Create Your Own Compass
By Suzanne Bird-Harris • Aug 18th, 2008 • Category: Motivational Monday •
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When you ask better questions, of yourself and others, you get better answers. What you create with better answers is a more reliable compass by which to navigate your life.
Sometimes the simplest questions confound us the most. Who am I? What brings me joy? What do I want for my life? What am I good at? What am I great at? How can I make a difference? What is my purpose?
How many of the answers to these questions have you gleaned or taken on from others without questioning them? For example, when you answer, “Who am I?”, how many of the answers are your own and how many of them have you adopted from others? Has it ever occurred to you to make that distinction? What do you do with the answers that just don’t fit? You can simply say, “Uhhh…no…that’s not me.” Did you know that?
Sometimes we hang onto those answers that don’t fit because we don’t know what is true for us and we’re afraid to look. This is another area in our lives where fear of the unknown messes with us. But those answers that don’t fit are the source of chronic stress, the chafing we tolerate, the ’something’ that is ‘off’ that we can’t quite put our finger on that leaves us confused and unclear in life.
If a regular compass points to true North, then your own compass points to the true You and you have a frame of reference for everything else in your life. Those simple, but confounding questions are much easier to answer with confidence and clarity and purpose. The irony is, when you know yourself well, you have fewer questions, you worry less and you enjoy life more.
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Suzanne Bird-Harris is a web designer, coach, blogger, speaker, mother, grandmother and student of life and living. She will "unass your website" so it works for you, not againstyou in a way that gives you autonomy you can grow into. She'll do the same thing for you by coaching you through the learning curves of creating the life you really want to live. Visit Suzanne and download your copy of her e-books, "WordPress: What's In It For Me?" and "Go to the Balcony to Get a Grip".
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I always have to over analyze, it’s me. Isn’t that often times we notice a quality in someone that we ourselves would like to possess? Therefore conforming to more of their ways than we intended to.
I know sometimes trying to gain friendships we might forget completely who we are to become more like someone else just to be able to use the title friend. At that point the question isn’t who or what am I, but why have I lost sight of myself in spite of someone else.
Great advice. We should be taught that earlier on in life.
Wow. This post is right on time for me. I’m about to turn 40 and as I get closer to this milestone I’ve been doing a lot of self-reflections.
Shelia’s last blog post..Yet Another 10 Things Meme