"I found frequently that I climbed in glorious sunshine...my face set determinedly for the nearest peak I could see. As I reached it, I revelled in the sense of achievement and victory and in the glorious view...Then, slowly, my imagination would be caught by the next peak ahead...and eventually the resolve would form to set off upwards again...
As I went down from the present peak into the valley between the mountains, I was often shadowed by the very peak I had been enjoying. This I interpreted in a sense of failure and this often led to despair...I see now that I was wrong...The going down was merely an initial moving forward towards the next higher ground, never a going back to base level, so to speak. The shadow was only relative after the brightness of the sun; the valley could provide a period of rest for working out the experiences previously learnt, a time for refreshment prepatory for the next hard climb. Had I understood this meaning of the sunshine and shadow in my life rather than interpreting my various experiences along life's way as 'up' and 'down,' I might have saved myself many deep heartaches."
