We were all born with the natural ability to grow, change, and become something different from our original form. Of course! Otherwise, we would all be stuck in the newborn phase. Each stage and experience we go through brings us to a new level of awareness. Our inner GPS is continually being downloaded and updated. Our physical form learned to move first by rolling over, then by inching forward, and eventually by learning to stand. Once we had reached the upright position, curiosity took over and we began to explore our world. Throughout these stages, most of us had adult support and encouragement. Every cell within our bodies absorbed the new information, updated the database, sent out the necessary signals, and readjusted to accommodate our new position. This intricate system operated without much intervention from the outside world. If our physical system works so synchronically, why don’t we rely on our inner GPS when it comes to decision making and living a fulfilling life?
Several decades of my life were spent acquiring information in many ways. Continuing education was a requirement for both of my careers, and often my interest in courses or reading was sparked simply for self-improvement. I always thought I needed to learn more. If I wasn’t an “expert” on the topic, I relied on other sources to educate me. I continually turned to outside sources to gather information, oftentimes struggling to find balance within my schedule. I became reliant on facts provided by other people. But what if, instead, I had simply turned inward? I wonder how much information is available to us through our inner GPS, just as it was programmed in our early stages of life to move us into our next stages of development? Learning is part of my nature. I love learning. However, there were many times when I allowed my lack of knowledge to become a frustration. Recently I came across this quote from seventeenth-century Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza: “The more you struggle to live, the less you live. Give up the notion that you must be sure of what you are doing. Instead, surrender to what is real within you, for that alone is sure…you are above everything distressing.” The line “surrender to what is real within you, for that alone is sure” spoke volumes to me, as I had lived much of my life not trusting what I knew to be true within me. I had allowed the information fed to me by others to overrule what I innately believed to be true within. Artemisia Titepati helped affirm this for me:
Books and readings are one tool that will spark remembrances, but you don’t have to search for the answers. They are already there. You have all you need within you. You know all that you need to know. Trust and believe, my Beloved.
This is a much easier concept to grasp when I’m not the one trying to live it. Here, again, living in the place of trust rather than control is key. For me, so many of my deep learning opportunities came through my experiences rather than from one manual or another. When I trust my inner GPS to be my guide, life is much less distressing.
Consider the circumstances within your own life. Are you trying too hard to search for the correct answers?
Tune into your inner GPS. What is it telling you?