‘Always excel at what you’re best at!’ – that was my advice to myself. ‘And does that advice help you?’ I hear you ask. ‘Do you find that this advice supports you in difficult or testing times?’ It does in a kind of a way, is my considered answer, in a limited kind of way there is a feel-good factor involved. For example, it may create a transient ‘mood-lift’ if one makes sure not to dig into it too much. If one is reasonably careful not to focus on what one has just said. If one is careful not to focus upon it unduly, so to speak. Or only very lightly, at any rate. ‘Always excel at what you’re best at…’ I told myself again, not quite so sure of myself this time. My voice quavered uncertainly; it quavered in a way that took away a lot of the reassurance that I would normally have obtained from this hearty statement. I came away short in the reassurance department; I came away short in the type of reassurance that I would have otherwise expected. And not just expected either, I might add, but positively relied upon. Yes indeed – I came up short, I came up short. Always excel, I told myself dubiously, always excel. Fine words, inspirational words – words to conjure with. ‘Always excel, my friend’, I told myself, ‘Always excel, because if you don’t then that’s bad’. Not excelling would be bad, most definitely bad, and once badness gets into the mix it has a habit of staying, it has a habit of contaminating everything else in the pot. Turning it bad too, you see – turning it rotten. ‘Expect badness from badness’, I told myself, ‘For from badness only more badness can come…’ My words were wise, my words were pertinent and to the point. My words were robust and insightful. My words were all these things, but the one thing they were NOT was reassuring. ‘Where is the bloody reassurance when you need it?’ I moaned, unhappy about this most recent turn of events. Unhappy and not at all reassured. Troubled, you might say, troubled in my mind. Once you let the badness in at all then you’re done for, you see. You’re finished. That’s the general rule of thumb here. Say no to negativity. You simply can’t afford to have any truck with that rotten old badness and that’s all we can say on the subject, I’m afraid. Keep that door firmly shut my friends, keep the hatch battened down…