Trapped in a teeny Box, suspended over the great sights of London for forty days and forty nights.

What was David Blaine thinking, or should I ask 'what was he on?' (because being the cynic that I am , I'm not entirely convinced that he did survive on just water). However, after reading about his motive for performing this act/illusion/stunt, (no, I'm not referring to the five million he received!), I realised that his intention was to experience suffering of the most incomprehensible sort.

But you don't have to be a magician to experience hunger, discomfort and pain, because there are millions of people in the world who do not experience hunger as an experiment, but as part of their everyday lives. When you begin to acknowledge just how blessed and fortunate you really are, Anya Hindmarch shoes and Gucci handbags become very insignificant.

Being the holy month of Ramadan, I am fasting and I found it quite surreal how fasting can make you really appreciate all that you have and take for granted even though the only material restriction is food and drink.

Put aside my tummy rumbling from early in the morning and the tragic indigestion at night, one of the purposes of fasting is to demonstrate self-control and to value all that you have.

I began to reflect upon all that I am blessed with and compared it with all that I want and I found that I already have what I want yet still want something more.

There is the innate ambition embedded in me that risks me being labelled a selfish, materialistic snob.

But, I think its something that we are all guilty of - overcome with ambition, so that in effect we are living for the future or striving to reach it, to the extent that we failed to acknowledge what we have today.

We seem to use today as a stepping stone to reach tomorrow, when what we should be doing is looking at tomorrow as a reason for existing today.

Mr Blaine went into the box wanting to taste death. He came out proclaiming that life is beautiful and worth living. Don't worry I'm not going to break into song and dance, but the American on this occasion is right! Luckily for us, I am hoping that we are all stable, sane individuals who don't have to go into a carton to realise this.

But once we have understood how fortunate we are, without becoming big headed in the process we need to act upon this revelation. For me this means no more shopping in Harvey Nic's and instead of splashing out a ludicrous, almost disgusting £300 on a six inch handbag I'd rather save my money and invest it wisely... on a 24 inch suitcase!