top of page

How Do You Navigate? Download An Internal GPS In 5 Simple Steps


A common question I hear from clients is “how do I navigate? The person may be in the midst of making an important decision regarding her career or he is a student evaluating options for college. Sometimes the question is a visceral plea for help from a person who is in crisis. The question then becomes deep and soulful. It doesn’t ask “what do I do?” as much as it asks “who do I need to become?” In these moments it would be so convenient to go to an app on my phone and plug in a destination on a Life Nagivation System. The good news is that in fact, in times of crisis or during important life decisions, you do have an internal life navigation system that you can trust to give you accurate, reliable information. Every person on the planet is equipped with an inner guidance system that leads him or her to the path that serves their highest good. How does this system work and from whence does it come?

The teachings of Carl Jung suggest that at birth we embark on what is called the Hero’s Journey. It is a path filled with pit-falls and obstacles. There is darkness and the unknown. At every turn we are challenged to call upon any number of archetypes, which are universal human traits we have at our command. When we slay a dragon we become Warrior; when we claim our power we become King or Queen; when we are lost and powerless we become Victim or Servant or Martyr. When we are ready to receive insight we become Student; when we have insight to share we become Teacher. At any time on our path we can be spun into an abyss of darkness and when we face this darkness there will be someone who will arrive on our path to assist us. Complete transformation is available to us when we walk into the Dark Night Of The Soul and come out the other side. When we recognize that this is our path and we surrender to it, we begin to better use our resources to navigate. Suddenly we realize we can call on a myriad of archetypes to assist us. (It’s so much easier to navigate certain situations as a Queen than as a servant.) Embodying the hero on the journey, here are 5 ways that you can connect to and follow your internal guidance system to navigate and conquer the obstacles on your path.

#1 Connect with your heart

Our internal guidance system is hooked up to a vast network of energy waves with endless ability to send and gather data. I call them heart waves. There is no limit to how far in time and space our heart waves can travel. (That’s scientifically proven. I read it in a very important book a long time ago.) So imagining that our heart is part of this network (think of it as wifi), then at any given moment our heart can tell us where to turn. It is far more reliable than our brain because it has more neurons and more access to data and decidedly more loyalty to our divine mission. (Our mind is entirely distracted by loud external voices that don’t serve our highest good.) This first step of connecting with your heart requires trusting that your heart knows best. Some people call this intuition or the still small voice. Sometimes I call it my gut. When I get quiet and connect with my heart and listen, I’m connecting with my internal guidance system and I’m preparing to get direction.

#2: Ask for help

The hero’s journey guarantees that when we are in the dark we are not alone. It doesn’t guarantee that Clark Kent will swoop in and save the day when we least expect it. I’m not saying that can’t happen because I’m all about staying open to possibilities. (See number 3.) I’m just saying we significantly increase the odds of getting help when we ask. “Knock and it shall be opened to you” and “ask and ye shall receive” are spiritual promises that are a fundamental base of our internal guidance system. Think about how useless the navigation app on my phone is if I don’t turn it on or put in a destination. We aren’t asking for God’s sake. We are asking for our own sake because it prepares us to receive. As soon as we ask for help we have created an opening for us to receive an answer. And for some of us receiving is not easy so asking paves that way. (I want to add that I quote the bible in this paragraph because, well, it feels important and makes me sound wise. I also reference God because, well, Her voice reminds me of the voice in my car navigation system. I want to emphasize that I have met plenty of people who don’t believe in God or the Bible and guess what? They have an internal guidance system same as me. So please don’t think that these things have to be intertwined.)

#3 Surrender control

When we are in the dark or facing a dragon it’s a good start to connect with our heart and ask for guidance. The next step is to surrender control because if we think that we are going to slay the dragon on our own terms in our own way rather than relying on the wisdom of our heart, then we have engaged in a battle that will be fraught with self-sabotage and eventual self-betrayal. Sometimes we will go to the mat with the dragon until our very last breath before surrendering. That’s okay. Eventually we must surrender in order to get the aid that we need to move forward on our path. Surrendering control allows us to become open to new possibilities. Rachel Naomi Remen states, “The willingness to consider possibility requires a tolerance of uncertainty.” Uncertainty is scary. It’s the part of the path that gets dark. It’s also where the power lies because when things are uncertain anything can happen, and “anything” in the realm of possibility is what’s needed to slay a dragon.

#4 Trust

As soon as we slay our first dragon then you would think that we would begin to really trust our internal navigation system. However, I can’t emphasize this enough, no matter how many dragons we slay doubt will creep into our path. Deep trust debunks the doubt, lighting the path and thus preventing us from wandering in the dark unnecessarily. Some people call this part faith or hope. I call it trust. It’s the fierce belief that I can trust my internal navigation system at all times. It means that when Her voice comes on my speaker-phone and says “exit the freeway”, I turn on my signal, change lanes, and exit the freeway. Even if the freeway is clear of traffic. Even if my favorite song is on the radio. Even if I don’t like the looks of the neighbhorhood. I practice trust because I have learned that it gets me past some messy, unforeseen pile-up collisions on the highway. Vigilant trust moves me forward when the fog is thick and it helps me resist the temptation to pull over and lose direction entirely.

#5 Pay attention

It has been my experience that the most efficient way to move forward on the hero’s journey is to pay attention. The Universe is guiding the way with all kinds of directions and signs and if we are sleeping at the wheel we will miss the exit that could save us from a long detour. Every internal guidance system gets programmed by its user. That means that if you want your app to speak to you in a deep, rich voice with a British accent, you got it. I want my system to speak to me through books because I’m an avid reader. Guess what? It’s common for me to be guided to just the right book at just the right time. Sometimes I get direction from a song that comes on the radio with lyrics that address an issue that I’ve been struggling with. I also like numbers. So in a given day I may see the same series of numbers on road signs, license plates, and clocks that give me meaning on my path. I’ve been known to encounter animals on cartoons, in the streets, or in “random” conversation. Because animal medicine is one of the many signs that I have programmed into my internal guidance system I have received powerful messages from animals at crucial times. Your personal guidance system is personal to you. It’s your way to navigate. Be willing to program it with signs and directions and languages that resonate so that it’s easy to follow and understand.

That’s it. A 5-step program to connecting to and following a reliable internal guidance system that will help you navigate life in any situation. It is completely available to you at any time and it is 100 percent guaranteed to serve your highest good. And did I mention to you that it is free? It takes courage. But I will say that flying blind in a storm without instruments takes just as much courage and leads to a lot of unnecessary pain and frustration. Slaying dragons on the hero’s journey equipped with endless resources is adventurous, thrilling, magical, expansive, and deeply satisfying. I highly recommend it.


Featured Posts
Check back soon
Once posts are published, you’ll see them here.
Recent Posts
Archive
Search By Tags
Follow Us
  • Facebook Basic Square
  • Twitter Basic Square
  • Google+ Basic Square
bottom of page