Searching for Those Winning Balls

Pause for Thought

From Diane Louise Jordan, presenter of Sunday Half Hour.

Recently I've been glued to I'm a Celebrity, particularly the BushTucker Trials. Especially the efforts of a certain celebrity, frequently voted to do them. Repeatedly she returned to camp without any stars - a first in the programme's history. And of course no stars means no food....

At first, as you'd expect, everyone in camp endeavoured to maintain an understanding team spirit, but as the days of star-less defeats increased her camp mates' patience began to wane.

Finally, after days with virtually no food, they snapped - returning with no stars was no longer an option.

That evening I switched on the TV, mid Trial, to a close-up of her face overrun with crock roaches and other unwelcome critters roaming disturbingly close to her mouth, tunnelling up her nostrils. But she was ignoring them. Her baby blue eyes had transformed to a steel-like determination as shockingly she won star after star...

What had happened? The viewers needed an explanation. It was actually plain to see - she'd simply changed her mind. After that she had a bit of a winning streak, so predictably viewers lost interest in voting for her.

But I was now extremely fascinated. Next morning whilst out training I was just about to wimp out of an exercise when I remembered this celeb. Inspired by her new mind set I decided to test the theory for myself - and it worked!!

My training buddy couldn't believe it. For weeks he'd been encouraging me to push further, and even with my determined personality I thought I couldn't do more. But that morning I decided to change my attitude and the training instantly improved: the words of Gerald T Ford ringing in my ears: "If you think you can, or if you think you can't, either way you're right..."

That morning I finally understood what it means to be transformed by the renewing of your mind....