Why Your Ego Loves Airline Delays - Christine Kane

There was bad weather today in St. Louis. I know this not because I saw Jim Cantore clinging to a telephone pole while TV cameras filmed tree limbs falling down around him. I know this not because the NOAA Weather Radio sounds-way-too-much-like-Arnold-Schwarzenegger automaton voice told me so.

I know this because I was at the Charlotte Airport waiting to fly to St. Louis, and our flight left about an hour and a half late. I know this because when our plane taxied out onto the runway, it parallel parked (seriously — we backed in) by another plane. I know this because the pilot announced, “Well, folks” …(they always call us folks)… “there’s been a gate stop in St. Louis because of bad weather. We’re not going to be able to leave for another hour.” I know this because we taxied back to the gate and we all got out, and I got some very bad french fries and checked email.

When the pilot made his announcement, a collective groan went up in the plane. The man in front of me said loudly, “Well, THIS is a nightmare!” He pulled out his cell phone and called some poor soul (his wife, I presume) who was probably happily puttering away on a project at the office. He launched in from the minute the call began. He went on for quite some time about how the airlines had screwed up his whole day. He talked loudly. And everyone got an ear full.

I paid attention to the people around me as we de-planed. I listened to what they were saying. I heard the following words and phrases: “Well, this day is ruined.” “They’ve screwed me out of an entire day.” “Ridiculous.” “I hate small planes.” “I hate Charlotte Airport.” “Ridiculous!” “This sucks.” “Five f-ing hours!” “I should’ve just gone to Chicago.” “Ridiculous.”

It made me think of a talk by Eckhart Tolle, author of one of my favorite books, A New Earth. In this talk, he explained how the ego is wildly resistant to the present moment. The ego fights the present moment. It’s always trying to get somewhere else, where things will be better than what’s here now. The ego is actually fed and made larger by our emotional reactions to, say, traffic. Or airline delays. It gets to huff and puff and feel “morally superior to the present moment.” Rage actually feeds this part of you that isn’t at all interested in your highest good. Tolle closes the thought with the ego’s voice saying, “Reality? I’m TOTALLY against it!” (It’s pretty funny really.)

Now, I’m not writing about this so we can all judge the man on the phone or the people who got upset. (Or me, for having french fries.) We’ve all been all of these people. We’ve all experienced frustrating moments in our travels.

But think about it. Travel can really challenge the intent to live in the present moment. The very nature of travel is about getting somewhere else – anywhere but here. My extensive (too extensive, in fact) experience of travel is that most people approach it with this attitude: “Just get me there.”

Here’s the thing though: whether your preferred approach to the present moment comes from Eckhart Tolle or Jack Canfield, the truth is exactly the same…

The point of power is in the present moment.

Here. Now.

Here again. Now again.

The choice of how you live in this moment is yours.

You can fight the moment, the airlines, and the woman behind the ticket counter. You can shout, “Ridiculous!” into your cell phone until the batteries die. You can arrive at the meeting in St. Louis, and take a full fifteen minutes of everyone else’s time telling them about your awful flight.

All of this will be like one of those cheap Asian strip mall All-You-Can-Eat buffets for your ego. It will cram itself full of your indignation. It will get puffy and big, and it will know that it is “right!” And that the delays were “wrong!” And you can find many people who will agree with you that the airlines do, in fact, suck.

Or you can take this challenge: See what it feels like to not do that. See what it feels like to call home when you arrive and simply say, “Yea, there were delays. But I’m here. How are you?”

Don’t do this from a mindset that says, “I am so nice. And so very good and holy. Look at me glow.” That’s just another way to puff up your ego. Do it from a mindset that says, “I’m not going to give any energy to this stuff I can’t control.” Watch the voices inside of you that are furious. Feel the space that arises when you don’t give in to that anxiety or panic or anger at the thunderstorms. Just observe. And breathe a lot.

If you can’t find your way to this place, then at least do yourself one favor.

Watch your language.

