The Compass

Ancient seafarers could navigate with no landmarks, on choppy seas and rocking boats. Our world has taught us to give up control of where we are headed, and trust what we’re told. GPS is all we need and Google Maps will show us the way.

Have you ever driven somewhere new, and arrived there only to realise you have no idea where you are? For the past thirty minutes, you’ve blindly followed the voice instructions to turn left in 400m, merge onto that motorway, take the left lane to merge onto the slip road and continue straight at the roundabout. I have, and many times I’ve realised that what I thought was a delegation of navigation responsibility was really a surrender of all control to a device to drive me even as I drive the car.

I wonder how much of our lives we’ve blindly given up control over? Delegated just a little, and lost a lot more than we intended to.

One of the tools clinical psychologists use to help patients understand deep seated behavioural patterns and emotional responses, particularly inappropriate or disproportionate ones, is called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, which teaches people to choose actions that align with their values. Their values then, in a sense, become their navigational compass, telling them to turn left, or right, or to take the slip road.

In other words, even when it’s uncomfortable, live according to your values by taking committed actions, while cultivating awareness of the current moment and observing self, sensation and thought rather than challenging them.

I find this to be quite a helpful way to “navigate” the choices of daily life, when not all roads seem to go in the same direction. Will this choice/action push me closer to my values, or take me further from them?

As Christians we have an appointed set of values on top of our personal ones. And we have a “how to read the map” guidebook (in the scriptures).

So then, I find the Compass to be a necessary tool to keep with me, save I fall from the path and never find it again. My prayer is only that when the compass points firmly, I perceive.