Pitts Stop: Learning Patience Through Spiritual Commuting On A Bike

BOSTON (CBS) - Imagine loving your commute to work everyday.

Reverend Laura Everett says she has accomplished just that. Although, it took her car breaking down on Interstate 93 before she decided to stop driving to work.

"My car died. I was just out of seminary and I didn't have a lot of money. I was in a bible study with a bunch of women. And they said we'll teach you how to ride a bicycle," she told WBZ-TV.

And just like that, Everett stopped driving to work.

"It took some time for me to stop looking at my phone or stop looking at my map and get a real sense of how to get around," she said.

While leaning how to navigate Boston's complicated, traffic jammed streets, Everett learned more about herself.

"I have learned patience because of my bicycle; I've learned how to attend to other people's anger and my own anger because of my bicycle," she said.

Everett, who is the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches, decided to share her experiences with other commuters, writing "Holy Spokes: The Search for Urban Spirituality on Two Wheels."

"Not too many people are talking about the meditative benefits of riding a bicycle. Like Muslims who pray 5 times a day or monks who get up and say their prayers, cyclists get up and ride through the city every day. And that shapes us spiritually," she told WBZ.

In "Holy Spokes," Everett pays tribute to several local cyclists killed while riding, something she also does on the streets of Boston through "Ghost Bike Ceremonies." Any time a cyclist is killed while riding, Everett and large groups of cyclists gather around a white bicycle as Everett offers prayers.

"Ghost bike ceremonies are powerful, and we'll keep doing them until cyclists are completely safe," said Everett.

But despite the day to day danger riders face, Everett says there is more beauty in being on your bike.

"We get to be outside near our neighbors, we get to see our city in ways that change us and might even change the world."

The Holy Spokes Book launch party will be held Friday April 21st at Dorchester Brewing Company from 6-to-9 p.m.