This little exercise will help you make sure you are still on course.

A trip away will always give you the opportunity to gain a new perspective on your daily routines. There is nothing like getting away from your familiar surroundings for a while to help you to think clearly.

I recently had this opportunity and it was certainly good to be able to have some time to think clearly and re-evaluate many areas of my life.

Here are some questions I was considering. I am sharing these with you because I think that it is good for all of us to ask ourselves these questions from time to time. This will ensure that we stay on course.

Is what I am doing right now leading me in the direction I really want to go.
In other words, am I really fulfilling my destiny? You might be thinking: But I am not sure what my destiny is. How can I find that?

Your destiny is within you. When you are moving in the direction of that inner compass there is a satisfaction, a “knowing” that you are doing what you were born to do.

One good test is: Are you passionate about what you are doing?

Am I using my time in the most productive way?
We are creative beings, and being productive is a part of productivity.The more productive we are, the better we feel about ourselves and the world around us.

I had to admit that not every day was as productive as I would like it to be.

So I started looking for areas where I was perhaps getting bogged down with unnecessary details. (Yes I found some of those There were some things I would be eliminating from my schedule when I returned home.

How are the negative influences around me affecting me?
Now this a question that perhaps we need to ask ourselves regularly. Of course the ideal situation is to get rid of all negative influences around us. But that is not always possible.

For example: you may work with some negative folk, or need to deal with such people in business.

However if you and I are not careful some of these influences can “rub off” onto us. Have you ever noticed that? You may be mostly a very positive and cheerful person. Yet suddenly you find yourself speaking negative words, grumping a little and every getting upset over things that would not normally bother you.

What happened? Of course you might be facing some unusually difficult challenges in your life. But if that is not the case, perhaps some negativity has managed to rub off on you?

I wrote an article about this over on my blog Mindset for Living. (Decide How Daily Experiences Will Affect Your Mind)

There is more coming on topics around this subject too over on Mindset For Living

Do I have enough positive influences around me?
Now this is something we can control. Perhaps it is time to start extending your circle of friends and associates. Start reaching out to some highly motivated folk. If you cannot find them in your immediate sphere, try Twitter. There are masses of great folk there who will certainly inspire and motivate you.

Is my mind as active as it should be?
When life gets tough or even dull (it shouldn’t though) – we can tend to “switch off”

You might want to take a look at my articles about Coping or Conquering. It takes an active mind to conquer, while it is rather easy to drift along in a passive state when you are simply coping.

It is a good idea to write down some of your discoveries in your journal. And if you find some things in your life that need changing, don’t forget to take action!

P.S. You can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kiwichamp

One of these strong impressions that stands out for me was a conversation with our tea lady who was from Holland. I was working in the Education Board in New Zealand. Our “tea lady”, who’s name has slipped my mind, had just made a trip to Holland after being away for about 10 years.

She was devastated when she returned to New Zealand. She had found nothing in Holland to be as she remembered it. Everything had changed. For some reason that made quite an impression on me at the time. Most likely deep in my heart I knew that one day I could be facing something similar.

Sure enough that day came. It was 15 years since I last stepped off the plane in Christchurch, New Zealand. In May of this year (2009) I decided that 15 years was enough, well too long really. I expected changes so there were no shocks.

However there were some pleasant surprises as of course much progress has been made. New Zealand is well up with the times in terms of the digital age.

Actually in some things, it is ahead. Christchurch is a city of 348,435. The country now has 4,262,072 (It used to be 3,000,000 people and 60 million sheep. Today there are about 40 million sheep. (Dairy and deer farming are increasing).

Yet you see digital signs letting you know how many spaces are left in the all of the main carparks in the city.

The bus system is like a metro. The main bus terminal looks like an airport. Out around the city many of the bus stops have a digital boxes on the bus stop posts. You simply press a button on this box to find out when your bus is expected to arrive.

The port hills are the same. Christchurch is located on the Canterbury plains with the alps in the background and the port hills right behind the city. Across the hills is the port of Lyttleton (pictured above) and other smaller settlements located in various bays. The difference is that now you can either take the footpath and climb the hills or simply jump on the gondola and ride up.

Memories are a good thing, as long as you don’t allow them to hinder your present and future. Of course you definitely don’t want to hang on to the bad memories. But even good memories can hinder you from enjoying the changes of the present and future.

The best thing is to enjoy the present, and be flexible enough to realize that today only comes once in a lifetime!

Are you making the most of your present?

So it was certainly time for me to make the trip to Christchurch, New Zealand to reconnect with the city and renew family ties. Actually this trip was long overdue.

It had been a long time since I traveled at all. In fact the last trip was to Cuernavaca, Mexico which ended with a bad accident on the way back. I was driving a Chrysler at the time, something I would never do again. I am positive the steering was faulty as it went out of control way too easily. It rolled twice.

However, thankfully I survived with just some bad bruises, scratches and a light concussion. The local newspaper headlines reported the accident as a miracle. I am here still for a reason

Swine flu scare
It was great to get back into the traveling mode again, even for a short time. I was to travel at the height of the swine flu scare. There had been some outbreaks of this flu in Texas, even in San Antonio. New Zealand is very careful with incoming travelers and so I was not sure what to expect.

Then to top off my concerns I decided to buy some lunch in Los Angeles since the stopover was a long 6 hours. Meat loaf sounded “safe’. However apart from being the worst meat loaf I have ever eaten, my stomach began to gurgle just a few hours away from Auckland. Oh no! I dared not let the stewardess know of my plight despite several hasty trips to the bathroom. They might think I had caught the swine flu!

