One of the memories that has influenced my life was of a cycling holiday I spent in North Wales with my younger brother.It was an unseasonal Easter. Snow lay thick on the ground. Around us the mountains stretched bleakly to the horizon. Nothing looked like anything on our map. We were lost.

A weather-beaten ancient was greeted as our saviour. He shook his head in bewilderment at our pronounciation of the town we sought. "Lanfair?... "Lanfair?... I never heard of such a place."

"We showed him on the map - "Llanfair". Light dawned. "Oh, Clanvower! You mean Clanvower! He thought for a moment, then said, very seriously,

Well now.... I wouldn't start from here, if I were you!"

Since then I have often thought that although the situation I am in may not be ideal, it is undeniably where I am at the moment and therefore the only place from which I can possibly begin.

But it can be very tempting to think "I can't get there from here, so I'll wait until I can start from somewhere else, or I'll settle for going anywhere I can, even if it is not where I really want to be."

The other thought that arose from the experience was that before we can decide how to progress in the required direction, we have to have an accurate idea of where we actually are to begin with.

If we are starting from somewhere other than where we think we are and if we have no clear idea of where we want to go, we are likely to wander round in ever more frustrated circles until we give up trying to get to where we really want to be.

The first thing we need is an accurate bearing on our current situation, which we cannot get with our eyes closed. The second thing we need is is a clear picture of our destination and the third thing we need is a plan of campaign

No matter how well we take care of the first three premises, there is always the possibility of setback or change.

No matter how daunting these altered circumstances may be, there is always the possibility of learning and growth.

Looking back, we can often see that just those obstacles which seemed the most insuperable were the ones which diverted us onto new tracks, ultimately leading more directly to our goals.

There is an element of spirituality in all our lives; serendipity, synchronicity, call it what you will: a time to respond to some inner voice, to let go... and let God ...whatever you conceive him to be.

Often our unconscious mind has weighed up all the options and arrived at an answer long before our conscious mind is ready to accept it. Then we find ourselves acting "on impulse" and wonder what is going on. But an awful lot of work went into that impulse. Information was gathered, processed, compared, assessed, and decisions made: but not consciously. In that way we could take the optimal course for survival unhampered by learned responses .

We are consciously constrained by all kinds of rules, censors and taboos which do not affect our unconscious. Where there is no consciousness there is no conflict. So the consciously unthinkable can be taken into the unconscious equation and the result is much more accurate than the censored version available to our conscious mind.