Watch out for the following words: Hate, Ruined, Sucks, Should’ve, and (today’s favorite) Ridiculous. Even though you’re traveling, and you don’t feel like you’re somewhere – you are somewhere, and your language still holds great power. Your thoughts do too.

So, if you’ve gotten that far, then you can take it to the next step. Be grateful. Yes, even in frustrating travel moments, there’s much to be grateful for. Be grateful that someone cares enough about your safety not to fly you into a storm. Be grateful that the pilot didn’t make you wait on the runway for 8 hours. Be grateful for your health. Or for Jim Cantore and his telephone poles. Or for airport french fries.

And my all-time favorite: Be grateful that you have some unexpected time to write a blog!

44 COMMENTS ADD A COMMENT
  • David

    Haven’t read through the replies, but I love the story. The words describe how I feel most of the time when it is that I don’t let my Ego’s demands impinge on the real me.

  • Michelle

    Fabulous post with a lot of great information…

    What I take out of initially is the idea of how our language shapes our thoughts..
    and I’m amused and frightened to find myself stuck at the word “de-plane” – imagining “Fantasy Island” and the cast member going “De-plane! De-plane!”

    …Sometimes being in the humor of the moment helps me find the positive side of the “ridiculous” that is much of life! 🙂

  • barb b

    my new travel mantra: I get there when i get there. can’t control the weather or the airline. and what is this eating french fry stuff. I get yogurt, banana and a muffin now. In my last lay-over, I wandered into one of those book store things and found Tolle’s book bought it and then found another that I want to share with y’all. “You can be Happy no matter what” by richard carlson. it is in the same vein as many of the books that christine (didn’t find it on the reading list but it was a qucik look) and readers have shared. I am enjoying it a lot. take care all. barb b

  • Ron

    Beautifully written Christine. And quite comical.
    I do too much business travel and have concluded that the entire process is simply waiting punctuated with movement. Sometimes you wait for big machines to move you – waiting for the plane to take off for instance. Other times you wait for big machines to stop moving you so you can get off – waiting for the plane to land, say. And as you point out, at some point you can realize that travel is just like all of life – you can sit through it passively waiting or you can be actively present. As for me and my ego, I’ve largely reined it in on trips – except when it wants to rant about leg room.

  • Kammie

    Christine,

    I LOVE this post for several reasons…one, we’ve all been there…this fall I was at St. Louis airport (I live in STL) and arrived just as a fire had broken out in a control tower! Wowzers, right? And I was set off to NYC to meet a new potential “friend”…exploring dating…it was interesting to step into an observer role and just watch how people (including myself) handled the situation. We essentailly got no info for the first 2 hours, then were told ALL flights were cxl’d except for 3 (mine was one of them) and that we should get in line for a handprinted boarding pass (the power was out no computers)…after waiting in that line for 45 minutes, we then went thru security by HAND, frisked and bags open to expose everything! Finally arrived at the gate, only to be told the plane had been sent off without us!! WHAT??!! “Sorry but we had NO communication fromt he desk upstairs and didn’t know they were sending more people down here”…ahhhhhh!!! That was just about THE most challneging scenario I’ve been in…but I just kept lauging, cuz what else was I gonna do? FREAK out?

    The second part of your psot that resonates with me is the language factor…LOTS of NASTY-ness was oooozing thru the terminal. Hateful, mean, venomness stuff…it was a freaky enough situation…we certainly didn’t need nasty, oozing language spilling all around us!

    Thanks for sharing your insights about keeping our wits about us and the reminder that thoughts ARE things, and that words can diffuse or ignite a situation.

    Glad you stuck to french fries and not f-bombs!!

    Thanks for keeping it real,
    Kammie
    ps…can’t wait to meet at the SOB Con:)

  • Sunny

    The best part about this post is that we have all been there. It seems like every time I get on an airline there is at least one delay during the trip. Being close ot the aviation industry, I understand about weather and flying not being a very happy mix. I am always amazed by the people who approach it as if the airline/flight attendants/pilots/etc are on a personal mission to make life difficult. I’d rather be alive and waiting that flying and dead. I’ve accepted that most people don’t set out to irritate me. Although I do love a good pity party and to be the center of attention.

