Ever show up somewhere new and become completely disoriented? Out of place. No reference points.
I'll never forget my first ever trip abroad. I spoke zero foreign languages, and my dear friend was a linguist, Russian, French, and any Latin language derivative. With our EuroRail pass in hand, we bounced around France unscathed. As young lads, a simple ham and cheese baguette made our day.
Before my outdoor adventure escapades, the mountains drew me in. With a couple of glasses of red wine and chocolate mousse, I somehow convinced my friend to head to Switzerland. Geneva, the hub of international regalia, still spoke French. This made navigation easy. As we headed east, our next stop was the Swiss Alps, Interlaken. The town between two lakes, glass-still, water so clear you can see the bottom 30 feet away.
When we stepped off the train, all the signs were in German. My friend had a panic attack. Suddenly, she couldn't understand or read anything, nor interpret a Latin root for any of the words. Frozen in anxiety about what's next.
This was pre - smartphones. No Google Maps. Only payphones. Us and a paper map and foreign words. That's it.
I drew upon my pattern recognition skills for navigating. Pulled out our map. Match the word for where we want to go with the word on the map. Easy-peasy.
The only important part was - where are we? Where are we on the map? We simply need to orient ourselves.
I found the train station on the map and the road with our hostel on it. Once we took a few steps and found the next street sign, we figured out if we were walking in the right direction.
As the world around us changes fast, our first step is always to Orient Ourselves.
You sense where you are in the larger system. You don't worry about what the rest of the world is doing.
In our lives, our values orient us. Our values ground us in what's true. Then, our passions give us the direction for the next step. When this operates from a place of spaciousness and not force, we set the architecture for what's next. Lastly, faith guides us to figure out the next step.
If you devoted one hour a day to this, that's 365 hours, 15.2 days to build something incredible, what would it be?
What core value, if reflected back to you, would shape and shift your year?
© 2026. Lora Lapiz. All Rights Reserved.
