Episode 74 - The Traffic Stop That Changed Your Life

Seeing a police car on the highway can make your heart drop, even when you’ve done nothing wrong. That tiny wave of panic is the doorway to a much bigger question: what if life keeps handing us “traffic stops” as a form of loving accountability, not punishment?

We walk through a practical, Torah-rooted way to handle those moments with trust in God instead of anger. I share the exact kind of quick prayer you can say before the officer reaches your window, and why committing to real introspection matters more than trying to win the exchange. We also talk about tzedakah and how choosing to give, rather than resent, can turn a stressful encounter into a clear spiritual reset. The goal isn’t to be passive. It’s to be purposeful: calm your nervous system, check your actions, and leave the situation better than you entered it.

From there, we contrast humility with ego using a story of a businessman who explodes during a routine stop and ends up in cuffs. It’s uncomfortable to watch because it’s familiar: pride escalates, authority pushes back, and a small problem becomes a costly one. We connect that to everyday pressure points like customer service, the tax man, and the moments that tempt us to attack, belittle, or prove ourselves.

Finally, we lay out a model for spiritual growth that’s as concrete as the gym: God raises the difficulty level step by step until you can handle “level ten,” then the tests shift, often straight to the wallet. If you want stronger faith, better emotional control, and a mindset that makes daily life feel lighter, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review with the line that hit you hardest.

