a to b, but take much more care and due regard and in turn treat our bodies with much more respect.

  15. Thank you for this exceptional blog.

    It can indeed be enlightening to consider the reflection that our cars present to us.

    Over the last three months, the engine management fault light in my car has come on in warning a number of times.

    Each time a fault was indicated, I have taken my car to my mechanic. So my mechanic has worked on my car several times in the last three months and a number of parts have been replaced including the battery, the radiator and the windscreen wipers.

    The last item to be replaced was the battery. After the new battery was installed, the car behaved impeccably for approximately ten days. But then, last week, the engine management fault light came on again.

    So, a moment ago, after reading the author’s fabulous blog, I asked myself, “If my car is a reflection of me, why is the engine management light on again?”

    The answer to my question came quickly:
    “I’ve been treating the symptoms – battery, wipers, oil and radiator – but the underlying root condition remains: my exhaustion.”

    1. What you are sharing here makes sense to me Raja and I do understand there will be many who think it is flaky, way off and whacky as we are using our car as a symbology for our body and reading into this more than what this temporal world of us thinks and says.

      In UK we have this annual MOT test when cars are not new.

      Today our car was having the annual check and of course another year it passed and the statement I made was “why wouldn’t it?”.

      If our car is our body then it would be true to say that both of us – Me and Mr Husband do take deep care in looking after our body by deeply nourishing and nurturing it and treating it with the utmost respect it deserves.

      We also have this way of living, where our car has regular maintenance, things get checked and for example, if brake shoes need replacing, no different to our shoes, then it gets done with no questions. We know if it supports us and the use has meant it has come to the end of its life, then we just replace it – no big deal or post mortem needed as to why this happens.

      Another thing is after every journey, the car is tidied and checked and left in a very clean state. We also replenish stocks like water bottles which fit in the door compartments, tissue box checked so it is not going to run out on the next trip, first aid in the boot and pillow safely wrapped and blanket folded and noted when it needs washing, which happens regular or if a guest travelling, uses it.

      ALL this is our normal, so why would we need to have anything flash at us and say ‘your car is off and out of sync’ when it comes to MOT day.
      To me, this is a pure and utter confirmation that our car is our body and simply reflects to us and if you ask me, one day we will all be thinking this way, but for now it is very few of us.

  16. I have seen over the years how a person’s car is a reflection of how they are living.

    I have met many people who have a really messy house and their car is no different.

    I have also met people where status and glamour are all that they’re interested in and so they choose particular brands of cars that give out that message.

    Also I have noticed that when people drive some of the top car brands they behave in a way that is reckless on the roads, not caring about anyone and driving like they are the only ones on the road.

    The cars we choose and WHY we choose them are important areas to contemplate, as this will provide us with many clues to the way that we live our lives.

  17. I recently had a hire car delivered to my home in readiness for a work trip. As always I inspect the car with the person delivering the car.

    Upon opening the car door I was surprised to see an empty coffee cup on the floor at the back and muddy footprints on the back seat. When I pointed this out, I was told it was an oversight on their part and apologised.
    What was interesting is that attached to the rear view mirror, there was a slip saying that the car was clean and tidy.

    I often get comments about how tidy my car boot is. As with everything we come into contact with, we should value and respect what we have or are using. I know my car represents my home, me and the way I live daily.

  18. On my travels today I saw a man looking closely at his car. He was going closer and closer to it and changing his position so that he could see it from different angles.

    What I observed was a very tiny scratch, but clearly the attention he was paying to it was important.

    I thought of this blog and asked myself – would we spend that much focused attention on a hair line scratch on our body or is the norm to just ignore it and override what we have seen and dismiss it as insignificant?

    If we treated our bodies as we do our cars, enmasse we would be in much better shape and would be living with more care and respect of our bodies.

  19. Sitting in the front passenger seat the other day whilst my friend was driving I shared that drivers using indicators seems to have gone out of fashion.

    The indicator – an essential element to driving which communicates to other drivers our intention, has been lost. I observed people pulling out in front of others even on the motorway at high speeds without indicating.

    We all know that we would fail our driving tests if we did this, so the question arises – are we just seeing the indicator now as something we learnt about to pass the test and once we get on the road we can do whatever we like regardless of the affect on others?

    Could it be possible that this lack of use of the indicator is a reflection of how humanity has stopped caring about its fellow brothers and so we just do whatever we like when we like, without communicating or checking in with others?

    Is this how we behave in relationships, where we do all the things at the beginning to tick the box and win the other person over but when we are in, we switch off and stop talking?

    Today I saw two men in cars having a non physical fight. One got of his car and shouted at the other, then he got back in and drove off. The other man raced at high speed behind him. You could feel the high emotion and even though no-one had been hit it felt violent.

    What I did share with my friend the other day is that the new indicator seems to be the two finger swear word sign and this incident reminded me of that.

    Is this the way that we are behaving in our relationships and if so, is it any wonder that there is so much violence and discord when we have stopped caring about each other?

    My friend is an exemplary example of someone who deeply cares about others and this is reflected in the way that she prepares herself fully before driving, making sure she has what will support her at the ready including how she is sitting in the driver seat.

    She does not allow herself to get distracted and she reads the road very well so that she is very aware of what is going on. To be honest this is the way that she lives her life and so taking this with her into the car is a natural extension.

    I love driving with her as I feel very safe and at ease.

    Imagine – if I feel that as a passenger, what are others experiencing when they encounter her on the road?

    I am constantly reminded that everything that we do matters and how we drive just confirms that.

  20. I do alot of motorway driving for work. I am always aware of other drivers and quite often know when a driver is about to perform a dangerous manoeuvre.

    I often observe drivers being impatient because I stick to the speed limit and they flash their lights to force me out of the way. Or cut in front of me because they want to get ahead.

    I notice when I drive in different parts of the country the level of respect for each other on the road differs greatly. Surely the respect should be equal.

  21. Thank you for this superb blog.

    This may sound crazy to some, and I don’t know how it works, but I know that my car responds to being appreciated.

    Whenever I wash my car, or fuel it with the more expensive higher octane fuel, or have an extra oil change done in addition to the oil changes specified by the service schedule, my car responds by driving better and the difference is palpable.

    My car definitely appreciates being appreciated. And the simplest way I have found to appreciate my car is to thank it after a journey. It likes that a lot.

  22. I got talking to someone whilst walking to the bus stop.
    She was ‘new’ to buses as she normally has a car which was being repaired because of an incident.

    Whilst parked during the day, the car was jacked up and an important part was stolen.

    The vehicle breakdown service man told her this was now getting common.
    The police also knew exactly what this theft is about.

    Apparently, this particular part under the car is made with real gold.

    Who on earth thinks of stuff like this and where did it come from in the first place?
    We seem to have become a world of total supply and demand.

    It’s like we can put our order in for whatever we want and we find a way of getting it.

    Absolutely no regard, no responsibility, no accountability for the consequences when we make such ill choices.

    I use the word “ill” because no one in their right mind would want to go to the lenghths of having to jack up a car to steal the bit of gold used for a certain part of its mechanism.

    This woman has been left with such a deep scar that she said if she saw anyone looking under a car, even if it was the owner – she would alert the police.
    This incident has made her become more aware and she feels a responsibility to take action and not ignore anything she observes that does not feel right.

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