FINDING YOUR NORTH STAR

A woman on horseback trots slowly along the edge of the river. After about ten minutes, she comes to a fork in the path. One path will take her further along the river, while the other path shoots off the other direction into the woods. The woman stops her horse and takes a sip of water out of her canteen while she thinks over which path to take.

Still undecided, she hears a distant rumble. Something is coming up the path behind her. She takes her horse off the path as the rumble turns into what sounds like a gallop. A moment later, a man on horseback comes galloping wildly down the path. As the man and the horse charge past her, she calls out to him.

"Where are you going!?" she shouts.

"I don't know!" He shouts back. "Ask the horse!"

This humorous story shares a powerful lesson. Many of us, whether we know it or not, are being tugged around and directed by forces other than our own will. We may follow a certain career path because others we know have done it. We may choose to date the wrong person because we haven't taken the time to learn what we truly need from a partner.

If we don't take the time to mindfully think about what we want from life and why we want it, then we may speed down the wrong direction due to unawareness — just like the man on horseback.

Instead, to find the right path for ourselves, we can start by becoming more aware of who we are, what gives us purpose, what gives us energy, what drags us down, and what we want from life.

If we don't stop and carve out the time to do this deep work and investigate ourselves, we'll never find our own internal compass to tell us which path to take. And, consequently, we'll never have our north star.

To begin to find your own internal compass, you can start by asking yourself the simple questions below. Carve out 30 minutes this weekend to write your answers in a notebook. See what comes up for you.

Questions To Find Direction:

1. If I could do anything with my life, without fear of failure, what would I do?
2. If I knew I only had five years left to live, what would I stop doing?
3. Ten years from now, what does a perfect day in my life look like?
4. What are the 3-4 essential qualities that I need friends and partners in my life to have?
5. What blindspots may I have and who could I trust to help point them out?
6. What are the 20% of things in my day that give me 80% of my happiness? How can I do more of those?

Are you the woman on horseback who mindfully considers her path? Or are you the man galloping by on his horse who lets forces outside of his control dictate where he's going?

Take a moment this weekend to pause, mindfully answer these questions, and start creating awareness around your desired direction. The only way to find your direction is for you to choose your direction. The reins are in your hand. Hold up the horse and plot your path.

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