Today’s Thought: Being Lost is No Fun

I recently watched a YouTube video on how to survive if you get lost in the woods. I have been lost while hiking in the Rocky Mountain National Park. I was fortunate and eventually found the trail back. We can get emotionally lost where it feels like we don’t know where we are going. It can get to the point of wanting to give up. The outdoors guide in the video provided some tips for surviving being lost in the woods I think are applicable to when we feel emotionally lost. The first tip was to stop and get centered, not to panic. That’s important when we are in a highly emotional state. If we stop and get centered we’ll calm down. Things always look better when we’re calm. The guide then suggested considering this calm space as our center and then heading off for two-hundred yards leaving markers so we can find our way back. If we don’t find the trail, he said to try another direction also leaving markers so we can return to the center. When we are emotionally lost, once we center ourselves, we can probe different directions, testing which direction is best for us. If we probe in one direction and it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t right. We can return to our center and set out a probe in another direction. Being lost is no fun whether it’s physical or emotional. Find your center, wait until you’re calm, then gently probe until you find your way again.