Airports... and Mountains.

This is so funny.  I feel almost as if I m doing a 24 hour solo again, only this time I am in the complete opposite setting from last time.
Beautiful mountainous terrain is replaced by international airport hustle. Instead of fresh open air, I am contained in air-conditioned terminal air. Rather than birds and distant dog howls, I hear the chatter of a hundred different languages all around me. Rather than the complexity and mystery of the beautiful trees and foliage, I am now surrounded by countless replicas of designer brand stores, duty free liquor gleaming with prices, and staple coffee and food shops.
Instead of my thoughts echoing into nature, my thoughts swirl out into an abyss of jet-lagged, streamlined travelers.
And yet I feel a similar energy within myself...
The same as last time, if I want this experience to be anything other than WHAT IT IS, I will be miserable. SO I can whine to myself about being here for so long, or I can get lost in the comforting friendliness of my own mind, allowing it to be free. Putting restrictions on what we wish reality could be like in this moment, or how we wish we were in this moment, only puts strains on the self which create inner conflict. Whether in an undesirable airport terminal, completely plugged in (as it were) to "reality", or on a distant mountaintop away from other humanity, the inner reality may be a constant stream of peace with how things are naturally playing out; peace with what is.
So, I am trying my best to NOT try... to tap into this peace. And though I am getting strange looks for stretching in my bright-hippie clothes in the corner on the floor, I think I am at least more at peace here than many of these people running around, looking at the next thing they could buy... we have it all backwards.