Serenity for me is that feeling you get when you stop thinking and doing and 'be' ... This week I returned from a month's vacation spent mostly in Spain re-connecting with myself and those closest to me. It was an awesome time and I returned to New Zealand a new person (with a nice tan too!). Some personal events transpired which had a negative influence on my state of being, 3 days after arriving home, and I was reminded of the way in which negativity can have a profound impact on our health and state of wellbeing, not to mention our happiness. One negative thought often leads to another and then doubts arise which lead to another and if we're not careful we end up spiralling in a downwards direction, feeling sorry for ourselves and passing our own negative feelings on to others. I reminded myself that how I feel is my decision. How I react to negative energy, is my decision. Whether I react at all, again, is my decision. I used to think that avoidance was th