Ok, so I’m taking a small, insignificant example and using it to highlight a principle.  Bear with me, folks 😉

On the second leg of my journey from Columbus Ohio to Palm Springs California on Monday night, I boarded a “puddle jumper” plane in Phoenix. My appropriately sized carry-on was too big to bring aboard, though, and I was told to check it at the door.  I removed my computer before handing my bag to the attendant.  I climbed the staircase, found my seat, put my laptop in the seat pocket in front of me, settled in, and buckled up.  The flight was a mere 45 minute jaunt across the desert.  I basically meditated/zoned out for the duration of the flight.

I welcomed the smooth landing (I often find myself on dangerous, bumpy, near death experience type air journeys) and the swift deplaning of all passengers.  Midflight, I noticed that Dr Jen Rada, D.O., was seated in front of me.  Therefore, I was eager to talk to her when we disembarked.  As we both waited for our carry-on’s planeside, we chatted.  We walked to bagged claim, I retrieved my suitcase, then we went curbside to await our Hyatt shuttle.  The temperate air felt wonderful! I was content, calm, and eager for the next few days with James Malinchak’s VIP Mastermind Group Sessions as well as my one-on-one session with the chief himself.

A sweet Cadillac town-car arrived like a chariot; a pleasant surprise since we both expected an 18-pac van.  The hotel employee placed our bags in the trunk and we climbed into the vehicle and onto the luxurious leather seats.

I felt like I was missing something.

“Oh my gosh! I left my computer on the plane!”  I practically laugh-shouted to Jen.  In that instant, no joke, I consciously thought, “I could really freak out about this right now.”  I could’ve panicked over the information stored on the machine that would be lost forever.  I could’ve panicked about the financial burden I’d bare.  I could’ve been pissed at myself for being forgetful.  Instead, I chose to stay calm.  I laughed, slapped my knee, jumped out of the car, and jogged back inside.  The first counter I visited was staffed by people who provided no assistance.  It was then I thought, “Ok, my laptop may really be gone.  But you know what, oh well, I really can’t do anything about it now.” But I figured there had to be another desk I could try first before resolving myself to the loss.  I jogged down the airport corridor to the USAirways ticketing counter.  A young man was hauling bags through a door there.

“Hey, bud, tell me you have a computer there somewhere!”  I grinned and galloped toward him.

He returned my expression and held up the black, Dell rectangle like Mufasa held Simba in the Lion King.

“Whoo hoo! You’re the man, dude!!  Thank you so much!” I high-fived him.  He chuckled.  “You rock!”

I practically skipped out the door to find the car and my friend.  “Got it!” I announced as I settled in a second time.

I gotta give a shout out to Steve Ross and his kick-a$s book, Happy Yoga.  I finished reading it that night during my travels.  I credit my non-stressed state of mind to the lessons I absorbed while reading his manuscript.  “In any given moment there are several levels from which you can be aware of your experience.  It’s the difference between being consumed by a situation and being able to function in your situation while maintaining awareness of the bigger picture. And in that awareness is freedom – the freedom to be without drama and the freedom to be without the suffering that always goes with it.” —“Stress and worry come from the ego-mind’s desire to organize, categorize, and control the outside world.  It’s not the world, it’s the thinking that creates the issue.”  So true, man, so true 😉