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“Broken Compass” Stories We Tell Ourselves
The day I stopped telling my “broken compass” stories…
If you aren’t familiar with the phrase, the “broken compass” story is the one we tell ourselves over and over again, based on distorted memories and perceptions that simply aren’t true. It’s the misguided path we sometimes follow along our spiritual life journey.
Mine began to form when I was just a little girl. My parents split up when I was three years old and I took it hard. In retrospect, this paved the way for years of low self-esteem and feelings of unworthiness.
My broken compass story must have begun when I was first in school. The classroom and the schoolyard can thrust a child into the harsh reality of being judged about everything you are and stand for as a human being. There’s no subject matter taught on this at school, and most adults don’t seem to get it anyway.
Somehow I came up with the story that my father was working in Alaska and would be home as soon as his job was finished. This sufficed for awhile, but soon the questions and comments came in an even more intrusive way. The ones that hurt the most included…
“Your father doesn’t live with you because he doesn’t love you.” “Your mother probably doesn’t even know which man was your father.”
