COMPASS + LIFE

COMPASS + LIFE

Did you know there is a ton of things/sayings/word we use in everyday life that have carried across time having originated in English language form maritime and sea faring. There are tons of them that could be listed, though how boring would a post be on connecting words that originated from the expeditions of the British empire back in the day where they sought to colonise the world / Ooops, I absolutely did not mean to rile up things or begin to set the blood on simmer, waiting and preparing to boil over the ideas of British colonisation. I think we best leave that topic for a while and look a little more at what the sea and Maritime has brought to us in our modern life. Something a little less serious and a tiny bit of where things came from and how we use little words and things in our lives and know that due to them arising from the Maritime settings how we might benefit from exploring their concepts or why they actually matter at all.

The title of the post says it all right? The Compass, what can the compass teach us about our life today? Where are you heading with your life? Why do we use the word “heading” what is the significance to us or does it even matter?

Heading, this is from nautical terms about what direction you are going when at Sea. The front of a ship is known as the BOW and just for clarification the back of the ship is called the STERN. The bow of a ship though is also referred to as “fore” and the stern of a ship is also known as “aft”, a little trivia for ya there. The bow of a ship can also be referred to as the head an when it comes to speaking about moving a ship forwards or backwards instructions may be called out like “give her a tip ahead”, or “give her a tip astern”, which both signal to the direction you wish the Skipper / Captain to move, to move in the forwards position, you go ahead and to move backwards you would go astern.

Now we know the front of the boat or ship can be referred to as the head and to go ahead is to go forwards.

So what has the compass to do with things?

When we look at the compass for navigating whilst at Sea on a boat or ship we maintain knowing which direction we are going in and if the compass, for example shows us that we are heading North, then this becomes know as our “Heading”. Just like you might ask somebody “where are you heading?” We are no longer in the 14 or 1600’s so we do not reply by saying “I am heading North at a rate of 5 knots” for example, though we do understanding the question when we hear “heading” we understand it has something to do with where are we advancing to or what direction are we pointing and moving towards.

In ships today over radio conversations for example, a ship may be asked to state their current position, their speed and what is their heading. These mean the same thing today as they have always meant, where are you going? The speed of the ship is relevant because when we know a ship’s location, the ships heading and the ships speed, we can then plot their course on a map and calculate where they will be at any given time in the future, should we ever need to find them out there in the big vast Oceans and Seas of the world.

We have carried through time the word “heading” and it has been carried through time from the ships position and direction. The direction the ship is pointing is the ships heading, as it is the point where the front of the ship is pointing and so it is the ship’s “heading”.

In using the compass we can then see that there are a bunch of other settings and directions and not only North and that the compass is a round circle with 360 degrees of “headings”. I will do my best not to bore you with what each one of those are, enough to say like any circle the compass is marked out in 360 segments and each one represents a direction and can be used to determine the heading of a ship.

Getting mathematical now, we often hear things like, “oh, he did a full 360” that simply means he went from the position he was pointing and turned in one complete circle and is back heading in his same original direction. Something I am aware of and have heard before, to where I might give a little inside of my mind chuckle is when I hear someone saying that a person did a full 360 to mean they have changed their life or something, I chuckle because 360 would mean completing a full circle and going back in the same direction again. When somebody has changed their ways and began to go in the completely opposite direction it is called or we might hear it said that “they did a full 180”, yup 180 is half of 360 and this means going in the opposite direction because they did not go in a full circle and they only completed a half of a circle which put them pointing or heading in the opposite direction than they were originally going. So doing a 180 means you are now going in the opposite direction than you were, on a compass the direction North is represented by 0 degrees on the circle and by 360 degrees on the circle, as the zero degrees on the circle represents the beginning and then 360 represents the completion of the circle returning back to the start again, North in this instance. And of course the opposite end of the circle the opposing pole to the north pole is the south pole, so now you know that the opposite direction to North is South and that is represented on the compass by 180 degrees and that is why when someone turns and changes their course to the opposite direction, it is considered doing a 180 degree turn and the “heading” of South on the compass is marked by 180 degrees. To finish with the compass learning lesson for today I will simply point out to you that if you are facing North, then your right hand outstretched would represent East which is half way between North and South and this would be half way between 0 degrees and 180 degrees and so, East is represented on the compass by 90 degrees. And by the same token if you were facing North, and you were to stretch out your left hand, then your left hand would be facing West, and this is represented by the point half way between 180 degrees of South and then return upwards towards North again, though this time North is represented by 360 degrees. And so, West is represented on the compass by 270 degrees. There are multiple directions and each 1 degree of the total 360 degrees along the compass represents a new “heading”.

So what did that lesson on the compass teach us? Nothing yet at least and why would I take the time to explain this?

