As the calendar page flips and we move closer to graduation dates and summer’s arrival, students everywhere are abuzz with a palpable frenetic energy. Whether excited to fling themselves out the doors of an educational space, nervous for what lies ahead, or a bit numbed by it all, we’re often met with big feelings as we leap from one comfort zone into a grand unknown. 

While many feel sideswiped by the power of these milestones, perhaps, there is wisdom that the wayfinders of the past can offer us. 

Today’s world is filled with a whole lot of noise. Whether it comes from those in our community, families, political leaders, our own minds, or the online world of constant content, there’s a whole lot of loud coming at us from every direction. 

In those moments of overwhelm, how do we show up? Where can we look to find navigational wisdom beyond the boundaries of our own story? 

“The job of the wayfinder, whether an ancient oracle or a modern scientific theorist, is to reach beyond current human knowledge into the realm of the unimagined and bring back something true and useful.” Martha Beck, Finding your way in a wild new world

Have you ever read a book that you loved so much you didn’t want it to end? You know the ones when you realize you’re in the last few chapters, witness the final arc, feel all the feelings but don’t want to get to that last page…you just can’t imagine that there will be another story that will capture your attention the same way? 

For many, this time of year feels exactly like that. Some truly enjoy where they are in the journey, others are waiting with bated breath to crush the next chapter, and still many are on that precipice of the unknown, unsure as to which emotion is in charge in any space and time. It’s a whole lot of moving pieces and parts of the heart. 

We don’t have to go through it alone. 

On a path through any educational journey, there are guides along the way. Some we know and trust, others show up without notice, out of left field, and change the game, and a whole host of facilitators, teachers, and mentors who create safe spaces and assist our exploration and discovery. 

While many of us are trailblazers in our own right, we still benefit from other voices and discourse that enhance our curiosity, tend to our resilient spirit, nurture our emotional wellness, expand our horizons and community, question our assertions, deepen our understanding, and help us to design our pathway towards our dreams. 

“A deeply intuitive person who has the courage to navigate through the chaos and confusion of darkness and division, who refuses to accept the dysfunction of the status quo, and who devotes their life to exploring a more joyful, harmonious, cooperative, creative, and sustainable existence on this planet.” Art of Poets

As one chapter closes and another lies ahead, there will be more guides along the way. Some teach us exactly how we don’t want to be, while others challenge us, change us, and make us better people. There are so many amazing humans and life-changing experiences yet to uncover. Whether they’re family or friends, students or teachers, mentors or strangers, bosses or peers, historical changemakers or present-day leaders, community members or public figures, their energy, wisdom, and teachings are spaces to tap for future learning. But what if we don’t have any in our field of vision? 

Where can we look to find meaning and direction while navigating this new course? 

Perhaps the wayfinders of the past can provide knowledge and wisdom to help us on our own journey. 

There’s more beyond the reef, if only we have courage to try. 

There’s plenty of findings on the other side of the mountain, if only we have the desire for the wisdom of explorers on their own journeys. 

There are people who have met similar challenges and changed the course of history, if only we have the humility to remember we’re not alone and realize the tiny part we play in the far wider story. And there are those who wish to walk beside us, to challenge us, to protect us, to share their talents and skills, and to make us better leaders, if only we have the open mindedness to listen closely. 

“The wayfinder works with imagination the way an artist works with paint or clay or marble. He feels what the medium can do by becoming it, letting it guide him with the constraints of its inner nature even as he guides it to become what he envisions.” Martha Beck, Steering Starlight

This month one of the first tiny humans in my world graduates from university. Her world has opened to opportunities her six-year-old animal loving self could have never imagined. She’s forged friendships, had advisors, and built a team of humans who support, guide, and enrich her. As she continues on her learning and development beyond the walls of school, I can only hope she reaches out to the wayfinders who came before or new ones she meets to walk with her on her life adventure. Together, we sat and watched Disney movies, ate cupcakes, and jumped in the waves. Here’s hoping as she and her peers cross one milestone and move to the next, they’re continued to be guided by hope, empathy, aligned in a values congruent vision for the future, enlist other big picture thinkers along the way, rest when they need, ask for help, and use their energy and hearts to change the world for the better. 

