Locating True North

I have a compass, you probably do too.  I carry it with me when I go for walks in the forest just in case I decide to perform a ritual and want to orient to the cardinal directions.  It's not a fancy compass and it looks pretty much like the one that I used when I was a Boy Scout in the 1960s. I take it out, set it down on a flat surface and let the needle settle down.  Within seconds it is pointing North, not true North, but magnetic North.  I can rotate the bezel if I want to make a minor adjustment.  Magnetic North is about 9 degrees West of true North where I live (1) so I align the "N" on the bezel with the compass needle and then rotate the bezel nine degrees to the East (clockwise) and now "N" points to true North. Why care about a difference of 9 degrees?  When using a topographic map then I need to orient the map to true North, not magnetic North.  If I plot a path on a map that is not correctly oriented then I'll end up somewhere other than my destination.

Life is sort of like that too.  We plot our path through life but if we don't know where the True North of Our Hearts lie then we are likely to meander through life and never really follow the path that we had plotted.  The spiritual path that we follow helps us find the True North of Our Hearts and align our path in the world with the direction that our heart is pointing. 

Do you ever feel like you are always walking into the wind or trying to paddle or swim up stream, against the current.  That's usually a pretty good indicator that the path you are on is not aligned to the direction indicated by the True North of Your Heart.  

My compass always points to magnetic North.  Our hearts always point in the direction of the True North of our souls.  When I'm out hiking and discover that I'm headed in the wrong direction it's not because my compass lied to me about the direction of magnetic North . . . I failed to align and follow.  The same is true with my life.  When my life feels like it is out of kilter it's not because my heart decided that North was no longer North, it's because I lost my way and got off the path.  We all need to take time once in a while to settle down, see what direction our heart is pointing, compare it to the path that we are on, and then make the necessary course corrections so that we follow True North of Our Hearts.  

May you stay on on your path . . . 

Dr. Dave


Notes:
​(1) Here is a link to a declination calculator.