The Gift of Life

There are moments in our lives when we are striving for happiness and success and the goal is clear and visible and yet we end up taking another step, only to find that we are way back, from where we were.  We can berate ourselves for the stupidity of taking a wrong step and we can incur the "wrath" of those close to us, but the reality is that the step has been taken and we are in this place for a reason.  It may be that real clarity can only be attained at a place of crossroads, because you can then see all the directions to go and make the correct choice on which one to take.  Perhaps it may be that you needed input and perspective from another source to make the correct decisions in the correct manner and this could only be attained by challenging the circumstances, even if those circumstances result in some disappointment and confusion.  It may also be that you needed to learn a specific lesson and that this lesson may only be learnt by real reinforcement and perspective.  The distractions and concerns can only be dealt with effectively, if they are understood and fully committed to memory.  However, making a mistake may not be the worst as long as one realises that the positive things in your life and business are far more important than a silly comment or a minor emotional uncertainty.  The quicker you are able to bounce back and refocus will give an idea of how fast you have learn from your mistakes and moved forward, not on, but forward.  Whether you berate yourself, or get some well deserved flack, the true north is finding your way back to the path you have been set and starting to work towards its conclusion.  We need to stop looking at our current circumstances and how they can be fraught with errors, potential risks and diminishing prospects and we owe it to ourselves and the people that have walked a path with us and remained true and committed, to bury uncertainty, insecurities and lack of belief.  The real destination awaits and we need to get about claiming not necessarily the first goal we have, but rather the real goal, which will make our life the meaningful gift that it is.

Talk about Talking

How often do we feel that we want to say something, but something in our wonderful minds prevents us from making a statement, or commenting.  Sometimes we can kick ourselves later and other times we wonder why on earth we opened the edifice that is called our mouth, so wide.  My own definition of TACT is Talking Accurately without Consideration of the Truth.  There is no doubt that some have the ability to ask and raise conversation in a way that makes others squirm and we wonder how they could ask such things, but get away with it.  We all have moments when we are sure that the guy standing next to us is going to get slapped for the question he has just raised, but surprisingly he not only gets away with it, but it starts a good conversation.  Perhaps I myself may be guilty of hesitating to ask the hard questions, or making the snap comment, but then again being sensitive to listen and say less, can also be very valuable in relationships.  There is no point if several people bombard someone with personal and direct questions - there needs to be those that listen quietly and take in the information.  Especially in business, one needs to have both skills of mustering the courage to put yourself out there and be confident in what you want and how you believe you can achieve it.  You need to sell yourself and your abilities.  But remaining humble has many merits as well, because the ability to let others do the talking while listening to clues or information, is often even more relevant and pertinent to reaching a goal.  Let others do the talking and let your actions rather be the determining factor.  I guess that is why working in teams helps to secure the right result, because the best team combinations seem to make the best of circumstances, as they unfold.  You could encounter a loud and boisterous person who wants to be listened to and you may get a guy with limited speaking ability, who would rather listen to you pitching to him.  Take Franklin and Bash or Harvey and Mike - they tend to feed off each other to get the results.  The bottom line is to learn not just to manage your business, but to manage relationships, opportunities and communication to achieve maximum results.

Where will the Roads lead to?

The road to mastery is not for the meek.  Is it possible that you have been coasting along while the realms of creativity and success are within you.  Perhaps you are in a trance of distraction that is sucking the greatness from you.  Lets face it, it is easier to be a critic rather than a doer.  The credit always belongs to the man in the arena and not the one who points out from the stands, where a strong man stumbles, or where deeds could have been done better.  The dust and sweat and blood are signs of a fight and especially of effort.  Yes it comes with errors and shortcomings, but one day it will also represent deeds endeavoured enthusiastically, great devotions and spending your life for a worthy cause.  The highway to audacity is not for the faint at heart.  Whether you know the triumph of achievement or the failure of risks, which you are sure are worth it, at least you will be with the daring souls and not merely the cold and timid souls, who neither know victory nor defeat.  It is too easy to tear down those that dream and to condemn adventurers as selfish men, who have only a personal crusade inside them.  But perhaps it may be more reasonable to understand that the route to world class is a messy, chaotic, gorgeous, terrifying, fulfilling, brilliant, confusing ride, not easy, but easy is vastly overrated.  Yes it is wise to be sensible and yes it may be easier to plod along on a straight path with little deviation or risk, but just know that there are men and woman who may just be willing to take a chance and end up at a new destination, which may surpass the standards and the expectations which they had before.  And when they do arrive, it is best not to then look back with green eyes of envy and say I could have, should have, would have, but rather to applaud the strength, resolve and dedication to success.