    Great post.

  • ChickiePam

    Hi Christine,
    Your response was humerous and was obviously not meant out of meanness. (Do you have a mean bone in your body?!) I had a flash of “Oh my god, how stupid could I be.” and wondered if I would be embarrassed, and immediately decided that I would not. The fact is that I do this kind of thing a lot. I get names mixed up. I recently was introducing various friends to each otherat a party in my home, and two of them were chiropractors so I was using the “Dr” thing, and I introduced the first one just fine (a man) and then when I introduced the woman, I gave her correct first name and then the man’s last name! They laughed about it, but that was really a silly thing to do, especially since the woman is MY chiropractor!

    There are just people like me on the face of the earth who engage their mouth (or fingers on the keyboard in this case) prior to engaging their brain. I think I’ve had so much happen in my life that I have too many background programs running so that I don’t pay close enough attention. One of the things I’m doing is taking action to release those programs and staying more present. I used to be more critical of myself for being where I am, but based on my life experiences (yes, I know that I’m the magnet who drew them to me on the one hand, and that someone’s death is about them and not me on the other hand) it’s a miracle that I’m still walking this earth. So I’ve lightened up on myself. It is what it is, and it’s getting better all the time. That’s my tale and I’m sticking to it.

    Have fun on your tour!
    Pam

  • Christine Kane

    Pam! I totally didn’t mean to even hint at embarrassing you! I just cracked up at the vision of Eckhart Tolle (who’s kind of Yoda-ish) being “extreme.” 🙂 I apologize if I wrote that in haste! (even though i know you’re not easily embarrassed and that you said you weren’t… i don’t like that it even appeared like I was aiming that at you.)

  • ChickiePam

    Well, so, I could waste some time feeling embarrassed, but I’m not! Ha! I can’t even blame it on being blonde or dumb, cuz I haven’t been blonde since my 30’s and these days my hair is at least half gray and I’m a pretty smart cookie. I’ll just go and get the book next time so I get the author right. (They were both “T” names, ya know? I know that one was a first name and the other was a last name.) But I will get A New Earth and read it. I have 4-5 books in front of it, but I read quickly.

    I never get bored. There’s always something to crochet, read, clean up, craft, figure out, plant, pet, etc at my house.

    Pam

  • Chrissie Bonanni :)

    SO SO true. I WAS this guy for 2 years when I hauled ass 40 miles each direction from my home to the Baylin offices in Doylestown PA! A few weeks ago Marc and I were supposed to have a breakfast meeting and wouldn’t you know it – huge accident on the main artery from here to there (overturned tractor trailer) and so that highway was a mess and all the back roads were a mess. I went 5 mi. in 30 min. I felt the tears creep in (I was also PMSed), frustration because of course I wanted to be there and see everyone and WHY did this have to happen today?! And then went – STOP. You have no control over this. You don’t work there anymore, there’s no need to forge ahead, to be upset and angry and bitter, to feed my ego for no real purpose. I have more commuter stories than most people my age and some are funny, but launching into the drama of it all is so old after a while. So for the first time ever I simply stopped. Pulled over, called him, told him it wasn’t happening, and took refuge at the local Starbucks and waited out the traffic jam. I wrote about it in my blog too! I mean, sure we all want to “just get there” but sometimes things aren’t meant to be. Oasis, another favorite band of mine, had scribbled across an album cover many moons back – BE HERE NOW. I’ve said it over and over again over the years. It can be challenging to simply be in the present moment.

  • Christine Kane

    Hi everyone! I was in the deep tunnels of a large performing arts center all day yesterday with no internet connection (which is a good thing). I don’t have time to reply to everything here, as I am about to get on a tour bus and ride for 7 hours…

    Stacey – i just plain old love byron katie’s “is it true?” question. that pretty much kicks my butt every time!

    hotlanta – so, is it that you have quite the little crush on jim cantore?

