A Tag, a snarl and a snare

I was waiting with my family for the boarding announcement at the gate. The boarding should have started by 8:45, the time started moving past 9:00 with no sign of boarding announcement. The Airline Staff at the counter were not really helpful. Any person approaching the gate was directed to just sit and wait for the announcement. There was no courtesy announcement of the delay. We were not really surprised because we have become habituated to the indifferent attitude of the airline staff many times.

The boarding announcement came almost after 1-hour delay. As we crossed the check-in counter and waiting in the queue to board the bus that will take to the aircraft, something happened. One airline staff started checking the hand luggage and randomly issuing a tag to assign them as checking bags instead of hand luggage. He picked up one of the bags from my hand and tagged it. We protested stating that we have passports in that bag. He was silent. So we started removing the tag.

“If you do that, I will get you offloaded from the plane”. He snarled at us.

I was infuriated with that remark. My mind started searching for words to respond.

The Ego in me stood up. “Who are you to offload me from the aircraft. Try it and see what will happen to you”. That was my mind voice.

I took a deep breath. My wife started moving on the line without uttering a word, though she was visibly upset. My son continued to look at me expecting to see a reaction. I took few deeper breaths and calmed my inner self and boarded the bus.

The tag and the reaction from the airline staff was a snare. He was definitely wrong. However, if we also reciprocated to his emotional outburst, there could have been a showdown of power.

Dr. Gloria Park, a Positive Psychologist, and Mind-body practitioner says that taking few deep breathes before we respond to a situation will help us in responding more positively. All the Yoga gurus will teach you the same thing.

Most of the simple situations get complicated when we intertwine the ego with the situation. In this situation, the airline staff got offended by our action and the weight of his ego was crushing his mental ability to behave properly.

“I can get you offloaded from the plane” is a statement which reflects poorly on that person. He may not even have the authority to carry out such action but he wanted to show himself as a powerful personality in front of the passengers.

If we look the same statement from my side, it is, in fact, a snare. An Emotional trap that had the potential of carrying out its order. But that is only if I had reacted in a negative way. Fortunately, I managed to sail the storm without jumping into a sea of aggression.

Most of the situation in our life gets flared up because the inner EGO wants to prove itself. The thought “Let me show Who am I” is an urge that debilitates our positive self and deteriorates our positive mental energy. It is a trap that entails our downward spiral towards lowest ebb in mental agility.

I would recommend the method suggested by Dr. Gloria Park which is called deliberate breathing. Breathe in slowly for 5 counts and breathe out slowly for 5 counts. Practice it deliberately in every situation, more importantly in a situation of rage.

As we reached the aircraft, we realized that no one was even bothered for our luggage to be transferred to check-in luggage. We just walked to our seats with the hand baggage and enjoyed the remainder of the flight. A Snarl with no purpose positively avoided by being emotionally present.

When was the last time someone snarled at you and you avoided a snare?

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