Expect to have Standards!

Sometimes we just need to take a moment to think.  We can become embroiled in the business of life, the obstacles of work, or the difficulties of relationships.  We can become over committed to a situation and even though commitment is very often needed to make a situation a reality, it can be that we are so focused on a singular result that we slip away from reality and into a world of dreams and fairy tales.  We may need to be brought back to reality or Terra Firma as my grandfather used to say and gain a little perspective into what the difference is, between standards and expectations, when it comes to our relationships and business endeavours.  Expectations are very often linked to assumptions of how people should react, what we think they should do in a given situation and how we would expect them to treat us.  But realistically our expectations hold us back in the end, because we will spend more time in the end picking up the pieces of misunderstandings, unfulfilled dreams and missed connections, while we would be far better off to focus our attention on standards which are measurable and achievable and can help us to attune ourselves to the realities of our circumstances and to forge genuine and meaningful relationships, rather than open ended stabs at what may or may not be the best, in our situation.  When we chose to drop our expectations, possibilities open up to us, some of which may not be the best for us, our relationships, or our business.  However it is almost without fail that if we drop our standards then trouble in a variety of forms is not far away.  Our standards need to be maintained and developed and it may take time and a whole lot of effort, but once you have determined the standards you wish to maintain then failure to meet them is no longer an option.  You will need to make decisions which will seem impossible and expectations will be eating at you from various sources, but if you are committed to the standards, then you will find a way to make them happen no matter what the price.

Tunnel Vision

Tunnel Vision is defined as the tendency to focus exclusively on a single, or limited objective, or view.  It can sneak up you, especially as you become more focused on a goal or dream, which you are entirely sure in your mind is possible and achievable.  Yet as you tunnel, you focus into this objective and you may easily lose sight of the many and varying aspects of life and that as your goal begins to come good for you, so too it may have an effect on others around you.  It may even be that as your focus is more direct, so too the other people around you, may adjust or change their own lives and focus and this can influence their decisions such that in turn, they realise that it is in their own interest to pursue dreams and goals, in another way or form.  In essence we need to be focused on our goals, because they will never be achieved if they simply remain ideas on a paper, or words uttered.  There is action required and it needs to be specific and purposeful.  However, we need to have intermittent times when we open our goal and vision to others that are important and give them the chance to either participate in the dream, or at least to understand in what way this vision may affect them.  We also need to listen to how they react when asked about the vision and whether they have truly captured the essence of it and support the dreams for the future.  The reason that it is important to remain caring about others is because there times when the tunnel becomes very dark and foreboding as life challenges us and makes us know that we are merely a small part in a very big picture and during those times it is the people that you have involved in your vision and plans that will be there to shine the torch on your circumstances and keep the side of the tunnel from falling in around you.  The final important thing to remember about tunnel vision is the word 'vision'.  The tunnel starts and ends with a  vision - you need to have one to be able to enter into the challenge ahead of you, but while you are in the tunnel, you need to remember that there is another end, which is projecting light and even if at times the tunnel is dark and from around the corners you lose sight of the light, you can always trust that the opening at the end will be welcoming and fulfilling, if you keep trying and stepping forward each day.

DANGER ... DO NOT HALT!!

