Sometimes We Have to Trust the Process – Even if it’s Driving Us Crazy!

I’m on a relaxing plane ride to San Diego.

It is Friday. I was scheduled to arrive on Wednesday. After two days of stalled travel, I’m frustrated. This experience has also tested my conscious reliance on my intuition.

After years of practice, I figure my intuition should be 100% reliable. I should also be in San Diego by now, experiencing an amazing workshop in the San Diego Writer’s Conference. The assumption of reliability is my first downfall, especially when I ignore the signals.

So the last couple days I wondered what my intuition will tell me so that I can understand why I’ve had flight delays, missed workshops and frustration. One thing I know (and sometimes choose to ignore) is I don’t always know why events happen. We aren’t always meant to know the outcome.

My first mistake: The weekend before the flight I heard the weather report, yet I chose to ignore it. Snow was expected for midnight Tuesday night. Experienced east coasters I know rescheduled flights for Tuesday evening in order to miss the impending chaos. I decided our family had too much to do on Tuesday night, so didn’t reschedule, and I didn’t bother to check with my husband to see if it would work for him.

Wrong move.

I received a flight notification by phone on Tuesday night: my Wednesday flight was cancelled. I received a second phone notification that my flight was rescheduled for Thursday morning, 6:18am. It appeared I would make it to the conference on time.

I enjoyed the extra day home. Snow kept falling and we all went sledding and threw snowballs for our dog. Even my husband had fun with us, as his office was also closed that day.

However, appearances are deceiving. Wednesday night, as our kids got ready for bed, I received another phone message. Flight cancelled again! Oh no!!

Even worse, this time I didn’t get a notification that I’d been rescheduled. With a feeling of doom, I called the airline. Eventually I spoke to someone who said that there were no flights available until Saturday evening. I couldn’t believe it.

My husband told me that there was a flight out there for me. I just had to find it. So I hung up and checked the discount online services, where I found flights for sale! The one that worked involved 2 plane changes, but it would get me to San Diego by Friday night. I almost bought a ticket on the spot, then saw the ‘no refunds’ policy.

I called the airline back and told a different agent that there were flights available. Her first response was the same as the original agent’s: there weren’t any flights she could find. This time I was prepared. I repeated the flight numbers I saw on my computer screen from the discount service. She checked them out, saw a seat on that flight, and booked me on it. Yay! I would be late for the first conference day but at least I was going to get there.

So today I boarded this flight. It took off about 20 minutes late, but I was happy to get in there air and glad to finally be getting to the conference after two flight cancellations.

Then… about 45 minutes in the air the pilot announced that, due to heat sensor problems, we were turning around and going back to Newark, New Jersey. Argh!! I could instantly feel the stress rush around my body, increasing my breathing and setting my nerves on fire. I couldn’t believe it.

We headed back to our origin and landed. I consciously breathed slowly, feeling my feet on the ground (smirking at how high in the sky I was while getting myself “grounded.”). I opened myself up to positive energy, and consciously let negative energy go, all the while breathing slowly and deeply. I was still stressed. I could still feel my body react, and I still consciously breathed it all out.

Once on the ground, I almost made my second mistake.

But this time, instead of taking the wrong path, I let my intuitive voice lead me the right way. As we taxied in, I heard my inner voice and paid attention: I couldn’t do anything about the past and had to let it go, I was allowed to be upset, and, even though I had to let go, I still could take action to improve my future. That was the key: let it go and take action.

So as soon as I got off the airline, I bee-lined it for the gate agent to figure out what I could do next. I ignored the others patiently waiting for their gate-checked bags and buzzed past them up the ramp. I should have been one of them but I had a plane to reschedule.

And that is how I ended up here.

That agent sent me to customer service, who told me to run and grab someone to get my carry-on bag off the plane (she literally yelled at me to run!). As I sped away, she rebooked me on the last seat for the next flight – a first class seat direct to San Diego.

So I am currently enjoying my smooth flight. And it will get me to the conference four hours before the three-plane-change flight that just returned to Newark.

Nice.

So what about my intuition? I ignored it on the weekend and landed in the middle of chaos and delays. Once Tuesday passed, I couldn’t do anything to change that decision. However, I listened at the end of Friday’s turned-around flight. I let go of any attachment to outcome and was given a direct flight in a nice seat to my conference.

What does my intuition say now? Thank you. I am grateful.

Today I miss a few hours of my conference, and I have to put in a claim for my luggage when I land in San Diego, but I get to the conference 4 hours earlier than I was expecting this morning.

I’m looking forward to arriving at the conference, learning a lot and meeting some great people.

One final note: When I packed Thursday night, I moved one change of clothes from my main bag to my carry on. Those clothes I’ll need tomorrow. It is nice how things turn out when I listen to my intuition.

Namaste, Leigh