If there’s one aviation disaster that darkens my knickers more than most, it’s AirFrance 447 – the scheduled passenger flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on June 1st, 2009. In a very simplified nutshell, this is what happened. Approximately 2 hours after takeoff, AirFrance 447 entered a storm system that caused the instrumentation that measures the aircraft’s airspeed … Continue reading The Automation Paradox
The other night my wife and I celebrated our 6-year wedding anniversary. We went to a restaurant called Absurdities. It was, without a doubt, the weirdest dining experience of my life. The restaurant itself was comprised of various rooms or “worlds.” In each world (6 in total), we were served a different course. We had to find multiple hidden doors and crawl through various spaces … Continue reading Absurdities
“Time doesn’t heal emotional pain, you need to learn how to let go.” ― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart During my adolescence, I was bullied relentlessly for over two years. It was one of the most challenging periods of my life. I was at boarding school at the time. Halfway across the world from my parents. I felt isolated and alone. So, … Continue reading Regaining Lift: A Stall Recovery Guide for Life
“The harder we try with the conscious will to do something, the less we shall succeed. Proficiency and results come only to those who have learned the paradoxical art of doing and not doing, or combining relaxation with activity.” – Aldous Huxley Drown-Proofing When it comes to our psychology what’s happened is this. Our hands and arms have been bound together, and we’ve been thrown … Continue reading Stalling: Why Letting Go Is the Key to Regaining Lift
“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” ― George Orwell I hate criticism. Yet, I open myself up to it all the time. Not just because I’m an idiot, but deliberately with my writing. As some of you know, I sometimes write about delicate subjects. As a writer, I believe I have to … Continue reading The Write Thing To Do
“What does nihilism mean? That the highest values devaluate themselves. The aim is lacking; “why?” finds no answer. — FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE The Elephant in the Universe Now, the elephant in the existential room known as the universe here is God. It’s not uncommon to hear atheists deride the idea of God while failing to see the very real psychological security faith provides. It does. Religious … Continue reading Stalling: The Death of God
Imagine the following terrifying scenario. You’re on a flight that is out of control and destined to end in a fatal crash. There is nothing you can do about it. The engines have flamed out. The pilots are incapacitated. No one else knows how to fly. Now for some devastating news. This is you in real life. This is all of us, in fact. We … Continue reading Stalling: The Paradox of Meaning
So I hit a roadblock with my writing recently. I stalled. Ironically while writing a book about stalling and the need to let go to regain lift in life. Instead of doing that, I kept smacking my head against a brick wall. I am the master of not following my own advice. Eventually, I ceded defeat, downed tools, and went on the first holiday I’d … Continue reading Writer’s Roadblock
The Paradox of Progress The story of Buddha is well known. He was born into a palace and given every indulgence he could wish for. At the same time, he was shielded from the outside world. And yet, it wasn’t enough. He knew something was off. (Sound familiar?) One day he went against his father’s wishes and ventured out of the palace. It was then … Continue reading Stalling: Why We Lose Lift (2)
Last week I said the reason we stall in life is because we lose meaning. Of course meaning, lift, purpose (whatever you want to call it) is the reason we do anything. The meaning we give our life is the reason we get out of bed in the morning. Otherwise, why bother? In its deepest sense this means depression. Depression is a loss of lift. … Continue reading Stalling: Why We Lose Lift
The Four Forces of Flight There’s an analogy I want to imprint on your mind today. It’s one I intend to come back to repeatedly as I go about writing my high-flying book. It concerns something known in aviation as the four forces of flight. To give you a quick lesson in aerodynamics, those are thrust, lift, weight and drag. Thrust counteracts drag, whereas lift … Continue reading Stalling: The Aerodynamics of Life
I realise that writing a book is like doing a giant jigsaw puzzle. Except you have to make the pieces first. You make the pieces and then work out where they go. You move them around until everything just sort of clicks into place. Then you flesh out the spaces in between. The hardest part for me is discarding the pieces that don’t fit. That’s … Continue reading Piecing Together My Thanks
Just imagine, you’re sat fat, dumb and happy when BAM! Your engine shits itself. (And so do you.) Suddenly you’re forced to divert. You need to get on the ground pronto! Before you know it, there you are. Grounded with a bum engine – a million miles from the original destination you had in mind. So, you find yourself sat around in your underpants on … Continue reading A Radical Idea. (I’m Going To Write a Book.)
It occurs to me that I’ve gone through something of a divorce over the past year or so. Only, it’s not been to a person but a place. Of course, there have been others. York for one. We had a few difficult years together. Then there was Oxford where I went to university. That was a nonstop party. And I’ve certainly sowed my wild oats. … Continue reading A Singapore Fling
I’m going to stick my neck out today. I’m going to talk about something I’ve been avoiding for certain political and professional reasons for some time now. A topic that is close to my heart. As it turns out, aircrew are extremely reluctant to talk about mental health. On the rare occasions I’ve brought it up, I’ve seen Captains visibly squirm in their seats. They … Continue reading The Elephant in the Cockpit
When Micheal Jordan returned from the NBA after an extended hiatus his publicity manager was unsure how they should announce the news. So, he wrote a number of press releases for Micheal to choose from. But Jordan didn’t like any of them. He said, “I’ll do it myself.” before picking up a pen and writing down the following message, “I’m back.” That was it. The … Continue reading I’m Back
My emotions come at me in waves. Often I’m strong enough to withstand them – to hold the ship steady – but every now and then they catch me with my shields down. I’m swept away. That happened the other day when the movers came in to pack everything up. Seeing my whole life packed into boxes. That was difficult. But the hardest moment came … Continue reading The Ghosts of My Past
I want to finish this series of posts on personality I’ve put together over the past couple of months by giving you an analogy. To first recap, there are five major personality traits: extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, openness and agreeableness. Wherever you lie on the spectrum of each trait – whatever the circumstances that shaped you – this is the hand you’ve been dealt in this … Continue reading The Hand We’ve Been Dealt
Agreeableness breaks down into Compassion and Politeness. Compassionate people are the caring, loving types. They are sympathetic towards other people’s feelings and take an active interest in their friends and families lives. Polite people are very careful with their words. They have a deep respect for authority and hate to seem pushy or impose their will on others. On the surface agreeableness appears to be … Continue reading Agreeableness: The Sacrifice of Self
“Openness is seen in the breadth, depth and permeability of consciousness, and in the recurrent need to enlarge and examine experience.” – MCCRAE & COSTA, 1997, P. 826 Openness (which is actually Openness to experience) breaks down into Intellect and Openness. Intellects like grappling with ideas. They love to solve complex problems and debate philosophical matters. They have a rich vocabulary and can formulate ideas clearly. … Continue reading Openness: The Gates of Mind
