Check Your GPS...

Unique Perspectives: Check Your GPS...

By Kim Stevens

Check Your GPS… Or you might be headed to where you don’t want to go.

I’ll never forget a moment from an experiential workshop I once attended. We were put into different scenarios with a small group and given guidelines to follow while being observed. Later, the facilitators would review our behaviors and what they revealed about us.

One of the things they often said was, “How you are in here is how you are out there.”

Meaning, these little vignettes were a microcosm of life — the way we reacted inside those walls was exactly how we behaved out there in the real world.

It was fascinating. You wouldn’t believe how often someone would protest, “But wait, I wouldn’t have done that if it was real!” Oh yes, you would. Trust me on this.

During one of the exercises, something happened and I muttered under my breath, “Oh jeez, I’m gonna get screwed.”

Seems innocent enough, right? Yeah… not so much.

Afterward, the facilitator said, “Do you realize what you just said?” then came the truth bomb… “Kim, you’re not living your life to win — you’re living to not lose.”

Oof. That one stung. But the truth is like that sometimes. She was right. That was exactly what I was doing — making choices to avoid losing rather than to win. My compass was set to fear.

Each night, we were asked to reflect on what we’d learned, discovered, or remembered. And what I discovered was this: for many years, I had been living that way — unconsciously making decisions to avoid pain, disappointment, or rejection. I wasn’t living to win; I was living not to lose.

That’s when I realized something powerful: When we make choices based on what we don’t want, it’s like programming our internal GPS to take us exactly where we don’t want to go.

“I don’t want to fail.” “I don’t want to get hurt.” “I don’t want to lose.” And, of course, “I really don’t want to get screwed.”

The whole purpose of the workshop was to create a clear vision for our lives — and to hold our focus there, no matter what distractions, fears or circumstances tried to pull us off course.

And here is the way to do it: Trust my intuition. It can be a spark, a quiet pulse of energy, excitement, curiosity or relief. You could call it joy. And joy, I’ve learned, is a reliable guide.

At first, that idea felt radical. Could joy really be trusted? For a long time, I didn’t think so. I believed I had to protect myself from being disappointed, hurt, or, well, “screwed.”

When I came home from that workshop, I started noticing how often I’d make a decision that felt great — aligned, exciting, full of possibility — and then almost immediately, doubt would creep in.

That old familiar voice would whisper: “But what if it doesn’t work out?” “What if you made the wrong choice?” “What if this turns out bad?” There it was again — fear, trying to reprogram my GPS back to the old coordinates.

But as I began to experiment with following what felt light, interesting, or fun, my life began to shift. I started meeting incredible people, landing in the right places at the right time, and feeling more aligned with who I truly am. The fearful voice was still showing up — but I recognized it for what it was… and more importantly, for what it was not. It was not where I wanted to go.

So I would consciously reset my GPS toward joy.

Trusting joy, I’ve learned, isn’t a one-time revelation. It’s a daily practice — a conscious decision to redirect, to stay tuned in to the vibration of what feels good, expansive, and true.

Joy has become my internal navigation system. And here’s the truth I want to share with you: You can trust joy. In fact, it’s the thing you need to trust. Don’t you just love that?

So when you find yourself unsure which way to go, ask yourself this simple question: Is my GPS set to what I fear — or to what I desire? Then take a deep breath, choose what feels lighter, and head in that direction. Because joy always knows the way.