    Pam, “Extreme Sprituality” is by Tolly Burkan, not Eckhart Tolle. I had to look that up because I laughed out loud at the possibility of Eckhart Tolle writing a book called “Extreme” Anything! (It’d be like the Dalai Lama writing a book about how to get people to buy your products!) I HIGHLY recommend A New Earth. And Bruce sounds like he was quite the amazing man…

    Cara – you knitters and crochet-ers have the right idea! thanks for the note!

  • Cara

    This is my first comment to your wonderful blog, and I just wanted to say that I loved this post! I never understood why people complained so much about a delay they can’t control. My secret for staying calm? I always bring my knitting, my iPod and a good book when I travel. A two hour delay means I get to finish several more inches on my sweater, knitting in uninterrupted bliss, listening to my favorite music. As any busy person knows, blocks of time like this are simply luxurious and truly a blessing.

  • tammy vitale

    omg Byron Katie was in Asheville? I would have driven back and camped out. I guess I should get on her website and start paying attention.

    Once I was in Colorado where the weather changes a lot. Actually I was in a place about an hour away. Warm the day before leaving. Horizontal blizzard the day of. So I got to the airport late. Had scared myself still driving on the highway in light snow (I watched the weather channel and saw the opening come and went flying out the door and down the road), so there was nothing that was going to upset me when I got there. Not the “are you sure you aren’t a terrorist” look, and tearing my luggage apart and take my shoes off at the gate. They got me on the very last seat in a plane and I watched a great movie and was home 1/2 hour late (shorter stopover than the original). And then the time I was coming home from California and best friend and I saw the weather channel predicting a snow storm in Denver (again) where I was supposed to switch and her husband, who is a regular flyer, got on the phone and got me through Chicago.
    When I fly I always try to leave lots of time around departure and arrivals so I don’t have to stress about it. Because I’d rather look out the window at the clouds.
    But this is abgreat [post for me driving down the road on any given day.

  • ChickiePam

    I have lived most of my life “doing” or “going”, and with not much time spent with “being”. And then I met the love of the first half of my life, Bruce. He rode a Harley. He would ride 2 hours to have lunch. He rode for the joy of riding. And his favorite t-shirt was this: It’s not the destination. It’s the journey. I learned a lot from him. Now I spend some time each day just being.

    And I’ll go order Eckhart Tolle already! I have his book, Extreme Spirituality, which I read before I walked on fire. I want an Ipod for my birthday this year, so maybe I’ll even get the book on CD so I can listen often. I’m listening to the Abraham-Hicks CD’s now….over and over again.

    Have a fun concert!
    Pam

  • Petra

    What a great reminder that “now” is the only time we really have. And that someone cares enough about my safety to fly only in the right conditions. Note to self, though: always make sure to have a good book, just in case I’m blessed with this extra time!

    It’s also amazing to me that I spend SO MUCH time and energy on ruminations about the past and worries or fantasies about the future. I feel like I’m giving away my time to some sort of psychic demon. But maybe I do it out of laziness or habit. It can be easier fall into that Rumination Rut than to be grateful for the gifts of the now.

  • Gretchen Cawthon

    Great post, Christine. I always think of these moments as “gifts of time,” pull a good book out of my bag and enjoy the free time. Now that I think about it, I guess I actually like traveling because I can read or (if I have to drive) reacquaint myself with CD’s that I haven’t listened to for a while. Man, life is just too short to get all stressed out like that!

  • Colin

    If a pilot has to decide whether to fly through a dangerous storm, I sure hope they are “right” whether they are happy or not. Ok…ok…just having a little fun here.

