Seize the Day: Life According to my Dictionary

Life gives us brief moments with another…

But sometimes, in those brief moments
We get memories that last a life time.

 Some people keep a diary, I keep a dictionary. Yes, a dictionary.  Don’t ask me how this happened because I couldn’t tell you but my dictionary is full of memories and mementos of years gone by. My dictionary isn’t a particularly expensive book and it’s somewhat battered around the edges now, but the memories stored in it are priceless.

These memories represent the passing thirty years in different schools and small and big moments in my personal life. The first page includes my name and under it is written, “Carpe diem – Seize the day”, which is something that stirs me and motivates me, to always make the most of every moment.

There are happy holiday snaps, postcards from exotic places that I or good friends have travelled to over the years, funny cartoons that make me laugh out loud. The Far Side collection is my favourite. 

A man is sitting on an airplane looking out at the clouds drifting by in the sky. There is a panel at his right hand, which has all the usual buttons: volume, channel, light switch, steward alert and on the left side is a button that reads: ‘wings stay on’ and below this: ‘wings fall off’. The caption reads:

            “Fumbling for his recline button,

              Ted unwittingly instigates a disaster.”
             (Okay, maybe this is a ‘location’ joke.)

Photos of family events feature in the dictionary, which record moments of absolute bliss and success with my family – everything from learning to sailboard, floating on Blue Lake at Straddie in a dinghy, children playing netball, rugby and cricket, accepting awards at Speech Night, graduating from university and most of all, just enjoying family events.

Photos and notes from good friends who make me smile, fill my dictionary. Good friends are like diamonds that sparkle in any light and even in darkness. Good friends are the ones who know all about you and like you anyway. The gift of their friendship calls out to me from the pages, reminding me that even on the darkest of days, there can still be a reason to smile and to hope for a better future.

There are thank you cards from parents, students and colleagues. Beautiful Valentine’s Day cards, special Christmas cards also kept for reflection, including a lovely Christmas card written by Riordon, David and Natarsha Turner at the end of my first year at CCPS, which I treasure.

A potpourri of photos of school related events like Anzac Day marches, graduations, formals, semi-formals, Foundation Days;  photos of Professor Ian Frazer, and who can forget his description of going to a ‘pirate school’?  Who can forget superstar, John Newcombe and the amazingly ‘young’, grand Dame Elisabeth Murdoch?

Poignant photos found in my dictionary, remind me of generous people in my life, like that of the School’s Patrons – Judy Henzell and the late Joan Ford, Cec and the late Noelene Munns – all people who have given so much to Caloundra City Private School. How can we ever repay their kindness?

Perhaps the saddest of these mementos are those that mark the death of someone very young. It reminds me of how fragile life can be and the transiency of all that is precious to us. One that always makes me pause to consider this fragility is of a past Year 11 student who died tragically in a car accident in 2001. Her beautiful face smiles out from the pages and the inscription below written by her grieving parents reads:

            “Gone from our sight

               But never our memories
               Gone from our touch
                But never our hearts.”

 

We really can’t take too much in life for granted, can we? Nothing lasts forever. All things come to an end and in my mind, it is all the more reason to ‘seize the day’ and make the very most of every moment. With this in mind I will be embarking on a new journey in 2013 and look forward to this new chapter in my life.

 I take with me many wonderful memories of CCPS – mainly of the people that I have been fortunate enough to know:  wonderful teachers, fabulous administrative and auxiliary staff,  amazing students (past and present), and supportive and caring parents. To the outstanding executive team of Ms Stuart, Mr Maguire, Mrs Frisby and Mrs Short I thank you for your amazing skills, talents, loyalty and leadership of the School.

 My creed, (also found in my dictionary), is very simple and this creed is one that I borrowed from George Bernard Shaw and would like to share:

            This is the true joy in life,

             The being used for a purpose
            Recognized by yourself as a mighty one.
            The Being a force of nature
              Instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments
              And grievances, complaining that the world
               Will not devote itself to making you happy.

 I am of the opinion that my life belongs to 

           The whole community and as long as I live,
            It is my privilege to do for it what I can.
            I want to be thoroughly used up when I die,
             For the harder I work, the more I live.
            I rejoice in life for its own sake.
            Life is no brief candle to me.
            It is a sort of splendid torch
            Which I have got hold of for the moment
            And I want to make it burn as brightly
            As possible before handing it on to future generations.

