I seem to have lost my way. There are times in my life when this happens. I want too much, I need too much. I want people to love me and I don’t want to be poor. I grasp and I whine, you can never be too rich nor too thin. Scared of being such a failure, I just can’t seem to get my act together. My mind’s in a spin. Time is running out and my bucket list is full and unticked. I’m getting old, I look old and I just don’t have enough. What, oh what am I going to do?

“Have you lost your fucking mind?” SevenStones* looks at me from a corner of my subconscious. “What the hell are you thinking?” I am aware of his anger and frustration.

“I have lost my direction” my voice is hardly a whisper.

Put a compass on the ground and it will point north. Deep in the earth there is a mysterious force, driven by the planet’s gyrated movements through space and time. It is a force that keeps all living things safe from the callousness of the sun. The unseen and benevolent energy steered many a lost ship to a safe harbour and it can steer you. Silently SevenStones nods. Let the compass guide your course.

And then too the heavens have guided mariners and explorers across vast and uncharted seas and deserts. “Don’t only look down,” SevenStones advises, “look up. Bring your sextant and look to the havens, look up. Seek out the Southern Cross and Orion’s Belt. Find your North Star.” He looks me directly in the eye and continues “It is when you direct your heart and your mind in the same way as the universe, you will find your way. When you are aligned with your higher self and your life’s purpose, then you will find your happiness. That is when Real Magic happens.

“I know, I know” I look out to the horizon, dawn is breaking. I understand that true happiness does not depend on my wealth or health or any outside event. It is only with mental practice that I can summon that ability for unconditional joy most of the time. That is the Art of Happiness.

Ah yes, I can see my true direction is found not in idleness, but it is doing what I love. That is the pathway to greater meaning, happiness and a self of higher complexity. It is when I am in the Flow of things.

I am feeling less anxious even though the words of SevenStones are sometimes stern and uncompromising. I know they are also gentle and loving. His voice is like a concerned parent. It comes to me that if I skilfully refine and improve the quality of my thoughts, I will have little to fear. My grasping and neediness, my self-pity and entitlement begins to evaporate as the morning light filters in. I can see it now. I bow to the Buddha, I have my compass and my sextant. “Are we good?” asks SevenStones. “Yes we are good”