Where To Find Your Compass

Have you felt lost, at a fork in the road or just wanting to start over and not even sure where to start? When it comes to navigating, you have the answers. They’re just not in the first place you’re going to look, which is in your head.

I’ve been in all of those situations and so many more. I used to default to thinking and assessing my options. I’d go back and forth, weighing the pros and cons of my possibilities. Sleep on it for good measure.

Let’s not forget to include the unmistakable sound of expectations in your ears from the people who love you and adamantly profess that they know what’s best for you. Gosh do we ever hold each other back with our own fears.

In the past, I’d come to the most logical and rational conclusion and be satisfied with the outcome. My outcome would include praise from my tribe for successfully fulfilling their wishes. There’s something about approval from others that can trump our own aspirations.

I came into conflict with my thoughts for the first time when I felt a nudge inside me that was telling me to completely go against logic. I was pretty young the first time I heard my inner voice me telling me what to do.

You know the feeling? It’s that same raw, aching one that tells you to leave that really terrible relationship, job or circumstance but your head talks you out of it? Your instinct or knowing is direct, concrete and sure. In these moments, it feels like your body witnesses a great battle between your soul and you mind. Somehow mind seems to win.

Who decided that our mind should be the leader anyway? Whether launching us into a prospective situation or dragging us through the depths of regret, making us relive a past memory over and over again. Our minds can be compulsive and our thoughts so useless and unhelpful at times.

Don’t get me wrong, our mind has great purpose when we’re assessing, solving problems and communicating. But it can be a pretty intense back seat driver when our soul already knows the direction we need to go. The journey is much more vibrant when we experience it authentically.

Sometimes I feel like my soul is the free spirit and my mind is the party pooper. Like your conscience I guess, always there to remind you of what you should do.

Your soul probably feels like that really smart kid in class that always raises their hand with the answer “choose me, choose me” and the teacher (you in this case) ignores them and looks for another student to call upon, your thoughts.

If you want to rid yourself of the pointless debates in your mind and start a more familiar journey in your life, tell that back seat driver to keep it down, you know how to drive. Quiet your mind and acknowledge that your thoughts are really just that, thoughts. They aren’t really you.  

There are two parts of knowing that are essential to follow your truth. They are certainty and faith. Certainty is listening to that inner voice, the compass inside that guides you. Faith is how much you believe it.

I often hear the rebuttal “but it’s not that easy”. In these moments, you’re going to need to dig deep and call on courage. Trusting your inner guidance is a big gamble right? We live in a world where we need a guarantee before we agree to sign up for anything. Just think about all people with no real faith in anything that isn’t concrete. So much beauty left to be discovered if only we were all brave.

If you find yourself having to make a decision and you have done your research (by research I’m talking about visiting your pals at Google for all the facts on said matters), then I think you are ready to make a choice. You have the information to consider, now turn off those thoughts and consult that soul of yours for their guidance.

Sleep on it if you feel the need to rule out an emotionally charged reaction to your conclusion. You could also come to the same calm resolve through meditation if you wanted to save yourself a night of restlessness.

Even when we are faced with the most life altering decisions, we always know exactly what to do. The obstacles that are really standing in the way are letting down the people we care about the most and our own egos. Both of these obstacles exist in our mind.

I found the process of learning about your knowing described beautifully by Glennon Doyle in her bestselling book, Untamed.

“Every day, I returned to the closet, sat down on the floor littered with T-shirts and jeans, and I practiced sinking. The Knowing would meet me in the deep and nudge me toward the next right thing, one thing at a time. That was how I began to know what to do next. That was how I began to walk through my life more clearly, solid and steady.”

I’ve recognized my knowing for most of my life. There were definitely moments when I became distracted and didn’t pay it enough attention to it. But when it really mattered, my certainty and faith have never let me down.

Mindfulness is a word that captures the essence I now strive towards. Only when I look directly inside and consciously tune out the static noise of my thoughts does my knowing rise to meet me. Free of worry and as sure as I am alive, are the answers. I am certain, I believe and I know.