Finding Your Internal Positioning System (IPS): What’s Ingrained In You? | Great Black Speakers

Finding Your Internal Positioning System (IPS): What’s Ingrained In You? | Great Black Speakers

Farewell to 2012: Expedition Endings and Beginnings

Hope does not kill; I shall live and get what I want one day.

Zulu proverb

 

On a vacation to the island of Maui back in 2002, I went on a sunrise biking tour of Haleakala, the world’s largest dormant volcano. This expedition was exciting from the outset. At 2 a.m. the tour company’s van picked me up from my hotel, and then whisked me to their office to be fitted for my bike and other gear. From there we headed to the 10,000 foot summit of Haleakala and once we arrived, sat in the van and waited—trying to keep warm. The temperature at the summit stays at 40 degrees. That’s why bikers get outfitted with gloves and other pieces at the tour operator’s office— to ward off the mountainous cold on top of the volcano. They also advised me to dress in layers.

So what was I waiting for at o-dark-30? To view the sunrise peaking brilliantly over the neighboring eastern island of Hawaii out across the expansive Pacific—this sight one of the highlights of this early morning tour.  And it was beautiful and spiritual to see.

After the ooh and ahh’s of the sun’s arrival, the tour group prepared to bring us down the craterous volcano on the bikes. With safety briefings and equipment checks done—it’s time to maneuver the switchbacks on my bike until we reach sea-level. Swerving and curving on the bike, I paced myself behind the safety instructor as we pummeled downward while enjoying Maui’s vistas along the way.  We made a few rest stops to include a lunch break— then some four hours later, we arrived at a Pacific beach. Shedding the cold weather gear and layers that were needed for the dawn’s heights, we now settled into the 80-plus degrees. Ready to dive in the ocean, I reflected on this safe adventure and basked in the Hawaiian culture.

I had always wanted to travel to Hawaii on vacation and now I’d done it. My time there was wonderful as I explored the beauty of this 50^th state.  But I also looked forward to my return to the mainland. I don’t think I could live in Hawaii. Yet I hope to go back again.

At the end of any journey we stop and assess.

After spending money on a vacation we ponder did I have a good time? When a career or job is over we reflect on, what skills did I pick up from this opportunity? We come back from a shopping trip and summate did I get what I want? When time with family or friends is over we ask was my visit a good one?

Then we take refuge before launching out again, ISO (In Search Of) or (In Spite Of) because life dictates that we don’t stop but keep going—we try to…

This is what I’ve done in Navigating Life’s Roadways.

The phrases embedded in my journeys’ assessments are…

·         Then I got back on course

·         My energy sent me this way

·         A return to my sanity got me doing this

·         I went back to what I know

·         The Lord is guiding me

·         Redo, morph, return, ponder and reinvent

 

These are also words for continued focus that show up on my roads and in my spaces.

 

Navigate, Synchronize, Rudder, Beat the Bushes, Negotiate, Stay the Course, Walk the Path, Stand Firmly on Your Ground

 Recognize your IPS (Internal Positioning System) and engage your GPS (Goals, Positions, Situations)

 

Enjoy the beauty and blight that make up life’s ever evolving trails. Hang with the emotions of your journey’s high-grounds and low-grounds. Push when necessary, pause to reflect and pray for strength. Keep hope near and embrace love.

This piece is excerpted from my book, Navigating Life's Roadways; Stories of Insight from My Odyssey and Inspiration for Your Journey  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008D6RJ0M

 

Press On! 3 Ways to Sync Your IPS (Internal Positioning System) to Destination Success

How do we find the “true north” to achieving our goals?

The reality is that in moving on down the roads of our journeys, we gain and lose ground. All is aligned with great momentum one moment. Then in the next we get misdirected and wonder how we’ll find our way. And most times we eventually do get there, somehow. Leading us to ponder, is there a life GPS to keep us on course?

I’ve surmised that we all have an IPS (Internal Positioning System) to steer us. If we engage it. Just like an automobile’s navigation system— with its GPS, dashboard and features— we too can punch in coordinates for where we want to go in life. We have attributes, strengths and limitations that direct us. Our motivations, habits or wits contribute to how we handle the inevitable bumpy roads. Destinations for our career, family, health, quality of life or relationship goals – we can arrive at these places, based on how we deploy the elements of our IPS’s dashboard.

Yet, I’ve found that this IPS, like GPS technology, has worked for me sometimes and malfunctioned others. In my car, when the quirky voice of the dashboard is silent, I check to see if the GPS is on. Particularly if I’m in unfamiliar territory.  In my life, if I’m not adhering to right messages, I sense a system failure; the signal for me then is that maybe my IPS is not on.  I feel lost, literally, on my life quest. Is this a place I need to explore more, I question. 

OR

Maybe I need to Press!

So what are three parts of the on button for syncing that IPS?

The road I grew up on

1.      Discover Your Unique Routing. Understanding how our life works in terms of its unique cycles and circumstances provides a map for focus. Why so? Knowing the design of our route helps us navigate and heed the messages in the hills and potholes of life.  I have come to realize that an off road collision in a low place is part of my special path before I slowly make my way out to higher ground and another level that God has waiting for me. Also moving through the roadways of our journey we hold different emotions and experiences that bring out our strengths as well as our frailties. At times, I get sidetracked here, but this history accumulates, becoming my cargo as I launch in another direction. Whether it’s good or bad we all carry this load. And it can keep us on a realistic route, as we define success.

 

2. What’s the Force That’s With You? This IPS is part of our drive, an engine that fuels us every day. It takes us through storms and other bad conditions. Our IPS is composed of  ‘gifts and wits’, perspectives, willingness to admit and learn from mistakes, humor, gratitude, wisdom, faith and the list…goes on.  These are the blocks of our being, in varying quantities. A good deal of this force comes from our early life values and grounding. Raised poor, Baptist, in a rural town, but instilled with hope for better times, and family who encourage me to “git my lessin”, equipped me to set out on my sojourns of twists and turns. With accomplishments and failures. There's power in both of these for us, ignited from this combustible combination.

3.      Recognize Your Hardwiring. What’s inbred in our natural circuits? There’s a DNA that makes and shapes us to be. I often share that at my core, I’m the oldest child product of a determined single parent teen mother. With no excuses, she burrowed her way through many adversities on her journey. After she passed in 2010, I reflected on what she’d left me, spiritually.  I share in my motivational memoir, Navigating Life’s Roadways, that she provided an example of sheer will and a strong work ethic for me. And I think of this when I get stuck or waylaid in my life. She taught me to drive, pass some of life’s tests and now has turned the steering wheel over to me— to keep going. The operating hardware and software of her IPS (Internal Positioning System) spiritually resides on my dashboard, with God —my ever present Pilot, the main engaging button.   I've found that there's an automatic syncing coming out of this type of recognition, which will stand the hard inspections of  our many journeys.

Press On Through Storms, Sync your Success and Drive to Your Best!