What goes up must come down Once you reach bottom, the only place to go is up. That's no reason, though, to descend to some deeply depressing depth in order to test the assertion. Imagine a child, growing out of a pair of shoes. Imagine that child then panicking. 'Oh no. My feet are too big. I shall never be able to walk outside again'. Or imagine a farmer panicking because plants won't grow in winter. We understand, all of us, that some things expand and others contract - at different times, under different circumstances. This is no reason to worry. It simply means we must accept, understand and adapt. Why are some people more successful than others? Is it a matter of talent? Not necessarily. Some highly gifted individuals never have their abilities recognised. Others, with less skill but more self-confidence, receive all the awards. Is it down to contact and connection? Perhaps, but there are failures, even among the famous. And some do genuinely rise from obscurity to reach great heights.Mix equal quantities of flour, sugar and butter. Roll out carefully to line a pie dish. Now take an equal mixture of hopes and dreams. Scatter them across the top, then cover quickly with more pastry before they have a chance to fly away. Bake in the oven of faith and serve hot with the custard of imagination. Warning. Be careful who you share this with - it is very potentThis is Planet Earth at the peak of an era that some call 'the darkest age in all of history'. You seek common sense? What planet do you think we are on? There may yet come a day when things in this crazy world begin to make proper sense once more. We may even be starting to see small glimmers of light in the darkness. But meanwhile, if you seek wisdom, compassion, sensitivity, hope, optimism and inspiration, you'll have to generate it yourself through faith. And you can!Great saints well up with too much pride if they make an appraisal of their own inherent goodness. That prevents them from being saintly. Great sinners, in contrast, don't see themselves as wicked. They can only continue to behave badly with a 'clear conscience' by persuading themselves that they mean well. We can no more look at our own motives objectively than we can satisfactorily scratch our own backs. A strong urge to break away from a restriction, to do something different, to get somewhere better, to be with someone who treats you more reasonably. We learn a lot from the situations we find ourself in, have a big ambition, a great hope, a precious plan. So our efforts to pursue this have to met with encouraging resultsor may be starting to doubt the wisdom of an idea. Or maybe we are just not sure who we are and what we want any more.Why shouldn't your life be comfortable and rewarding? Have you committed some dreadful crime?  Better or worse? More of the same or different and new? Onwards and upward? Or down into a spiral? So much depends on your expectations. There's a balance that can be easily tipped one way or another.   the final outcome of a drama is out of our control? But actually, it does not lie in the lap of the gods. You have much more power and influence than you realise. Draw on your faith and act with decisive courage and you'll soon start to carve your own destiny. Does this world owe us a living? we are supposed to work hard for our income, security and status. Yet isn't nature abundant? And why have humans created all these machines if not to free us from drudgery? This world may not 'owe' us anything but it is very willing and able to give us plenty if we approach it in the right spirit.  Take some energy from brain and direct it towards your heart. There are things to feel very deeply; injustices that hurt, wrongs you would love to rectify, and gestures you yearn to make. Logically, it doesn't make much sense even to try,  In the realm of emotion, what matters is not whether something makes sense but whether, in heart of hearts, it feels right especially when there's so much else to think about.And  help you see a viable path from here to a safer, happier, more secure future. It will show you a way forward. It will restore your confidence. It will rekindle justified hope for a better tomorrow. Once all that becomes clear.It often seems as if, once we start worrying, we never reach the end of a list of things about which, perhaps, we ought to be worried. What are we going to do about this? What are we going to do about that? And what if it turns out that there isn't anything we can do? Although, when we get to that part of the process, it almost comes as a relief. If there isn't anything we can do, there is surely no point in worrying! Focus on all that is positive and hopeful elsewhere in your world. It may be a while before you become able to sweep all this aside and turn your attention elsewhere. That's not bad, it's good. Your ability to rise above conflict and fear, though, will not be constant and infallible. You too, will feel tempted to succumb to anger, anxiety or resentment. Your strength will be tested, but you should find it easy to pass this testFreedom, as we have lately been discussing, is relative. It is easy enough to define in the context of incarceration or limitation. But who amongst us can claim to be completely, truly, free? And why would we want to be? For all that our obligations restrict us and our circumstances prohibit us from making various choices, aren't we often deeply glad of the very personal, emotional, forces and factors that keep us in check?Highly-paid professionals love to make us all think that their jobs are complicated and their skills are all but unique. Under some circumstances, such assumptions can be well founded. But in life, the big question is never really 'how much information have you got?' as 'how much common sense are you applying to whatever information you may or may not have?'The trouble with forgetting things is that we can't remember what we have forgotten! if we can't remember that we have forgotten it, how can we be sure that we ever knew it in the first place? Some individuals are far too thick-skinned, and almost deaf or blind to the signals that are being sent to them by their inner-radar.We all like to think of ourselves as smart and bright but perhaps we shoot ourselves in the foot when we pat ourselves on the back. We figure that, as we know what we are doing, we don't need anyone else to explain to us what we ought to be doing! Thus we miss the opportunity to broaden our knowledge base and stretch our own imagination.Long ago, things were different for all of us. Since then, our priorities have changed, as have many of our views. Perhaps several of these could now benefit from being updated. Often, we adopt an attitude, take it to heart, consider it part of the philosophy that defines our identity and only realise some while later that we have somehow grown out of this. to reappraise an old idea and to discover real hidden value and merit in something of which you have long been overly and easily dismissive. The people who make TV commercials have a lot to answer for. All those happy smiling faces, all those glorious, brightly lit interiors and picture-perfect scenarios. Do real people ever live in such a world?Magical moments sooner or later touch all our hearts, and when they do, we see Technicolor vistas and even the sharpest situations melt into soft focus, sometimes it is possible, our own entitlement to live the dream and experience the best that life has to offer us .As children we are all taught to label and categorise the world around us. What colour is this? Then later come more sophisticated inquiries. How big is that? How much does this cost? What is that truly worth?when we are not judging others, we are judging ourselvesthe only one thing we are ever within our rights to judge ourselves for, is judging ourselves! It is always good to talk.Conversations, even if they are only brief anodyne exchanges about the weather, are so very conducive to a sense of involvement with our fellow human beings. if it is generally good to talk, isn't it even better to talk about something truly meaningful?