Transcript

Welcome And Morning Motivation

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Welcome to the Trust Factor Podcast, the only podcast that guarantees your success when you implement its divine age old teachings. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to another episode of the Trust Factor Podcast. Thank you for joining. I really mean that. It's amazing that you could tune in. If you're doing this every morning on your way to work, then you're killing it. You're crushing life, my friends. This is the stuff that separates the boys from the men, the girls from the women. This is the thing that takes your life to a whole other level, and very, very few people do it, and you are one of those who are. So congratulations. Keep up to good work. Give yourself a pat on the back. We're continuing with the story of the iron jawed state trooper or OPP officer. Whatever you prefer. You got pulled over. There are so many life lessons to learn from just that exchange. As common as that occurrence may be, some of us have been pulled over often, and others not so often. But that occurrence is quite common. We see police all over the place. And you know, you don't even have to be pulled over. Just think about the times where you're driving on the highway and you see a speed trap and you think to yourself, Whew, thank God, I wasn't going too fast. Your heart drops just for a split second, even though you know you're in the right. You're driving the speed limit, everything is going well, but you see that police officer just sitting there waiting to nab somebody, and you have a split second momentary feeling of angst. Uh-oh. You know, troubles abound. Not necessarily, but just the fact that you saw them makes you do an accounting, a quick one. It happens in milliseconds, but it just rushes through your head really quick. Uh-oh, police officer, uh-oh, the law, uh-oh, accountability, uh-oh. Did I do my inventory? Did I do something wrong? Even though you didn't. If we walk through life with that, but not in the way where we're scared of a police officer, not in the way that we're scared that there's going to be consequences, but in a way that we understand that these tribulations come from our creator who wants to keep us in check. He wants to make sure that we're actually maximizing our life, that we're doing good, and that we're not doing bad. Sometimes we're doing bad, we don't even realize it. And so he's there to constantly remind us. That's why he sends us these state troopers. So let's get back into the story. He gives us an unbelievable way to address this circumstance. And I've done this before personally, and my wife has done this before personally, and I know other people who've done it, and it works. Trust me, here's how it goes. Before the police officer steps up to your car, while he's still in his car, while you're still pulling over, it's an immediate discussion with your creator. God, I don't know what's going on right now. I'm not sure why you sent this guy to pull me over. But whatever it is that I did, I'm going to figure it out. I don't want this police officer or any other outside force to be the benefactor of my hard-earned money. I would much rather give whatever amount I'm supposed to give to charity, to stakka, to an organization that can use it and will use it for the right purposes. So please, Hashem, I'm going to do some introspection right now. I'm going to figure out what's going on and why you sent me this police officer. And I'm going to put mechanisms in place to make sure that I correct. And the money that I was supposed to give to this police officer in the form of a ticket, I'm going to make sure to give it to another organization that's going to do well with it. That's it. Use those words or something similar to that. And what you will see is that that transaction will end positively. You will get off with a warning at the very best. At least you'll get off with a small ticket. And that small ticket, the way that you should think about that small ticket that you got from that police officer is that it is a drop in the bucket in terms of what you owe and what you should be paying for the things that you've done. It is a tap on the wrist, not even a slap. It's a tap on the wrist to say, look, you deserve much worse than this. Much worse. And we all do. We all do because we're all guilty of doing things that we shouldn't do throughout the day. And God, in his love for you, sends somebody along, the angst that it caused you, your heart to drop, you begin to sweat, your face gets flushed, all these different things happen. All that is part of the suffering. All of that is part of you atoning. That's why he sent them there. That panic that sets in is part of the tribulation. That's you paying a bill, a very, very big bill. And on top of that, if he gives you a ticket, let's say he gives you a$300 ticket, you should have paid a lot more.$3,000,$30,000. That's what you should have paid at the very least. And you're getting away with$300? It's not even a slap on the wrist, it's a joke. But the whole scenario was set up. That whole exchange was constructed, signed off on, and sent by your loving creator in order for you to benefit, in order for you to gain. When you look at life like that, when you think of your life in those terms, that this cop just did you a favor. This state trooper was sent as an emissary from your loving father to say, he said you're doing something wrong. He sent me to straighten you out, figure it out, get your act together, my boy. Here's a$300 ticket. I'm supposed to be giving you a$30,000 ticket. You're getting a$300 ticket today. You should be grateful. Move on. When you approach life with that perspective in any situation, this is just one. But we can extrapolate the occurrences that happen with this traffic stop into a million different scenarios that happen to us on a daily basis throughout our lifetimes. When you extrapolate it and you put it into that context for all these situations, you roll through life. Nothing bothers you, nothing gets under your skin. You have a smile on your face. It's easy to put a smile on your face. You don't have to force it, you don't have to work hard because things just make sense. Do you know when they don't make sense? When you think of that video that I watched the other day, an older Italian gentleman, probably 70 years old, gets pulled over for what must be the first time in his life. We're not talking about a millennial over here or a Gen Zer. We're talking about a 70-year-old. Okay? And this guy gets pulled over and immediately gets out of the car and starts dictating to the police officer. This is my house. What are you doing pulling me over over here? I own this property. I own that property and I own this property. And he starts laying into the police, and the police officer is telling him, sir, just get back in your car. It's a simple traffic stop. Just get back in your car and we'll figure this all out. And the man does not listen. Like the police officer is not even speaking. And he's continuing and he's approaching the police officer and he's starting to get upset. Do you know who I am? I know the chief of police. I'm going to call him now. He tries to call the chief of the police. The police officer gets upset. He takes the phone out of the guy's hand. The guy gets irate. Then the cop ends up pulling him out of the car. The guy is screaming and yelling. You know his head is going to explode. Now, what is he saying? I have a heart condition. You're going to give me a heart attack. The police officer is doing nothing but trying to do his job. And this guy is so off the handle. He is so irate that he can't compose himself even for a second. And he ends up in the