In all our lives, irrespective of financial status, education etc , the winds of circumstances blows over each of us in a way that touches each and every one of our lives.

We have all experienced the blowing winds of disappointment, frustration, despair and heartbreak. Why then do each of us in a our own individual “ship of life”, all beginning at the same point, arrive at such different places (and sometimes in very windswept condition!) at the end of our journey?

What guides each of us to different destinations is the way we have chosen to set our sail.

We all suffer the same setbacks/obstacles. We all have disappointments, challenges and traumas in our life. We all have reversals of fortune and moments when despite how hard we try, or what we do, everything seems to constantly fall apart. Lets not forget that these life events are not reserved for only the poor or uneducated. We ALL have the same challenges that can lead to financial and personal despair.

However, it seems that in the final analysis it is not the event itself that determines the quality of our life, but what we choose to do when we have struggles for ages to set our sail, only to then discover the direction of the wind has changed.

It is this that separates the men from the boys, the sailors from those just going for a Sunday afternoon paddle!

When the winds change, you must change. We must struggle back to our feet once more and re-set the sail to the destination we want. The set of the sail i.e how we think, how we react to situations and our attitude (the most important) has a far greater capacity to destroy our lives than the actual challenge itself. How quickly we respond and bounce back from the negative circumstances becomes far more important than the circumstances itself.

Learning to re-set our sail with the changing winds howling around us, rather than allowing ourself to be blown in any direction we have no control over, involves discipline and a whole new mind-set.

It involves establishing your own personal strategies that will influence you in a positive and inspiring way and which will impinge on all that we think and do.

If we can succeed in putting these strategies to work, it will greatly affect every facet of our lives; our relationships, income, lifestyle etc etc and how we perceive the challenges in life. We will also learn the greatest challenge of all-to control the process of our thinking. This is what will have the greatest effect on our survival whilst being buffeted around in a gale-force 9 storm, and whether we survive the storm or whether we give up and allow the storm to break us.