Early this morning I had the opportunity to visit with a son via Skype who is stationed in Kuwait . He is a helicopter pilot in the National Guard. He shared a
highlight from his service this past year when he landed his helicopter on an
aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea .
He was a
bit anxious about the landing since the sea was quite choppy and the ship was
rising up and down. The concern was his landing down as the ship was rising up.
A collision is what he wanted to avoid.
However, he found that if he hovered long enough to be in
sync with the ship and its natural movements, it was a very easy and smooth
transition. His second landing was even better!
I think there is a lesson in that experience for us all. We
may come into contact with another person and find ourselves not in sync with
them. Hovering means being quiet long enough to allow our breath to take us to
this moment in time. Just as this pilot was able to observe the aircraft carrier
while hovering over the ship, he was able to sense how the ship breathes in and
out, up and down, and he finds harmony and avoids any unneeded collisions and
confrontations.
Observing our breath at the tip of our nose allows us to get
out of our mind and not listen to the stories that our mind is constantly
fabricating. Fear has a way of putting us into confrontations where love brings
harmony. When we sense the fear, this is a good time to return to observing our
breathing in and out. After we have done this a few times, we can count on more
happy landings. It is now easy to see how a helicopter can land on a ship even
in stormy weather.
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