I’ve got a stop-over for a few hours in London before I continue on to Prague. My friend Robert Goderre is meeting me somewhere here; we didn’t really plan this part, but I’ve sent him the booking e-mails to print out and we’ve got to end up on the same flight, so I figure we’re okay.
Why does flying give me such terrible, painful gas? Perhaps it’s related to the way a water bottle will crumple as the plane goes up and down, like my innards are trying to balance the pressure. Whatever they’re doing, I wish they wouldn’t. Um, anyway…
I’m really looking forward to this trip. I’ve been doing some head-clearing lately and it’s been very effective; I’m leaving all my friendships and my work in a great space, the romance that started about a month ago is coming along slowly but in a really caring and fun way, and I’m off to meet up with two old friends who are genuinely decent men both completely enamoured of life and committed to living it fully. And I’m going to frickin’ Prague!
Standing in line a few minutes ago, I couldn’t help thinking about the letter I got on Facebook from a high school friend, and looking at where I am now. I would never have imagined then that I would be living in Scotland and travelling to all these European cities. (This is my first trip on my UK passport.) What a gift life is! And how amazing that these incredible experiences are available to common people like me. A quick read through the guidebook I bought makes me feel like this is really going to be my kind of city, and the sights it contains — wow!
Sure, there are low points, but I’ve been doing some reading — I’m always reading some bit of philosophy, little of it particularly new, just restated or reframed, but this part of me seems to need constant transfusions in order to work properly…
So I’ve been reading the work of this woman named Byron Katie, and she does a really lovely job of asking simple questions that undermine those terrible thoughts that rip me out of the present moment and trap me in comparisons with the imaginary parallel universe of how things ‘should’ be. Going through this line of thinking lately, I find myself constantly coming back to where I am, and finding that, you know, everything is grand. Even if there might be concerns in the future, they aren’t here yet, and chances are I don’t know the things I’m imagining I do about how the future will turn out.
Loving What Is is another of Byron Katie’s books, and it’s what I’ve brought along on this trip. Typical airport bookshop book, though I bought it beforehand. Goderre is a total self-help junkie, so I’m sure he’ll have read it, or will as soon as we talk about it. Gord, whom we’re visiting, has also done the Landmark work, and is now a member of The Strategic Coach Program. The nice thing about this is that they’re both such clear-headed, honest, and self-aware people. So not only am I off to this incredible place, I get to spend time with two people I just know will be quality company. (I’m lucky to have a lot of that in my life.)