However after requesting some club soda a couple of times my stomach settled down. What a relief! One person on the flight WAS led out to quarantine by the health department before we were allowed to leave the plane.

Flying over the alps to Christchurch.
A short stopover in Auckland and we were climbing again for the short flight to Christchurch. It was a sunny day and the alps were glorious. I was so busy admiring the snow capped mountains that I forgot to take out the camera. Sorry about that.

It was great to see Sandie and Martyn waiting for me when we arrived in Christchurch after a 24 hour journey. It was 8am in the morning and despite the long trip, I was ready for a full day. So much to catch up on of course.

My nephew likes to cook, so there were some special things on the menu such as Hot Cross Buns and Licorice Ice Cream.

The latter is made with the best soft licorice and is one of those out of this world tastes. It will certainly be my top request on the next trip!

It did not matter that the Hot Cross Buns were out of season. They too are always a favorite. Sandy has always been a good cook, so of course Andy has a great teacher.

Family games continue to be a tradition after the evening meal. Blokus, some card games and then there is the memory game that was created by Andy. You have to match countries and states with their capitals. (These are all written out on small cards and placed on the table upside down).

Result?

Andy knows the capital city of a large number of countries in the world, as well as most States of the USA. It won’t be long before Andy AND his parents will know the capital city of every country in the world (countries I have not even heard of).

This memory game is not just a lot of fun, but is one of the many techniques suggested by the accelerated learning programs.

What games do you play with your family? Are they helping you to learn some new things also?

What fun things do you like to do with your family and extended family?

I would love to hear from you.

Time has flown by.
The last time I saw any of my aunts, uncles or cousins was at my mother’s funeral, now over 17 years ago. Phone and email is certainly not the same as knocking on their door. Email communication was even lost when my aunt changed internet providers which also changed her email address.

A short trip to Motueka was planned.
A few weeks before I was due to take off from San Antonio, my sister sent me a DM on Twitter. She said “we can do a 2-3 day trip while you are here, where would you like to go?”. I did not have to think twice, and immediately sent a reply: “Motueka to see our Aunt and cousins”.

Motueka is located at the North West tip of the South Island in the province of Marlborough.

The late fall weather was nice to me as it gave many days of sunshine.
Despite the fact that May is late fall, the weather was actually quite nice for the most part. Most days were sunny at least during the first 10 days or so. Then as the days approached for the trip to Motueka, the rain started coming down.

We took the inner route across the Lewis Pass.
Finally our plans to travel via the coast were abandoned and we took the inland route across the Lewis Pass. It is a beautiful scenic route, and of course the mountains were capped with snow.

It turned out to be very sunny in the center of the island. In fact we enjoyed the sun for the complete trip while Christchurch suffered a week of cold rain.

The drive from Christchurch to Motueka is a pleasant 5-6 hour trip including stops to enjoy the scenery. A longer stop was made for lunch by the falls.

Motueka is a small town, so it was easy to follow the directions straight to our aunt’s apartment. I got out of the car and knocked on the door and the door was opened by a very healthy looking lady smiling at me.

Our aunt is 82 years old and hardly looks 70. In the course of conversation I had to ask “are you taking any medications at all?” Nope, nothing. Some vitamins now and again.

So what then is her secret? Right diet, organic foods. That’s the example I am following.

• How about you?
• What do you want to look like at 82 years old?
• How do you want to feel? What do you want to still be able to do?

The time to decide that is now. The time to start working towards those goals is now!

Here’s something to get you started on checking your diet habits – a free ebook – “No Pain”.

Make your life healthy and happy!

My sister and family have visited me in the States twice during that time, so it was certainly my turn to make the trip. The original plan was to make this trip at Christmas time when it is summer over there.

However, this did not work out, so I opted for May when the New Zealand weather hopefully would not be too cold. My sister had several weeks vacation in May, so it would work out well.

Of course there were a lot of changes around the city of Christchurch, which I originally left back in 1976. Lots of progress and new things to discover as well as old things to rediscover.

Christchurch continues to be the most English city of New Zealand. At the same time it is a very metropolitan city, with marked Asian cultures as well as Indian culture. Indian and Asian supermarkets offering genuine Asian and Indian imports which can certainly add color and flavor to the dinner table. I have always liked curries.

My sister and I spent quite a bit of time exploring as if we were tourists. It is always fun to try and see your own city through the eyes of a tourist. As you can see by my heavy coat, it was a little chilly (for a Texan anyway). Actually it was very pleasant. as the sun was out in full force most days.

There is so much to do in and around the city of Christchurch. A first time visitor could easily spend a week or more just in this city. I am planning a blog that will offer tips on trips to and New Zealand and other countries I travel to.

One of the great ways to see the center of the city is to take a trip on the Tram. The commentators are excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed the excursion.

It was of great interest to see a photo of Sir Edmund Hillary at the back of the tram. We were told that he had taken his final trip on that very tram not long before his death.

Rediscovering your roots can be a great experience. It is always great to remember where you grew up.

Have you taken time to rediscover some great experiences of your life lately?

P.S. Keep on eye on this blog where the new Travel Blog will be announced. Of course you can follow me on Twitter also and stay informed of progress on this coming project.

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• Sir Edmund Hillary’s family in court battle with museum (telegraph.co.uk)