Life takes many twists and turns. I have had numerous discussions, over the years, concerning how much of life is predestined and how much we create for ourselves. Long, long ago I ceased to believe in coincidence, feeling that some things are just "meant to be." There have been people I met who, it turned out, I could not have avoided just because the links to them were many and diverse.

I have come to believe that there is a plan, some would call it divine, some would call it a "blueprint," or a map. I like to think of it as an inbuilt version of "The Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy," constantly interactive and able to adjust to what we have done, gradually imparting information as we come to realise for ourselves great lessons and wisdom.

The whole thing is an experience. Reading, watching and web-surfing can only take us some of the way on this journey, but we have to get our hands dirty, we have to feel the earth beneath our feet and breathe the fresh air into our lungs to really know what life is. My eldest daughter, who is now 20, has begun to question what life is for; "What is the point?" she asks the world in general. "We're all going to die anyway!" These words are spoken with humour, and lead to conversations full of life.

For me and for many of my friends, life seems to run in cycles. We have patterns of events or behaviour that keep repeating, a lesson being taught over and over again until we learn what we need to learn and move on to something else.

With people, it seems that there are some that we were bound to meet for a specific purpose. Some of our fellow travellers were always meant to be friends, some lovers, some irritants. The irritants, if we realise they are there because it was destiny, perhaps we should still learn to appreciate, knowing that they are only playing a role we all agreed upon in the ether! I like to see this existence as an improvised play. The characters, locations and brader plot was agreed. The finer detail and dialogue, we make up as we go along. When we watch something on film or television, we understand that we have feelings, either positive or negative, towards different characters, but we accept that it is not "real," that we may still like the actor playing the role. If that is the case in life, we can still appreciate the essence of the being. We can still love unconditionally.

With an ability to be able to see into the hearts of those around us, to see their good points, life becomes a lot easier. Whatever they do, however they behave, there is compassion and understanding.Sometimes people mess up. Sometimes we mess up. That is the time for second chances, perhaps, because maybe one person's mess up is actually to teach us a lesson.

I truly believe that Love is the greatest thing there is. Love is synonymous with God. Love never turns its back, Love is everlasting.Love fuels life, it powers that guidebook we carry inside us, and illuminates everything as we go.