Gratitude is the sign of noble souls ~ Aesop


Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving ~ Kahlil Gabran


Joy delights in joy ~ William Shakespeare


Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Flying high

I feel a sense of great accomplishment every time I fly remembering all that I went through to get over a debilitating fear of flying, and I am so thankful to be able to fly now and to even look out the window in utter awe of the world with such a view. And I am thankful for two smooth flight this week -- both of which landed an hour earlier than scheduled! When does THAT ever happen? I don't take it for granted. I'm thankful for the understanding I have always received from my family when I was going through the fear, and I'm grateful for their prayers. I'm also thankful for my wonderful therapist Lydia and for Dr. Tom at Fearofflying.com for helping to give me the tools to work through anxiety. And I'm most thankful to my husband and his calming support and unending love...it's so true what the scripture says "Perfect Love drives out all fear." I am human, so there are still struggles, but I rejoice in the small victories -- and this week there were two!

4 comments:

  1. Yeah! That's awesome! "The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what's before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it."--Thucydides

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  2. You HAVE come a long way, KaraMcD! I'm proud of your determination...as a pilot's daughter, you never should have had deal with that fear. I believe a recitation of High Flight by John Gillespie Magee is in order:

    "Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
    And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
    Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
    Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
    You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
    High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
    I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
    My eager craft through footless halls of air.
    Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
    I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
    Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
    And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
    The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
    Put out my hand and touched the face of God."

    Remembering this poem has always helped me whenever I experience fear in flight...Oh yes, pilots, too, experience fear from time to time...Dodging thunderstorms a few miles up and shooting approaches to 200 feet above the ground (minimums) can definitely be considered living life on the edge, especially on those "dark and stormy nights."

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  3. What an amazing and powerful poem...thank you, Dad!

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