WOW! This week I flew a helicopter! (That's me on the left! - Click on the picture to see a larger image.)

I had a fantastic flight with Nick Booth (on the right) from Great Lakes Helicopter. What a thrill!!

There are three main flight controls on a helicopter; the cyclic (stick), the pedals and the collective. Thankfully, when I had the controls, Nick looked after the collective, so I only had to focus on the cyclic and the pedals. In order to actually fly, you need to maintain a careful coordination and balance between all of the flight controls.

When I first took over the controls, I found it incredibly difficult. I had too much left pedal or not enough right cyclic. The nose was too high - the nose dipped too low. At one point, we were even flying sideways for a few seconds! I found that the more I focused on fixing the immediate problem, the more something else would get out of synch and we'd have another problem.

Actually, it reminded me a lot of life. Living our lives requires a careful coordination and balance between all aspects of your life. If you focus too much on immediate problems (eg: work), your life will get out of synch and another area (eg: family) will suffer. Piloting our lives can be just as tricky as piloting a helicopter!

My breakthrough with the helicopter came when I chose to stop focusing on each individual flight control and focus instead on where I wanted to fly. As soon as I relaxed and fixed my eyes on a distant building, I was able to fly quite smoothly towards it and was able to operate all of the controls with much better coordination! Once we reached that building, I picked a new objective and focused on getting there smoothly. Far too quickly, we arrived back at the hangar - safe, sound and thoroughly exhilarated!

So this week I suggest that you look at the "flight path" of your life. Is it as smooth as you'd like it to be, or is it filled with turbulence? Do you feel as though you are flying sideways sometimes? Do you find your focus constantly shifting from one area of your life (eg: work) to another (eg: relationships) to another (eg: physical well-being)?

I recommend that you simply relax, focus on where you want to go and let all of your own "flight controls" fall into synch, supporting you in a smooth flight towards your objective.

Happy Landings!

ENJOY NOW!

When your attention moves into the Now, there is an alertness. It is as if you were waking up from a dream, the dream of thought, the dream of past and future. Such clarity, such simplicity. No room for problem-making. Just this moment as it is.

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

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