The Beginning

Ok, first things first. I've been in the Girl Guides since I was a Brownie (I got to sneak in early at six-and-a-half, because there was a new Pack being set up just down the road from me). I was a Guide with 3rd Holy Trinity, Darwen, and then a Young Leader and an Assistant Leader with the same Unit.

So what does this have to do with my starting to blog for the First Time Ever? Well, I'm twenty-five now, and I've nearly finished the whole Ranger/Senior Section programme. I've got my Queen's Guide Award (yay!) and I'm due to be presented with the Commonwealth Award and the Chief Guide's Challenge soon. That's basically all of the badges and awards you can earn in Senior Section (apart from the Senior Section Permit, but let's not get into that). But I haven't finished the programme completely. I still have one Octant of the Senior Section programme to finish.

If you want to know what the Octants are, here's a link to the Girlguiding website: http://www.girlguiding.org.uk/seniorsection/whatcanido/lookwider/theoctants.html

I've been stuck on the Personal Values Octant for ages. For most of the Phase 3 sections of the Octants (see the link above), it's straightforward - get an award/qualification, spend thirty hours on something, or teach your peers something. But Personal Values is different. It's personal. So how can you get an award or spend a countable thirty hours on it? You can teach other people if you belong to an organised religion, I suppose, but I don't.


My plan, then:

You may have heard or read that the Guide Promise (not oath) is changing. One part which stays exactly the same is the part where we promise 'To keep the Guide Law'. There are actually six parts to the Law:

• A Guide is honest, reliable and can be trusted. 
• A Guide is helpful and uses her time and abilities wisely. 
• A Guide faces challenge and learns from her experiences. 
• A Guide is a good friend and sister to all Guides. 
• A Guide is polite and considerate. 
• A Guide respects all living things and takes care of the world around her.

What I plan to do is to focus each week for the next six weeks on one aspect of the Guide Law, in order, and blog about the results. Here we go!