What do you do when life serves you unexpected turbulence?

Last evening as I boarded my flight to head back to Atlanta, I had no fears about arriving home safely. I loved the fact that it was a small 13 row jet….easier to get on and off! I‘ve never had a fear of flying and I’ve flown a lot. I was a million-miler before I was 35 yrs old.

I knew we were going to be flying over a significant weather front but wasn’t worried at all. Been there. Done that. There’s only been one time in my life that I actually pulled out the ‘hurling bag’ for insurance (that ultimately I never needed), and that’d been many years ago flying through a blizzard on a puddle jumper .

After take off, the pilot announced that our flight was expected to be nothing short of one of the smoothest possible– and to feel free to get up and walk around as much as we wanted. Cool.

Then seemingly out of nowhere- in the middle of beverage service- we began having some hefty turbulence. Enough that it took two men to help get the beverage cart and flight attendant back to the front of the jet safely… and the service was immediately discontinued.

Fear instantaneously birthed within me as I recalled watching the clips earlier about the missing AirAsia plane– and wondered why this was such a surprise to the pilots. For the first 10 minutes or so, I could feel myself bracing against the turbulence— as it was the second worst I’d ever felt. My mind was racing with ‘what if’s’ and I began to feel nauseous.

But then somehow I found my true inner voice and asked myself– what can I do or feel to release this fear and have a different experience?

I focused on taking deep breaths and asked for divine support, and in turn, tapped into a strong knowing that no matter what happened, I would be just fine. No matter what would occur, I had it in me to be of service and to help others.

This thought process allowed me to release the fear and I began to feel rocked and cradled as I relaxed– allowing my body to flow with the movement. It felt almost nurturing. Then I was able to speak gently to the elderly woman across the aisle who was clearly in a lot of fear.

It continued for about an hour and then of course we safely landed. I was smiling when I left the plane, realizing how I need to apply this teaching to ‘life’ turbulence as well.

Things will always be easier when we release our fears, go with the flow of life and remember that we are always cradled safely in the light.