Sitting in a flight, again, a Ryanair service from Madrid to Dublin, the flight time is 2 hours and 10 minutes. An early evening non full flight landing at 9. A short comfortable flight by most means, especially in the eyes of a well seasoned Ryanair frequent. There's no entertainment of course, nothing to do, no stimulus for the deprived mind, the only respite the well rehearsed announcements from the visibly excited (read exasperated) staff.
The initial ascent provided some entertainment in the form of some rumblingly exciting turbulence, followed by a mildly distracting f&b service pushing the signature ham and cheese paninis, all for 9.99 with a drink, a special offer only for today, which somehow seems to be the case everytime I fly, I must be quite lucky, must also try a hand at their lottery game that they'll announce later. And now comes the lull; the period when the aircraft is cruising at 39,000 ft rather unceremoniously, the nap's been had alleviating the initial weariness of the day, the paninis digesting in the no longer rumbling tummy, people watching done, the audience around noticed and judged into the deep abyss of boredom, and the mind now active, but no suitable stimulus worthy of expanding the brain's empty energy on. Nothing to see outside even in the endless horizon, it's almost always ignored, it's complexity rendering it too boring perhaps for the mind seeking simple entertainment. I see people twitching, restless almost. Some dwaddle in random small talk with the person sitting beside, elsewhere a mind scrolls through the limited partially downloaded content on Instagram, the accomplice thumb clicking even on the refresh icon in despaired hope of renewed stimuli. Another screen just moves from one app to another for no apparent reason, the movement interspersed with pulling down on the settings panel at times, again a movement unexplained. A person sits deleting photos and videos of days, months and years gone by, erasing their memories almost in the process, but never touching a single photo, even the repeated or blurry, of their beloved pooch, who must be waiting at home. A person sits engrossed in typing something on the phone in the back of the aircraft. Another reads through a news article, not because it's of interest or important, it's only merit being that it's the lucky one that was eagerly loaded on the phone. The person in the row ahead amusedly reads through the security instructions stuck on the derriere of the seat in front. Everyone needs something to do, something. It's not acceptable to just sit, give the mind a break, a respite, a break. I'm not talking about a nap or a wink, but to just not seek for a while. What better time than now, literally in the middle of nowhere? Just let the mind be, at peace. But no, the urge, the yearn to do something, anything, better than doing nothing seemingly, grasps at the slightest hope of any new or even stale residual unconsumed stimulus, in the process engineering restlessness that emanates from the annoyance of not being able to do anything. And in the middle of it all, we are all in this void, where there's nothing to be done, an opportunity, a wonderful emptiness. What's to be done? Why? You can just be. It's easier than you think but at the same time it's as hard as things can be. You just need to let go, and accept that doing nothing is a wonderful thing to do, and that place a perfect place to be. You don't have to be asleep to not think or to rest, you can do this wherever you are, whenever you want, and for that time to be as long as you want it to be; Under the sun, sitting on the grass on a cold winter's day, on the beach gazing at the expanse of the ocean, on your TV office chair on a busy Tuesday, seeking respite from the screen, anywhere, wherever, whenever. All you really need to do is to acknowledge, accept and embrace the void.
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