One of the features my car came equipped with is a built in GPS system. Using global positioni
ng, the computer can tell me where I am, and give me clear directions to my destination. I have found this tool to be incredibly helpful, over the past two years, during one cross country drive, and many trips around New England and Canada for my teenagers' athletic and school events. No more fussing with maps. No more arguing with my husband as to what is a highway, and what is, in fact, a river. Because our honeymoon was spent in the Austrian Alps, driving from one beautiful vista to another, maps began to be a bone of contention in my marriage, as I seem to lack the basic intellectual brain chip that would enable me to plan and plot a reasonable (and possible) course. Hence, having a GPS, after 20 years of marriage, seemed like a gift from Heaven....the computer could tell us which turns to make, what landmarks we would pass and even help us to find the most feasible rest stops. Unfortunately, this past weekend, our directions were lost in translation.Our daughter was going to spend the week at a friend's house in southern Massachusetts. The highway route and directions from the interstate to her classmate's home were clear and easy to follow. We gratefully listened to "Please exit to follow I-495 South" and "Turn right at the next intersection". We were very pleased when the GPS informed us that "We had arrived at our destination". Unfortunately, our return home was not as simple. For reasons we have yet to comprehend, the GPS computer didn't backtrack the way we came. Instead, we found ourselves being ordered to drive around random neighborhoods, head away from the highway and traverse towns completely out of our way. We turned onto tiny rural roads, and drove through main streets of unfamiliar villages. In short, the GPS lost us. It insisted we take roads that would lead us away from our destination or from any main roads. It demanded we make U-Turns if we tried to head in the general area we knew needed to be. It became difficult and argumentative when we chose not to follow its ridiculous directions. I may be anthropomorphising the GPS, but I think it was angry at us, and vented.
Eventually, my husband and I, having lived in various parts of New England for most of our lives, simply ignored the GPS. We looked at the map it supplied, but refused to listen to one more directed turn into a residential development. After a great deal of confusion, heated debate on which way to proceed, we found a familiar road number eventually, one that we knew would take us to the highway. We did learn our lesson. GPS computers are simply tools. They are not, as I had once believed, magical devices created just to make my life easier. Sometimes the information they dispense is incorrect, but because they are not thinking, creative humans, they just regurgitate what information they posses. Eventually, we found our way, we came to more familiar territory and we arrived home safe and sound, and not too much later than we'd planned to be.
This experience helped me to think deeply about communication, and about how much we depend upon information given to us, rather than information we ferret out for ourselves. While services like the GPS, Internet search engines and the media can give us information, how accurate can we trust it to be? How meaningful to our specific need is this recommendation or guidance? While news and reports are valuable tools, we must not stop simply taking each piece we receive as the absolute truth of any situation, whether it is driving directions or seemingly factual accounts of note. It is critical that we learn to process the knowledge given to us and create our own sense of accuracy and believability. Just as my husband and I were positive the GPS was shepherding us further and further away from our path, we must be clear about the other information we receive in our lives, and in which direction it leads us. We must become literate in our decision making, and not be led astray, just because we are told a path to take. We must learn to trust our intuition, at times, and readjust our direction if we head off course, both figuratively and literally.
In Yoga, one of the asanas that can aid in helping us discern our direction is Gate Pose. In Gate, we are opening our bodies, in two ways: the first is the outward expression of reaching upwards and opening our hearts. The inward work that Gate post can help us accomplish is to allow our hearts to be open to both the outward flow from within us, as well as the inward flow from the universe into our lives. Gate pose is one of the asanas that allows us to find our direction. We can stretch our bodies and work into the incredible sense of openness, and we can work our minds and hearts to achieve that same kind of flexibility. We can move out of the pose and readjust by making small changes to help us to gain the maximum benefit. Just as in the rest of our lives, Gate pose can aid us in finding areas in which we are heading correctly, as well as those spots we need to rethink.
On life's journey, take the time to reassess your situation. Don't blindly listen to directions if they seem wrong or out of balance. Process the information you're given and use it in the way that best suits your goal. Above all, don't be afraid to simply stop and turn around. It's much better to reverse direction than it is to wind up in a river.
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