Our once-in-a-lifetime Falkland Island Penguin Excursion had been canceled, and that was that, there was no way around the facts. I had a choice to make in how I was going to spin this shift into gold, and navigate myself into alignment with a thriving experience, or, at least not feel like crap. Which way was I going to go with this? Was our entire cruise ruined? Was I going to have a monumental melt-down? I didn’t know whether to throw up, ugly-cry, or release a primal scream.
“Use your tools, Peter” my inner voice instructed. “Use your tools.” I had to lower the volume of my chaotic thoughts from a boil to a simmer, quiet my mind, and listen for guidance.
As skillful and tranquil as the-art-of-quieting-the-mind-and-listening-for-guidance may sound, in that moment of magnified disappointment, it was an intense and confronting process. For the next half-hour I was put through a collision-course of thoughts and a pile-up of emotions. My ego was digging up garbage from the past about missing out (no penguins!), being left behind (no penguins), being a looser (no penguins), not worthy of happiness (no penguins), being fat (I know, really?!) blah, blah, blah. It took everything I had to stay focused in my intention and find the gold in this experience.
I was so energetically out-of-whack, I couldn’t take-on dealing with anyone other than myself. As comfortable and lovely as our stateroom was, in that moment it felt like a prison cell. I had to get out and find a less depressing space to calm down, reset my alignment, and get my shift together.So, I grabbed my warn copy of A Course In Miracles and my journal, and headed out the door.
Walking down the hallway toward the main staircase, I was hit by the collective sense of frustration and disappointment of the other 1,7000 guests, many of who had booked this cruise pre-COVID, and had waited up to five years, only be so close, and yet so far from achieving their heart’s desire of walking among the three breads of penguins unique to this region.
Picking up my pace, I made a b-line for the Pinnacle Grill, one of the specialty restaurants on board, where we had become regulars at the breakfast-seating. There was no waiting, as I imagined many of the passengers where lining up drinks to numb their sorrows at any number of bars, or queuing-up on deck to through themselves overboard. So I was seated right away and settled into a table by a window, with a spectacular view of the ocean and the Falkland Islands disappearing into the horizon. The staff did their best to keep the mood light, reminiscent of the band playing on the deck of the Titanic while it sank. (Yeah, I know, I bit dramatic.)
I spent the next hour journaling the details of the morning, and buried in my ACIM daily lesson, Lesson 361-365, the final of the course’s lesson, to be implemented during the the last five days of the year. The instruction guides us to give (each) moment up to the charge of Love, with unfiltered faith, certain that the direction we receive will give us peace. After sixteen years of ACIM studies, of the 365 lessons in the curriculum, this is the lesson I resonate with the most, instantly quieting my mind and resetting my alignment with clarity. How appropriate this was the lesson I came upon after having committed to getting my shift together and making a different choice.
I was then able to enjoy a quiet breakfast. The food was delicious, the service top notch, and a tranquil ocean view. It didn’t take me long to pivot my alignment into appreciation. Yes, I was still disappointed about the canceled excursion, however, I was able to raise my vibe to a place of gratitude for what I did have. I was now ready to face the day, starting with a walk around the ship.
On my walk I was inspired to stop by the concierge desk at the Neptune Lounge to see if we could be added to the waiting-list for the two penguin excursions scheduled for a port later in our cruise itinerary. Like the Falkland Island excursions, these had also been booked solid months prior to the start of our three-week Antarctica adventure. The waiting lists for both excursions were 25-30 deep, but, I was ready for a miracle. I went ahead and, doubling our odds, had our names added to both lists.
Not yet ready to go back to our stateroom, I decided to take a lap around the indoor pool, where I ran into one of our travel mates. He asked me if we had seen the video of the Captain’s Announcement regarding the details of his decision to cancel the Falkland Island port. When I confessed I had not yet viewed the announcement, our travel mate, insisted, “You have to watch it. It’s pretty amazing.” I was intrigued. Eager to hear what the captain had to report, I finished my lap around the deck and headed back toward our room.
To rack up more steps, I decided, instead of taking the elevator, I would to take the staircases up three levels to our floor. Rounding the corner on the second level, I came across a woman in her late-thirties/early-forties, waiting for the elevator. She was dressed from head-to-toe in an oversized Penguin onesie; webbed feet, flippers, beak, and all; holding a complementary (per captain’s orders) fruity cocktail in each fin. Peering out from the mouth of the 5’9” plush, this woman had whimsy in her eyes, a sparkle in her smile, and the expression of someone on a mission to change the world. I stopped in my tracks and, through tearful eyes of appreciation, acknowledged her for making my wish come true. “Thanks to you, I did get to see a penguin today.”
I returned to our room with an upgraded attitude, eager to see where the day was going to take us. Swiping my keycard across the surface of the lock box of the door, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted and envelope which had been delivered to our mail box while I was out doing my vibe alignment. It was a letter from the concierge confirming we had been booked on the Penguin Excursion in Punta Arenas, Chile. “What?!” I took a deep breath of appreciation and, placing the envelope over my heart, said, “Wow! That was fast. Thank you.”
Entering the stateroom, I was eager to share the details of my adventure, and ready to find out what all the fuss was about the Captain’s Announcement …
