Breathing in, I calm my body
Breathing out, I smile
In this present moment
A beautiful moment, worthwhile
These past few days this verse came to my mind. It’s the first part of a poem written by Thich Nhat Hanh. He is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who beautifully captured the essence, beauty and tranquility of simple acts such as breathing.
As we speak I am sitting in a rented Swedish Volvo, driving through Denmark, on our way to the Netherlands. We should be driving in our camper, but Murphy’s law was hunting us the last few weeks…
The camper was broken, then fixed. Broken again, fixed again. Ready to go to the Netherlands, fingers crossed. Broken again, after a 200 km drive. Then it looked like a garage in Askersund (Sweden) fixed it again. But after 100 km the same problem popped up.
Breathing in, I calm my body
Breathing out, I smile
In this present moment
A beautiful moment, worthwhile
We thought about canceling the whole trip. We were so stressed and fed up with the whole situation. To hell with red lights on the dashboard and burning brakes. I wanted to go home and have a nice and comfortable summer there. But… We all were looking so much forward to seeing our friends and family again. We couldn’t do it to our kids, and to ourselves…
So now we are digging deep into our pockets, renting a Volvo and sleeping in shabby motels. In the Netherlands we will rent an old Hymer camper. So we are coming in style: driving a brand new Volvo, sleeping in an old timer. Burning our savings money… But hey:
Breathing in, I calm my body
Breathing out, I smile
In this present moment
A beautiful moment, worthwhile
I wish you all a beautiful summer. Remember to breathe mindfully every once in a while. It’s what’s keeping me a bit more relaxed during stressy times 😉
Kalinka