August 20, 2020 In Chapter 3, you invited God to send you the life lessons and experience necessary to attain personal growth, spiritual development and physical well-being, and you cultivated the necessary conduits and receptivity to bring this into being. The reason for attaining these is that, they are the primary resources you will draw upon to meet your needs, solve your problems and fulfil your purpose. As you strive to find the path that will provide these lessons and experience, this chapter will provide you with the navigational tools you need to recognize the direction that leads to this path.

Step 4 is about establishing a sense of direction and re-thinking the decision-making process. The direction necessary to find your most essential relationship, career or spiritual path, and an alternate way of making decisions about the choices and opportunities that will come with these paths. As stated in Chapter 2, I have on occasion suggested a broad, temporary PURPOSE for our seminar participants, at least until they have established one of their own. However, I would be very hesitant to suggest a specific DIRECTION for my readers to follow because I don’t know where they are coming from or going to. What I can do is share some proven navigational tools that myself and others have used to attain this sense of direction. “Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.” President John F. Kennedy

A sense of DIRECTION is the second component of the Third Theme of Primessentialism, with the other two being PURPOSE and MEANING. There is not one singular path in life, but there is an overall direction, e.g. there are spiritual paths, career paths, relationship paths, etc. At any given point in your life, you might be making forward progress on one path, while you are simultaneously making little headway on another path. Nevertheless, as long as you are moving in the right direction, you will ultimately recognize the path(s) that will provide the experience necessary to meet your needs.

In Chapter 3, you cultivated the necessary conduits as well as the receptivity to bring into being the lessons and experience from the Classroom for meeting your needs. As you strive to find the path that will provide those lessons, and that experience, this chapter will provide you with the navigational tools you need to recognize the direction that leads to this path.

Establishing a sense of DIRECTION is the 2^nd Prerequisite for making your life complete. Without a sense of direction, you won’t know how to get from where you are to where you need to be. You will not find the path or course of action that will provide the life lessons and relationship experience necessary to attain balance in your life. A balanced life will empower you with the clarity, means and ideas to start meeting your needs, solving your problems and fulfilling your purpose.

Establishing a Sense of Direction

As you strive to attain a sense of direction, there are two key points to keep in mind. The first point is that, the path or course of action you are looking for is not necessarily your final destination. However, you can discover the next step in that direction. To illustrate this point, I don’t think it would have been emotionally possible for me to jump immediately from my divorce to my second marriage. I first needed to transition through a number of relationships before I gained the insight and understanding to prepare me for my relationship with my now remarkable wife.

This same concept also applied to my career path. I first had to transition through a number of less-than-ideal jobs before I gained the knowledge and experience necessary for my current career as a business consultant. The same with my spiritual path. I had to transition through a number of religious ideologies before I began my prison ministry. What you are looking for is the path or course of action that will provide the experience necessary to become all that God knows you are capable of being.

The second key point is that what you are looking for is not necessarily the easiest, most desirable or acceptable path. What you are looking for is who or what is next to facilitate your efforts to find your most essential path. This path might bring lessons that are challenging or difficult or it might bring lessons that are rich and fulfilling; one in which you learn a lot about yourself as well as about love, life and spirituality. As mentioned, the nature and quality of your experience depends on your needs, the level of your preparedness and the degree of your receptivity.

Still others might have chosen a path or relationship based solely on their wants and desires or the expectations of others, instead of choosing to seek guidance from God. A path that did little to provide the sense of direction needed to find their next or most