Life is a risk!  Every venture and plan has risk that is for sure.  There are obvious things that we can do to negate or manage the risk.  There are processes and systems and precedents you can follow, but ultimately it the courage to succeed and the willingness to set a course that you will not deviate from, that distinguishes moments of comfort, from great feats.  There is little point in putting together a plan or dream which contains very little in the sense of progress, victory and happiness.  It makes sense going into any plan, to have tried to mitigate the risks and considered the various permutations, but if you are in a team, you will not always know exactly how the other person will react in the same situation, or whether they actually have a different plan.  As long as the destination is the same, it is healthy to have the ability to be somewhat flexible and with the knowledge that there is a solution for every problem, but it may not be that your solution is the right one for the team as a whole.  Manage the failure and laugh at the face of adversity because it only temporary.  Take your mind off your own concerns and look a little wider to some of the folks that are around you and try to help them succeed.  See what they need and what they bring to the party and you will draw hope and encouragement form others around you.  In short make sure that your definition of RISK is a REALISTIC INTENTIONAL SENSE of KNOWING.  Realistic in that there is little purpose in reaching for a dream which far exceeds your abilities, but climbing towards something that is almost unattainable is actually well within your reach.  Intentional in that you plan and commit to a vision, or plan, or goal.  Sense is to remain positive notwithstanding adversity and no one has ever succeeded without a positive approach or steps.  And finally Knowing as when you truly know that something is right, then there is little point in holding back, but rather to get on and at it!

A new week a new dimension.

A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.  There are times in our lives when our creativity and capacity to grow and achieve goals is heightened by a new experience or a new point of reference.  We perhaps come into a new knowledge about our business, or career and we become determined to take it further, so that our picture expands and our confidence to succeed grows. This may be as a result of realisations about our business, or a better understanding of our surroundings.  It may be that we receive information, which allows us to understand our industry better, or it may be through hard work and dedication, that we finally crack through into the place, where we need to operate from and to grow exponentially.  It does not mean necessarily the makings of a giant corporation, but it does mean improvement in service, structure, reporting and information.  It means giving clients and customers the thing that they want most from the experience and in so doing, that they will connect or create opportunities for others to come into contact with your product, or business.  Simple things like using the tools and skills you have developed or learnt and turning them into profit accumulating assets.  It means that we learn to manage our time far more efficiently and optimising the number of hours in a day to penetrate the industry.  It means not necessarily spending as much time as possible staring at all the mountains, in order to achieve, but rather taking a step over the first then the second and then the third stone in front of us, until we do finally scale the mountain.  Don't be afraid to focus on the exciting and the mundane parts of your business.  Make time for the routine and daily admin matters, because they will ultimately develop discipline and good habits which are needed to run an organisation successfully.  Find positive and necessary distractions to make the days manageable and exciting, and never deviate from the belief that with the right team, a whole lot of attitude and a passion for success, the chances are, that your dimensions are about to be expanded beyond your belief.

Lets try to commit Harakiri!

I am not one to criticise SA constantly because I live here, make my living in this country and do not think that there is a better place in the world, but sometimes it becomes a bit much and surely we need to draw a line somewhere.  Between the fact that we had no electricity for more than 24 hours because on an undetermined fault at a local electricity box and despite the phone calls and reporting the problem the technicians, are working on the problem.  This sort of constant non performance at local authority level is driving the country into the ground.  There just has to be more accountability and better maintenance and service delivery.  We are all sick and tired of the basics not working.  To make matters worse I then had to endure strange and inconsistent judging at a local ballet festival and left me thinking again how it is that basic standards and integrity need to be at the heart of this country, but it can never be, because right to the top of leadership in this country, there is far too much corruption and downright dishonesty.  So why would there not be the same in every area of society from policing, to business and general mores (customs).  No sooner had I endured my afternoon and thought that a positive gym session would rectify my negative thoughts, I then had to suffer the total embarrassment of South Africa producing another string of firsts at the World Cup opener, and all for the wrong reasons.  Not only did we concede more points than in any other world cup encounter, and suffer a loss in our opening match with the most capped and experienced team ever assembled, but we manged to do it against Japan who have only ever won 1 match in world cup history and that against Zimbabwe.  We better be grateful that they are not in our pool, or another upset could be on the cards.  And to make it worse for me was that Japan has an arrogant Aussie coach, who somehow gets them to play confident rugby against us.  What more will I see!  I know that rugby is merely a game and lights do go out elsewhere in the world and judges do make mistakes, but this is all too common in our country.  It is time to take a stand and be the incredible nation of winners, to stop raising irrelevant issues like apartheid and quotas and previous disadvantages and to start raising the standards of this rainbow nation one small step at a time.  Eventually we will find that all the little stones that we climb over and get over, will result in us eventually traversing a mountain.  And no more sushi for a few days!!

