This was the first book in the Teach Yourself series. It was so good that in World War II the British Air Ministry recommended pilots to buy a copy, and Tangye was asked to train prospective RAF pilots. The funny little book series rapidly expanded, the yellow and blue Teach Yourself books covered all kinds of subjects, selling millions of …
Tag: Zen
Taste Every Moment
“When you are a young person, you are like a young creek, and you meet many rocks, many obstacles and difficulties on your way. You hurry to get past these obstacles and get to the ocean. But as the creek moves down through the fields, it becomes larges and calmer and it can enjoy the reflection of the sky. It’s …
I Went into the Sky
I pass right by Walden Woods on my way to work at Boston’s Logan Airport. I hear Thoreau’s words in my head mostly as he wrote them in 1854. The exact quote from his book Walden; or, Life in the Woods is: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of …
Always Listen . . .
When I’m flying, what thoughts and actions can I leave out? What is excess, noise, waste? I have to prune, it allows me to see and do the things that are truly important.
The Impossible Climb
I was lucky enough to get an advance review copy of a new book coming out in March 2019: The Impossible Climb: A Personal History of Alex Honnolds’s Free Solo of El Capitan and a Climbing Life, by Mark Synnott. It’s pretty dang awesome. Highly recomended. Alex Honnold, the world’s greatest climber, went 3000 feet up shear mountain face, alone …
The Now, the Here …
Landing is one of the few moments I feel truly fully present. (Original Photo by Cédric Dhaenens on Unsplash)
You Can’t Tame the Wave
You can’t tame the wave. All you can do is become part of it. Sebastian Steudtner, big-wave surfer. Article in The Red Bulletin, June 2018. We don’t ‘conquer the sky’. We fly in the air. Beginners think of beating gravity; but the best blend with the weather, groove with gravity, one with the wing. (Original sailplane photo CC0 Public …
Tao Te Ching on Microbursts
A strong wing does not blow all morning. A cloudburst does not last all day. The wind and rain are from Heaven and Earth and even these do not last long. How much less so the efforts of man? Lao Tzu Tao Te Ching Quote from Tao Te Ching: The New Translation from Tao Te Ching, The Definitive Edition, translation by …
Mindfulness Is …
Mindfulness is a word often used, well, mindlessly. But it’s a state that can be described with some precision. The most accepted definition is in Jon Kabat-Zinn’s 1994 book Wherever You Go, There You Are. And it makes the connection to flying very apparent: Here’s a good online article with 19 other definitions: https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/what-is-mindfulness-definition/
Life is Denied By …
If you don’t pay attention when you are flying, you miss the things you can do better next time, you miss the things you are doing good, and forget to enjoy the whole thing. Photo is by me, Dave English, on an LAX overnight. Quick Uber ride to Dockweiler Beach and the California home of hang gliding. Perfect geography for …