A Year In Review - Check Your GPS!

Have you ever wondered if you have been running round in circles? Not really moving forward in your life metaphorically, spiritually, emotionally, professionally, academically, actually?

Back at the start of  December 2011, three weeks after Jonny's brain surgery I was  reflecting  on how small our world had shrunk since Jonny's illness had returned in August of that year.
This is what I wrote then on Lotsahelpinghands about taking a short car journey…….

We have not ventured far from our house on Titian Way, except to go to Johns Hopkins hospital, for months and months  and sometimes it feels like forever.

Time has stood still in our house and our plans  have been reduced to the bare minimum to get through each day.  

As I was wallowing a little in these thoughts, and the fact that I seemed to drive in a circle from home to school drop off, to the grocery store and home again,  I was sitting in my car  searching for an old  address in my GPS . As I scrolled through the address list, the most amazing thing happened.

Before my eyes rolled the last 90 addresses(who knew a GPS kept that many!) that we have needed directions for. As I glanced through them, destinations including Universal Studios in Florida and all kinds of stops we visited on our long drive to and from Harry Potter World in July 2011 caught my attention. Norman Rockwell’s house in The Berkshires and The Kennedy Center rolled passed, along with addresses to friends in DC, charity and school events, Benjy’s graduation in Feb 2011, different airport arrivals and numerous other memorable visits. Each address brought back a joyful moment and a reminder that 2011 had thankfully not just been about trigeminal neuralgia although it certainly felt that way at the time of writing……

( You can read the whole entry here)

And now as Yom Kippur -the Day of Atonement is approaching,  this excerpt  has got me thinking......

What  if we each had a personal GPS that  listed all the positive decisions we have made in the last year. The friends, family and colleagues we have helped, the charities we have supported, the children we have nurtured, the kind words we have said and the emotional and physical gifts we have thoughtfully chosen and willingly given?

What if we could tally these up and see that in parts of our lives we have made a difference. We have moved ourselves forward, become better friends, parents, partners, colleagues or perhaps helped someone else to grow?

That this roll call could then propel us into new directions, loftier goals, deeper friendships, kinder actions and  more authentic relationships? 

Wouldn't the knowledge that the small steps we have been taking, could get us closer to the destinations we dream about and that we have in fact been making progress (and not just going round in circles?) Wouldn't this information  give us the confidence to take another step forward and another? 

We just need to  check our personal GPS's to see how far we have come and to use that distance traveled to make a meaningful road map to enhance the next stage of our personal journey.

The path may not be straight but despite that, hopefully you will discover that you are  moving forward and that going in circles is reserved for the ring road round your home town, rather than a metaphor for your personal growth.

Wishing those of you celebrating Yom Kippur a gmar chatima tovah and all of you guidance from your inner GPS to find the most worthwhile route to achieve your goals.

Gilly

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