For the beginner helmsmen we have on board, this is especially challenging. In the unfamiliar world of ocean waves, changing winds and slanting decks, steering a straight line seems impossible. And, in fact, it is impossible. The best any helmsman can do is to swing back and forth across the desired course, doing our best to minimize the amplitude of each swing. A beginning helmsman? - well its not too much of an exaggeration to say I have come on deck from time to time to find Conversations II going
back to where we just came from! But mostly, even after a few hours, a first time helmsman can stay within 20 degrees of course either way. An experienced helmsman can keep within 5 degrees of course.
But even as we get more practice in steering the boat, we still go off course. As we become more 'dialed in' to the current conditions, we can get our swings down to a narrow groove. But just when we finally find the sweet spot for the current conditions - the right combination of sails, heading and steering technique, something changes and we are again swinging way off course and have to begin all over again. And isn't that just like life? We each pick a destination, figure out our course to that
destination, and then as we start down the road, we begin to wander, some of us more than others. (Personally, wandering is a favorite of mine!) All the vagaries of life seem to throw us off course. But like ocean passages, if we keep our destination in mind, and stay focused on the task of steering our course, sooner or later, despite our wandering, we will get there! And think of all the cool things that happen while we make the passage.
Last night, the GPS tracked our course over the ocean bottom from dusk to dawn. As each watch crew came on deck and took the helm for their three hour stint, the GPS slavishly recorded our wanderings. By morning, from the GPS trail, we could see that some watch crew were more practiced than others at staying on course. Some watches tended to steer to the left of course, others tended to steer to the right of course. Some watch crews pretty much ran down the line. By morning, overall we were about
40 miles closer to our destination, but 6 miles off our track.
As we sat around the cockpit this morning for coffee, we kidded one another on our steering prowess and then someone asked, "What do we do about being 6 miles off track?" "Should we work to get back on our track, or should we just 're-set' our GPS track to take us to our destination from where we are this morning?"
Surprisingly, re-setting our course from wherever we find our selves 'in the morning' is the most direct route. We try not to wander too far from course, but when we do inevitably, we just say "oh well, silly me, I'm off course again" and then re-set our course from where ever we are. There is only extra mileage involved if we work hard to recover our original track, because when we do, we are aiming for our track, not our destination. Here is the neat thing about life from this metaphor, it reminds
us that 'its about the destination, not the track'. Keep the destination in mind, and reset the course track frequently to make the best progress to the destination. Forget the old track when you wander off it. Trying to recovering the old track only adds extra mileage, the fastest way to our destination is to reset and go back to steering as best we can directly to our destination.
I can think of the times in my life when I have mistaken my track for my destination. I have wasted a lot of energy when I forgotten that 'the job', 'the marriage', 'the toys' - the 'whatever' that made up my track - was my track - and not my destination. This whole exercise last night and this morning only reminds me why keeping our destination in mind is so important, and why letting go of the track is so important. It also reminds me of why knowing the difference between our track and destination
is so important. Sometimes we have to let go of the things on our track to get to our destination.
So here some questions for all of us everyday. What is your destination? What is on your track to that destination? Where are you confusing your track with your destination? What, on your track, do you need to let go of to reach your destination more directly? At home, or at work, these seem to be great questions for us to ask ourselves every morning as we re-set our GPS track for yet another glorious day on the sea of life.
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