  • Caren

    There’s a difference, for me, between “sitting with” and “focusing on”. In the meditation practice I have, I can sit with a feeling and watch all the thoughts about that feeling float by. If I’m focusing on a feeling, that usually means I’m *thinking* about it, and telling myself “the story” over and over again. “Sitting with” is healing; “focusing on” is not. In “sitting with”, I feel the raw feeling itself, and sometimes get in touch with even deeper stories I have about it, that I was unaware of. I can feel the feeling *itself*, feel how it feels in my body (without thinking about that!), and find ways to release it. Which sometimes means many tears, sometimes means laughing ’til I cry, sometimes means just sitting, breathing.

  • Hotlanta

    Traveling is not about getting where you’re going for me. It’s about being out of reach by cell phones. It’s about looking out of my window and being with my thoughts. I guess the introvert in me loves being all alone in the company of strangers. And while I sometimes want nothing more than to be where I’m headed, sometimes we need to be forced to sit and wait. It’s good for you, like green beans. So eat up and chill out.

    And I AM grateful for Jim Cantore (and to you for the link)!

  • Stacey

    Hello, Christine!

    I am *loving* Byron Katie’s Loving What Is and A Thousand Words for Joy. She came to Asheville last week and a friend invited me but I missed it because the event was sold out by the time I got to Malaprops. I had never read anything by her and I thought, “If this is sold out in Asheville, I want to know more about it.” So I got Loving What Is and read it almost overnight. Then I downloaded the audible Thousand Words. So amazing. She says insanity is wanting anything other than what is. How do you know you are supposed to be on that plane for hours? You are. To argue with reality is a recipe for frustration, sadness and anger. Katie says she is a “lover of what is” not because she is a spiritual person, but because she doesn’t want to be in pain. I love it. I love that you don’t need anything from anyone to be happy with what it – all you need is to investigate the thoughts that are creating the suffering. She gives you the questions and the “turn around” to discover what it is that is blocking you from being here now. So simple. So perfect. Love it!

  • Christine Kane

    Hi Lauren, Radical Acceptance is a good book. I also love the way Gangaji presents the idea of “story.” (and of course, eckhart’s as well.) Thanks for all of your insights!

    Thanks Lucimama! I’ve listened to A new EArth many times, and I’m still getting things from each listen. (even the ones when I doze off!) Thanks to you for sharing your own airport experience.

    Thanks Joy! I havent’ seen Oprah in forever. But it sounds like a good series.

    Hey Dave! That commuting thing is definitely a great place to begin practicing this stuff. (It’s also good for audiobooks – like A New Earth! 🙂 ) Thanks for the note, and I’m glad this got you thinking…

    Caren, I hope the sitting with feelings worked. Sometimes for me, the “focusing on feelings” thing just isn’t the right thing. That makes them get bigger! (unless of course, i can detach the story from them. then they go away.) i like the charlotte airport a LOT.

    fivecats, you’re right about that!

    Derek, hmmm…sounds like you were just being in the moment and the good stuff flowed in. That’s how it works. I LOVE getting in first class! (and on Sept 10, 2001 I was on the very last flight that made it out of atlanta into laguardia.)

  • Derek

    Thanks for a great post. I can relate a travel story where I how I reacted to the situation directly impacted the outcome. I was flying from of Madison, WI to Seattle connecting in Minneapolis. I got up fairly early and when I arrived at the airport, the line to check in to Northwest was absurdly long (I lived in Madison at the time and flew out of the airport quite often – the length of this line was an anomoly). It turned out the self-service terminals were down and everyone had to go to the desk. As I stood in line, I knew I was probably going to miss my flight – waits at this airport generally were of the 30min nature on a bad day, not the 90 it took me to get to the desk.

    There was a middle aged couple ahead of me who upon arriving at the desk, laid into the poor service agent. They were on my flight and by spending so much time in line, had missed the flight, “Put us on on the next flight!!!” “I’m sorry, all other flights to Minneapolis for the day were full.” Loud arguing pursued. How could they possibly have made the flight? They’d stood in line an hour and half! Yell! Yell! Yell! The agent finally calmly looked at them and said, “We open at 4am. Next.”

