Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

I don't know who said that, but somehow it makes a great deal of sense. To me it means that irrespective of how badly we may have screwed up yesterday, or last week, or last year, today is the day on which we are going to put the past behind us, not in the sense of brushing it under the carpet, but in the sense of not allowing it to keep making us miserable. We always have the choice either of being thoroughly ashamed and guilty about our past actions, or of looking upon our past actions objectively and honestly enough to be able to own them.

Owning our actions does not mean that we are necessarily proud of them, but it does mean that we are honest and honourable enough to admit that we screwed up, but that we are willing to take full responsibility for our actions. By taking responsibility for our actions, we not only own them, but we also claim them in terms of the knowledge we have gained through our experience.

Knowledge gained through experience cannot possibly be bad, unless, of course, we use that knowledge to perpetuate our wrong actions, either towards others or towards ourselves. However, if I have burned my fingers in one way or another, and own that experience, then I can use the knowledge I have gained not to burn myself again, and I can also use that knowledge to warn others of the dangers of walking into that trap. Alternatively, I can use that knowledge to be a support to those around me who have likewise burned their fingers, and to give them guidance based upon my own experience.

It is true that not all knowledge is beautiful, and not all experience fills us with a sense of pride and accomplishment, but the truth is that there are no angels on this earth. Some of us may appear to be very sanctified, but that is simply because we have learned to do one of two things; either we hide our skeletons better than anyone else, or, by owning our actions and our shortcomings, we have learned how to transmute those actions and shortcomings into something useful for all concerned, including ourselves. Some of us, on the other hand, are forced to wear a yoke of disgrace, simply because fate has decreed no clever escapes this time round, and as a result of not having learned to turn that yoke into the mantle of a king, a yoke it remains. Yet, the bottom line is that none of us are any less guilty than anyone else, and neither are any of us more guilty than anyone else. All of us participate in the process of life, and because of that participation none of us can plead innocence. For example, if I buy a car and run somebody down with it, then it is undeniably true that I am guilty of that person's injury. But had there been no cars to buy, I would only have been able to knock that person over with, let us say, my bicycle, in which case the injury to him would more than likely have been considerably less. Therefore, indirectly, everyone involved in the automobile industry is responsible every time someone on the roads is injured or killed as a result of a car accident.

By the example above I am not trying to pass the buck, I am simply pointing out that if I run someone down with my car, then although I must own and take responsibility for that act, nevertheless I could never have been guilty of that crime had some other person not invented cars, had some other person not started to manufacture cars, had some others not started to sell cars, and had yet others still not encouraged people to buy cars by arranging the necessary finances for those who would otherwise not be able to afford cars. At the end of the day, there is only one life and one humanity and a destiny which is common to all. By owning our actions and our experiences, we take ownership of the knowledge gained, and with that knowledge we all play our part in creating the world we live in.



Our wishes are not just idle day-dreams. Our wishes are an expression of our innermost predilection - A predilection which it is perfectly possible to fulfil, provided we use our knowledge wisely.

What is life? I like to look at life as a huge web. In this web the actions of every individual are the many threads or strands which criss-cross each other in making up that web. Each thread is interdependent upon and interacts with all the other threads, and so the whole web of life is thoroughly and completely interrelated. We can therefore say that life resembles a sphere of relationships, encompassing not only other people, but also animals, plants and even inanimate objects such as the furniture in our homes. Think for a moment about the relationship you have with the furniture in your home. Think, for example, about the cupboards which have doors that always glide open with the greatest of ease and those cupboards with which you always have to struggle until finally the door swings open with such force as to knock you on the nose or the shin. Your relationships with all the people in your life are no different, and the same applies to your relationships with the circumstances in your life.

All of our lives are nothing more than a set of relationships between us and the circumstances in our lives. These circumstances are not just of our own making, since any circumstance in life is dependent upon the relationship between us and, at the very least, one more person or thing, such as a cupboard door. Therefore, if you are in search of happiness, the issue which has to be addressed is relationships, but I wonder if you have ever thought what a huge undertaking this really is?

Relationships form the very essence of life, for life is indeed one big web of energy fields which are all interactive, interdependent and interrelated. We term this web the circle of beingness, for life is not open-ended, but is curved back upon itself to form a closed circle or, more accurately, a closed sphere.

To learn about relationships is to learn about life itself. Consequently, if you wish to relate in a happy and meaningful way to another person, to the world around you and, most important of all, to yourself, you will need to re-assess everything you have been taught about relationships and, in fact, to re-evaluate everything you think you know about people and the world we live in. I am therefore going to ask you to join me in a little game – a game of life. This game is known as the Journey of Adjustment. This game begins with the plot of a story – a story about you and me – a story which will unfold progressively during the course of this book and which will come to its conclusion once you have grasped wherein lies the key to happiness.

We did not invent this game, for life itself gives us the plot. But in case you have missed it somewhere along the line, I will give you the plot. Remember though, that this plot is only the bare bones of what will become the story of your life. You, and you alone, determine the details of the story, the characters that are or will be featuring in it, and whether or not it is to be a tragedy, a comedy, an epic drama or simply a poignant tale of the life, the challenges and the predilection of one man or one woman, namely you, who is in search of happiness, joy and freedom.

We make our lives what we will.