 

Thank you to everyone who has been part of my journey at Caloundra City Private School. I am leaving you now, but you will always be a part of who I am and part of you will always live in my heart. I wish you all the very best for the future.

Thank you for all of the wonderful experiences I have shared with you on this journey.

Karon Graham

Celebrate Life!

The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.(Oprah Winfrey)

Celebrate life!  Don’t let the moment pass without celebrating that special event, that special success, or that special milestone. Life should be full of celebrations of the big moments as well as the little moments of personal significance.

It’s so easy to get caught up in all ‘that’s not right’ in the world rather than what is right. It’s so easy to not see the forest for the trees. I use to watch the news but I rarely do these days. Some comic once quipped that the evening news always commences with ‘Good Evening’ and then the presenter proceeds to tell you why it’s not. So now I get my news over the internet and choose what news stories I read. Isn’t it better to do as Barbara Hoffman suggests?

Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey!

In my mind there are lots of things that we can celebrate every day and maybe some of these you may already celebrate too.

Celebrate our families and the ones we love.

Celebrate good friendships and the joy of friends in our lives.

Celebrate the beautiful part of the world in which we live.

Celebrate the weather – how lucky are we to have warm, sunny weather most of the year?

Celebrate good health or the recovery to good health.

Celebrate our freedom and the lifestyle that we sometimes take for granted.

Celebrate this great School and all who share it with us.

Celebrate every blessing that comes our way.

Celebrate life!

 

Life is a celebration of awakenings, of new beginnings,
and wonderful surprises that enlighten the soul.

 

Karon Graham

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

“The secret of health for both mind and body is
not to mourn for the past,
worry about the future, or anticipate troubles,
but to live in the present moment,
wisely and earnestly.”
(Buddha)

Live for the moment. It sounds reckless doesn’t it? If we think about this proposition a little more though, life is really a continuum of moments, a series of decisions that we make, most of them seemingly insignificant, but in the course of our personal history, the collective decisions we make lead us to our destiny. Why should we live for the moment?

Many years ago, there was a popular song written by Bobby McFerrin, called “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”. The very simple lyrics struck a chord with many people. We are not able to change the past, so let it go. We are not able to predict or know with certainty the future, so there’s no point stressing too much about that either. Yes we can make plans for the future, but remember that events can often conspire against our best laid plans. So maybe there is something to McFerrin’s lyrics, ‘don’t worry, be happy’.

In Andy Andrews’ book, The Butterfly Effect, based on the theory of Edward Lorenz, he explains how one decision, one small act or one change can have a ripple effect elsewhere. When the disaster of 9/11 struck the World Trade Centre, some people, who would normally be at work there, had made a decision a week ago, or the day before, or even on the day to do something that meant they were not on the upper floors of the World Trade Centre when the planes struck.

One man decided that he would take his daughter to her first day of school and another, Larry Silverstein, had made a doctor’s appointment, which his wife insisted that morning that he should keep rather than rescheduling. Chef Michael Lomonaco decided to drop in at the optometrist in the lobby of the World Trade Centre to see if he could change his appointment time, instead of travelling up the lift to the 106th floor to his restaurant, where he would normally be preparing for the day ahead. All of these people were spared almost certain death by the decisions they had made the week before or because of spur of the moment decisions made that day.

Not all decisions take on such significance though. According to a survey by Columbia University decision researcher, Sheena Iyengar, the average person makes approximately 70 conscious decisions every day. That’s a lot of decision making happening in our lives. Multiply 70 decisions by 365 days and that means, on average, we are making around 25,550 every year! It’s no wonder that these decisions collectively determine our destiny and the destiny of other people in our lives.

What influences our decisions is quite interesting too. Arnaldo Oliveira, an expert in decision making process, argues that the essence of decision making integrates both the beliefs about specific events and peo¬ple’s subjective reactions to those events. He identifies three factors influencing our decision making. Firstly there may be more than one possible course of action possible for us to consider. Secondly, decision makers form expectations concerning future events based on degrees of confidence and probabilities for the future. Thirdly, we consider the consequences associated with possible outcomes, which reflects our own personal values and current goals.