    Seeing this, I figured my chances were slim to none of making it to Seattle that day. I got to the counter and said, “I just need to get to Seattle.” Some tapping on the terminal ensued, and in no time I had two boarding passes. Not only that, while waiting for my connecting flight in Minneapolis I looked at my second boarding pass to know when I’d be getting on and my seat number? 2A. He’d bumped my up to first class.

    As you note, I think there is a lot much negative energy in travel. So much so, that the law of attraction is accelerated if you are in a negative mindset. The universe doesn’t have to work hard to answer your negative thoughts.

    BTW – I remember the date the above flight to Seattle happened and will never forget it. It was September 10, 2001. If I’d been put on a flight the next day, who knows where I’d have ended up. Probably not Seattle since all flights the next morning were diverted.

  • fivecats

    Remember the Dam Ras book/saying “Be Here Now”?

    My theory is that one of the biggest blocks to Being Here Now is the cellphone.

  • Caren

    Thanks, Christine. I kinda like the Charlotte airport (as far as airports go) and was disappointed when they limited the inside area to ticket holders only. I used to love to go watch people.

    One of the first books I read after my spiritual awakening was Be Here Now, by Ram Dass. It totally opened me up, and was a perfect fit for where I was in my life. Just that phrase “Be Here Now” is a nice reminder for me to be here. Now. lol It’s a little more difficult when in the here and now, I’m feeling really hopeless that anything will change, and overwhelmed with the number of years that I’ve tried. Tara Brach’s book mentioned above was definitely helpful to me in terms of accepting myself in the moment, feeling what I’m feeling, as was Pema Chodron’s The Places that Scare You. But I’m *tired* of feeling this way! Where do you go when you know that doughnuts won’t work any more? I know I know the answer (been here many times) but I forget.

    Sorry – when I settled into the moment after reading your post, all these *feelings* came up! Just yesterday, I was telling a lady I sponsor to try to be grateful for those feelings –it means you’re alive! Which, for many of the women I work with (and myself), is a bit of a miracle. OK – let me go sit with all this. Currently grateful for my meditation practice. Oh, yeah – gratitude list. I could start there….

  • Dave Amphlett’s Blog

    I commute at least 1 hour each way on the train 5 days a week. The air is palpable with what you describe. If everything goes smoothly everyone’s still anoyed that they had to even travel in the first place. I have had occasional moments of clarity during this ritual, and your blog has helped me see why.

    With traveling to or from somewhere on a regular basis, especially work, it all becomes about the destination, not the journey.

    In hindsight it’s sad to think I’ve been wishing away 2 hours of my life every day. If I have to do the travel to do everything else I want to in my life, then there’s really no point in suffering it. I may as well experience it and find something to love about it.

    Nice idea. Not so easy to implement – but it’s gotta be worth trying!

    Thank you for consistently giving me something interesting to think about – it’s appreciated.

  • Joy Langtry

    Christine, that was a great post. I especially enjoyed the Jim Cantore image – isn’t he just the “Where’s Waldo” of weather trauma?!?! 🙂

    I’m reminded of Abe-Hicks stories as well as yesterday’s episode of Oprah (she’s re-running her road trip with Gayle), and how a wrong turn can so often lead us to a delightful surprise (Oprah & Gayle found Cowboys).

    I’ve found a really good exercise is to ask myself, “What is the blessing in this experience?” and be open to finding the answer. We can turn almost any challenge into an adventure!

    Thanks so much for the reminder of this.

  • Lucimama

    I’ve been using my iPod to listen to an audio version of A New World for the last few weeks, often plugging in when I’m insomniac and relaxing back into sleep with his words. I hope my sleeping self is absorbing these messages equal to or better than my waking self.

    Ahh, yes, and there’s also gratitude to be given for NOT flying in despite the weather, NOT having to have a planeful of frightened people, NOT having (worst-case scenario) a really really ugly ending to the flight. Yeppers, I’d pick sitting in a safe, relatively comfortable airport several hundred miles away, hands down.

