Calibrating your Guidance System – Part 2

As discussed in my last post, Part 1 on this topic of ‘Calibrating your Guidance System,’ missiles and planes are off-course most of the time as they travel towards their intended destinations.

Where’s the connection for us as we try to connect with our purpose and live a life of significance? How do we make life corrections? We’re not planes or guided missiles. We don’t have “pitch,” “roll,” “yaw” or “attitude.” Do we?

Well, we DO have “attitude!”

at·ti·tude

[ˈadəˌt(y)o͞od]

NOUN

• the orientation of an aircraft or spacecraft, relative to the direction of travel…

AND

• a settled way of thinking or feeling about someone or something, typically one that is reflected in a person's behavior. 

As humans, we have ‘attitudes, behaviors, choices, and decisions.’ These are the As, Bs, Cs, & Ds (ABCDs), the vectors we adjust as we travel on our journey towards the targets and goals we’ve committed to accomplish.

Consider the following diagram:

Around you, at any moment, in any set of circumstances, there is a universe of possible attitudes, behaviors, choices, and decisions at your disposal. Some may be significant while others may be less consequential. Regardless of the size or magnitude, each will move you from where you are at the present moment to some other place.

Your attitudes, behaviors, choices, and decisions (Your ABCDs) might move you physically from one locale to another: from the couch to the gym, or from Los Angeles to Paris, for example.

Your ABCDs might move you intellectually: from ignorance to knowledge, or from novice and inexperienced to capable and skilled. They might move you emotionally from one mood to another: from calm and peaceful to irritated and angry or from melancholy and blasé to inspired and engaged.

Still again, your ABCDs could move you spiritually: from disconnected, fearful and isolated to centered, worshipful, and whole.

Even the choice to ‘do nothing’ and remain stationary, for example, moves you because we don’t operate in a vacuum. We live and operate in a frame of reference. The world around you is constantly changing. So, even if you choose to ‘do nothing’ and remain still in your present position, the world around you shifts relative to you. So, in fact, you have moved relative to the world even by remaining stationary.

There really is no escaping the fact that your attitudes, behaviors, choices, and decisions make you a powerful being.

Your ABCDs affect not only you, but also others around you. Think about it this way:

The world around you is influenced, for better or for worse, by:

• the attitudes you display,

• the behaviors you demonstrate,

• the choices you consider, and

• the decisions you make in each moment.

Pause for a few moments to consider what it means to you.

That phrase, ‘for better or for worse,’ is an interesting one to ponder, isn’t it? It presupposes a value system of some kind. Establishing contact with your conscience connects you with your own personal value system. Regular contact with your value system is crucial to ensure that your compass remains well-calibrated.

That’s an incredibly freeing experience that only a regularly consulted relationship with a well-calibrated compass can provide!