I was thinking the other day how each of us has his or her own timetable. Maybe one person has advanced further than you in one area, like their social life or their financial earnings. But you may have other things that you've advanced in, such as you really know the value of a strong family relationship or you've had enough varied experiences that you have material to write several books. Perhaps if there were a bar chart of each of our lives, we'd all have something of worth down in big, boldly colored bars, even if it seems the visible things like money, career, marriage and kids are the first things that tend to come to mind.

We all--or I do, anyway--tend to look at people who seem to have more than we do, and envy them, or wonder how they got so much further than we have in certain areas.

But we do need to remember that even if we don't have as much money as someone else, or may not have advanced in a career as much as someone else has, we may be more advanced spiritually, or intellectually, or in some other way more blessed or evolved. Interesting to think about, and something that it's important not to forget.