Climate

Each one of us must rise every morning with our own “climate” no matter what our circumstances are. When we are sure of who we are and what we want, we must not allow external situations to change our direction, nor should they worry us, let alone condition us.

Sometimes something as simple as rain or the season of the year makes us change, on other occasions something as complex as the world economy or the political situation causes us to worry too much. This is not necessarily bad; to be concerned about what is happening to the world marks us out as sensitive human beings. But to allow these distant situations, which are largely beyond our capacity to change, to affect or paralyse us to the point where we are no longer ourselves, will only lead to frustration.

The force that impels us to be who we have decided to be, is embedded in the values and principles of human behaviour, which are our inner guide. We are what we decide to be and that is how we interact with our environment. Being ourselves will lead to change in our immediate personal world, leading to healthier relationships. It will also contribute to a slow but real transformation of the wider world.

There are three fundamental values that must be taken into account when we analyse our life:

The value of experience: that which happened or is happening to us.

The value of creativity: what we contribute to life.

The value of attitude: how we respond to what happens to us, and what we contribute to life.

When we read the news or a book, or watch a film where someone overcomes some physical handicap or great difficulty with integrity, ennobling his life with decisions based on values, we are deeply touched, we weep, we are inspired.

Our response to difficult circumstances often makes us change the way we see and value life.

Our nature is to respond to that which happens to us by being ourselves, by being whom we have chosen to be. We choose new paths with integrity so as to elevate our lives.

We are who we are, because of choices made yesterday, but today we are free to choose something different. To change so as to improve, is a decision only we can make.