These words struck me the first time I saw them on the wall of a school hall. I wondered what made the school come up with them, boldly publishing the words on their wall. What thought process led to the school deciding these were the most important words to share with their people? And how do they sell it to them? I wrote the words down and pondered on them for a while. So, I have decided to explore why they should matter to us. Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties, it signifies toughness and the ability to quickly return to a previous 'good' condition from difficult conditions. It means to be strong, tough, and hardy. Responsible is to be capable of being trusted and Reflective is characterized by deep thought and describes a person who thinks things through. Putting these words together, a person who is resilient, responsible and reflective would have to be someone who can be trusted to do what they commit to.  They think deeply which means they understand the consequences of their actions and decisions and they are able to bounce back when things don’t go to plan. These are admirable qualities for anyone to have and they can be wrapped up to create a unique brand. In life, we all face tough situations that will break some people so the attitude we adopt and the stance we take in tough times will define how well we come out on the other side. My challenge for us is that we become responsible. For some, this is already how you are seen by those around you but for others, you know you can be more responsible and trust worthy so why not start today. Let your ‘No’ be No’ and your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’. We can all be more reflective. This means we don’t rush headlong into decisions or relationships, but we take time to gather information, analyse them, understand the bigger picture so we are well-informed before we act.

Recently an old classmate decided to compile the names of those we attended school with. He enlisted the help of five others and when I looked at the list my name and a few others were missing. Shocking! Isn’t it? Perhaps not. Someone sent me a message and said, “you have really changed”. I probed what they meant. Their response was, “from introvert to extrovert”. The person then said, “ask anybody to mention ladies in our school year now and you would be among the first three…..” I had very few close friends back then, I wasn’t miss popular or sporty and the only times I spoke up was against a few bullies. In the same week, I heard of two young people who committed suicide and there was a teenager who shot two classmates. Tragic! isn't it? This prompted me to think of what I would say to myself if I had written a letter to my future self from key moments in my past. What would I say, if I knew the pimply face would someday be less so and that I would leave the bullies behind outlasting them in endurance, capacity, capability and outperforming them? What about that boy who did not notice me, who I now wouldn’t be caught dead with? I can’t recall any but you get the gist. What about those girls who seemed to hit their peak when I was still looking tomboy-ish, wondering, ‘how come and why me?’ What would I say, if I knew that relationship break-up would not destroy me? Or if I knew all my challenges would pass and I would face and overcome even bigger ones becoming more resilient in the process? What would I say, if I knew there was a world out there waiting for me, a successful career, an amazing family, friends and a host of other successes, blessings and accomplishments?

One of my passions is cooking and I like to attempt tricky recipes just for the fun of it. I still remember making my first soufflé over ten years ago and wondering if it would rise or fall. Recently I was watching 'Masterchef - the professionals' and contestants in the skills test were asked to create a soufflé which they all did with varying degrees of success. One of the contestants went through the right steps and appeared to have got his ingredients correctly measured out, yet his soufflé did not rise as expected despite his best efforts. When the judges reviewed his soufflé, Monica Galetti uttered the phrase, "you had a lot of Sou and no ffle". Her comment soon became a rib tickling catchphrase between my sister and I. After three days of laughing at this comment, the penny finally dropped. I realised there was a lesson - about actions not translating to desired results or expectations. I am sure we have all had some 'sou and no ffle' moments. These quickly become defining moments when some life impacting choices come up.

• Do you allow yourself to be defeated, never to make another soufflé or do you get up and make another one even if you’re the only that’s going to eat it?
• Do you allow yourself to be defined by this mistake or failure or do you shake it off, learn from it and move on?
• Do you allow yourself to be haunted by this failure or shortfall adding to others that you have filed in your ‘failure archive’?

In my last post, I talked about opportunities knocking on our doors throughout this year. So, the question is, ‘are we going to be ready when they come?’ To answer this, I want to share a story with you and it’s all