# The 18-hour flight delay

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-garuda-flight-delayed
- Themes: anger, acceptance, patience
- Life situations: travel delays, things beyond your control, road rage

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

Ajahn Brahm's flight to Indonesia is delayed 18 hours; he thanks the desk and goes back to the monastery, while the passengers behind him thump the counter — which does not make the plane leave any sooner.

## The story, as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

And just was it in January, when I was going off to Indonesia to give a series of talks I got to Perth airport and found that the Garuda flight was cancelled. It was actually delayed by about 18 hours. And I was a monk so I just went up to the counter and said, "Oh is it delayed? When is it going to leave? 18 hours. Okay, thank you very much," and I sort-of called the monastery and got a lift back to the monastery. But the people behind me they were thumping the counter - "You can't do this to us! I've got all of these arrangements and plans!" I had arrangements and plans as well - thousands of people were waiting to listen to my talks. But I couldn't do anything about it. And you know all that anger and all that thumping and all that shouting.. it didn't make the plane leave earlier. It didn't do anything good at all except making people upset. Themselves upset, and other people upset.

## Teaching point

“So really what is the use of anger?”

## Reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

An eighteen-hour delay, and he simply said thank you and went back to the monastery while others thumped the counter. The plane didn't leave a minute earlier for all that shouting. When something can't be changed, anger only adds a second problem. Save your energy for what you can actually do; the people at the desk will thank you too.

## Source

- [Dealing with Emotions | Ajahn Brahm | 15-06-2007](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17_TtOysQOA) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 27:37 to 28:44: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17_TtOysQOA&t=1657s

Other tellings of this story:

- [On the Other Side of Anger | by Ajahn Brahm | 31-05-2013](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7fm_Es5THY) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 50:48 to 51:40: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7fm_Es5THY&t=3048s
- [Contentment | Ajahn Brahm | 11 Mar 2016](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_Sd2HpnpBU) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 23:51 to 24:41: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_Sd2HpnpBU&t=1431s
- [Flowing with Uncertainty | Ajahn Brahm | 23 April 2021](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnl34X-eDE8) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 37:15 to 37:55: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnl34X-eDE8&t=2235s
- [Lower Your Expectations | Ajahn Brahm | 24 Nov 2017](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qtxgvH_e1Y) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 3:16 to 5:22: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qtxgvH_e1Y&t=196s
- [The Value of Trust | Ajahn Brahm | 10 Feb 2017](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiohzd0zgIQ) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 6:45 to 7:41: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiohzd0zgIQ&t=405s
- [Resilience and Valentine's Day | Ajahn Brahm | 15 February 2019](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNjHPFixUL0) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 36:11 to 37:12: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNjHPFixUL0&t=2171s