I arrived in China last night around 9PM Beijing time, which is about 3AM Honolulu time on a different day . The travel was OK. The flight was smooth, but my thoughts were stormy. I mostly wrote in my journal. At the Honolulu airport I watched part of ‘The Fountain.' It was beautiful and intriguing, but I was distracted. Dissecting slivers of conversation and trying to piece together a puzzle that’s already assembled according to someone else's design. It seemed an ideal day to leave the country.
I ended up snagging a whole row of seats on the Honolulu to Japan flight and falling asleep only to dream about rain, helmets, and crocodiles in feather boas. When I woke up, I peeked through the seats in front of me and read over a man's shoulder. He was reading a book called The Four Agreements and marking it up with a red pen. The first sentence I saw him underline was, "How many times do we pay for one mistake?" The answer that followed this question was a lot less provoking than the question. The gentleman in front must have shared my thoughts because I noticed he didn't underline any of the answer. The gist of the book seemed to be that our dreams are ruled by fear. And also that we define ourselves by our mistakes and are constantly punishing ourselves. Overall, I wouldn't buy it, but it was interesting to see what this man thought was important enough to underline and something about the question was very provoking.
On the Japan to Beijing flight I had a window seat and I saw Mt. Fuji's snow-capped peak for the first time. It was beautiful. My mind calmed and emptied a bit at this point.
No comments:
Post a Comment