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# Traffic lights
- URL: https://www.gilespcroft.com/traffic-lights/
- Published: 2026-08-05T06:00:22.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-12T12:40:35.000Z
- Description: A super-practical metaphor that will get you through the toughest of situations 🚦
- Author: Giles P Croft
- Tags: Metaphor, Moods, Wisdom, Thought realisation, Resilience, Real stories, Psychology, Presence, Mental Health, Insight, IMPLICATIONS, Consciousness, Attention, Anger

> *“I love the Daily Reminders that stop me in my tracks. That make me read and re-read again until I’ve got it. They are ones that most enhance my day. Today’s is one. Thank you Giles.”*  
> \~ Wendy, UK

Towards the end of the most recent Daily Reminder (which was quite sciencey/conceptual, and also [jaw-dropping](https://www.gilespcroft.com/the-dragon-thats-real-and-not-true/)), there was a recommendation of sorts – an action you can take.

It was that same ‘action’ that has people throwing their hands up in the air in exasperation and wondering why the hell they even continue to read these damned Daily Reminders, because it was:

✋🏻

****DO NOTHING**

🤦🏻

So today I'm going to throw the Reader Ego Construct 📦 a bone by unpicking that for you a little bit; to show you that it's not **really* ‘nothing’ that you're doing here.

**“Yay!”* says your left brain, **“I've got a job to do!”*

(Which is all it ever really wants, bless it.)

And we're going to do that using one of my all-time favourite metaphors.

## The Traffic Light metaphor

Now, I need to be up front about this one and let you know that I totally stole this from someone else. It's from Christa Campsall, and her amazing 3 Principles-based school curriculum, called [*My Guide Inside*](https://www.myguideinside.com/about?ref=gilespcroft.com)*.*

I know she doesn't mind that I've nabbed it off her, because we've spoken about it in the past, and I'm going to plug her curriculum right here, for you to check out:

[My Guide Inside ® CurriculumMy Guide Inside ® Curriculum brings out the best in all learners.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/icon/default-favicon-6a62fab6-decc-4bde-ab23-1a27322ac653.ico)My Guide Inside ® Curriculum![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/thumbnail/shutterstock_186678287-f3097ced-a69f-48e8-bf1b-0b0681b5e46b.jpeg)](https://www.myguideinside.com/?ref=gilespcroft.com)

You can get hold of all the books yourself (in many languages) here: [***MGI Books**](https://www.myguideinside.com/books?ref=gilespcroft.com)

I went through the first book with my daughter when she was much younger, and it's testament to how well-designed it all is that to this day she still refers to intuition/innate health/universal mind/spirit/wisdom/the-infinite-creative-potential-of-[the-entire-effing-Universe](https://www.gilespcroft.com/is-nature-good-for-creativity/) (basically anything that's *not* ‘[Jobert](https://www.gilespcroft.com/mind-names/)’) as “my guide inside.”

😍😍😍😍😍

So if it's good enough for 6 year olds, it's good enough for you.

*My Guide Inside* and the traffic lights metaphor both point to the exact same thing that we point to each time here at the Daily Reminders:

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/2026/08/Stick-Man---TR---IH---The-two-insights_frame.jpg)](https://www.gilespcroft.com/start-your-week-with-courage/)

I once wrote an [***entire series of posts**](https://www.gilespcroft.com/tag/insight-series/) on what happened over the course of a couple of weeks when these two insights landed for me.

And—as far as I can tell—the trick to nailing this being-human malarkey (and consequently living a life of ease, grace, connection and creativity) is to [know where you're at](https://www.gilespcroft.com/do-you-know-what-mood-youre-in/) on that diagram, and then to know what your options are for what to do about that.

🚦 Traffic lights—and how they pertain to strong emotional states—are the perfect metaphor. So let's get into it.

## Go-signal confusion

Question:

> Who here *hasn't* got completely caught up in a really strong emotion before?

Anyone? 😶

That's right, we all have. Whether it's anger or anxiety, sadness or shame, disappointment or despair, these weather fronts move in quickly and they make their presence felt!

😡🥺😞😳🫠😫

And because they're so obvious, they seem like very clear ***GO!*** signals, don't they? Strong emotion looks like action needs taking, for instance, with something like anger – it seems to be saying:

🤬

This thing is making me so livid!! If I want to feel less livid, I need to change this thing, **immediately!* Go, Go, GO!!!

It looks like the only way to relieve the tension of a strong emotion like this is to change the circumstances that brought it about in the first place.

I mean, *duh.*

But it's possibly the most obvious (and yet [easily overlooked](https://www.gilespcroft.com/a-fact-of-life-that-will-immediately-improve-yours/)) example of the outside-in misunderstanding (i.e. the mistaken belief that our feelings could come from somewhere *other* than thought) going.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/2026/08/Outside-in-thinking_banner.jpg)

I mean, what would the mechanism even **be* – magical ‘anger particles’ or something?!?!

