This blog is being inspired by the fact that I’m flying to Chicago tomorrow for the weekend. Every time you go through custom you can face big surprises. But as for everything else in life, out of these challenges great lessons can be learned.

This past summer I was going to New Mexico for a TLC  [transformational leadership Council] meeting. I had to fly from Toronto to Denver, and then Denver to Albuquerque. I happen to have a Nexus card  which is supposed to allow me to get through custom easily. But once in a while they randomly pull you out for inspection.

That day and was a bit stressed out, I was supposed to have a limo pick me up at 5:45 in the morning, but they forgot to pick me up. By the time I called them and they got to my place, it was 6:15. I managed to get to the airport before the one hour caught off. I was all happy and then, drama happened, I was pulled aside for inspection. So being kind of nervous about missing my flight and the connection I had to make in Denver, I innocently asked “am I going to miss my flight?” This was a big mistake. I realized afterwards  that the custom agents took this as me trying to push them along, as trying to control them. I guess a part of me was, but I was also just asking a regular question because I was not trusting that what was going to happen was going to be to my highest good.

There were three people in front of me and then when came my turn I realize I was going to be able to make it through my flight because I had nothing to hide. When came my turn instead, this woman came  and took me by the arm and said that they were going to make sure that this never happened again. I was going for a special interview with another agent in another part of the airport. By then I’m starting to really worry that I will be missing my flight. I get into a small room and there are two people in front of me. It seems to take on average 20 min. per person. And the agent is really taking it’s time, you know the type of person that rejoices in feeling the power they have over you. We likes to make you squirm because it makes them feel powerful. Well he was one of them. He finishes with the first person and  I peek into his room to ask him a question and he becomes aggressive right away. I then proceed to tell him I just need to know when the bathroom is. He apologizes and shows me the way by guiding me there. Which in the back of my mind is slowing him down again. I come back and wait another 20 min. before he’s done with the next person.

Now I’m in the room with him, and he starts by asking me  where I’m going. I tell him that I’m going to meet some friends in New Mexico. He asks me if I have any proof of this. I tell him I don’t because I’m getting together with friends. He proceeds to tell me that he has the power to prevent me from entering their United States. That since I have no proof  of what I’m telling him he may well just do that. Then he goes through my suitcase, my wallet, my briefcase and he opens everything. I’m starting to feel very violated and at the mercy of some psycho, plus the fact that I’m tired because I did not sleep enough the night before and that my hormones are raging, I start to cry.

It was a fascinating experience to see how this enraged him even more. He started to threaten me that he was going to get guards to take me out of there because I was being difficult. I just kept on talking with him calmly even though I had tears streaking down my cheeks and he finally told me that I could go. As he let me out he tells me that the next time I am so difficult I may well not get entry into the United States. I was really surprised, and I asked him why he thought I had been difficult. He told me because I had been crying. I told him that he had just been so mean I did not know how to behave.

 After that I had to deal with the fact that I had missed my flight and my connection in Denver. I was going to have to wait five hours for the next flight. That did not make me feel happy. There were different reasons why I had been crying while in front of the custom officer. One of them as I said was fatigue and stress, but the other one was that I know I’m a co-creator of everything in my life. And I was upset with the fact that I could not see how I had manifested that experience. I guess I’m good at what I do because I usually find the correlation between cause and effect  pretty quickly. And at that moment because I was spinning in my emotions I certainly could not see the perfection  and my ego do not like it. So at that point I just had to go on faith that I was going to understand sooner or later why this had happened.

What unfolded afterwards was pretty enlightening. When I got to Denver my connection had actually been delayed and I was able to make it. I also got upgraded to business class. When I got to Albuquerque the people in charge of the TLC , because I had been expected to be late, had organized a private limo for me instead of the bus that the others had to take. And that night while having dinner with a group I was able to tell the story and it was really nice to feel supported by the people at the table. It created a bond that would’ve not been there otherwise.

So what I learned from that incident, was to trust and not push all the time. We teach what we need to learn don’t we? I know that when something happens that is within my realm of understanding, I am wise. When a new incident occurs that is outside my wisdom, I get triggered. I also know that’s the only way we get to evolve, learn and grow as spiritual beings is by experiencing challenges. Because I got triggered, because I was out of my comfort zone, I learned a lesson that I have now integrated, I am now wiser  because of it.  Can’t wait for the next lesson!

Love & Light,
Dr Lise