I am on a little adventure, exploring the Forest of Dean this week. It was while I was making friends with a borrowed Sat Nav on the journey, that I considered the ideas of trust of self, trust of authority and route finding.
Initially I borrowed the Sat Nav as reassurance, as company, as protection against getting lost, although my time away was booked much more in the spirit of adventure. My Grandma Ruby and Uncle Peter used to pack for a holiday and drive to the end of the road and ask, “Shall we go right or left?” and continue this for several days holiday! This was originally more the idea I had had. So now I took off on my travels with a combined spirit of adventure and reassurance of Sat Nav.
We were only 15 minutes away from home when I began to doubt the Sat Nav and I took the decision to overide the external voice of authority for what I already knew inside.
And so, here I am in the Forest, in a relationship with a Sat Nav that I don’t always agree with, don’t always submit to, but to whom I am grateful for their presence and support (particularly when I need a little confidence to take a one lane track seeming to go nowhere). Relationship is always like this – we can never trust another 100% with our path or our route. We need to trust enough to work together and to co-operate, but without surrendering all we know and all we are to someone external.
The internal route finder is located within us and is switched on by pausing, by breathing, by reflection or meditation. Our internal Sat Navs are a different part of us, formed in life by others who may or may not have had our best interests at heart, who may still issue instructions and directions, and which we have internalised – some internal Sat Nav editions are more useful than others. No-one’s is a substitute for our own knowledge, just an add on.
Listen to yourself, listen to your Sat Nav and then trust your spirit of adventure to choose your own unique route. I can’t guarantee it will be the fastest, or easiest but if it is your route it just has to be travelled!