I decided to take advantage of the glorious weather this afternoon and drove to Sandbanks (3 miles away) and then walked along the promenade.  After about 25 minutes of brisk walking, I sat and perused the wonderful view – the beautiful sea and sand were a sight to behold.  Naturally, as I relaxed, I began to reflect on the events of the week which had been quite extraordinary.  I decided that it would be good to share this in my blog.

First of all, I had received an email and then a phone call from my ex daughter in law (who is French and whom I have never met!)  She told me that my ex husband had died suddenly.  Although we had been divorced for many years, we had only spoken a few weeks ago, when he had contacted me out of the blue.  I felt sad at his passing, partly because he was only 58 years old, and partly because it truly meant the end of an era for me.  I had spent time in Africa in my 30s with him, and he was my only link back to that period of my life.

The following day, quite by chance, I bumped into an old boyfriend from around 8 years ago.  We had parted on not very good terms at all.  However, when I saw him, I was delighted and felt absolutely no animosity or remorse and nor did he.  Moreover, I knew that he had since married and was happy with his wife.  After a few minutes chat, we parted and went on our way.

Well they say that things come in threes, so I suppose that I shouldn’t have been surprised that there would be something else of significance.

Yesterday evening, I telephoned a friend, who I don’t speak to that often, to tell her about the ex flame I had bumped into – as she knew him through work.  She told me that she had 2^nd grade breast cancer and I must admit that I was a little taken aback.  What was really stunning was how well she was taking it.  She said that she was not at all perturbed by it and that it was just another new experience in life.  She felt positive about her recovery and the treatment ahead of her.  Her attitude just blew me away.

So why am I telling you all this?  The reason is that I noticed how well I had responded to each event.  In the past, my responses would have been quite emotional and negative and I would have felt really bad. Sometimes, the universe brings us potentially challenging situations to demonstrate how far we have come in our personal development or spiritual growth.  I knew that I had come a long way on my journey. In addition, in order to move forward and take control of our futures, we need to ensure that we really let go of the past.  This is certainly what I have taken away from this week’s events.

So the next time you have a challenge, look beyond it to see what the lesson is and I feel sure that you will understand.

Gillian McKeith, the well-known nutritionist said “You Are What You Eat.”  This has some truth in it but it is not the whole story.  I would take it much further by saying that You Are What You Think.  Since everything in this world begins with a thought, we cannot create anything in our lives without first having a thought.  Thoughts are so incredibly powerful and it is therefore imperative that we get our thoughts right, if we are to live successful and happy lives.

It was Henry Ford, the American founder of the Ford Motor Company (1863-1947) who said “Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right.”  And he was absolutely right.  We have to not only think that we can do something but also see ourselves doing it in our minds, before we can do it in reality.  This in actual fact means that, if we can focus our thoughts on achieving the goals we want to in any aspect of our lives then, providing we also take the necessary action, we will achieve them.

So, if anyone tells you you can’t do something – ignore them – think of Henry Ford and remember that you most certainly can do whatever you choose.

If you read any personal development or, for that matter, spiritual book, they all say the same thing - your thoughts create your reality.  Why is that?  Because our thoughts are energy and our thoughts are therefore creative.  If we think only thoughts pertaining to what we desire, we will attract what we want to us.  However, if we think about what we don’t want, we will attract that too. 

The challenge is that we have been conditioned to think differently.  We’ve been brought up to think about our problems and be realistic.  This means that we are focusing on the effects of our previous thinking, rather than focusing on what we would like.  We live in a world of cause and effect.  Every action creates a reaction and since every action is preceded by a thought, if the thought is negative, it will create a negative action and therefore a negative reaction or result. 

If we look at what is occurring at the present time – i.e. the so-called credit crunch, this is created, maintained and increased by people talking about it, giving it more and more power.  If everybody stopped talking about the credit crunch, it would fizzle out.  Now I realise that this is a challenging statement for some people, so, if you haven’t yet read the book or seen the dvd, do check out The Secret – www.thesecret.tv.

Imagine yourself in a small aircraft, strapped very tightly to a man you have only just met, who is dressed in a Dalmatian outfit. You know that, within the next few minutes, you will be freefalling from a perfectly good plane at 10,000’ – and you really don’t like heights at all! Have a look at the “About Vanessa” page on the website http://www.watchoutworld.co.uk/pages/about.html for a picture of me flying through the air with my Dalmatian man. 

So, why did I do it?  Three reasons really. 

• To prove to myself that I could
• To show other people that, even if you feel scared, you can still do things, if you really want to.
• To raise funds for Julia’s House - a Dorset charity who take care of life-threatened and life-limited children

I have to say that the free fall aspect was absolutely wonderful – such freedom and a sense of floating really – even though, apparently, we were travelling at around 120 miles an hour!  Then, there was an almighty yank, as the parachute went up and we went shooting back up.  Strangely enough, this was the most frightening part for me.

Amazingly that was one year and 5 days ago – how time flies!  Would I do it again?  No, I don’t think so.  Am I glad that I did?  Yes, very much and with the help of many generous people, I also raised £1,300 for Julia’s House.  Let me know about your scary experiences.