We all need some idea of direction to travel don’t we? Once we have decided where we’d like to go we might need a map, or at least some advice on the best route (and people love to share their favourite directions). First though we need to know where we are starting from, and how we reached here. We need to stop, get our bearings, orientate ourselves with the destination, and prepare.
Some years ago my husband bought me a ‘satnav’ to help me find my way to and from workshops without constantly glancing at a map as I drove up and down the country – and I could see the sense in that. However, I’m not a great one for technical gadgets and so I hadn’t read any instructions, done any research, and really hadn’t a clue what a ‘satnav’ was, save to say I felt sure it was going to be useful.
After a very hectic day helping friends move house to Norfolk, I suddenly realised I was short of time and I’d invited neighbours for dinner. I still had various bits of shopping to do on the way home and a dinner to cook before they arrived. I called home and asked for instructions. “How do I set this thing?” I asked. “You don’t have to set it, you just switch it on and press ‘home’ I’ve already put in our address.”
“But it can’t calculate the journey if I don’t put in where I am now, and actually I’m not sure exactly where that is. It can’t know where I’m going – if I don’t know where I am” I replied, with a clear picture in my head of the AA route finder on my computer screen and the usual details it required of ‘from’ and ‘destination’.
“Chrissie, it’s a Sat Nav – satellite navigation means it knows where you are. It picks up your location as soon as you switch on and then guides you to where you want to go. ” “Hm, clever stuff! … Wait a moment, so at any given point a ‘satellite’ knows exactly where I am? Hm, let’s hope it works then!” As we all know the Satnav often takes a different route, takes you round and round a new motorway junction, and sometimes won’t allow you to make a ‘U’ turn. Very frustrating. (I do know people who constantly argue with their machine).
It’s so like the journey through life isn’t it? We so often struggle along independently not quite knowing where we are going. If we are not careful we might waste time getting lost and take the same wrong turning time after time. On some journeys we might take so long getting to where we intended to go that we’ve completely missed our whole reason for going in the first place! To make things worse there are those of us who can neither map-read, or follow instructions. And, what about all the ‘free-spirits’ who resent any form of instruction any way!
When you stop, and take a moment to review how you came to be here, would it have been an easier or a more challenging journey if you had ‘asked’ the way do you think? I know my life changed dramatically once I had learned to follow my intuition, and the angelic guidance that came to me once I had learned to tune in. The beauty of spiritual practice is that once we learn to ‘switch on’ by opening to Divine energies, and listen, and observe the signs, we are always given a clear route. We might not always agree with the route we are asked to take – but thats why we have free will to choose. I know that when I listen and read the signs on my own it can take me longer to get to where I am going. If I tune in and ask first, the going is smoother and the journey often less exhausting.
Happy travels!
