Spiritual Practices to Kill Time at an Airport Layover

While many view flight layovers as a time-wasting pain, you can turn them into a blessing. Or at least a tolerable situation. All you need is the right attitude – and the right activities to keep you in a high-altitude state of being.

Here are some spiritual practices I tried during my most recent flight from Arizona to Florida.

Remove all judgment. Since most of the layovers throughout my life have been at (DFW), I was initially ready to do my usual “I hate layovers in Dallas” mode. But then I had to ask myself why I hated that destination for layovers? It turned out, I didn’t. I just picked up that thought somewhere and let it stick – until now.

Look at everything as if you’re seeing it for the first time, even if you’re not.

Experience everything is if you’re experiencing it for the first time, even if you’re not. Riding that SkyLink people mover thing at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport is actually cool.

spiritual practices airport rynski — Tucson airport art

Remind yourself that no moment will EVER be exactly like this again. This makes every moment special. Yes, even when you’re in the whirly-gig scanner machine thing with your arms held above your head.

Listen to a guided meditation.

Make up your own guided meditation.

Listen to Dead Can Dance, esp. “The Serpent’s Egg” album.

Try to guess which of the strangers you pass might be angels on earth.

Find divine symbols and inspirational sayings on ads, T-shirts and random posters. One lady’s shirt sported the semi-well-known “One Day or Day One = You Decide.” Another’s said “Everything is Better on a Boat.”

Look for inspirational artwork. Tucson International Airport was chock full of them. A gold Pegasus statue with aqua blue eyes greeted me at the entrance. I then saw angels dancing in a painting of clouds and a large wooden artistic cross. Don’t forget the cool rock collages in the shapes of horses and long-beaked toothed thing.

Look for shapes or illustrations that could have a heavenly or symbolic meaning. The semi-circle map of terminals at DFW, for instance, is easily reminiscent of a sunrise. Or a Geiger counter dial spot-checking what state of being you’re in.

Observe a child.

Smile at an adult.

Bless people as they walk by (silently, of course, unless you feel like fending off weird looks).

Play the One Good Thing game. Find one good thing about every person in front of you in line. Prime examples could include things like the cool, tribal bead silver chain the guy in front of you was wearing, or the 5-inch peep-toe pumps the lady boarding had one.

Ponder the mysteries of the universe, like why don’t airlines board the people sitting in back first, instead of last, so people aren’t jamming up the aisles. Or why in the world would you wear 5-inch peep-toe pumps to the airport.

Send Reiki throughout the terminal.

Send Reiki to your destination.

Send Reiki to yourself at the airport and your dogs at home.

Do yoga. Pick a lonely, carpeted corner of the airport, stick with standing poses, and get in a few solid asana before your plane boards.

Chat with a friendly looking fellow traveler. Really LISTEN to what they have to say.

Read an inspirational book or passage.

Write an inspirational book or passage.

Make up nicknames for your favorite crystals. Queen-of-Everything Quartz. Happy Happy Joy Joy Citrine.

Go into acute mindfulness mode, paying extreme attention to the details of the small things around you (like the three cracks in the small window at the end of the board-the-plane bridge).

Write a letter to your guardian angel.

Write a limerick about your spirit guides.

Write an ode to a dearly departed soul.

Do the 36 Breaths Ritual. Inhale deeply through your nose, exhale fully through your mouth. Repeat 36 times.

Add a twist to the 36 Breaths Ritual by breathing in LOVE and breathing out LOVE for the first 12 breaths, STRENGTH for the next 12, and DIVINE PROTECTION for the final 12.

Create your own airport ritual, like walking in 36 clockwise circles around a specific area (which also ups your Fitbit step count — and can get you more weird looks).

Write a gratitude list. Get into a gratitude zone.

Write a personal airport prayer.

Write or say any prayer.

See if your guardian angel feels like communicating. Ask for a divine sign. Hopefully the sign won’t be a flight delay.

Offer to help someone who looks like they’re struggling.

Shop. Shop. Shop. And yes, shopping can be classified as a spiritual practice, since money is energy and by divine law is meant to be kept in circulation. Just remember that when you later get the credit card bill.

Enjoy!

Please note: These practices worked like a charm for my departing flight, but the return flight was a different story (sigh). See video for details. And to reinforce how important it is to HALT.

You can also check out my anger workshop, or book a personal coaching session to cover the same ground.

One big reason you don’t want to punch someone:

I help amazingly creative souls who want more out of life than sleep-work-sleep get their dazzle back so they rock their world.