Long plane rides create a unique and useful energy. With no choice but to sit for several hours, and no access to common distracting devices like cell phones, I always get something interesting done. Sometimes the creativity begins before the plane even takes off, so it isn't necessarily related to a long time sitting. I think there's something about the act of leaving one place behind and heading to another that opens up channels in the mind.
Then there are other times, when I may just do a bunch of crossword puzzles. My trip home yesterday was like that, though later in the trip I got some productive reading in. I should pay attention to whether I have a different pattern when I'm leaving home to go someplace than when I'm coming home. My guess is there is a difference. Coming home is coming back to a life, a schedule, a set of habits, that I'm intimately familiar with. It isn't a journey into new possibilities, it's a return to the familiar.
I don't mean it to sound dull and lifeless. I can bring a new perspective, a fresh goal or new vigor back with me. But there is a strong sense of settling back into a life that I put on hold for a few days, and which has been waiting for me to get back. Unpacking, doing a week's worth of laundry, mowing the grass, returning to the morning routine before work. All these little things bring me back home.
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