by Joanna Pinney Buell
We arrived at our destination without a GPS or directions from Google. We’d been there once before. I recalled the way was simple and straightforward. I knew we had a map in the car from our previous trip and I had directions on how to get to the cottage. The directions were unclear in places, yet still we arrived at our destination without difficulty. How did we ever do it without the aid of a GPS? We used our PGS, our Personal Guidance System.
If Columbus sailed to what became the Americas in 1492 relying on the stars, a sextant and a very limited map of the world, how is that our society has become so totally dependent on GPS in such a short time? Granted, Columbus did not arrive at his consciously intended destination; he arrived where his Personal Guidance System was directing him to.
I do understand the attraction of a shiny, new technology for many people, and I know that for people with short-term memory loss, GPS is a real godsend. What I don’t understand is how people capable of reading a map and/or following directions don’t see the potential detriment of giving the responsibility for one more cognitive function over to a gadget.
The more I ponder this, the more I see that the larger question is: What is it that makes us fear that we can’t find our way?
Our society has become lost, as a whole. In most recent times, technology has contributed to a great divide between us and the nature around us and the nature within us. We know at least subconsciously that we’ve lost touch with the intuitive skills and practices that guided previous generations to get to where they needed to be. In the midst of all the clamor for our attention from media through the ever-expanding technologies, we’ve lost the ability to hear the voice of truth within. Epidemics of greed, anger, depression and apathy are the products of having lost our connection with our Personal Guidance System.
So just what is this Personal Guidance System I’ve been referring to?
Your PGS is the voice of your divinity by whatever name or symbol you choose to identify it with. The point of communication for this guidance is through the heart. The wisdom that lives here, waiting to be called upon, can direct us to an open parking space, to a retreat destination, and show us the way out of the Boston red light district or help us get through NYC without a GPS (or map). Yes, I know this by my own experience, though I never professed that all my trips were straight and narrow.
Our PGS is both practical and profound. It’s the voice that answers us when we surrender and call for help from the depths of life’s chaos and our times of deepest despair. When we’re at the crossroads of life, lost in new and difficult emotional territory, our PGS lights our way in increments. We receive what we need to know, when we need to know it.
When I was about five years old and living next door to my Uncle Johnny’s dairy farm, I got lost in the back fields with my friend, Petey Sewall. I can still recall how weak, confused and hopeless I felt. Alongside the feeling of fear, I could hear a guidance that told me that by looking around, we’d spot something we’d recognize. We did, and I suspect this was more of a feeling than an actual recognition. In a short time, we were in familiar territory and then home.
The result of this early experience with being lost and being guided to find my way home is that I recognize the condition of being lost as a temporary state. My adult experiences with being lost have taught me that this is necessary for our human and spiritual development. When we give our responsibility and authority for our personal direction away to external gadgets, media, governments and others’ opinions, we narrow the window of opportunity for discovering new territory under the guise of being lost.
The stars that guided Columbus both through dead calm and storms are reflections of the light within us, our inherent guidance, our Personal Guidance System.
Blessings for all the new discoveries that will arise out of your feeling lost, and remember to let the light of your Personal Guidance System shine and illuminate your way.
© Joanna Pinney Buell, The Dowsing Deva, 2012-2014. All rights reserved. Printed here with permission. Joanna Pinney Buell is living the Good Life with her husband David Buell in Downeast, Maine, at their home, Light Heart Retreat. Joanna has been many years in the fields of spirituality, energy work and holistic health as a teacher, hands-on practitioner and writer. Most recently, she has channeled her desire to help others through The Dowsing Diva, where she offers resources for self-health, insightful blog posts, and dowsing services. Joanna can be reached via email at joanna@thedowsingdeva.com. For more information, visit TheDowsingDiva.wordpress.com and lightheartretreat.com to see what this unique place on Earth has to offer YOU.