Snail watching in life and on Radio 4

In May 1992 after attending a module of my Buddhist-based psychotherapy training in South Devon I spent a couple of days near the coast. I walked on the coast path and noticed a large snail crossing the bare earth in front of me. Its feelers were fully extended and it seemed vulnerable; a little bit like me after the training. I crouched down and watched it as it crossed the path, feeling protective of it. As I watched it a party of bird-watchers came by me, and seemed a bit surprised I was there, crouching down. Several times I felt tempted to move the snail to the safety of the grass beyond the path. I resisted this - in a Buddhist 'being is preferable to doing' mode - and watched the snail until it had reached the safety of the grass by itself. The next day I had to drive some 300 miles back home. I was not keen to leave the beauty of Devon, but decided to take the journey slowly, and switched on Radio 4 as I began. I heard the words 'look at the snail, dad'. On 'Pick on the week' was being repeated the story by a writer who had related an event which happened on holiday with his 3-year-old son. They had spent time watching snails crossing over a path. In the evening the father and son had gone back to their hotel, and the boy had taken out his toy cars and put them in a line across the carpet. The father went to move move of the cars. 'Don't move it, Dad' said the boy 'it's a snail'. And the writer expressed feelings of regret for his own loss of respect for life. I was totally overcome with the parallels of this coincidence. I have since kept a diary of coincidences (from 2003 to the present) currently numbering 294. I would be happy to share these if you are interested. Margaret Hannah MA (retired Core Process Psychotherapist)