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You already have everything you need to have.

You already know everything you need to know.

You already are everything you need to be.

If your experience is anything like mine, at some point, you may have learned to believe these statements are simply not true.

In a world filled with forces designed to replace the inner compass with external sources of information, it’s easy to lose ourselves and lose touch with the part of us that is already happy, healthy, and whole.

Sometimes we get thrown off by loss of a beloved. Other times, we’re caught off guard by betrayals. Although awful, at least in these circumstances the wound is something we can see.

For many of us though, the disconnect between our inner knowing and outer world feels amorphous, untouchable, and invisible. There’s just something wrong, off, or out of place—a nagging sense that life could be better, even though on the outside it seems good enough.

We might be plagued with worry we can’t control, shame we can’t shake, or frustration that won’t seem to go away. We get stuck in these states and bogged down by the energy they bring.

If you’ve ever felt out of touch with your intuition, lost on your life’s path, or confused about why you feel as you do, you know exactly what it’s like to be disconnected from your internal GPS.

I talk to people all the time who have an inkling their life is supposed to be more than what it is. These same people often have stories of going to a practitioner, professional, or priest who’s told them their troubles are either unreasonable, unresolvable, or impossible to understand.

This experience is familiar to me because, for decades, it was my own.

Cardiologists couldn’t explain the swelling in my heart center. Gastroenterologists couldn’t solve the aching in my stomach. Psychologists couldn’t resolve the depression in my body, and psychiatrists couldn’t mend the disorganization of my mind.

The trouble was that I was a highly-functional human. A straight-A student with a high emotional IQ and a long list of achievements behind me. An incredibly competent, quiet, and accomplished professional with a long list of letters after my name. And a generous, present, and patient partner with a long list of transgressions I’d forgotten.

On the surface, I didn’t appear sick. There was no major diagnosis anyone could give to explain the chronicity of my misery, and this was likely because of the mask I’d learned to adorn early on in my life.

I found the perfect makeup to cover up my pimples. I wore a wide-band watch to cover up the slits I’d made on my arm. And I wore a permanent smile to cover up the disconnect growing between my head and heart.

But underneath, I was aching, wondering if a general sense of malaise was the most I could ask of this world. If I’m being honest, for a long time, I was scared to follow the longing because I didn’t want to find my greatest fears to be true.

Like all pain though, at some point, it demands its due time and attention. Mine hit its zenith six months into my career as a trauma therapist. I was completely burnt out in both my professional and personal lives despite having access to some of the best supervisors and support systems in the world.

It became clear no one else had the answers I sought. At some point, I stopped looking outside myself and instead dove into the longing I’d avoided for a long time.

Instead of fighting my feelings, I followed them.

I admitted my anger. I reclaimed my sense of responsibility. I faced my fears. And I sunk into my sadness. I let each feeling guide me, and was relieved to find they each moved me forward toward surprising solutions.

Instead of forgetting transgressions, anger motivated me to hold people accountable.

Instead of ignoring my mistakes, responsibility motivated me to mend them.

Instead of masking my overwhelm, fear motivated me to move away from what didn’t feel right.

And instead of pretending I was alright, sadness motivated me to slow down and honor everything I’d lost.

Every time I followed my feelings, I was guided to exactly where I needed to go. Everything I needed to know about what to do next was always inside of me, ready to lead me along.

The miraculous part of it was that my mental, physical, and relational struggles slowly evaporated before my eyes.

After years of this practice, I now know for certain that the inner GPS is real and it has immense potential to heal.

I call it the Gravity Point System, but some call the inner GPS intuition, wisdom, or knowing. No matter what we call it, at the heart of the inner GPS is emotion, which by definition, literally means energy in motion. And we have access to the power of emotion all the time.

You already have everything you need to have.

You already know everything you need to know.

You already are everything you need to be.

For this to be true, all we need to do is follow the feelings for they are the GPS constantly guiding us home.

~

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