I don’t need to go there. ~Swami Khecaranatha
When I use my car’s GPS to set my route to a particular destination, sometimes I miss a turn or even intentionally take a little detour, distracted by one thing or another. The nice computer lady who gives me directions never fusses at me. I see the map shifting around and she says firmly but politely, “Return to the route.”
It’s true that on an actual car trip, those detours can lead to spontaneous adventures that sometimes become the highlights we most remember. But in daily life, those distractions can keep us from what is most important. How many times do we bemoan our whack-a-mole, put-out-fires, endless-to-do-list busyness when something we really want to do or focus on keeps getting pushed to the back burner? We deplete our energy, sink ever deeper into always-behind quicksand, and wonder if we’ll ever have time to focus on what really matters to us, whatever that might be.
We see this in our inner lives. My thoughts are the ultimate meander-off-route drivers. If my internal GPS is set on alignment, equanimity, compassion, joy, mindful presence, it doesn’t take long for my thoughts to veer off into rehashing the past, rehearsing the future, fretting about something, or judging others, circumstances, myself. I ran across the above quote this morning and it made me laugh at its simple truth. I don’t need to turn away from what I most care about, what feeds rather than drains my spirit, what nurtures my well being, what connects me to the universal life force that moves through all creation.
Whatever the detour is, I don’t need to go there. And if I do find myself on some dead end road to nowhere, I can just “return to the route.” Return to center, return to peace, return to my heart, return to truth. Again and again.
Eventually I become more sensitive to those clues that I’m about to veer off yet again. In addition to my GPS assistance, my car will shudder the steering wheel and flash a warning “lane departure” when I’m about to cross a line without using my turn signal, indicating that my attention has strayed rather than that I’m making an intentional change. Our internal warning system can be more subtle – an emotional discomfort, a sense of being off, a nudge that something is not right.
Our inner guidance system is amazingly reliable if we learn to understand and heed its wisdom. We can choose the direction we take in our lives, where we place our attention, how we manage our attitude, when we need a new perspective. I find that when my inner life is on track, the outer chaos begins to settle. What is most important in my inner life and in my daily life begins to align in harmony. We are in the driver’s seat after all, and the road ahead leads home.
I can choose to see this differently. ~A Course in Miracles