    One of my fondest memories with my now-husband was when our flight to New Orleans was delayed five hours. We hung out in the Houston airport and enjoyed our time together. So what if we were in an airport and not already at our weekend destination? We used the time well, and that’s the best definition of success, right?

    Thanks, as always, for reminders.

  • Lauren Muney

    That’s Buddhism in action! I’ve been practicing this for a while… sometimes. Another favorite writer of mine, Tara Brach (her book is “Radical Acceptance”, about the same subject), talks about us loving ‘the story’ we are telling: we get out of the moment we are experiencing because we are so into ‘the story’ (ie: the late plane) when actually the reality is the EXACT moment we are waiting, or traveling, or making greetings through the door. There is so much ‘mental space’ when we drop the story! All of a sudden, there we are dealing with (or enjoying) the situation at hand, not our complaints of the situation that PASSED ALREADY (the late plane).

    It’s not about ‘the story’. Everyone has one for everything. We always have this running commentary in our minds about everything; it creates a story, or judgement, or something we keep telling ourselves. Most people don’t even realize they are doing it – I teach my clients mindfulness so they start their awareness process. So when we can understand we are doing that story, we actually have the possibility of leaving that story: get into the reality of the moment. As another writer (Wendy Palmer, “The Practice of Freedom”) says, “We can get curious about what’s happening at this moment”.

  • Christine Kane

    Hi Raymond, I love the “Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy?” question. It’s a good one. And there’s many ways to use it! (and don’t give me too much credit here…I’ve had many a bad travel moment where I definitely haven’t been IN the moment! I’ve gotten much better though.) Thanks for the note!

    AMDN, Try “segment intending” too. That’s a good thing to do before a trip. Start off in a place of creating a good time!

    Hi Elaine, I hope your journey is wonderful! Thanks for the note!

    Thanks Anne! It’s funny about that DC thing. I have family up there, and on the phone even THEY were complaining about the awful airline travel…and they were all sitting safely in their homes! 🙂

  • Anne

    Love this post Christine!
    I have been flying all over the place lately, and I have noticed lots of loud people complaining about a lot of travel-related things. At one stage, I was flying up the East Coast and loving the sunset views from 30,000 ft and I looked inside the plane and not one other person was looking out the window……why? Travel can certainly be a little frustrating, but I believe the travel is part of the fun of going somewhere else….if we could click our fingers and just be at our destination, traveling wouldn’t be so special.
    I got stuck in DC a few weeks ago because of snow and had to stay an extra night….as did many other people. For me to see DC in the snow was special and unexpected, and I got to hang out with my sister, who I wouldn’t have otherwise seen on this business trip. I chuckled when I saw that my flight was canceled despite a little pang of wanting to be home…..it was a much nicer experience than getting mad and blaming….something. And when I got back to the office, it seemed like everyone wanted to talk to me about how awful travel is and don’t you just hate it when you get stuck, and then they would tell me some perceived horror story about getting stranded somewhere. It was the first time that I actively said – actually no, it was fine. It felt really good to relish the experience….

  • Elaine

    Thank you for this…the timing is perfect… I’ve just read it 1hr before I’m travelling to the airport to fly home… The flight was delayed 2hrs on the way out and then struck by lightening as we landed!!! (a little clenchy!!!)… So my mindset was already forming this could be a ‘difficult journey…as it was last time’…

    I’m now ‘feeling the space’ and my intention for this trip is not to give any energy to the stuff I can’t control!

    Have a great concert!!!

    E

  • AuthorMomDogNut

    Love Eckert Tolle. And as I prepare for a trip tomorrow, this couldn’t be a more timely reminder…

  • Raymond Salas

    Christine,

    Thanks for the great reminders in what could be perceived by many to be a challenging situation (especially to our egos). It reminds me of the question: Do you want to be right or happy? You looked for the opportunity and choose to be happy. We always have the power to choose our response. Stress is always caused by our inability to accept the present moment fully. You embraced it and found gratitude and peace. How cool is that?!