The Plane Might Crash or Radical Acceptance

Sometimes it seems I live my life at airports and in airplanes.  I travel most weeks for work so I spend a lot of time preparing to travel, waiting in lines, and dashing through the sky in a small metal tube.  Oddly enough, I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about all the things that could go wrong.  I don’t worry about the plane crashing, I don’t worry about the inevitable delays, I don’t worry about the screaming babies, and I don’t worry about being scrunched in a tiny seat.

I don’t worry about any of these things because I know that there is very little or nothing that I can do about any of those things.  I can make sure my carryons don’t have anything that’s disallowed, I can leave early to avoid traffic, and I can double check to make sure I have my passport.  I know in the core of my being that I cannot control the TSA people, the weather, or any of the million other factors that go into making sure I get from Point A to Point B.  And because I know I can’t do anything about it, I don’t worry.

What I’m realizing is that I need to take that radical lesson in accept it and translate it to the rest of my life where I’m under some sort of delusion that I can control people and circumstances.  I can’t control when my company pays me my travel reimbursements, but I spend hours worrying about when I’ll get the money.  I can’t control the fact that a company I’m working with changes course every week.  And I can’t control the fact that the guy I love is currently unavailable.  None of those things are within my purview to change.  In reality, all I can do is accept those facts and move on with my life.

I’m not positive how I’ll do that, but I do know that when I am in a position of trust and acceptance, life flows more smoothly and I waste less energy worrying and more time being in a zen space.  I’m reminded of a time I ended up stuck at the Atlanta Airport for 8 hours and rather than bemoan my fate, I chose to view it as time spent in a beautiful art museum and I wandered all the terminals looking at the art on display.  I found a book and spent time reading and I spent time just being.  It was a true lesson in letting go and just being.

When I’m in that Zen place, I’m better able to cope with problems as well as I’m creative and think in terms of solutions instead of obstacles.  I’m also better able to accept that it isn’t personal.  When my flights get delayed, I realize that the airlines aren’t out to get Raine Shakti, but that things happened beyond anyone’s control.

My challenge to myself right now is to say the serenity prayer every day and actively work on accepting the things I cannot change.