Trip! Isn’t that great?
Good…?
It is not like this?
It is and it is not. It is an amazing experience to travel from one place to another. More than that, when you move from one culture to another, you open yourself up to new ways of life. Culture clashes and nostalgia are little more than reality that challenges your basic assumptions.
You can fly half the world in one day, for a small fee. A few hundred years ago, such a journey required months and the resources of an empire. Going even further back, it would take generations.
Few cultures are beyond your reach. With a little planning and effort, you can find yourself anywhere.
But one thing we haven’t mastered is making it a pleasurable experience.
Flying from continent to continent is brutal. Cross enough time zones and jet lag can kill you for days. And that’s after sitting for hours in a cramped, shaky seat, listening to the sounds of engines and hundreds of people.
However, if you know how to go into a trance, you have a few options.
Minimizing jet lag starts the moment you get on the plane. Set your watch to the destination time. So put your body and mind to it too.
The trick is to put yourself in a trance and visualize the time of day. If it’s midday at your destination, create a mindscape of yourself standing in the sunlight. Feel the warm rays touch your skin. Tilt your head back, eyes closed, and drink in the golden light.
If it’s late afternoon, sit back and watch the sun sink below whatever horizon you create. Hear how the world begins to change from day to night. In a city, you might hear that the commute at the end of work switches to early nightlife. In nature, birds may give way to insects.
At night, you can sit amongst a gloomy landscape lit only by a silvery moon and distant stars.
Carry the sun and the moon in your mind. Make them real enough to trick your biochemistry. The deeper your trance is and the longer you hold it, the easier it will be. Hacking your circadian rhythms is not difficult with self-hypnosis.
That just leaves how to pass the time.
If you can sleep or go into a sleep-like trance, then go for it. You’ll arrive feeling (relatively) refreshed.
But if you can’t?
The challenge of traveling is that you are not doing anything while you are full of anticipation. The present is an obstacle that you must overcome. Once you have endured it, you can reap the rewards of your destiny.
If you think like that, no wonder it’s hard.
Anticipation arises when you think that your future is better than your present. It’s okay to enjoy the idea of arriving… but don’t dismiss the moment. Yes, you are not doing anything at that moment. Yes, you may be tired, bored and uncomfortable.
Alright.
Focus and breathe. Pay attention to the present.
You cannot enjoy the future because it does not exist. However, you can choose to enjoy the present. And this moment will give way to another moment, a chain of present experiences that extends to some unknown point.
You can enjoy the present or not. Forget the future and destroy it. You can enjoy it when it arrives now; Until then, don’t sacrifice this moment for then.
This is the ultimate practice in patience. Appreciate now for what it offers, not for a nonexistent future. Do that and travel is very easy.