Series 5 of 5: “Build Clarity” For me the brain controls all, being worried, concerned or upset means I am not performing in many aspects of my life. The yoyo weight gain and loss, and health issues rear their head. I was amazed how the multiple physical trials of my service career came back to bite me 20 years after retiring. Yes, every time I was not doing what really mattered to me. It started as a little niggle progressively developing to full on pain. Where there is a will there is a way.

Series 4 of 5: “Build Calmness” Seeing things for what they really are. Acting with Calmness in difficult situations, means acting with inner integrity, and inner authority while building the future. This is not a passive approach to life; action is needed, and it needs to be visible. Seeing things for what they really are: then asking “With what I have, how can I get where I want? 

Series 2 of 5: “Build Confidence” Defying convention did not come easy to me. I wanted all the opportunities the world and my family could offer. I saw a man walk on the moon and thought why not me. I was an eleven-year-old girl dyslexic who was labelled dumb. As luck would have it, I could play almost every sport that was available to both girls and boys. (I was the only girl in the street) This set me up to learn stuff, what winning was, how to use time and a whole lot of things about moving, action, changing roles, perspectives, and strategizing. A fortunate encounter led me to understand my need to ask this question: “With what I have, how can I get where I want? This led me to countless learning opportunities. Choosing to study physics not history, did night school to pass English, reading “read faster read better”. I still don’t write well but I do read fast now. I know you might be bored right now, perhaps feeling trapped and isolated. You have been here before, you choose to do something, you took a path that might have required enormous focus and effort. Sometimes you may have given up freedoms your peers took for granted. So, did I. Making the transition to a civilian life was not easy, I was often anxious that I would become irrelevant, the distance I felt from my family was terrifying. I kept busy doing stuff hoping the next path / way would materialise. Like a bolt of lightning, I realised I was back to seeing a man walk on the moon. Question time!