Monday, October 13, 2008

The GPS for Life



It has been nearly a week since I've entered a blog piece. Life has seemingly been on a different road than the usual one I travel. I spent almost a week in Minnesota for work and pleasure. Now that I've been home for a few days it feels like I am able to catch up with myself.

Sometimes due to the situations and happenings of life, we can get lost and it may take awhile to find our way back to the path we most want to travel. When that happens I check in with my inner GPS.

When I use a portable GPS system in my car I often think about the same concept as a guidance system for my life. My car's GPS has a name.....Ozzie. Ozzie has an Australian accent and is always patient with me when I make a wrong turn, get delayed or even lost. He never gets angry or yells at me. Although he knows the best way for me to travel to get to my destination, I sometimes turn off early or at the wrong intersection, taking me off course. When I do make an un-programmed turn, Ozzie simply says "Recalculating......." and then gives new directions from wherever I am in that moment.

What I love about Ozzie is that he knows even though I'm taking a different route, I can still make it to my destination. There is no judgment, guilt, blame or shame, just a pause and a new start. There is no projection of fear, no explosions in anger and no disappointment. There's simply only acceptance of what "is" and a suggestion for where to go now.

Imagine living your life that way. Let's say you're on your way to a goal and you get distracted. You take an unanticipated turn in a different direction. Instead of beating yourself up for this change in direction, you have a choice to ride it out or tune into your inner guidance and choose again. Your inner GPS does not get angry with you, blame you or become impatient. It reminds you of perhaps the quickest way, but not necessarily the most scenic or the most interesting. Taking a temporary alternate route or even changing your direction completely is treated as an adventure worth exploring, regardless of the length of the time it takes in getting there. You get to choose. The GPS is there to assist you, not to insist you follow its direction.

As long as we hold the perspective of enjoying the ride, whatever twists turns and unexpected explorations we make, the road of life can always be a JOY!




1 comment:

Kathleen Richardson said...

We were in your territory, yesterday, Kate...on our way to and from a wedding in the Grand Canyon of PA. Believe me, we wished out loud that we'd had a GPS! On the other hand, we (my daughter, two little grandsons, and another grandma and her grandchild) had a wonderful time laughing and joking about where we were. And, we delighted in the colorful fall foliage.

Why waste time worrying, when the unknown can be so delightful. And, our only deadline was the wedding itself and we made it!