When You Don't Know Where You Want to Go

A sleek red car curved around the freeway off ramp until the loop ended at a “T”.  It tightly hugged the corner of the stop sign as it signaled to turn right. The car moved, but – both swift and awkward – it made a sharp left turn instead. Within a few yards, the driver swooped the flashy car into a gravel spot of emptiness and parked – a sure sign she was lost.

Perhaps she had an old-fashioned paper map, some scribbled directions, or maybe even one of those high tech GPS systems. Maybe she simply pulled out her cell phone to connect with someone waiting at her destination. Though she was lost – and the likelihood of one of her resources would get her to where she was heading soon enough – it was certain she knew where she wanted to go.

Life offers us a multitude of sign posts when we are lost, but what do we do if we don’t even know where we want to go? Does anyone take Sunday drives any more, just for the sake of the scenery? In today’s world, most of us only embark on journeys to get somewhere specific.

Right now in our lives we are finding more and more reasons to feel lost. Many of us have lost our jobs, marriages, houses, and even our identity. So, as logic would have it, we start to seek out resources – guidance, support, information, and so on – only to discover the discomfort in no longer knowing where we want to go!

Oddly, perhaps, things you thought you wanted are suddenly appearing along your path, but you may now lack the finances, time or even desire to pursue them. Why is this? We have spent most of our lives wanting, planning and moving toward our desired destinations, utilizing whatever resources we could to get “there.” We had a sense of direction and, thus, purpose.

In our current spiritual shifts, however, our windows to our future seem to be fogging up and that darned defroster isn’t working anymore! We not only can’t see our way, but when we pull over to evaluate our next turn, we realize we somehow lack the inner drive to get anywhere because the fuel of desire is on empty.  

At this part of your journey, perhaps you sit and rest and allow yourself to go nowhere at all. Simply enjoy the quiet time in your own vehicle as throngs of cars whiz by while you forget about getting “there” and experience your time being “here.” Maybe you find the local Starbucks and take in an iced tea or coffee (since they are on every street corner, you can always find one!). Why feel a sense of urgency when you have no clue where you are going? What would you be late for, anyway… your own life?

Your life is happening now. It is the uncertainty, the rest, and the cup of tea, not just the final destination.

There are really only a few places we drive to anyway; an obligatory errand, a desired destination that we’ve selected, or a place we have been invited to attend. Given that we are well stocked in the errand category, and the desired destination is unclear to us right now, then maybe the Universe is offering each of us an invitation… or will be soon.

In order to receive an invitation and attend an affair, we need two things; to be receptive and available. So, rather than worry and hurry into the future without a clue, perhaps we clear our calendars and wait for our invitation to arrive. As we experience more of the now – the present – we gain trust that the Universe only offers invitations to the most grand of events. And, to think, we don’t even have to go out and buy that present to attend the occasion of our lives! ​

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