Misadventures on the road, in relationships, and in life.
It turns out that Google Maps doesn’t work very well in Charlotte, NC. My first time driving in the city I was traveling with my photographer friend. I’d been asked to teach at a women’s self growth and empowerment event and my friend had been asked to document it.
We had no idea how to get to the event space, the key pick up location, or the apartment that we were staying in downtown, so we were pretty reliant on the Google Maps app on our phones.
Each time we needed to make a turn the app would alert us exactly as we needed to be turning or right after we had passed the street or exit. During multi-lane rush hour city traffic this was a rather stressful issue. Luckily, we both saw the humor in the situation pretty immediately and kept driving in circles and “rerouting” until we eventually arrived at our destination.
A few weeks ago I drove to Charlotte again to see Noah Levine and participate in Wanderlust108. I remembered the Google Maps issues when the app gave zero warning before suggesting that I cut across multiple lanes of traffic to exit immediately.
When I asked someone else about their driving experience in the city they said that the app can’t give proper directions because the tall buildings get in the way of the GPS tracking system. The app is essentially guessing about where we are on the road instead of knowing out exact locations.
Problems with navigation aren’t exclusive to GPS systems while amidst tall buildings, they happen all the time in our personal lives, professional lives, and relationships.
Our ability to observe our situation for what it is gets hindered by our preferences, assumptions, projections, fears, anxieties, hopes, habits and patterns. We see people and circumstances not purely as who or what they are, but as we are and who we have been.
My Sanskrit teacher, Manorama offered via Instagram the word of the week: Nirakula, which is translated as clear or unconfused, and suggested that we build clarity by making a choice to consciously let go of any confusion we are holding on to.
One way to clear confusion is to open up effective communication.
Talk to your partner, your boss, your friend. Are you on the same page? Do you want the same things? How are you perceiving each others words and actions?
If there is a disconnect – talk about it and reconnect. Be vulnerable, honest, and brave. Be respectful, open and patient.
Another way to clear confusion is to know what you want and how you want to feel?
Instead of flying blind through life, get intentional with it. Live life on purpose.
When we know what we want and how we want to feel we can start taking inspired action daily and bring our desires into our experience.
Create a map. Perhaps, make a vision board or write out your dreams, goals, and desired feelings and then come up with a few realistic steps to take right away. Choose a method of creating clarity that resonates with you and then take action on it.
Clarity + Intention + Action is the key.
Take a moment now to focus on clarity.
Why do you want what you want? Can you distill it down and be even more specific?
Once you have clarity take inspired action.
I’d love to hear about how you put these concepts into practice. Please comment below or tag me on Facebook or Instagram.
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Much love,
Katie