Seconds out ... Round number...

You can run but you cant hide.  This was a saying in boxing to indicate that you could try to stay away from your opponent, but eventually he would corner you and hit you.  Well a certain Floyd Mayweather may well have dispelled this theory to the world, because even against the greatest opponents he just seldom seems to get hit.  This led me to thinking that maybe this saying need not necessarily be a defining situation in our lives.  We are all confronted at times with problems and very difficult times and decisions and we say that inevitably, we must stand and face them to conquer them, but what if one could settle for staying away from confrontation and rather focus on avoiding conflict and a whole lot of pain and rather put yourself in a position where you can exercise your abilities and skills in a positive way and one in which the environment is positive and yet challenging, demanding yet successful and dynamic yet flexible.  I do believe that if we spend enough time focused on the important things, like doing our homework well, knowing what the obstacles and challenges might be and being dedicated to significance instead of purely on success and profit, then at the end of the day the success will follow,  A reputation for integrity, honesty and willingness to work hard, are all essential tools for making us a better fighter in the ring, but it does not imply that we need to knock out every opponent.  Battles may be won in a variety of ways in business, as in life and we need to use all the experience, skill and training to ensure victory. However, first and foremost, we must want to win and never give up on the possibilities of going head to head and coming out on top.  When you're in a 3 by 3 ring fighting for your life, you need to be able to adjust, change plans and adapt to the challenge in front of you.  You need to stay in control because an angry, bitter fighter will not have the edge in the key rounds.  Rememneber to fight each round and fight to the end - you cannot give up on a dream, or goal, or a victory once you have set your mind to winning.

What does Trip Advisor Say?

New People, New Energy and New Surroundings.  These things tend to herald a new season after a lot of testing and consideration and sometimes equal a new chance at happiness.  We should not be afraid of these things because they can be truly positive.  We have a chance to interact daily with a number of people, some we have no choice as they may sit next to us, or occupy the same office space or classroom.  Others pass by us through meetings or casual interactions and some, being family, we get to interact with whether we want to or not. None of these interactions are bad or negative - they can in fact be just the opposite, but the reality is that they become comfortable and habitual.   There may be a new opportunity to connect with someone that you have not seen for a long time or that you meet at a function or event.  Take some time to connect and find out about the person, who they are and don't be afraid to ask questions that are relevant and of interest.  You may not always have an instant friendship and the goal in life as one gets older is not the number of friends you have but the quality of the friendships.  Yet still there is much to learn from others and you never know the impact they may have, or the opportunities they may present, or even the doors that they could open.  Interactions like this mean very often that there is a new energy and a bit of excitement about.  Creativity flows and potential sits in wait for us to exploit and take hold of.  The energy I am talking about is fresh ideas and directing the energy time we have, to the passions that make us alive.  It is very easy to slip into a daily routine of ensuring that our immediate surrounding and life are secure, comfortable and with as little risk as possible.  But this is not always the place where great goals and dreams are established, or even implemented.  You may need a change of surroundings to ensure that happiness can follow.  I'm not advocating selling up and moving to Europe necessarily, but what works for you and your closest family, or in business simply making some considered changes (maybe even a plant in the office) or taking time out to do something other than work, to open your mind to what you have and how you can improve it.  Time away could help to bring your goals and dreams closer to your purpose and should they collide, the happiness may blow your mind.

Step it Out!