The wayfinders who came before us charted paths that light the way for others. 

Listen to their guidance as it sparks your curious nature. 

Take heed of their lessons as it adds to your growing wealth of knowledge. Use their experience as a launchpad for your own as it helps you embark on your endeavors. And, when you’ve walked the way and changed the game, use your wayfinder skills to offer an avenue for those who come next. The learning develops as it changes hands from one wayfinder to another.

Your journey continues…with the strength of thousands behind you and a belief in you powered by the ages. 

Now it’s up to you to believe in yourself. The world needs your light; your journey continues. Whether you can see us or not, we’re right beside you. 

The trail is yours to walk. Step forward wise wayfinders, the world awaits.

Four tips to channel the wisdom of the wayfinders

“Little bursts of joy are the footprints of your future self.” Martha Beck, Bewildered, Ep 68, Change Cycle: A space for dreaming

Finding your path 

“We call them one-degree turns, just a little bit every day, turning action in the direction of the truest truth that we can find inside ourselves.” Martha Beck, Wayfinder Life Coach Training

Dr. Jane Goodall is a trailblazer, change maker, animal lover, and a force for good. She earned her wayfinder wings while being guided by another of significant energy. Often crediting her mother as her fiercest supporter, the two have an intertwined story that travels from England to Gombe, Africa igniting a career unlike any other. Nurturing her curiosity, creating space, and empowering a young girl’s mind to believe that there was nothing she could not do if she worked hard, Dr. Goodall’s mother’s encouragement and tenacity is directly connected with the story of a woman whose classroom was the world and whose actions continue to change the game for millions of the planet’s living creatures. 

In a time when women weren’t given an opportunity, she made one. In a space where science hadn’t yet roamed, she opened one. In a land where she was seen as inexperienced, she forced people to listen closely. Her experience fraught with challenges and struggles, yet this wayfinder set out on a course of discovery that decades later continues to enrich the world, enliven communities, spread wisdom of both mind and heart, and embodies an unrivaled compassion that teaches with every word, action, and deed. 

Sometimes the path in front of you is visible, and at others you must forge your own. There will be those who seek to discourage and discredit and others whose aim is to encourage, support, believe with all their might, and cheer you on every step of the way. The voices are loud. It’s up to you to choose which ones you choose as your guides. Stumbles, shifts, and strengths will all show up; you build resilience with each step. 

As you continue to put one foot in front of the next, you create the path to guide others on their journey, too. 

Jane Goodall via Facebook

Remember there is always another way  

“Remember there is always another way. Even if you have to get lost to find it.” Matangi, Moana

I’ve been a fan of Disney movies ever since the dawn of time. At each age and stage, a different favorite, but since its on-scene arrival, Moana has risen to the top of my list. Call it a deep affirming love of the ocean, an island warrior at heart, or the impact of the adventure and discoveries of a wayfinder’s journey; I’m officially team Moana. The story far surpasses the boundaries of the reef, demanding our attention to the lessons beyond Motunui. Met with bands of coconuts, storm surges, lava monsters, a scary underwater realm, a demigod who doesn’t believe her strength or fortitude, and tasks that seem impossible, out of reach, and beyond what she believes her abilities are, for the survival of her people, she presses forward. 

In both movies, the world screams loudly at her to stay in her lane, remain in the comfort of home, listen to reason, do as you’re told, let others be leaders, run from danger, don’t press the boundaries, quiet your voice, and please don’t go looking for what the world sees as trouble. 

And yet, proving others wrong, trying to go it alone and then seeking the talents and strengths of others, open to learning new things, and recognizing that even when it doesn’t look like there is, there’s always another way, her heart and her Grandma’s belief in her guides her forward.

This is the making of a wayfinder. 

