Your Inner GPS

"Not only can GPS devices tell you how to get there, they can tell you where to go."

Samir Bhavnani

In this month's O Magazine, a contributor, Padma Atluri, wrote in an article called "Tooling Around" that the tool she most wishes she had was a tool that could "[h]elp me navigate my life. My 'Life GPS' would tell me: 'This is the quickest way to the next laugh or the best decision.'"

I want to tell Ms. Atluri and you, my dear reader, that such a tool already exists. We have access to a big GPS -- the Guiding Power System or the Great Power Source in the sky. Some have called it your "inner guide" and others the "still small voice within." It does not matter what it's called, but it is a tool that is accessible to you and is very real. This GPS has access to all knowledge and is always available to us to set us on the right course. It is infinitely more sophisticated and accurate than the one in your car, but there is no tool you need to buy to access this GPS nor is there any investment in high-tech satellites necessary. All you need is to tune into the frequency of your GPS.

So how exactly do you access this inner GPS? Meditation is a very powerful tool for doing so. There are many, many different ways of meditating -- too many to enumerate them all here. I will share a couple with you though. You can sit quietly and just keep repeating in your mind, "I am open to your wisdom" or simply "I am." Or you can just focus on the in/out of your breath. Setting the intention to be open to hearing your GPS will be very powerful even if you cannot get your mind to silence your thoughts. Even dipping into the silence for one minute is beneficial and the more you do it the easier it will be to access your GPS. If you want more guidance, I found a nice guided meditation on youtube especially designed for accessing your inner guide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGnB3w80b8M. This is a lovely and powerful meditation and only takes about 9 minutes.

Another method is to put pen to paper and communicate in writing with your GPS. This is a tool that Elizabeth Gilbert describes in Eat, Pray, Love. She writes

I've found that voice... in times of code-orange distress, and have learned that the best way for me to reach it is written conversation. I've been surprised to find that I can almost always access that voice too, no matter how black my anguish may be. Even during the worst suffering, that calm, compassionate, affectionate and infinitely wise voice (who is maybe me, or maybe not exactly me) is always available for a conversation on paper at any time of the day or night.

I too can access this voice by writing a question on paper and having a conversation with my GPS. This voice is not only there in times of deep anguish, the GPS can be used to steer you through your biggest or smallest issues. The GPS is helpful in dealing with depression or divorce (as with Elizabeth Gilbert in Eat, Pray, Love) or in writing my blog, dealing with a teenage daughter, reminding me to celebrate the little things or finding the quickest way to the next laugh. Just as the GPS in my car works equally well to get me from my house to the store down the street as from my house in Los Angeles to a store in New York City, (the GPS is only concerned with the quickest and most efficient way to get you from Point A to Point B), the inner GPS does not care if your issues are big or small. The inner GPS just gets you from problem to solution in the most efficient and graceful way possible.

As we enter 2010, resolve to access the most powerful tool you could imagine -- your inner GPS. And if you desire, call upon me for assistance in doing so. I have coached others to hear this guidance and am available to help you.