But our imaginations, like the kite, have to remain anchored to the ground, to reality, a balance struck between soaring ambition and the realities of life as a 'grounded' person. Dreamers are often said to have “their head in the clouds”, their imagination soaring up where the sky is bright as they indulge in 'blue-sky thinking'. It's not just in action that kite flying resembles our journey through life with all its challenges, but in form also. Do you admire their skill and try to emulate them and accept that some people will always be more successful than you, or do you feel inferior, that your kite is an embarrassment, and slink off home to bin your humble flyer and sulk in silence? You get jealous of their success and again have to make a binary choice. If you are with other kite flyers, they may have a better kite than yours that flies higher for longer.

Pick your kite up, dust it down and try again or just give up, go home, and swear never to try a kite again. At this point, you have one of two choices. Sometimes it plummets to the earth with a thud, and you feel defeated and dejected. Sometimes you succeed and feel a sense of triumph and achievement as that kite soars once again up into the atmosphere. Remember, a kite rises against, not with, the wind.” Panic, try to overcompensate for the up and down draughts and that friendly kite suddenly becomes a problem, an obstacle to fight and subdue.īut are these wayward zephyrs a problem or a lesson to help us progress? Do you look upon that scudding kite as an enemy to be subdued, or do you welcome the opportunity to hone your skills and meet the challenge? As Hamilton Wright Mabie once said, “ Don't be afraid of opposition. Stay calm, read the winds, and you can recover and achieve equilibrium.

On fine sunny days, when the skies are blue and the breeze gentle, flying a kite is easy, everything seems to be going your way, it is under your control, and you are having fun and life is good.īut then a sudden gust of misfortune knocks you off balance, and you struggle to regain control. Learning to fly a kite is like learning about life itself. Why? Because, for me, life is more like a kite. You never know what you are gonna get.”, I would have had to remonstrate with him. Had I been sitting on the bench next to Forrest Gump when he declared that “Life is like a box of chocolates.

A kite