 I’m on holiday in Queensland at the moment and it’s been pretty wet since we arrived. That can be a bit of a downer if you’re a tourist, but if you’re a farmer the rain is great. Practically everything you eat and drink relies on the rain. You also don’t get rainforests without rain.
So rain can be a good thing - it depends on your point of view or attitude. Life can be a bit like that - if we change our point of view and see challenges as opportunities for growth, we will be less upset by them. We will also learn valuable life lessons like patience, resilience and persistence. It's hard to learn these lessons in the sunshine - we need to go through a few challenges.
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 I've had this cactus for about 40 years. The thing I love about this cactus is that it's impossible to kill. It seems to thrive, no matter the conditions. It's what we call resilient. In summer it survives on very little water and in winter it gets saturated with rain.
We need to learn to be like a cactus, not prickly, but able to survive and grow in all kinds of conditions. Life is not all sunshine and unicorns, sometimes there are bad days and even bad seasons. We need to learn not just to survive those tough times, but to thrive in them. So how do we do that? Here are three simple things you can do to help you get through the tough times:
 Image courtesy of www.flickr.com (Paul Wright). Kangaroos are one of the few animals that can not move backwards easily. Sometimes we get stuck in the past, feeling bitter about someone who hurt us, dwelling on a relationship that has ended, feeling guilty about a mistake we've made. We need to forget what is behind us and focus on the present. They say that is why the windscreen on your car is so much bigger than your revision mirror because you need to focus on what's ahead.
 Image courtesy of www.flickr.com (Driss & Marrionn) A wobbegong is a peculiar shark that is found mainly off the coast of Western Australia. They are not fast or strong but when they need a feed, they lay motionless on the ocean floor and blend in with the sand (the one in the illustration is not doing a great job of this but at least you can see him). When a prospective meal swims past he snaps it up. This obviously requires a lot of patience. Patience is definitely something that you need in life - waiting in queues, waiting for exam results, waiting for your birthday, waiting to learn to drive, waiting to save up for that pair of shoes that you want. Patience is also something that seems to be lacking in people these days as nobody wants to wait, they want everything now. Patience is something you need to practice - like many other things in life, it doesn't come instantly.
 I was walking my dog this morning and looked up at the very cloudy and overcast sky. I noticed a tiny patch of blue shining through a gap in the clouds and was reminded that behind the clouds is a lovely sunny blue sky. Clouds come and go but the blue sky is always there - sometimes you just can't see it. If life looks grey and bleak, remember that the clouds (troubles, worries, fears, etc. will pass) and the sun and blue skies are always there and will break through eventually.
 Image courtesy of www.pixabay.com (Sipa). Apparently only 10% of a Tigers's hunts are successful. So 9/10 times a tiger goes hunting for dinner, he fails. Tigers must be very persistent then. Persistence isn't something that you're born with, it develops through enduring hardships and trials and difficulties. It develops through failing then getting up and trying again and again and again...
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