The Inner Compass

​This summer when I returned to Nebraska, I journeyed to Black Bird Bend Farm where my father David’s widow, Dody lives in a farmhouse sheltered by the bluffs near the Missouri River. Walking through the kitchen that used to have a large country pantry, I saw the familiar oak dining room table that reminded me of all the family meals together with my parents and grandparents.  In the family room that looks out over the back porch and down to the crops that end at the riverbank, she opened a small black box decorated with Russian artistry that held objects once held by my father.
 
She told me that I could choose whatever I wanted from the different possessions that once belonged to my dad. In the ornate box among pocketknives and other trinkets was a small compass. Over the last few months, I had been writing about activating the inner compass and how the questing process allows us to orient ourselves as we journey through life. As she opened the box and presented the contents, I knew that my father’s compass was being offered to me at serendipitous moment in time, marking the importance of the object mediator as well as the metaphor.
 
The inner and outer journey come together in a pathway that presents itself like pebbles and shells that are carried by the sea where waves meet sand, marking the shoreline. There is a synchronous coming together of sea and sand dotted by nature’s scatterings. Yet in the haphazardness, there is a divine pattern that emerges. The inner adventures that take us deep within ourselves, where metaphors evoke memories, transport while the outer journey takes us to new places revisited, adding new layers of meaning to our lifeline.
 
The compass came to me at a time in my life when I could appreciate its symbolic meaning.
The outer journey is guided by the inner adventure that informs our way forward, adding to our inner landscapes of meaning. This lifescaping happens through synchronicity, as well as the ability to see the symbolism that becomes a pathway to wholeness. In this voyage, landmarks become creative mythology, the art of living with the Gods.