Storytelling at Work
February 11, 2023
ON THE WAY BACK FROM AMAROO: Knowledge in Action

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Here is the beginning of a real life "Knowledge in Action" story about my mythic journey back home from Amaroo -- beginning with the curious phenomenon of my first leg of the return flight from Brisbane to Sydney NOT EXISTING! There was no Qantas flight 503 and my phone didn't work and there were no Qantas employees on duty (it being 2:29 am) and there was no obvious way to get any assistance.

But that was just the Fellini appetizer.

The LA to Newark flight sat on the runway for two hours. Then we "deplaned" -- waiting for another, much older, plane to be cleaned and "catered." The caterers, apparently, onboarded enough peanuts, but they forgot the air!

There was no air conditioning! There was no circulating air on the plane!

It got so bad on the second plane, still on the runway after one more hour, that the too-cheerful flight attendant advised us all to find the laminated safety card in our seat back pocket and FAN ourselves with it.

I shit you not.

The uncirculated air kept getting hotter and hotter and we again deplaned while the ground crew (a caffeinated guy named "Clarence" trying to get the air flowing) did his/their best to fill the plane with something to breathe while a few hundred of us -- some having "traveled" 30 hours from Australia -- sat at Gate 72A and waited for the next chapter of United Airline's Mahabharata to unfold.

The good news?

I got a chance to practice Prem Rawat's gift of Knowledge, post-Amaroo -- a chance to walk the talk -- a chance to stay in my heart, be in the moment and adapt as needed, staying connected to gratitude, not just theoretically, via bumper sticker memes, but real-time, breath by breath.

One of the things I love about what Prem Rawat teaches is that it's very practical. It's a lifeline to the moment and the kind of perspective that enables a person to BE wherever they are.

THIS JUST IN! The "missing part" that United was searching for to get the air going has apparently arrived! Soon the plane will be boarding (for the third time today) and if all goes well and no one hijacks the plane to Cuba, I should be back home by 3:30 am.

Oh, one more thing: I will be writing a very loooooong letter to the CEO of United Airlines, requesting a free round trip to anywhere in the world.

Power to the People and a big shout out to whatever YOU do to keep you present and maintaining your perspective about what's really important -- no matter what's going on in this great play of life.

PS: I just reboarded the plane. The air is just as hot as it was before we deplaned. But now there were BLANKETS on each seat.

Photo: Tim Gouw, Unsplash

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at February 11, 2023 12:27 AM

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ABOUT THE BLOG

Storytelling at Work is a blog about the power of personal storytelling – why it matters and what you can do to more effectively communicate your stories – on or off the job. Inspired by the book of the same name, the blog features "moment of truth" stories by the author, Mitch Ditkoff, plus inspired rants, quotes, and guest submissions by readers.

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Storytelling for the Revolution
Storytelling for the Revolution is Mitch Ditkoff's newly published book about the power of personal storytelling to elevate the conversation on planet Earth. Provocative. Evocative. And fun. YOU have stories to tell. This book will help you tell them.
Storytelling at Work
"The world is not made of atoms," wrote the poet, Muriel Rukeyser. "It's made of stories." Learn how to discover, honor, and unpack the stories of yours that show up "on the job" in Mitch Ditkoff's award-winning 2015 book, Storytelling at Work.
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Do you want to know more about the book before buying it? Click here for Mitch's response to frequently asked questions about Storytelling at Work – the perfect book for people who think they have no time to read.
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Storytelling is an "unconscious competency" – an ability we all have that all too often remains inaccessible to us. Enter the Storytelling at Work workshop – a simple way to activate this powerful, innate skill.
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