This photograph of Kathryn Clark's dear friend, Duncan, reminds us of the power of shifting our perspective. When we look at the world from a fresh angle, we observe new things.

Matthieu Ricard, brilliant Parisian microbiologist turned Buddhist monk and world-teacher, in his book, Happiness, tells us the story of two women who came to visit him from his native France. The monastery garden was full of mud as the monsoons had recently arrived. The monks laid out a path of bricks yet the puddles and wetness was hard to avoid. Having crossed the path from brick to brick, the first guest arrived to the main entryway with an exclamation of dissatisfaction, disdain, and frustration as to her soaking shoes and muddied dress. Matthieu relates that he nodded respectfully with empathetic understanding. The second guest later arrived and hopped from brick to brick with expressions of delight, jumping over and into puddles, exclaiming, 'What fun' as she cleared the final brick.

Our perspective makes a great difference indeed. What if we were to accept all of life's muddied gardens as challenges and childhood enjoyments rather than burdensome obligations. It is often said that all of reality is subjective; nothing is truly objective. We define the lens through which we see the world. Allegory and science confirm this. Puddles simply grow up and change form just as we do.