Time has certainly flown and it's great to be back since posting last February. I pop in anonymously from time to time to see how everybody is and it's wonderful to see some familiar faces still there - and even more heartening to see how Tools is flourishing with so many new members. That's a good sign.
In my own life many great things have transpired since then.
In such uncertain times the business is still doing well. The financial rewards are good, the constant opportunity to work with people I enjoy on interesting and varied projects continue to make all the difference. Next year is devoted to maintaining and expanding that vitality.
My partnership with Deso continues to grow from strength to strength and is culminating in a civil union ceremony early next year. We travelled back to South Africa and the UK recently on holiday which can test a relationship, but we still came through it with our senses of humour intact.
When I was going through the program I wondered sometimes what happens to graduates once they complete Tools. From my own experience I can only say that I've become much more aware of the depth of life's experiences. Day to day I now not only see but I consciously taste, hear, smell and touch. The emphasis, richness and reward is indeed in the journey rather than the end point.
There was, and still is of course, the temptation to slacken. However, maintaining a disciplined attitude is imperative. I turn the things I usually put off into an exercise of fun instead of procrastinating, and - like the economy - confidence is everything.
But rather than dish out advice, all I can do is encourage you to give Tools - and life in general - your very best shot. Tools amplifies your efforts by keeping you on track and maintaining that focus. Retain the attitude of giving and receiving the best in every situation and over time you'll surely achieve it, because it becomes the new norm.
There's a brilliant closing paragraph in a review of one of my many favourite films, 'Days of Heaven' by Brian Gibson of Vue Weekly (Edmonton):
"Days of Heaven reassesses our place in the order of things. Buffaloes, quail and badgers go about their business; humans seem small among waving stalks of wheat; nature destroys, reclaims and renews. And Malick suggests—in the story of a few common people slowly worn down by a life of cheap, hard work—a sense of the strange majesty within us and a beauty beyond us, a world we could reach if we were searching and striving for something more than what we settle for."
Like the difference in taste between fine wine and cheap plonk, sense the height, breadth and depth of life and treasure every moment.
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