While many people are waiting for an escalator, winners know that the key to success is to climb the stairs. There is, it is said, no escalator to success.  Most people are looking for the easy way to success or getting there in life.  If you are impatient like me then you tend to believe that every day may, should and must be the day when the rest of your life can begin and that your ship will come in.  Sometimes you may even feel that the world owes you this one thing that you want so dearly, but yet every day you continue to climb stairs that seem to go on forever. The better road is one of small and slow steps, day after day planning and thinking clearly about where you want to go and how to get there.  It is best to enjoy the process, because that is what it is.  You need more than a single goal, you need many and a series of targets to achieve, before the journey is complete.  Sometimes the goals comes fast and easy, but mostly they take effort and a willingness to endure the process, without backing away from the challenge.  It was Mohamed Ali that said, "Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier  to live in the world they have been given than to explore the power they have to change it.  Impossible is not a fact.  Impossible is not a declaration. Its a dare.  Impossible is potential .  Impossible is temporary.  Impossible is nothing."  No matter where you find yourself, you can accept that the flight of stairs continues ahead of you and the most pointless thing that you can do is to stop and turn back down the stairs.  The only way is to take another step tomorrow towards the top of the stairs and enjoy the process  as you go.  Besides going upstairs will make you fit, it will develop your body and it will afford you the opportunity to grow.  In the process it is not the mountain that we conquer, but ourselves.  A certain Mark Zuckerberg said, "The biggest risk is not taking any risk.. In a world that is changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks". We are living in those dynamic times and it is absolutely essential to have a good strategy in place, if we are going to achieve the visions and goals that we have for our lives (note our lives) - we must be vigilant about the changes happening around us and we must adapt our strategy accordingly.  A clear but flexible strategy hugely improves your chances of success.

If you want to be happy for the rest of your life...

We may feel sometimes that we don't have the best life, or compared to others, that our life is not that rosy but the reality is that we are not entitled to have a good life, because of our birth right, our parents station in  life or the colour of our skin.  We cannot demand that we are to be revered, or held in high esteem simply because of a family name or a job that we may have been entrusted with.  No matter who were are, we need to earn the right to be successful, or famous, or a mentor, or leader. However we do have the right to be happy and even though our life may not seem perfect by any stretch and though there are times when all about us feels like it is conspiring to work against us, the possibility still exists to lead a happy life.  We need to make sure that we seek the things that make us happy and go after those things with everything we have.  Many of these things can be found in very basic areas of life and this is why celebrities and people in positions in leadership often fall short, because they loose sight of the very basic things in front of them and choose to make everything a media statement or sham, purposed to satisfy the expectation of the media and general public, instead of holding onto the simple truths that exist.  Relationships are precious and should be nurtured and those that are important should not be taken for granted.  Take our president who is supposed to have a relationship with the people of this country but yet he chooses constantly to disrespect the people with stupid statements and actions which are unacceptable.  Hence he has no chance of making an impact and I am pretty sure that one day he will realise that he strayed far from making the people happy and serving them well, because he thinks entirely abut himself.   Celebrities are famous for this and so too many people in positions in business.  That is fine and good, but such behaviour makes them stray far from happiness.  I reckon there is only a few things in life that make us truly happy and if we can identify them and spend time with them and putting our best time into them, then the reward will be far more lasting and significant than a fake smile or a cold attitude. To actually lead a happy life is far more important than what the world's perspective is of how they see our happiness.

Life is Life - La La la la la

Sometimes things happen out of the blue and when we least expect it.  We can be prepared for a particular set of circumstances and then only suddenly to find that the unexpected has happened.  Ultimately, our lives are following a certain course and much has been destined from the beginning and yet we may have actually just not seen that the reality is there in front of us, even though it has been there the whole time. We may have been distracted or unable to make things a reality because of the world's objects and designs, but the truth is that life has continued on its path and we are needing to continue towards our future even if it contains some twists and turns and more than a few rocky bumps.  You may have time to wonder why certain events in your life happened and more often than not, you can pose the question of what exactly was I thinking when that happened, or why did take that course at the time.  Some decisions are a blurr and others have been properly thought through and yet still may not have yielded the change or effect we were hoping to gain. Life gives us more than a few chances to grab hold of the right choices and still to stay within the parameters of our destiny, but without being predictable.  Life is exciting and fascinating and that is why we need to make the most of it because the only time that it is boring and miserable is when we have made choices which result in us getting too far from the path which we have been given and life has to shake us back to where it needs us to be.  When you can hardly see the wood for the trees, is usually a reminder to refocus and re-calibrate our hard drives to the positive and good things we have.  This is the time to hold onto the spark and flavour of life and make the most of the precious moment  we have every day.

