Rob Long is a celebrated child psychologist. It becomes clear when you are in the company of someone who knows their subject precisely how far the stretch is between one’s own appreciation of a situation and the perceptive framework that the authority or master has on that.

We met as fellow professionals and it illustrated perfectly what we each represent for each other. An accomplished individual is one who has tackled problems that others may not even be aware of yet and come to resolution about those issues. The experienced traveller knows the lay of the land ahead and may warn their companions of the hazards and wonders that lie beyond.

What becomes clearer to me with each passing day is that yesterday’s thinking does not have tomorrow’s answers. It may inform the process of arriving at the right place, but it has no inclination of what the territory is like. Why is this? Because it changes dramatically, just as the arctic tundra is vastly different to an equatorial rain forest or an arid savannah so yesterday is different to today or tomorrow.

We see this in our cultural mores, what is acceptable today may not have been a generation ago. Yesterday’s enemies are today’s friends and yesterday’s wisdom is today’s object of ridicule. The landscape we occupy alters and shifts and we are have to remain fluid within that.

Different people look at the same challenge and come up with vastly different solutions. There are no right or wrong answers in this life, just different ones.

What, you may ask, is my prescription for a happy, fulfilled and virtuous life? Take the best of today, the best of yesterday and weave it around an unchanging core that is composed of Nature’s laws. Allow these three strands to combine and create the DNA of your informed being. In this way, you will always be in the right place.

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