It is so liberating to promote dramatic change in your life. I am going through an unconditional new phase of my life and loving everything about it. What is one of the greatest feelings is the sensation of familiarity of the process I am going through. Despite being in an entirely new environment with all of its fresh challenges, different people, enjoyable routines and so on, there is something comfortably familiar about what I am experiencing. I realise now that this is an old feeling I have harnessed once again, a feeling I have had several times before – of leaving everything I know and going off in to the unknown, where no one knows me, my past or my plans. By taking only my physical self into these new situations, I have shaken off all the personal baggage I have accumulated – the worries, the misdeeds, the negatives. I have chosen what to take with me, and what to discard. The end result is a clean palate on which to paint the next story. It is just so liberating.

Not that I had things I needed to run away from, but we all get weighed down in our current lifestyles without even knowing it. It is only with such breathtaking changes can we become aware of how heavy our loads have become without noticing. Additionally, with even modest changes comes the realisation that much of this tedious load is unnecessary and oppressive. Forcing ourselves to regularly reassess our loads can free our minds and souls. Of course not everybody is in a position to pack up house, leave their jobs and take off towards the horizon in search of new adventures. But we would all be better off if we stopped once in a while, remembered who we are deep down inside where no-one and nothing else can touch us. Then consider for an instant about where we have come from and the experiences and relationships that have helped shape us. Finally, combine these whole emotions and thoughts to clarify a plan for the future. Once we do this, we can then take a deep breath and progress confidently along our selected paths. Smiling assists the sense of liberation to set in.

To be successful you must accept all challenges that come your way. You can't just accept the ones you like. (Mike Gafka)