Towards the Inner

I was sitting on a plane, returning from a conference about successful women. Quite a boring business trip, but I had needed to attend to collect new inspiration and themes for my writing. Luckily, the conference had taken place at my favourite destination – on the Island, by the sea, with the sun and warmth... One by one the passengers boarded the plane. I sat near the back, and the two seats next to me were still empty. Once the movement stopped, I was happy to see that three whole seats remained for me for the entire flight.

It seemed I could finally get some sleep after a month on the move: conferences, sponsors for the topics of my articles, not to mention all those cocktail parties and receptions during the whole stay. I was really tired.

Then I noticed a commotion.

The passengers sitting in the aisle seats were nudging each other, turning their heads meaningfully towards the cockpit. So I also stretched my neck, wondering what was happening.

Nothing.

At the front, a passenger was handing her boarding pass to the flight attendant for checking. When she stepped into the aisle, I noticed that the eyes of everyone on board were on her. I found myself in silent awe as well. She was beautiful. But not a dull beauty. Around her, there was an aura radiating such energy, as if the sun had boarded the plane. Slightly tanned skin, semi-long loose blond hair, huge sparkling blue eyes. Her face looked so calm, emanating peace and tranquillity, yet sending such a surge. Perfectly dressed in sportswear – torn jeans, accompanied by a sports blouse (of a cut I had not even seen before) and platform sandals (of a style I had never seen before). All extravagant, new, neat and yet everything fits together harmoniously in such a way that certainly every woman on board wished to have the entire outfit in their wardrobe, no matter how that would look.

When she approached, it seemed to me that I knew her. But from where...? Gosh, who is she? Where do I know her from? That spirited walk, slim but wiry figure, that energy radiating from her every step.

She stopped next to me and winked down at me:

"Hello! You don't remember me, I see. Firstly, I sit with you, well, next to you... And secondly, I'm Naomi; we met five years ago at such an embarrassing conference about successful women in the advertising world. In Japan. Don't you remember?"

Of course, I remembered her! After all, our entire "female expedition" had not been concerned with anything except for the conference, the Japanese order, and her. Even then, she had been interesting – a great figure, beautiful, always stylishly dressed. Yes, even then women would inquire where she had made her purchases, what perfume she had been using, what exercises she had done and where, what her diet had been, and who had done her nails. All the women had made resolutions that were inspired by her lifestyle, and entered them into their diary or mobile, ready to start as soon as they returned home from their holiday. She had lit a fire under them.

And now she was sitting next to me, looking at least ten years younger than before. During that Japanese trip, she had seemed sort of stressed out – solving something, and checking her phone all the time, making calls in a loud voice while gesturing wildly. She had been interesting and enchanted everyone, but this being beside me here and now was almost ethereal – radiated peace, harmony, and humbleness.

She flew from the Island – her second home. Four months ago, she had broken up with someone who she had thought was her "Mr Right", someone she would be with for her entire life. Now, everything was different. She understood that everything, every single event in her life had a significant meaning and she would not change anything.

Afterwards she just dryly mentioned that she had even reached such state, of being decided to take her life. Just some four months ago. She showed me her first "diary", which she began to write in a week after the break-up... Well, it took me about ten minutes to devour it, even though the handwriting was a little messy, I could not break away from it.

I found the diary interesting, and in particular, the being beside me caught my attention so much that I got out of her almost the whole story during the flight. Well, the one related to this episode in her life. Naomi. Her full name I did not know. I just had her modest diary, only the first seven days, the toughest and most painful ones, and her story which she called the "transformation" or "deconditioning". I kept the diary with her permission, as it was an authentic expression of what she had gone through in those seven days. The rest is a reproduction of what she told me during the flight.