Exhaling

Smile, breathe and go slowly.

Thích Nhất Hạnh, Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, poet and peace activist

As I sat waiting for the departure of my night train, I was astounded to look outside the window and read the message, "Remember to breathe", emblazoned across an iconic image of an Alberta landscape. Here was a moment of synchronicity when unrelated events are meaningfully related: I have not seen these wrapping advertisements on wheels until this ride home at the end of a workday that marked the beginning of my vacation . . . in Alberta. I have been longing for Alberta's wide open spaces and big skies that stretch one's spirit from one horizon to the other. Looking out the window, I let out a deep sigh. As Carla Melucci Ardito writes, "Learn how to exhale, the inhale will take care of itself."