Author, John Hunt has an interesting theory about people, which may influence how they make decisions and what decision they make. He writes about people either being a ‘sunset’ person or a ‘sunrise’ person and he believes that everyone falls into one of these two categories. Hunt explains:

“A ‘sunriser’ gives out energy; a ‘sunsetter’ sucks it away.
A ‘sunriser’ goes through life open to the idea that the best may still be coming. A ‘sunset’ person is heavy in the knowledge that the best is past. For him or her, the future is in a calibrated decline.”

In essence, beliefs influence our actions and often can result in a self-fulfilling prophecy where our decisions influence eventual outcomes. In other words, what you believe will come true because you will subconsciously and consciously act in ways that cause the event to happen. Self-fulfilling prophecies are powerful, and real.

A simple decision about whether to let your child learn a musical instrument, or learn to sing or dance or paint can significantly influence the course of their life. A young child who struggles to learn, to speak or write, may benefit greatly by learning to play a musical instrument or play chess or to learn to draw or to play a particular sport. Not only does it open a whole new world of opportunities for your child, but it may very well be the one thing, in which they excel and experience success in their life. We never know where such a decision will lead.

There’s no escaping it, the more opportunities we give our child at the youngest possible age, the more likely they are to excel, not just at school but in life in general. A small decision can have an untold impact on the future. We never know where the decisions of today will lead; ultimately, it may very well depend on our beliefs and expectations and (maybe) on whether we are a ‘sunsetter’ or ‘sunriser’. I will let Theodore Roosevelt have the last word on decision making:

“In any moment of decision
the best thing you can do
Is the right thing, the
next best thing is the
wrong thing, and
the worst thing
you can do is
nothing.”

Karon Graham

Teachers Create the Future

A teacher affects eternity;
he or she can never tell
where his or her influence stops. ~
(Henry Brooks Adams)

There is a saying, that every good teacher is a student of students. Understanding young people (as many a parent will testify) is not an easy or straightforward task. Good teachers get to know their students very well indeed – they learn as much as they can about their students - their interests, passions, hobbies, their family, likes and dislikes and what they love to do, how they like to learn and what they like to learn. Good teachers make learning fun.

I read a funny quote the other day by Donald Quinn, who wrote that if a doctor, or lawyer, or dentist had thirty people in their office at one time, all of them asking questions, all of whom had different learning needs, and some of whom, didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, some of whom were questioning the advice given, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he or she might have some conception of the work, the stresses and life of the classroom teacher.

Apart from the humour, this anecdote is quite thought provoking. If we think about this idea a little more, teachers actually teach the people who will become all the other professions we know. Teachers around the world are now teaching, the future prime ministers, the future doctors, lawyers, dentists, politicians, CEOs, the future innovators, artists, musicians, scientists, builders, the future business leaders, architects, writers, researchers and the future humanitarians of the world. Our future and the future of humankind, actually lies in the very hands of our teachers today.

Teachers create the future by their very being a teacher. Most great ideas come from unexpected places and gifted teachers seize and opportunity to create the ‘teachable moment’ whatever the circumstances. Teaching young people to think creatively about problems, helps them later in life to be creative in their thinking, to look at the world differently, and see a solution or idea that has not occurred before that moment. As Albert Einstein, brilliant creative thinker and scientist once wrote:

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken
joy in creative expression and knowledge.

A gifted teacher inspires all of their students, (not just the clever ones), by tapping into their natural curiosity, by engaging them in conversations around an interesting topic or theme. They make learning come to life in the minds and hearts of their students. A gifted teacher makes learning fun in many creative ways and ignites in his or her students a passion for learning, an interest in the world in which they live, of times gone by, and a thirst for learning that can be sustained their whole life through.

The educational journey, which we share with our students for a relatively short time in their lives, is a journey of discovery – a journey of self discovery, as much as the, ‘getting of wisdom’ and a discovery of the world we live in and our place in that world. No journey is without its twists and turns and ups and downs. Teachers can help students through these difficulties and move them forward to a better place. Gifted teachers show how adversity can become an opportunity. Gifted teachers show students how one’s mind is capable of great feats, complex thinking, wonderful accomplishments, creative problem solving and insightful and inspiring thoughts.