To Veg or not to Veg? That is the Question

Life offers many distractions.  For some, distraction takes the form of work and for others, it is exercise away from work.  DISTRACTION is a Deliberate Interest in Something Truly Real And means Constantly Trying to take an Intentional Opportunity to Neutralise our stress.  So whether it is work that offers this, or arts and crafts, or a hard workout, or reading or even watching the box,  it is very healthy to have a good distraction.  How much time do we allocate to this distraction and should we be concerned when the distraction starts to occupy more of our day than our money earning time. Well the fact is that some of the best business people I know and those that I have read about, are able to achieve more in a few hours of dedicated and specific intentional work, than most of the population does in a 12 hour a day slog.  Consequently, they also have far more time to explore their distractions and this tends to become a feeding arena for more positive interactions, thoughts and relationships and this in turns makes them more successful.  Sometimes in business we can become so concentrated on spending as much time slogging away at the files on our desk, when in fact a few files and a few good meetings or relationships may yield more productive and lucrative work which generates more income than all the numerous files we slog at on a daily basis.  It does however take a bit of guts to see the potential and actually follow through on not filling up your day with as much time at the office as you can.  It is wise sometimes to take time to do a few of the admin tasks and the less exciting things like surfing for new ideas and new opportunities, taking time to visit clients or industry related partners or even doing a bit of house cleaning and changes to the brand or website. Make time for your positive distractions and they will yield fruit in a variety of ways.  Importantly, enjoy the time you have away from the daily grind and be passionate about your whole day not just the stuff that brings in the bacon.

Let the Love Pour Down

I came upon an interesting piece about relationships relating to the way we see more flaws in people as we get to know them better and we tend to point out all the things that could be wrong with them in our minds and in our quiet times.  When we see people in difficult situations and how they tend to act and react it gives us an idea of whether we can work with such a person or whether we can interact with them or befriend them and this forms the basis for the type of relationship we are able to have with them.  It is certainly true that when times are tough we tend to see more of the bad than good and we react sometimes to the circumstances and have little in the form of sympathy or patience, because we too are experiencing a tough situation.  But the most important relationships may be tested by this, but they also give us a chance to make the tight choices.  Giving the perfect answer in any discussion is seldom achieved, especially where emotions are concerned, but with those we love, we need to look a little deeper to make sure that the qualities of the person are still to be found.  Patience and kindness, intentional care and affection and an unwavering willingness to stay committed and supportive.  These are not always easy qualities to spot and let alone to maintain but the ability to see beyond darkness and pain and still to feel like your day could not be complete without the interaction, or connection, or relationship is usually an indicative sign that the love and human nature is there to stay.

Start Downloading

Sometimes it is good to sit and recount stories of the past to listen to music for download, so that you can create a playlist of songs.  Each song creates a memory and whether you love the songs for the artist, the moment you first heard the song or the lyrics which have a particular meaning, it is wonderful to have the ability to spend time away from the stress of everyday life and just take in the moment for a while.  There must have been millions of songs written and which we have heard over the years and yet some just tend to remain fixed to our memory for some reason.  Imagine if one could sit and go through every song and click download for each one we like.  What is the meaning of this and where am I going with this piece.  Apart from the fact that I love music, the songs made me realise that we have so many memories in our minds and our brain has an endless ability to download information, without repeating the same song twice.  Therefore, we need to take note of times when a memory is triggered and how that memory may have an impact on our lives.  We can learn from past experiences and use them to create habits, which are lasting and successful.  It takes time and a measure of discipline to have the patience to extract the life lessons from our memories in the same way that it takes time and effort to download hundreds of songs, but the more we remember keys aspects of our success and the good times we have enjoyed, the more chance we have of repeating the exercise and regaining and retaining those habits of success and positive results.  This will help us to go forward and not be stuck with negative habits and questions that raise doubt and uncertainty.  Let the music help you to remember that you can and should be a success and if you need to delete a song or two in favour of tried and tested classics, then do so.  Use old and new songs, don't stay in one genre, but try new things and remember to add success to your favourites.  Once you have a playlist that works, you can press repeat and try to live your top 100 every day.

