Have you ever thought about what inspires you to make small or big choices in your life? What supports you when you are to make an important decision? What are your “go-to’s”?

I’ve been thinking about this lately and wanted to share some of my thoughts. I’m aware that there are many more angles to view this from than what I’ve chosen to write about here and these are only my own observations from my life.

I think I learned early on that to get somewhere you need to work for it, and in different ways make your way forward. And that resonates still with me in many ways, I just define it differently now than how I used to understand it when I was younger. Back then I gave the power away to something or someone outside of myself, at least what I consciously was aware of.

One way we learn how to get somewhere is through watching others, mimic or try to copy what someone else is doing. And again, as a child, it is an important way of how we learn to be in the world. If we have healthy role models, it teaches us where and when we are safe and where and when we are not.

Later, we might see someone being good at something and you’d think doing the same thing would make you as successful. Until you either feel miserable, bored or you feel you’ve failed – many times a mix of the three of them!

It took me many years (of inquiry, meditation and therapy!) to understand that if I want to find my own success, I need to get to know that “inner drive” or “inner engine” that pulls me in a certain direction. I needed to bring back the power from the external to the internal.

So how do we connect with that place of internal power? I’ve learnt and practiced that one way that inner drive shows up is by the sensation of JOY. For example, when I think about things that makes me truly joyful; like dancing, skiing, a good giggle with a friend, I feel expanded, warm and energized. I also recognize that the feeling of LOVE has the same qualities as JOY for me. I usually feel these sensations as expansion and warmth starting first in the middle of my chest, in the heart area.

Connecting with that inner sense of JOY/LOVE has given me a compass that I trust more than anything today. And to keep using the metaphor of a compass, it also shows me very clearly when the opposite of joy is there; it usually shows up as fear, fear of failure, fear of judgement or fear of being too much..and the sensations linked to that is constriction somewhere in my body and a sense of feeling heavy or drained.

And like a compass, there are more directions than the JOY-FEAR-ones; I appreciate the in-between ones, that for example tells me; “yes-but…” or “no-but…”. What I mean with that is that here is a situation where I need more information, am I safe or not, do I have support?

Can we always act from the place of JOY/LOVE? Well, I’d say yes and no….it depends. But we can have the intention of acting from a place of JOY/LOVE, and already then, we have come a long way. We can have the awareness that to be as available as possible and present in the moment I need to connect to that place where I feel most expanded (my heart area). Acting from that place gives me more space and capacity, compared to act from a place of constriction and/or heaviness.

So today, when I am up for a change or a decision-making, I of course use my experience and my knowledge, and I also check in with my inner compass. My compass will support my next step, whether it is “go for it”, “hang on a second”, or a clear “no”.

Recently a client of mine added another beautiful image to my compass; she spoke of a golden compass within, which made my compass even more attractive to hang out with!

And for you who made it all the way to the end of my blog post – thank you for reading – and maybe I’ve inspired you to check in with your own wise, beautiful golden compass before you make a decision next time…

With Gratitude,

Helena