At some point in life I allowed myself to be influenced by people and circumstances that should be qualified as inferior or even corrupt. I surrounded myself with people who have less than stellar ethics, and I use the term ‘ethics’ loosely in this blog.   Unscrupulous and abysmal behavior began to creep in as the norm. The craziness that ensued is much like living with an alcoholic, it became difficult to make sense out of the troublesome battle between what I knew was good and right and what suddenly morphed into unmanageable and flawed.

In the past two weeks I was fortunate to spend time with good and lovely people. The last days of my father’s life and the many family members and friends were in sharp contrast to what had become familiar to me. 

This past year I have made an effort to encircle myself with people of excellence and good character, both in my professional life as well as personal. I am grateful for the clear picture of what true value and worth in a person can do for the soul and for the mind.

There’s a fine line between the dark and light, between heaven and hell. It’s not always easy to see.  So much of perspective depends on where you’re standing and where you choose to focus.

Carl Jung:

There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.