GROWTH RATE
 
If we want to move forward,
if we want to grow,
if we want to become more,
then we must
do something new today.
 
Something fresh or different.
Something fun or challenging.
Something exciting or overdue.
Somthing unplanned or unexpected.
Something that brings us joy.
 
For every day holds for us
our new times of doing,
our new chapter of learning,
our new moments of discovery,
and our new space for growth.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What will you learn today? Where will you visit? Who will you meet? What will you discover? 
2. What is your Personal Growth plan for today?​

UNPACK

As we go through life we collect
more skills, knowledge, contacts,
relationships, activities and experience.
 
Our suitcase by now is at breaking point.
It doesn’t make sense to
keep carrying all of this around.
 
Let us think about
who we really are and
​what we need to move forward.
 
Let us unpack our suitcase
and take a smaller bag,
for the rest of the journey.

​BOAT
 
There is no point having a boat
sitting by the shore.
It is meant for the sea.
It is meant for the journey.
Get on board.
Push your boat out.

SPACE MISSION
 
Could you go outwards
away from all that is now?
Beyond the world.
Beyond the universe.
Beyond your imagination.
Beyond your thoughts.
To where there is nothing.
To where you belong.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. How far are you prepared to travel - without physically going anywhere? ​

PALM TREE
 
When the Palm Tree
in our garden
was uprooted in a storm,
we were devastated.
 
It had stood so proudly there,
part of our family
and our family life,
for many years.
 
I borrowed my neighbour's chainsaw
to cut the fallen Palm Tree
into about 20 pieces,
so that I could clear the garden.
 
A couple of weeks or so later,
when I went to lift the pieces,
I found that they all had sprouted.
Each piece was a new Palm Tree!
 
I gave all of the pieces away,
(except one, see below)
to friends and family, and indeed
anyone who wanted a Palm Tree!

 The Palm Tree had come down
as a sign of what was to come.
For our biggest disappointment or failure
​in life, is our 'Palm Tree' moment.

It is the uprooting and dismantling
of what we were, to support 
the growing of all the new pieces,
that we are yet to become.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Where or what was your 'Palm Tree' moment? 
2. How has your biggest diasppointment or failure enabled you to grow in new ways? ​

THE ANSWER
 
It is the pot that holds the soup. 
It is our soup. 
It is the universe that holds the world. 
It is our world. 
It is the arm that holds the child. 
It is our child. 
It is the book that holds the word. 
It is our word.
It is the face that holds a smile. 
It is our smile.
It is the meaning of life and living. 
It is our life, our living.