Teachers who inspire realize there will always be rocks in the road ahead of us. They will be stumbling blocks or stepping stones; it all depends on how we use them.
(Author unknown)

In appreciation of International Teacher’s Day celebrated on Friday, 26 October in Australia, students have put together a collage of thank you notes for their teachers. Here is just a small sample of some of the thank you messages from our students to their teachers at CCPS.


“I love all the teachers who teach me and I want to keep them forever! (Skye)

“I love how you always have fun and exciting lessons; you are a great teacher and I love having you teach me.”

“You are the best teacher because every day we have with you is fun.” (Celeste)

“ You are awesome; you teach us awesome stuff and I really, really like the Go Figure.” (Briana)

“”Thank you for helping me in class and for telling me, what’s right and what’s wrong.” (Lauren)

“I love how you teach me about things I didn’t know.”

“You’re the best teacher ever because you’re cheerful every day.” (Ruby)

“Thank you. I enjoy coming to school because you make it fun for me to learn.”


The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called "truth." (Dan Rather, American anchorman CBS News)

Thank you to all the dedicated and caring teachers everywhere - you really do affect eternity!

Karon Graham

Ordinary People Achieve Extraordinary Things - Why aren't you?

“The greatest results in life are
usually attained by simple means and
the exercise of ordinary qualities.
These may be for the most part
summed up in these two:
commonsense and perseverance.”
(Owen Feltham, English writer)

If I was to ask you to name the five wealthiest people in the world, or to name three people who have won the Nobel or Archibald Prize, or to name the last five winners of the Brownlow Medal or the Dally M Medal or the last five winners of Best Actor in the Academy Awards, would you struggle? How did you go? Many of us would have trouble answering one of these, let alone all of these questions. (Okay, there may be a trivia savant out there, who scored 100%, but it’s not me and it’s probably not you.)

Even though it’s interesting or important to us at the time, as life moves on, we care little, and remember less of the past successes of these great people. Their successes eventually fade into oblivion, the applause evaporates into the ether and their achievements and awards are often forgotten altogether.

If on the other hand I was to ask you to name three teachers who helped you through school, or three friends who have stood by you through a difficult time, or five people who have taught you something worthwhile, or to name five people who have made you feel special and appreciated, or five people you enjoy spending time with, then the challenge is much easier, isn’t it?

As Charles Schulz, creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip (one of my favourites) muses: the lesson here is that the people who make a real difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards; they are the ones who care about you. They are ordinary people, who have affected your life in an extraordinary way.

Perseverance, persistence, and patience are qualities that ultimately can affect our destiny. Perhaps one of the greatest examples of a life built on these three qualities is that of the great American President, Abraham Lincoln. If ever there was a lesson in not giving up, it is the story of Abraham Lincoln. His perseverance, his persistence and patience is both inspirational and legendary.

Lincoln was born into poverty, was beset by personal tragedy, (when his fiancée died), suffered a nervous breakdown, experienced multiple business failures and bankruptcy, and lost eight elections before rising to the highest possible office in the country as the President of the United States in 1860. Lincoln never gave up; he persisted when many others would have given up in the face of such heartbreaking obstacles.

Yes, most of us, who consider ourselves to be, just ordinary people, can achieve extraordinary things if we have a mind to, and if the circumstances unfold in a way, to allow us to seize the opportunity in front of us. It’s not only about what we achieve ourselves, but it’s also, how we might make a significant difference in the life of another person, or lots of people for that matter. English theologian, Julies Hare wrote:

“Be what you are.
This is the first step towards becoming
better than you are.”

There are many people who don’t see themselves as ‘talented or gifted’ and it’s to these people, I say ‘go for it’. Each of us is unique and each person has different skills, interests and talents. Find your passion and pursue it. You will never know what you’re capable of, until you give it your very best shot. Perseverance, persistence, patience and practice will see you improve, and over time, achieve what it is that you want in life. Ordinary people really do achieve extraordinary things!
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUT1ADtIHQU)

“Our imagination is the only limit
to what we can hope
to have in the future.”
(Charles Kettering, American inventor, engineer, and businessman)

Karon Graham

Are You Okay?

