Tracy and Laura, I love both of your responses!

Tracy you reminded me that I had planned to spend a bit more time getting 'back to nature', and that I had viewed it as something the whole family enjoys, but I have let it slip a little over the last week ot two, as I have had such a huge workload... but I must get back to it

And Laura, I like that idea of holding on to happy moments for just a count of 20 longer than you usually would, to try to bring a more positive outlook to your way of being.

I am a great believer in trying to embrace both positive and negative experiences that come into our lives, as it is the negative ones that always seem to bring with them the greatest opportunities for personal growth and self-development, and a contrast that helps us to appreciate the positive things.

Just as we need day and night, sunshine and rain, we need positive and negative experiences, we need to live the whole spectrum from one end to the other, and take from it everything we can to nourish and enrich our lives.

Will just leave you with a little phrase I saw on a friend's FB wall...

"if you always follow in other peoples footsteps, how will you ever make any footsteps of your own?"