Lost, but you don't know where you're going.

Lost is a horrible place to feel. You recognise it because Life just doesn't seem to be working. Nothing is satisfying, or at least nothing is satisfying for very long. You look back and you have no idea what you did wrong. Or you may look back and see one wrong turn after another, one wrong choice after another. But when you examine each of those choices in isolation, you know that you made the best choice you could given the circumstances that surrounded you at the time.

The worst of it is, that if someone gave you a magic wand and three wishes, you know, deep down, that no matter what you wished for, as soon as you got over the excitement of change, that you would feel just as lost, just as dissatisfied with life.

You may not realise it but Lost is a Spiritual Problem.

By Spiritual I don't mean religious. By Spiritual I do mean that it is to do with the essence of who you really are, the essence of the love that you are.

Entertain the idea for a moment or two that maybe, just maybe, Life is a Journey with a Purpose. The map of that journey is coded, say, in your DNA, or maybe it's something instinctive or intuitive, but it's there and we can somehow feel it. Then during our formative years we are socialised into looking outside ourselves for answers rather than within. We are taught not to trust our instincts, but to obey rules. Other people always know what is best for us. Be that well-meaning parents, teachers, religious leaders, supervisors, managers, politicians. Some of the people who guide you will have your best interests at heart; some will have their own. Either way you are taught to think for yourself, but only if the solutions you produce are acceptable. When you are intelligent, or curious, or talented, or playful, or thirsty for knowledge about something you have an interest in and you ask your teachers questions that they don't know the answers to, you may be deliberately discouraged from asking 'stupid' questions.

If questions are asked with a genuine thirst for knowledge, then there are no stupid questions.

It is because we are discouraged from listening within that we lose sight of what we are here to accomplish. And when we wander way off the map within - then we are lost. Then nothing seems to work. Then life seems unsatisfying. Then we feel unfulfilled.

The way to get back on the map is to start to look within for answers. Not answers you get from knowledge, but answers you get from gut instinct, answers you get from whether or not something just feels right.

If you want to start the process right now, then look through your memories for something you used to enjoy and brought you pleasure. Something you haven't done for a long time. Then go out and do it. Make a pact with yourself to do something you really enjoy for a little while each day. Something as simple as watching something on tv that makes you laugh, feeding the ducks on the local pond, building a sandcastle even though other people are watching. It doesn't have to be complicated or earth-shattering. Simple pleasure. That's all.

What this does is communicate a very important message to the forgotten part of you. It says, 'I'm ready to come home, so please turn on a light to guide me' and you'll find that magical things start to happen. You'll find your interest in life itself returning. You may also discover that you're in the wrong relationship, the wrong job, the wrong location, and want to make changes and that's fine as long as the changes feel right deep down inside. Use that as your guide from now on and you will soon be back on track.

Michael Hadfield

Michael J. Hadfield is 54 years old, born in Liverpool, England. In 1996, after many years spent in the computer industry, he developed an interest in psychology and trained as a clinical hypnotherapist and has since helped many people to live a normal life again after struggling with psychological problems such as phobias, stress, chronic anxiety, over-eating, smoking, stammering, shyness, low self-esteem and lack of confidence.

Michael also has a well-developed interest in spirituality. This interest led to a connection with an 'inner wisdom' or intuitive sense that has helped and guided him on many occasions and is especially attuned to the needs of clients for therapy.

On the 'fun' side of life Michael has a passion for photography and gardening and a small selection of his photographs can be seen on the pages of his website. He was a regular 'ornamentals' contributor, of both words and pictures, to Organic Gardening magazine for many years, with several of his photographs appearing on the cover of this magazine. His work has also appeared in Amateur Gardening, North West Gardener, and Practical Photography magazines.

He continues to explore his interest in health, healing, and the mind/body connection, with a particular fascination for the psychological causes of physical illness as well as the use of Pyschoneuroimmunological techniques for the healing of physical diseases such as cancer.