backseat of a cruiser, handcuffed on his way to jail. And do you think that stops him? In the backseat of the car. He's whining and screaming and yelling like a five-year-old having a tantrum. This is a 70-year-old man, a businessman. You understand? It's shocking to see that somebody could be like this at the age of 70. Have you not learned anything? You lived 70 years on this planet? Have you not had enough interactions with people to understand that there's a right way and a wrong way to approach these things, especially individuals in positions of authority? They have no clue. Do you know how many people roll through life like this? 70 years old. They're on their last legs. 80 years old, King Solomon says. If you have strength, if you're strong, he gives you 80 years of useful life. Otherwise, it's 70 years of useful life. This guy's used up all of his credits. He's done his useful life, has been spent, and he hasn't figured out a basic principle that you do not go head to head with a state trooper. I mean, is it rocket science? Clearly not, but it just goes to show you that when you spend 70 years of your life living by secular standards, listening to the masses, feeling like it's all about you, Kohiva Otsumiyadi, Asalita Khailaze, it was my strength and it was my wisdom, it was my prowess, it was my genius, it was my investment decision. I own this property, I own that property. When you roll through life like you own the world, you only find yourself in hot water. That's exactly what happened here. This guy's ego was so big, the level of arrogance was off the charts. And that's why a simple traffic stop that should have just resulted in a simple ticket, or maybe he even would have gotten let go. The cop may have even said, have a great day, sir. It's your lucky day. But he didn't even give the cop a chance to even say one word. Immediately he flew off the handle. That's obviously the opposite extreme of the example that we're talking about over here. Again, you can take that scenario and apply it to so many different challenges in life. You get a phone call from the tax man and you go on the offense. You start ripping into them, belittling them. I'll tell you, who are you, how much do you make, I make 10 times what you. There are crazy people in the world who speak like this to other individuals. And you know what? It's not so much they're crazy, as much as they haven't learned basic principles like the ones that we're going through in this book. You might they may sound crazy, they may look crazy, but they could be very good people, just very misguided. That's it. Misguided individuals who haven't taken the time to sit down and learn these basic precepts that were given to us by the creator of the world to make his life better. And as a result, he suffers. They're always on the attack. And like I said a few weeks ago or even a week ago, I was guilty of the same thing. That's how I know. That's how I can share this information, and that's why it's making sense to you. Because I'm also a human being. And 10 years ago or 20 years ago, I would have done similar things, maybe not to that extent. Never would have challenged a police officer that way. But remember my story that I gave you about my hardware experience. I easily would have gone off the handle. I know it. I would have been so frustrated with the salesperson that I would have said to them, How come, aren't you the biggest hardware store in the country? How is it possible that you don't have just a basic accessory that everybody has? You should have dozen and you don't know what I'm talking about? Are you okay? How long have you been in this business for? I could have gone, and 20 years ago, I may have gone in that direction. But as you grow and as you learn, and as you study God's Torah, and as you understand that everything is perfect and everything is a test, and everything is designed for you to succeed and to elevate and to become the best version of you, then you start to accept these as loving kindness. You start to understand that these exchanges, the more frustrating they have the potential to be, the more beneficial they are to you because it's him turning up the temperature. Okay, you passed. Now I turn up the temperature. Let's see how you do. Wow, you passed again. I'm gonna turn up that temperature. It's the same thing like going to the gym. I get into the gym after having not been in the gym for years. I don't put on 10 plates. I start off with the bar. The bar weighs, I don't know, 40, 45 pounds. That's what I start with. I don't even put a plate on the bar. And then as I become used to the bar and it's easy for me, I put on a five-pound plate on either side. 10 pounds, that's huge, right? I just increased it by 20% in a second, right? And now I get accustomed to that. Okay, I'm doing good. I'm growing, I'm getting stronger. It's easy for me. I'm gonna put on another 10 pounds, right? And slowly but surely you increase. And what does that do? It allows you to develop your muscles, it allows you to grow, it allows you to become healthier and stronger and better. It's the same thing. God puts you in a transaction with an individual, it's a light transaction, not a lot of frustration. Let's see how you do. You nailed it, good for you. Crank it up. Notch two, another interaction. How'd you do? Did good, wonderful, notch three, and so on and so forth. That, my friends, is the picture of life. Now, once you've gotten to the point where you've maxed out the dial, can't go. There's no more past 10. I've challenged you past 10 on your level of frustration with somebody at the hardware store. That test is done. It's done. You're never going to get upset because he's taken you to the ultimate level. He's taking you to the point where most people would pull their hair out of their heads and you've nailed it. So why would you fail tomorrow? It doesn't make sense. You've already maxed out, you've already been faced with the most difficult challenge in that department and you've overcome it. Why would I continue to test you where you've already passed at the highest level? I don't. So now the focus shifts. Let's look at your finances. How are you doing with finances? Oh, touchy subject. Don't go there. I can deal with crazy people in the stores, I can deal with flat tires, I can deal with people coming at me, all kinds of claims, I can deal with other people's aggressions. I could do all that stuff. I've passed those tests. But now you want to hit my pocketbook. Now you want to hit my wallet. I don't get past one on the dial. I don't get past one. If you don't get past one on that dial, then guess what happens? You will be fighting that until you can get to 10. And that may take you a lifetime and you may never do it. Maybe something that you need to complete when you come back on the next go. But God forbid that should happen. Because all of us are listening to this podcast and all of us are growing, and we're all on a path of success. And because of that, we're all going to pass these tests and we'll never have to come back. We'll continue to stay in a world that is all true and all pure and all good. Have an amazing day. Thank you for spending time with us on the Trust Factor Podcast. If you've heard something today that moved you, save this episode and share it with someone who might need to hear it. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss upcoming conversations that challenge, empower, and uplift. And if you're on social media, connect with us. Leave your thoughts. Drop a quote that resonated with you. Hashtag the TrustFactor Podcast. Until next time, keep growing in your trust and keep living with purpose. I'm Jesse Revivo, and this has been the Trust Factor Podcast. Thanks for listening.