Carry a good book with you, a Dhamma book, a meditation book. Carry a little audio player with our talks on it. I know quite a few students who just love the "iPod" or the other little guys. The airplane's not such a terrible, boring time any more. They don't have to hide away from the movies on the screen, because when they put on the headphones and turn on a Dhamma talk, they easily shut their eyes without being distracted by what's on the screen. So these days inspiration is so much easier to keep going, especially with the electronic devices that are so small. It's incredible how small they are compared to the old, big tape recorders. They were much harder to carry around! Now it's just so much easier.
Not only that, one of the biggest benefits today is the Internet. It's great for keeping in contact with your good friends. Email has been around for quite a while now. We've always encouraged students to keep in touch with other good students and friends through email. It keeps connections strong that way.
Now they've invented something even better: Skype, or telephone conversations through the Internet. If you have a computer with high-speed connection (and sometimes even a slower connection), and if your friend has a computer with a high-speed connection, you can talk for free! All around the world. You can have conference calls, you and 3, 4, 5 meditation friends can talk together, anywhere in the world. Keep your inspiration going that way.
38 years ago, when I dated Rosemary, we had times when she's was in Australia and I was in America. Do you know what the telephone costs were back then? It was not every day I talked to Rosemary! It was not even once a month. I was a poor college kid, so I didn't have the money. It was 3 dollars a minute! 3 dollars a minute! I don't think we ever spoke more than about 5 minutes, as I couldn't afford it!
Last year, when I was in the United States with my mother, Rosemary was here in Thailand. We used Skype, twice a day, three times a day, four times a day! Free! Keep your inspiration going. Connect with your Dhamma friends. It's easy to do these days, so much easier than it used to be.