As I write this I’m on a layover near Dulles airport in Washington DC. I was traveling back from Los Angeles to Vermont, and just like last month, I got stuck having to stay in an airport hotel in DC. Life.

Last month it was because of a big snow storm in the northeast and this time it was a confluence of things. First, for some reason we were delayed about 45 mins while the plane was being cleaned.

Next, there was a teenager on a school trip who was really sick – he looked green – and since we were ready for take off out on the tarmac, the pilot turned us around and we went back to the gate, but we’d burned so much fuel he wanted to top off the tank so he could have the fuel to fly higher and faster to make up the time.

Great idea! But, by the time we were actually ready to for take off we were now 2 hours behind our time and I knew that I’d miss my connecting flight in DC. Life.

Because I had nothing to do with missing my connection, United Airlines put me up in a hotel, with meal vouchers, unlike last month when it was a weather delay and I had to pay for room and meals.

I had been very excited to see my fur babies, Bodhi and Sattva, after being away for 9 days, but I don’t like to be upset, so I’m at Peace with what is.

A Course in Miracles tells us, “All conflict results from saying you want the peace of God, but choosing something else.“

I’d rather enjoy my time. So, I went to the hotel restaurant to get some dinner.

It’s taking a really long time to get the food, but that’s giving me time to write this.

There’s a guy at the bar, talking with another fella and they’re talking loudly. Maybe that’s how they roll, maybe they’re drunk. One of the men is using the F word in every sentence. And loudly. Oh, and he’s complaining about everything in the world he can think of, or so it seems.

I checked in with the Holy Spirit if there was something for me to do. I had brought my headset, so I could easily tune them out and listen to something on my earphones. However, no one else in the restaurant would be doing that, and they all had to have this guys F bombs in their ears every 10 seconds.

I got up and walked over to the men at the bar and said, “I hope you won’t take this the wrong way, but your voices are … “ and before I could finish my sentence the F bomb guy said, very nicely, I’m sorry, I get really loud sometimes, I can keep it down.”

And I said, “that would be great. Thank you.”

They made a few more apologies and I went back to my table on the other side of the room. About 10 minutes later a woman came in who had some kind of trouble walking, she was using a walker to keep her steady and she was with a boy who looked to be about 11 years old.

By the time the woman and her son sat down, the men at the bar were back to high volume F bombs, complaining about everything under the son, but mostly about people giving them a hard time for smoking weed.

I looked around at the other peeps in the restaurant and they were all shaking their heads and rolling their eyes at me. There seemed to be a consensus that they were just over the top.

I got up and walked over to the bar again, I leaned in like I had a secret, “there’s a woman right there at that table who seems to have some kind of trouble walking and she’s with her young son and I don’t think she can easily get up and come over here, but I bet she’s having a difficulty with the profanity in front of her son. I’m sure you’re nice guys, and you just didn’t notice, but maybe you could just watch the language in front of the kid.”

The guy who was the loudest, again was the most apologetic, and he got up and walked away – I think he was taking the opportunity to use the rest room, and the other guy, who was white haired said, “you’re wrong about one thing.  We’re not nice guys.”  

He wanted to challenge me.  I could tell he felt a bit chastised, although I tried my best to make it a judgment-free request, he had his own self-judgments.  

I laughed and said, “my mistake.”  I really made my tone clear that it wasn’t about me, I was looking out for the kid.  I was on the other side of the room, although they were SO loud they might as well have been sitting in my lap.  

When I went back to my table, one of the men at the other tables, who was with a group of women, probably family, came over to me and thanked me.  

The whole restaurant was subject to their loudness, and there was one waitress all by herself trying to handle everything.  I felt for her, it was too much.  

Here’s what I’m grateful for:

Even though I knew I was missing my flight home, and inconveniencing my pet sitter, and I really was very much looking forward to being with Bodhi and Sattva, I wasn’t worried or bothered.

Even though it was a hassle getting to the hotel, etc., I wasn’t bothered.  

Even though the food took a LONG time to come, I wasn’t bothered.

Even though the guys were self-absorbed, rude and unaware, I really saw it as an opportunity to practice being helpful to the people in the restaurant as a whole, and to model to everyone that we can do this, we can be a team, we don’t have to judge.

One woman came over to me on her way out and said, “thanks for talking to those two idiots.  They just don’t get it.”  I didn’t need to agree with her.  I could just accept her gratitude and wish her a good evening.  I didn’t think of them as idiots.  They just didn’t have the capacity to be self-aware in that moment.  Maybe they were high on several things, maybe they were going through some kind of stressful situation that we couldn’t see.  I didn’t need to judge.

The Holy Spirit puts me in these situations to teach me and to share what I learn.  I am always learning that all conflict arises from saying I want the peace of God and I’m choosing something else.

ACIM Lesson 185, “I want the peace of God. To say these words is nothing. To mean these words is everything.”

I don’t have an interest in conflict anymore. I love peace so much, I’m happy to do what’s required to maintain it. There’s no sacrifice. When I stay in my loving heart, peace is guaranteed. I like that.

Life, it’s always providing the perfect opportunity to choose more Peace, more Love, more Joy!

STARTS TODAY:  If you’re interested in learning more about what I share about prayer, you can check out my Prayer Power class that starts today, Monday, April 17!  Click here now to learn more now.  Prayer is a power tool we can use to heal our mind and transform our experience of life.

LATEST PODCAST EPISODE!  The most recent episode of my podcast’s topic is The Prison of Body-Ego Identification. It’s so helpful and valuable to focus some attention on undoing the body (ego) identification directly.

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