Singapore travel, Grandpa passes the test!

Happy in every place!

I have heard that there is a vast capital of consciousness built up by meditators over the years and that when you need to tap into it perhaps because your own practice is dipping a bit, it is an ever generous provider.  So, every day, just like saving your pennies, when you meditate, you add a little to the pile. You are banking with the best bank of all and your pin number is secure because it is in your own mind, a mantra or particular visualisation.  No hacker can get at that. Let's say that your tradition is your bank manager and occasionally you have to visit the bank manager to arrange a loan.  

Grandpa is a very disciplined meditator especially in his own home.  He sticks to the prescribed half hour to the last second, so much so that the dogs also know exactly when to move from their own somnolent positions in the meditation hut and expect a walk.  Me, I am a bit restless at 25 minutes and if it wasn't for him, I might jump out of my seat and set off on my own daily round.  

At home ABROAD!

However, Grandpa is not, or perhaps I should say was not a great traveller; he searches around his waistcoat and coat pockets often to make sure that he has everything in order; passports, tickets, boarding passes, glasses and reams of paper which have been printed off with all the terms and conditions of each airline held together with a bulldog clip.  He checks his watch, the departure boards and his wife's whereabouts frequently to be sure that the aeroplane (in whose timings he has very little confidence) is listed and then we are off to the boarding gate as soon as it is announced.  No hanging about the pret-a-manger, W.H Smith and Jo Malone area, we are going to be sat by the gate watching and checking those pockets and making sure that the air hostess is in place before any other travellers.

So, travelling and keeping the calm built up in the meditation hut is always a test for him but oh readers and relations, I can announce with joy that travelling from Heathrow to Singapore and then  from Singapore to a small island 3 different methods of transport away, and then back again has been a seamless joy to me as his companion.  If you had ever thought that it was impossible to change the wiring which seems operate as soon as any identity is activated, I can confidently say that meditation and all its ancient stillness is the best bank in town.    One more travel today to Jakarta and instead of checking his watch, he is sitting peacefully on the balcony reading a book listening to the thunder of a short Singapore tropical storm rolling round the skies.  

Airports no longer trouble him! Meditation calms the most built-in agitation.