I’m not sure about you but I hate being lost. Recently I was out hiking and it was getting dark. I started feeling a growing sense of unease, as I wasn’t too sure I knew my way out of the forest. It was getting cold and the darker it got the more vulnerable I was beginning to feel. During the day I constantly checked the direction of the sun and was able to work out where “north” was. As long as I had the bearing of the north I felt I had some context to operate in and at least knew the direction I was heading. With the sun set I had no beacon to guide me and started to doubt myself and the route I was on. Fortunately, before too long, I came across the road that led to my trusty ute patiently waiting where I had left it 12 hours earlier.
This experience got me thinking… “what are the beacons that guide our lives, how do we work out true north, how do we know we are on track?” I guess for all of us it is different but I also believe there are some common denominators. Here are a few…
First and foremost, I think TRUE NORTH involves being true or living congruently to who we really are. This has been a tough lesson for me as I have often lived an outer life that has not reflected my inner life. I recall spending several years in a business that had nothing to do with my passion to help people. For years I pushed myself to do something I hated – I stressed and strained but never felt satisfied with the results I produced. I still feel the relief of getting off that treadmill to pursue my passion to help people.
Secondly, True North will always require us to live aligned to our deep values. I have walked beside many men who have become lost in their own forests as they have failed to live by their own values. I know only too well how easy it is to take a side road, but almost without fail it takes us deep into the forest until we are lost. Once lost the only way back is to work out where we went wrong, where we deviated from our own personal values. Once found these values give us bearing and take us back to our journey.
Lastly, staying on the true north requires us to know ourselves and our own idiosyncrasies. I was told recently that each ship has its own deviation to true north and that the Captain has to take this into account when setting the compass and steering the ship. Likewise, we all have our own personal issues or challenges (Jung called this our shadow) and we need sufficient self-awareness to know when we are fooling ourselves and going off track. The more self-aware we are the easier it is to make the necessary correction.
I encourage you to take a short while to have a look at where you are heading, ensure that your “True North” is set and that you are living purposefully. I hope this helps you along your own authentic journey…