I had occasion to fly this week. As a speaker and author I fly quite often, and I always savor the experience. Please don't misunderstand. I can do without the delays, queues, customs and baggage part of the equation. It's the actual act of taking flight that I relish.

In my speaking and writing, a good deal of my message revolves around perspective. I always find that climbing up into the sky does wonders for my perspective.

Take this last flight for instance. It was a cold, dreary day with overcast skies. My departure time was right in the middle of the evening rush of traffic. It was already getting dark as the aircraft pushed back from the gate.

But something magical happened as soon as we left the ground! The first thing I noticed was the traffic. I recognized a street just a few blocks from the airport. It was a river of red brake lights. Then, as quickly as I recognized it, it began to fade into the ever expanding view.

I know from experience that one particular stretch of this street can take 20 or 30 minutes to cover at that time of day. Yet because of my elevated perspective, I could see that entire stretch through the tiny window at my seat! From where I sat, traffic seemed pretty irrelevant. I could see that people WERE getting on the expressway and there appeared to be no accidents.

As the landscape became smaller and smaller, the aircraft entered the cloudbank. I couldn't see anything outside the window. Moments later the cabin was flooded with light from the most glorious sunset! On the ground I had temporarily "forgotten" about the sun that was hidden by the clouds. The moment I managed to rise above the clouds, it truly was a beautiful day!

Isn't that how life is?

Why do we let ourselves get bogged down in the woes of the traffic or the weather? These are just temporary, localized conditions. We just need to remind ourselves to "get above it all", up where it's always a beautiful day!

ENJOY NOW!

Copyright (c) 2003-2004, all rights reserved.
National Library of Canada ISSN 1708-0606

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