“You never know when a moment
and a few sincere words
can have an impact on life.”
(Zig Ziglar)

There’s no doubt how busy we are these days, particularly with family, children, work and all the other activities that seem to consume our time day in, day out. It’s not surprising then, that we sometimes overlook small warning signs that signal that someone we know is not well, or is troubled emotionally, or may be suffering from depression.

Most of us fall into the trap of the ‘passing pleasantries” outside our door, in the shopping centre or walking by an acquaintance or colleague. The exchange usually goes something like this:

“How are you?”
“Well thanks and you?”

Unfortunately we don’t always stop to even listen to the response. Before too long, we have moved onto the very next ‘to do’ task on our list and the conversation is forgotten. Sadly, all too many of our conversations, end up being like this, and the opportunity to touch someone else emotionally, in a real and meaningful way, has passed. Too often, though, we can express regret later, “If only, I had stopped and listened.” “If only I had taken more time to make sure that they were okay.”

Yes, everybody can have a bad day – but sometimes it’s more than just a bad day, it’s prolonged and debilitating – it’s what we call depression. R.E.M.’s lyrics speak of these emotions and ‘holding on’ when all seems lost:

“When your day is long and the night
The night is yours alone
When you’re sure you’ve had enough of this life, well hang on
Don’t let yourself go
Everybody cries and everybody hurts sometimes…..
Sometimes everything is wrong……"
(Lyrics by R.E.M. and drummer, Bill Berry, 1992)

About six percent of Australians are diagnosed with depressive illness every year and surprisingly close to 20 percent of Australians are affected at some stage by depression. Some people manage to hide their depression from family and friends for years before they seek medical help. Many sufferers are so good at concealing their illness that they are able to smile and appear quite happy when out in public.

It's not always easy to know how to help someone who may be experiencing depression. It can be hard to know what to say or do. Here are some tips from ‘Beyondblue’ – the national initiative to help those suffering from depression and anxiety:

• talk to the person about how they're feeling;

• listen to what they're saying - sometimes, when a person wants to talk, they're not always seeking advice, but just need to talk about their concerns;

• make it clear they have your full attention and you are listening properly - you may like to save any suggestions for a later discussion;

• maintain eye contact and sit in a relaxed position - positive body language will help you both feel more comfortable;

• use open-ended questions such as 'So tell me about...?', which require more than a 'yes' or 'no' answer. (This is often a good way of starting a conversation);

• if your conversation becomes difficult or the person you're talking to gets angry: stay calm; be firm, fair and consistent; admit if you are wrong and don't lose control;

• often, just spending time with the person lets them know you care and can help you understand what they're going through;

• encourage the person to seek professional help from their family doctor or a mental health worker; and

• take good care of yourself too, because supporting someone with depression can be demanding, so make sure you take some 'time out' to look after yourself.

Helping someone else can be a simple as listening to them tell his or her story. Finding time to listen to other people can be a challenge, but it's one of the most important things we can do in life, that is, to reach out to others. There’s no need to give advice. There’s no need to offer our own story, because the conversation twists and becomes more about our own story than the person who needs our understanding.

Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., author of “Kitchen Table Wisdom”, makes the point that when we interrupt someone, even if what we are saying is to let them know that we understand, we move the focus of attention to ourselves. She suggests that when we listen without speaking, people know we care. Seems contradictory doesn’t it? Yet as a doctor who works with terminally ill patients, Remen has found that a loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well intentioned words.

"How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a weary world."
(William Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice)

So take a little extra time to have those important conversations with people we know, with people in our own family who we love or with a complete stranger who has no one else to confide in or share his or her burden. Just by listening and showing we care, we make a difference to someone else’s life, and sometimes that difference might be life itself.

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around."
(Leo Buscaglia, American author)

Don't ever hesitate to ask, "Are you okay?" Just ask.

Karon Graham

Getting of Wisdom

“Is it so important to get somewhere in a big hurry, or isn’t it better to take your time, one step at a time and methodically reach the destination in a more efficient way? There is an attraction…….to say, “How fast can I get there?” … Well it took Columbus, a long time to sail across the ocean. It took Magellan half a year to travel around the world, maybe even longer.” (Buzz Aldrin, p22, “Wisdom”)


It was US President John F. Kennedy in 1961 who first announced that America would send men to the moon. In July 1969, three astronauts blasted off into space: Neil Armstrong, (who sadly died recently), Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, (former second lieutenant and Rhodes scholar) and Michael Collins. The landing of Apollo 11 on the moon had a profound impact on human psyche; the last frontier was at last within our grasp. Humans could now travel further, and at greater speed, than in any other time in the history of humankind.