Because it's not ‘[the thing](https://www.gilespcroft.com/the-thing-vs-your-experience-of-the-thing/)’ that's ‘making you’ feel that way, it's the reality that's being brought into consciousness by the [current state of mind](https://www.gilespcroft.com/elevator/) you're in.

It's the computer-mind, becoming aware of a sensation and then going looking for [a reason why](https://www.gilespcroft.com/laying-bricks/). 

(And if you're in a low state of mind, the ‘reason why’ will be the nearest person to you! 😂)

It's also why ‘annoying’ things don't look so annoying, when you're all bright and breezy.

It's very straightforward, once you've clocked it.

## Time to stop

So in classic inside-out, *everything's-the-exact-opposite-of-what-you've-been-taught* fashion, feeling an emotion really strongly is not a ***Go!*** signal… it's a ***Stop!*** signal. 

As you'll see from this helpful aide-memoire I created for you:

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/2026/08/Flip-chart---Traffic-lights---Suffering.jpeg)

With gratitude and love to Christa and [My Guide Inside](https://www.myguideinside.com/about?ref=gilespcroft.com) for the inspiration 💝

When we get ‘[hijacked](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amygdala%5Fhijack?ref=gilespcroft.com)’ by our emotions, it's giving us the critical information we need in that moment, as you can see on the right side of the diagram:

😫

Our suffering lets us know that our thinking is ****‘fast and furious’**

It's a signal to disengage. To stop:

- To leave our sleeves [very much rolled down](https://www.gilespcroft.com/a-fact-of-life-that-will-immediately-improve-yours/)
- To *not* send the text or email (or write it but don't send it)
- To keep our mouth shut
- To take some time out, maybe walk round the block and simmer down
- To *not* make any big decisions (or little ones, for that matter)
- To step back from taking action, there and then, as epitomised by the brilliant book title from [Sylvia Boorstein](https://amzn.to/4pRwblX?ref=gilespcroft.com)\*:

> *“Don't just do something, sit there!”*

## It's not nothing

I explored this traffic lights metaphor with a client just the other day. They'd been in a funk and [they spotted the low mood](https://www.gilespcroft.com/getting-low-moods-to-move-on/#client-wins) for what it was, thereby ensuring that:

  1. they didn't do anything daft while they were in it
  2. it moved on through, pretty quickly

And we established together that the ‘Do nothing’ amber light isn't *really* doing nothing. Look what I've written against it:

> INQUIRY / CURIOSITY

So it's all manner of things, some of which I've already mentioned above. But it's also:

- Taking [a deep breath](https://www.gilespcroft.com/practice/#lets-make-it-memorable)
- Accepting that right now, there's [something we're not seeing](https://www.gilespcroft.com/not-knowing/)
- Slowing down enough to hear [what we need in that moment](https://www.gilespcroft.com/think-less-live-more/), to let our frazzled nervous system settle
- Getting a bit excited at the prospect of [how wrong we could be](https://www.gilespcroft.com/in-celebration-of-being-wrong/), and what we're about to learn, when we've got our bearings.

‘Nothing’ includes all manner of things that aren't *send-the-self-righteous-email*, or *just-shout-louder*, **if…** we spot the ***Stop!*** signal for what it is.

## Getting the green light

When we've got some distance from it all, and the strong emotions have passed—as they always do, otherwise you'd still be the angriest you've ever been—you'll find yourself in a different reality entirely – one you couldn't even *conceive* of, when you were in the depths of suffering.

When your thinking state is **‘calm and curious’**, you'll find your [aperture is wide open](https://www.gilespcroft.com/apertures/) to possibility and novelty and perspective, and you know what can happen? 

Well, these sorts of things (I've experienced them all!):

- You'll be amazed that you could even have *considered* sending that angry draft email
- You'll realise the other person's position has merit, and is actually *better* than the one you were convinced was the *only* way
- You'll suddenly realise the totally unforeseen, and yet face-palmingly obvious solution to a problem that seemed intractable just minutes ago
- You'll completely forget what the hell you were worrying about in the first place.

🤷🏻

So the next time you find yourself caught up in a highly emotional situation, trying to work out what to *do*, just remember the traffic lights and ask yourself, lovingly,

> 🛑 *Could this be a stop signal?*

🟠 And just wait to see what happens. 

It could be the pause that makes all the difference.

💚

Giles

\*p.s. attribution for this phrase is murky, so I asked the owner of Quote Investigator to look into it for me properly → [Origin of the phrase](https://quoteinvestigator.com/2026/08/06/sit-there/?ref=gilespcroft.com)

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### Related

[AperturesThis one makes the podium for my top 3 favourite metaphors for life! 📷![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/icon/DR_Lockup-Black-3-84915261-b1a6-40ef-896d-5ab636a167fa.png)The Daily RemindersGiles P Croft![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/f3/9bf3d316-7d32-494b-814f-a7d94d6358c3/content/images/thumbnail/photo-1594783761623-a910ffddede4-1390045d-501d-4dc9-b92f-972702495fec.jpeg)](https://www.gilespcroft.com/apertures/)

Same same, but different.