When you use your courage, wit, wisdom, strength, heart, and spirit and listen to that call inside you, use it to guide your way for the sake of others, and then open the route to those who come next to explore, you earn your wayfinder markings. Use them wisely.

Photo flickr cc Melissa Hillier 

Start where you are, use what you know 

“The way to find your own north star is not to think or feel your way forward but to dissolve the thoughts and feelings that make you miserable. You don’t have to learn your destiny…you already know it; you just have to unlearn the thoughts that blind you to what you know.” Martha Beck

Today, the Star Wars empire is massive. Everywhere you look there’s still a battle between the Empire and the Republic, Lego sets aplenty, Disney lands, Mandalorian mantras, and a new edition to Yoda’s family tree. In a time that seems like it’s light years before us, the makings of this epic undertaking began and quite literally changed the movie game forever. These days, everyone has an opinion, access to fanfiction, their own favourite character and storyline, and the ability to watch every single episode of even the newest arrivals at the touch of a screen. But no matter which one you watch, there’s a reference to the giants who started it all. 

And, in deference to that now famed franchise, at some point, we all start where we are and use what we know. The movie may have begun with the tales of Luke and Leia, but we later learn about so many who came before them shaping the world in which they enter. But each character of the past, present, or future, starts where they are and uses the skills, talents, treasures, and character traits they know to build a foundation for a life well lived. In both their plight and rise, they encounter dark forces that test their strength, invaders of mind and spirit forcing them to choose their path, battles that try their energy and patience, and all sorts of varied creatures who teach them knowledge and wisdom they never would have before known.

 A foundling goes through a whole lot of life, struggle, training, and sometimes years of discovery before entering into training to be a jedi. And on that trajectory, they must choose that path again and again, practicing and living that story at every turn. Even fierce warriors go through more than their fair share of ick before they learn the way. But their strength, spirit, and spark come from deep within and on their journey often for the betterment of others, they guide us all. 

You can do the same. 

The only way out is through 

“You will never realize your best destiny through the avoidance of fear. Rather, you will realize it through the exercise of courage, which means taking whatever action is most liberating to the soul, even when you are afraid.” Martha Beck, Steering by Starlight

There’s an Australian movie called The Merger. Set in a country town chosen as a refugee resettlement spot, the story depicts the challenges of change, building a community, and recognizing that we all have stories to tell and talents to share. The protagonist, an ex-footy player who has dealt with his share of setbacks and heartache, rediscovers his own self by helping to encourage others to find theirs. He reminds his community members that the only way out is through. That often our struggles are a part of our journey, but what we do with what we learn empowers us all. 

In order to change the trajectory of his story, he’s guided by the lessons of others. In order to help his community, at times he must swallow his pride, accept that there’s more to learn, and reaffirm his commitment to a wider audience as much as to himself. He learns to put aside his ego and play a formative part in a much bigger picture. 

He learns that some of the greatest experiences and kindest hearts are yet to be discovered. And his actions challenge all in his reach to act kinder, listen more closely, and dream bigger. 

By opening one door, his world explodes in color and allows others to see their own worth, take pride in their story, and light a path for an entire town. If he can do that with one step, imagine what you can do with yours.  

“True navigation begins in the human heart. It’s the most important map of all.” Elizabeth Kapu’uwailani Lindsey

Please click the photo below for a collection of my Through the Eyes of an Educator columns:

Stacey Ebert, our Educational Travels Editor, is a traveler at heart who met her Australian-born husband while on a trip in New Zealand. Stacey was an extracurricular advisor and taught history in a Long Island public high school for over fifteen years, enjoying both the formal and informal educational practices. After a one year 'round the world honeymoon, travel and its many gifts changed her perspective. She has since left the educational world to focus on writing and travel. She is energetic and enthusiastic about long term travel, finding what makes you happy and making the leap. In her spare time she is an event planner, yogi, dark chocolate lover, and spends as much time as possible with her toes in the sand.

Check out her website at thegiftoftravel.wordpress.com for more of her travel musings.