Maybe it’s because of Aldrin’s travel into outer space that has put his perspective on life, in a much longer time frame and in a bigger picture. His views on the world, our thirst for knowledge and time, are insightful. So why are we in so much of a hurry these days? Why don’t we enjoy the journey as much as the destination?

“Are we there yet?” still echoes in my mind, as we travelled with our children on long road trips. Any attempts to distract them with cows, mountains, books or signs failed miserably. If you have been on a road trip to north Queensland recently, you may have noticed some funny road signs, that a council worker with a great sense of humour , has had erected along a particularly boring stretch of highway that read, “Are we there Yet?”, and twenty kilometres further, “Nearly there Kids.”

It seems that when we are very young, time stretches on for eternity and no more so than when trapped in a car hurtling towards some unknown destination. What is it though that makes us want to be in such a hurry? Is it in our DNA to be so impatient? Why is it that we want to ‘be there’ now, rather than in two weeks time or an hour? What’s our big hurry?

When we’re young, we’re in a hurry to grow up, to learn to drive, to get a car, to leave home and become more independent. (Though latest observations show that young people are living at home well into their thirties now, but that’s another story.) Time is relative, isn’t it? Well ‘yes’ according to Einstein, yet it doesn’t take a genius, to figure out that a month as a proportion of your life as a five year old is way larger than that of a thirty year old.

As we grow older, we realise that time is not infinite. Indeed, time seems to speed up. We realise too, that we still have so much to learn about people, places and life. Even though each of us has been on a long personal journey, we are still learning about life and we are still learning about wisdom. Life throws at us, lots of ‘curved balls’, obstacles, challenges as well as good helpings of happiness and heartache along the way. The ‘getting of wisdom’ is not a simple or easy thing. As French author, Marcel Proust, wrote:

“We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us.”
Like the chrysalis that must fight its way out of its cocoon, to be transformed into a beautiful butterfly, it seems too, that we humans must fight our own way out of the cocoon of protection that our family provides for us as children. Either speeding the process up or down is not necessarily a good thing. Nor will the outcome be better for our children if we ‘hover and intervene’ on their behalf for too long. Like the caterpillar that shrivels and dies, if it is pulled out of its cocoon without doing the battle itself, so too will our children lack the resilience and the independence to prosper along the journey of life, if we act too hastily to intervene by trying to protect our children from life’s lessons. Where is the wisdom learnt?

“There is such a thing as communication time of travel” (Buzz Aldrin)

What would the world be like if President John F. Kennedy had lived? What would a person’s life be like if they had not lived through a personal tragedy? These imponderable questions are the theme of Stephen King’s book, “11.22.63”. The plot centres on the possibilities of travelling back in time – to change the course of history to see what different outcomes may have resulted by an intervention by a person to prevent President Kennedy from being assassinated or to prevent a family tragedy.

Would the world be a better place? Would a person be happier for not having to live through a personal tragedy? Would they be a better person or a more successful person? Philosophically we can only speculate. We can’t say with any certainty whether the outcome would be better or worse and like the old Chinese proverb says, “Maybe so, Maybe not.”

There’s an underlying truth in the Greek philosopher Heraclitus’ observation from c.500BC, that:

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.”

There it is. Even if we were to change the course of our own personal history (yes, we all have a few regrets and things that we wish we could change), there are no guarantees that the outcome would be better, or we would be happier or that life somehow would become magically more perfect. Perhaps this is why so many philosophers and poets write about the journey of life. Isn’t it really a question about how we view life’s journey and what our attitude is to what happens to us along the way that is more important than any ultimate destination?

Some adversity makes us stronger than we could ever imagine we could be. Some challenges make us more resilient and better able to cope with the ‘small speed bumps’ in life. Some tragedies can transform us into a better person than we might have been otherwise. Overcoming these challenges can motivate and inspire us to become the best we can be.

“The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.”

(Don Williams Jr., American novelist and poet)

Life’s journey is never straightforward is it? Isn’t it in the twists and turns though that true wisdom is learned?

Karon Graham