Do you know your “true north”? Or how to find it?
True north is a navigational direction based on the Earth’s axis. Magnetic north—the north a compass needle points to—deviates from true north over time and from place to place because the earth’s magnetic poles are not fixed in relation to its axis. True north is fixed and certain.
But the “true north” that I am referring to is your personal navigation marker, the one based on your own inner axis—that is, your alignment with your true, authentic self. This is the pointer that allows you to successfully find the way in your life, and to do so most easily. Finding your true north is about finding personal direction.
Your true north is uniquely calibrated to you, and it is your surest steering tool. You always have it with you in the inner space of your consciousness, within your self. It operates parallel to the outer rotation of the world around you, and is the surest mechanism to point you toward the correct course for you in your choices and decisions about what to do and how to live.
In other words, your true north is you, in all your distinctive gifts. It keeps you on course to be the YOU that you truly are, the one you mean to be, not the one you or others think you ought to be or have to be. Your true north is your “home” awareness, that intimate inner place from where you view and sense and know.
We so easily lose our sense of direction when we lose this feeling of connection with our own “gut” feeling of who we are or what we want or need. But luckily, it is not so difficult to regain that inner compass. It only takes small steps of looking inward and, most importantly, acknowledging and trusting what you feel there. And practice. Trust your inner feeling sense, your feeling of knowing or resonance with what calls to you. What makes you enthused or energized or motivated? What gives you joy? What have you always wanted to do but have not—and why not?
I invite you to reconsider the reasons you dismiss ideas or interests and don’t pursue them. Could you be denying yourself the opportunity for discovery and creative contribution—perhaps for some very good “reasons”? Perhaps out of doubt? or fear? The antidote is to try to balance that rational mind of yours with some non-rational (but not irrational) inner feeling sense.
Give it a try. Navigate towards your bliss
Todd Smith says
Great concept Susan. This reminds me of something I like to do. When I start wavering from my true north, I make a list of all the reasons why I think I can’t or shouldn’t do something that I would love to do. And then I question the validity of each of those reasons one by one.
For example, I’m starting to write a book, and my mind has come up with all kinds of reasons why I shouldn’t. “I don’t know enough. I will expose my ignorance. I will compete with other people. People will make fun of me. I don’t have enough time. It will inflate my ego, etc.”
Having made a list like this just now, I will then take this list to self-inquiry and find out if there is any validity to all this resistance. I’ve got a sneaky feeling it’s all just in my head. 🙂