Heart Snap Shots

   Book signing is new to me but I’m discovering I enjoy it. Sharing a few minutes with someone I’ve never met before– or, in some cases, with an old friend I haven’t seen in years–is what I call a ‘heart snap shot’. Whatever I end up writing feels like a thank you note for this moment in time we shared.

I first came up with the image of ‘heart snap shots’ years ago during summer hikes along my favorite trail in Cape Breton.  One by one, other hikers coming from the opposite direction would approach, get closer and then pass me on the narrow path which extended along a rocky ridge above the sea.  Intellectually I accepted the fact that these fellow travelers were strangers I’d never seen before nor would see again. If we ever had a conversation about religion or politics, I might find some ground to consider some of them as friends and others as enemies. But instead, as we exchanged a silent smile or a cheerful ” hi how are you?” it was pure delight. So I called these moments my ‘heart snap shots’.

When I moved to the big city a few years later these heart snap shots continued. Riding my bike along the seawall in Vancouver, I fly by hundreds of people, alone or with family and friends, and these uncomplicated moments of human connection fill me with joy.  In my book, I describe the natural communication system all human beings are born with: awake body, tender heart and open mind. When we tune into this system it’s symbolized as a flash of the green light, another way of describing the heart snap shot. To me, it’s proof that human relationships are basically good. And love doesn’t need a lifetime to develop. Sometimes all the love you need is right here, in this moment that we share with another human being. So the first words that come to mind are thank you.