Inner Compass
This was first shared on The Resilient Leader’s Podcast.
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I want to briefly share a tool with you that has been helpful for many different leaders I invest in – something called the Personal Compass. Developed by Wilkie Au and Noreen Cannon Au in their book “The Discerning Heart,” it helps leaders navigate the changing seasons of life.
I’ve adapted their work slightly to create a tool to help the leaders I work with – something I call the Inner Compass Tool.
I want you to imagine a compass rose – the north-south-east-west symbol you see on the corner of old maps. If you have a piece of paper handy, draw a compass rose.
And I want you to imagine each direction as you think about your life.
North as your guiding light.
South as your southern light.
East as your rising sun.
West as your setting sun.
Each direction has a few questions that I want to submit to you for your reflection and discernment.
If we’re to be resilient leaders, we need to be able to recognize the changes, the opportunities, the setbacks, and what is most important to us – our guiding principles – if we are going to lead resiliently and healthily.
Let’s look at each one and offer these questions to you:
North: – your guiding light. This is what orients us to look upward in the realm of faith.
Where does my trust need to deepen? (Again, I mentioned that my Christian faith guides me what I do… so for this, this question is “Where does my faith in Christ need to deepen?”)
Who loves me deeply?
Who guides me?
South: the southern light. This orients us to look down inside of ourselves to ask what’s really going on in our inner world.
What do I long to do or become?
Where do I experience joy and delight?
Or where do I long to experience joy and delight?
East: rising sun – just as we think about a sunrise with new possibilities for the day ahead, we can ask these questions about this season of our lives:
What or who do I need to welcome?
Where do I need to take hold of?
What new possibilities or opportunities are in front of me that I need to notice, acknowledge, or embrace?
West: the setting sun – where is the sun setting on some opportunities or relationships:
What or who do I need to release or let go of?
Where do I need to grieve?
Where do I need healing?
All leaders need to wrestle with all four of these directions regularly and purposefully. What guides your faith beyond yourself? What is going on internally in your own life – your mind, your heart, your soul? What are new possibilities or opportunities in front of me? And what opportunities or relationships are closing or have closed?
Remember: to be resilient we must be healthy – and in order to be healthy, we must engage in regular times of purposefully and honest reflection about who we are, where we are at, and where we sense we are going.