The internal compass

 When I was growing up as a teenage I was active in my scout troop. One of the skills that I learned (which has since become rusty) was compass navigation.

Even on its own a compass is extraordinarily useful for helping you stay on course.

Combine the compass with a topographical map and you could traverse an area.

Then I started hearing about an awesome new technology that used satellites to identify your position on earth. Called the Global Positioning System (GPS) it was a quantum leap from the map and compass. 

Initially it wasn't very precise as the military had it locked down, but over the years it's precision narrowed down to identify your position to within several feet, and then down to your exact location.

I was taking flight lessons during several of those years, first in a single-engine airplane and a few years later in helicopters. The advance in technology was immense and in that time GPS went from being used solely as position awareness to being able to use if for precision instrument approaches into an airport.

Now I think every smartphone incorporates GPS technology. 

The maps you used to get for a road trip have practically vanished. I still have several and occasionally I will see if a state's visitors center has them although they seem more like a novelty.

When you want to go somewhere new, most people use whatever GPS-based map system they have on their phone or in the vehicle.

And the skill of map and compass navigation has been disappearing, replaced by the convenience and ease of the GPS.

Each of us has an internal compass. You might add that we have several. One is our morals and values compass.

But the one that has nearly disappeared under the dust of disuse in most adults is the compass that guides us to our dreams and desires. It's the compass that pulls at us, or more rightly, pulled at us until "real life" and societal expectations settled in.

Instead most use the easy and convenient General Purpose System of navigation that allows us to slip through life without rocking the boat, or potentially causing us embarrassment or unacceptance.

The problem with the GPS is it's not specific to our individual desires. It can help us generally but it cannot replace our internal compass.

And if we compare the GPS to our internal compass they will likely show very different navigation. 

To get to a destination the GPS may should the socially expected and acceptable path, and it may inform us that the route is filled with obstacles and we're unlikely to reach the destination.

To make matters more interesting, our internal compass may show us the destination but, other than a few first steps and maybe some key waypoints in-between here and the destination, the route is likely obscured. 

For most of my life I've known what I would like, what I wished for. I've thought most people had big dreams and wishes for their life.

What I've learned is it's actually not uncommon to find someone who either no longer has any big dreams or aspirations, or they can't remember any. Growing up in with the expectations and acceptance of society has squelched those dreams.

Someone I've managed to hold onto my dreams and even added to them. 

But for most of my life little action was made. The GPS of society is hard to go against when it's easier to follow. The last couple years has been re-opening my eyes to my internal compass and I've been able to start believing that my dreams can become reality.

Everyone has an internal compass, that inner voice that tugs at them and tries to turn their eyes towards their dream.

It's feels safer and easier to just follow GPS of society, but if we settle and calm our minds and hearts enough we will likely discover that we want more. We want to be better. We want to do better. We want to become better. And, despite what the media seems to want to push, I believe the majority of people want to hope for better.

Nobody can tell you all the steps you need to take for you to reach your dream. Those who truly believe in you can do little more than coach and encourage you. 

You need to take the action. You need to act in faith. 

You need to trust in yourself that you have what's needed to take the first steps and you will receive and/or be guided to what's needed as you go forward. 

You need to trust in God that you were meant to go great things. The power you need is within you, you just need to find your "magnetic north" to point you in the direction to go.