What is your personal method/strategy for getting unlost?

My partner, my best friend. Time away from my responsibilities. Immersion in chain smoking, Friends episodes and Sherlock Holmes stories.

Faith.

No, I am not talking about an irrational expectation that god to deliver me from a lost state. I’m talking about faith that life the universe and everything will continue to move forward and somewhere in there I’ll be pretty likely to find something that holds my interest.

When I have a really bad day, I do what I need to to get through it…even if it means going to bed and pulling the covers over my head. These days are rough, but I’ve had enough of them to know that within a day or two, I’m usually much better (maybe not great, but better). Knowing this through repeated past experiences is usually enough to get through the rough day…

Rita Rudner once said “I never panic when I get lost. I just change wherever it is I want to go.” That pretty much sums me up. If I find myself in a place where i’m unable to reach a particular goal, I pick another goal. Maybe I can co back to the other one another time.

It depends. Some people look to Jesus. Other people look to their GPS/satnav :-p

Crap, I got all excited thinking I could impart the wisdom of finding north without a compass.

Staying calm, going with the flow, and rolling with the kicks, I guess. Yeah, I distract myself with music, poems and fantasy, but other than having a vague concept of what I’d like to happen, play it cool until I get my bearings. I’ve noticed that panicking just impedes progress with these things.

Talking to myself, talking to my friends (ad nauseum), walking, working and sometimes t.v. It helps when I can come down out of my head and engage in real life.

You can’t find yourself until you get lost. Enjoy it my friend. The journey is often more fun than the destination.

I’m at the point now where I don’t get lost anymore since I understand that there’s no destination.

Unfortunately, this is a superficial understanding so I spend a great deal of time traveling in circles.

Perfect. There’s alot of knowledge in circles though. Don’t knock them @SABOTEUR.

I don’t know what you mean.

There are a couple things that always seem to help me clear my head. Taking a long walk with no certain destination, just walking itself seems to help me. I may have an insight during my walk or I might just think better afterwards. In a way, walking gets me out of a circular thought process that is leading nowhere. I tend to over think things sometimes.
Another sort of odd thing is that I think better on trains. I get some of my best inspirations on trains, even commuter trains and subways.
It also helps sometimes is to write down my thoughts. Sometimes I make lists and other times I just ramble on or rant on. Sometimes I think it’s a waste of time, then a couple days later I will realize that it helped me in some indefinable way.
I guess to me feeling lost means not knowing what I want or uncertainty in making a choice between two or more tempting alternatives that I do want. I wish that I had that dilemma more often, lol. But it could also be a situation where you have left something or someone behind. The future is uncertain and you are feeling your way in the dark. In that case I need to rely on the faith that YoBob mentions. It helps to remember all the difficult things I have come through before. I may be feeling lost and weak, but I need to believe that it will pass.
I wish I could think of a good example to give but I can’t. Just feeling too tired and lost. I need to follow my own advice.

Well, it’s not going to India to find myself.

Meetings, meetings, meetings, it always works for me. And using the tools I have learned from mentors and shrink to find my way through the storm in my busy busy head.