When I was learning about Sea faring and maritime and nautical terms, it was important that I understood the compass and what direction I was “heading” and then as I learned more, it became equally important to know that if I am heading in any one direction, what direction am I coming from. So if I am heading North, then to my back will be South, if I am heading East then to my back would be West.

And now, for the fun stuff. ( Oh yeah I almost forgot that I must share with you, my brain does not span back further than the invention of the compass, so we can leave the moon and stars out of things for today)

The fun stuff, yes!

I have noticed that for the most part of my life I have used the compass to view things in life from many angles, yes indeed, quite often 360 viewpoints, and many different angles. How and ever for today’s blog post my focus is more on knowing that a heading on the compass is a direction we may be going in life and it may not always be clear to us and so we can enter in to areas of like being “stuck” sometimes confused and other times blurry or unorganised and not sure, feeling uncertain of where we are going with our life, where are we “heading” now we can use, what is my heading?

Such times in our lives are not always pleasant and sometimes we are quite happy to float along (Maritime again) aimlessly and sometimes we feel like we might be swimming against the current (Maritime). Yup, Sea and Oceans and Currents and floating and swimming all things to do with the water and have carried through time from days of old and Maritime references. Therefore it is worthy to use the compass when we speak about where are we going in life?

Knowing the opposite direction on the compass can help us to become unstuck and make progress in our desired direction. We may not be sure or we doubt or we are unclear about where we are heading, though if we are certain of where we have come from and we are certain we do not wish to return there, then by knowing the opposite angle or direction we can begin to de-clutter and see where we are going and by knowing where we have come from and what is behind us (and usually telling ourselves we are never going back there) then we can begin to see where we are heading by never even knowing in the first place, it is because we know what is behind us, what we have over come, where we have been and what we have been through that can help us move forward away from where we have been. We do not always need to know our heading when we know where we are coming from. Once we are certain we are moving away from where we were, then we are making progress and we might not even recognise it.

Could I be moving in the wrong direction?

Yes of course though this is easier recognised by what we are experiencing, as we will know the difference between our situation becoming worse and our situation becoming better. Call it aligning with magnetic North of the Earth, aligning with the stars or being on the right “heading” on the compass. When we are moving in the right direction we will know it with our feelings and breath and all of our being, we may still not know where we are going or what is our precise heading though when it feels right it usually is. There is of course the idea that we may not feel it at all, we may remain confused, and we may remain unsure and nervous that any decisions or slight alterations may derail us completely.

This is the fact based piece of the blog post where I must share with you that I have never been anywhere that I was not meant to be.

Throughout my own life and not only during my time of learning how the compass works, understanding that if I am heading North East then South West is behind me, throughout my life I have experienced some absolutely fantastic times of joy, love and happiness. I can also confess to having experienced some of the darkest and deepest lonely places life has to offer. Not lonely due to any lack of people by my side, lonely within myself, lonely and unsure, uncertain of my journey and uncertain of what life holds for me and what is my true purpose or what is my direction. Though the fact based element that I can assure you is that wherever you find yourself and how ever good bad or indifferent your situation is, you are exactly where you are meant to be.

Perhaps you fully understand this post today and direction is not any issue for you, perhaps you are a goal minded type of person and direction and where you are heading does not rattle you, I am delighted to meet such people along my journey as they are so uplifting and a testament that many things can be achieved when we put our minds to them. The reference to the compass and the nautical terms that have developed in to casual day use all remain relevant.  And the certainty I wish to share is that when I have been faced with adversity and difficult times the simple things that have helped me through is knowing that it is always meant to be, I am not speaking in a religious sense and being preachy, I am stating that through all of my harshest feelings and through all of my incredible adventures, they have now stacked up as ton or more of experiences and allowed me opportunity to reflect and see that any worry, panic, anxiety have all been a waste of my own time and energy. We have no need to waste our time with such things. The right time is always NOW. The right heading is the precise way you are facing, even in the toughest of storms out there on the Ocean, a ship may have to alter course and run with the storm for a while, most often though, the way through all storms is reduce speed and steer straight in to it (turning the head of the ship in to the storm) to remain safe and on course.

So side stepping and a little procrastination mean you are still where you are meant to be on all and every occasion.

Life brings us all to times of uncertainty and to times of questioning our direction and focus can be difficult. It is knowing that the best for you will always come to you, your only responsibility is to keep on going and take refuge at times when needed that the single sure thing is you are where you are meant to be.

Here is a link to my own great adventures and some horrific experiences. By making a purchase of my memoir you are doing two great things, 1. Aiding an independent author & 2. Giving yourself a gift that will help you bring your own life in to perspective. TWO sons TOO many

Steady as she goes……