Author Jason Barger spent seven days straight in six different U.S. airports gleaning insight for his book Step Back from the Baggage Claim, in which he purports, “I believe we can change the world” and, “The airport is where it can begin.”

Rather New Age for me, I thought, when I read the blurb about this book that, frankly, sat on my desk gathering dust for a few months. That is, until I actually read the book on my flight yesterday from Denver, Colorado, to Charlotte, North Carolina. Now I’m a believer — and a fan of this inspiring book.

Using airport interactions — at the baggage claim, in the security line, on an airplane — as a metaphor for life experiences, Jason explains how small changes in the way we behave can lead to a new way of looking at how we as a society can be nicer, more thoughtful, more graceful and more compassionate in our everyday lives.

For example, Jason describes the frenzy that is the scene at the baggage claim. As soon as that “obnoxious buzzer” sounds, passengers rush toward the conveyor belt to grab their bags. Wouldn’t it be nifty, say, if travelers rather stood three feet away from the belt, and moved toward their bag to retrieve it as it passed — allowing for more room to actually heft the bag to the floor (and not hit other travelers in the process)? Wouldn’t it be neat if everyone kept an eye out for the single mom who is trying to wrangle three children  and retrieve bags at the same time — or for the elderly gentleman who might need a hand?

Now, apply that to everyday life by “gaining perspective and creating space for others.” Sounds nice, doesn’t it?

How about the mad exodus that occurs as soon as the plane lands and the ding sounds that it’s okay to remove your seatbelt? Everyone stands up (crouched over if they are still in the seat row), gathering loose items and reaching into overhead bins. Still, there’s no where to go, since the flight attendants have not “unarmed doors,” so, as   Jason so eloquently puts it, passengers start “making uncomfortable small talk with the person whose head is now directly below our armpit.”

Jason notes that everyone is rushing to get off the plane… only to hurry to baggage claim where there’s more waiting to be done. He suggests that instead of doing the whole “hurry up and wait” routine, to “practice stillness in the moment.” Rather than racing  through your day, “make a conscious effort to slow down and get out off the business of just doing and into the business of being excellent.”

Ironically, just before I started reading this inspiring book on my flight, I encountered a gentleman who seemingly wanted to cut in front of me while boarding. Two minutes later, he told me he’d had a chillingly traumatic morning. It was a startling example of how I could have/should have unconditionally shown my fellow passenger compassion — rather than reacting so negatively to his wanting to get on the plane quickly.

I thought this book might be hokie and riddled with religious references, since the author is the former director of a church camp. And while he does quote the Bible a couple times, it’s not heavy on the religious rhetoric at all.

I read Step Back from the Baggage Claim during a two-hour flight. I highly recommend it as a travel book, as  it’s especially poignant to think about the airport metaphor while you’re actually in an airport or on a plane — all the better to put into practice some of the lessons about “traveling gracefully.”

This slim, 126-page book would make an excellent gift for any frequent traveler. Buy it for $12 on Amazon.