Another part is that when you're not a very experienced cyclist you tend to want to model everything around you to avoid hitting something or being hit, whereas you just have to trust people around you to (for the most part) being just as happy not to hit you. So focus on what's ahead of you and whose paths will intersect with yours as long as you are going in a straight line and really start to worry about the rest when you are sharply changing direction. Avoid others first and foremost by speeding up or slowing down rather than by changing direction, but do so gradually, not abruptly. Signal your intent.
This is how I teach my kids and they tend to do very well in traffic and on their traffic exams.
I drove a 107cc moped/motorbike in Vietnam for 3 weeks, something like 1500km. Driving was like dancing. Or, imagine what driving would be like if everyone knew that their own and everyone else's brakes didn't work. :)
Little old ladies would cross the highway, just moving at a predictable constant velocity and traffic would flow around them. Everything was laminar.
This is how I teach my kids and they tend to do very well in traffic and on their traffic exams.