Saved by the Rain

Can we really be saved by circumstances, or by a moment of complete change.  A torrential downpour will probably keep us from going out to run, but will  a soft drizzle have the same effect.   I guess it may depend on whether you waken to a hot day with rays of hope, or whether the day starts murky and cold.  Does the change need to be so radical that it keeps us away or sparks a significant change, or prevents a certain mistake, or can it be that even a slow drizzle can have the effect that on a given day it leads to a decision to change.  We need to aware that not all change comes with a bolt of lightening and gust of wind.  It can also start slowly and peacefully and like a dripping tap, or a nagging generator, it just keeps going, until it has the desired effect.  Sometimes in life we need to make split decisions and there is little or no time to think about the consequences,  but you just know that you have to act and be present when the decision is made.  A certain boldness takes over you and as the hour approaches you realise that you are needed to be strong and consequential in your decisions.  I have also found though that many decisions get made almost as an ante climax, they merely pass from one situation into another and there is little spark or flame, but it is still of utmost importance that you are present for the moment, because the ramifications and results are just as key.  It is great to be part of a sudden happening and there is all the excitement and energy and passion, but we need to not lose sight of the subtle moments, for they too can be savoured - they allow us to linger a little longer and to savour the process and how we got to the decision in the first place and they instill a time of reflection and learning which is often lost when the big bang hits and sparks fly.  I suppose the difference may lie in maturity and perhaps even in the ability to find perfection, bit by bit and not as an act of youthful exuberance.  Be patient in the quest for the right decision and don't be disappointed if the rain sets in for a while and you have to sit it out until the sun breaks through.

Having the right Philosophy

Having passed into spring a few days ago and the euphoria of a new season beginning, we need to be careful about the last cold front of the year coming in and causing havoc in the camp.  It can sometimes have the effect of ruining a lot of expectation and promise of a new season and leave us questioning whether we are ready for the next chapter to begin, or whether we still need to stay back a little longer to learn lessons from the previous chapter in our lives.  Sometimes we think that we have navigated ourselves to a place where we are ready to take on a new adventure and we are confident that we can achieve success in our endeavours, because we have dealt with the various uncertainties and challenges and we have the support and experience to be able to go boldly forward, but then fear or an unexpected turn of events comes and we find that we are back to a place where we are not entirely confident of our ability, or that the goal or dream is in fact that which we are meant to endure.  Life has many ways of bringing us back to reality, like being fit and ready for an event and having done all the hard work and training and then being faced with an illness or condition that leaves us barely able to get up and we wonder, if all the hard work and effort will be undone.  It takes us a few days to realise that we should never think that we are in control of life completely, but actually we are at the mercy of the plans and purposes of our maker and we are best to be humble and grateful for every opportunity we have to enjoy life and that we are not above, or better than those we interact with and serve.  But we also realise that in this humility, we need to still be willing to draw strength from the time we have spent sharpening our sword and learning the skills that we need to be able to complete each task we have been given and that a minor setback or a stumbling block close to the finish line should not distract us from the prize, especially one which is so worth it, that it makes any minor setback or curve ball seem minuscule compared to the fruit and result which lies in waiting at the finish line.  Make sure to persist through these times, because many have given up barely metres before the finish and have lost out in accomplishing the destiny that they are meant to have.  Be aware of the challenges, but not afraid of them, have your eyes open to the risks, but only close your eyes to pray, look straight at the task ahead and take in all the surrounding and peripheral aspects, so that when you can see the finish through the many obstacles, you will have the resolve to press on to finish well.