Getting lost, and enjoying it

Are you one of those good navigators who never forgets a route once you’ve been on it? I’m terrible at finding my way, and often end up someplace else. Now we know that besides absent-mindedness, distractions or inattention, losing your way could well be the result of a weak neural code in that part of your brain that powers your inbuilt GPS system.

The discoverers of this phenomenon won the 2014 Nobel Prize for Medicine, and thanks to them, we now know why we get lost or get there straight like an arrow.

I’m not so sure that I want a perfect GPS in me, 24×7. What if you don’t want to be told how to get there , at least on some days or sometimes?

Will your efficient GPS neurons sabotage your free will so that you have absolutely no chance of losing your way how much ever you yearn to go off-grid? There is a certain charm in not always working to perfection. It opens new windows to your soul and, who knows, your adventure into the unknown could uncover your creative potential.

Perhaps scientists can next give us the option to turn our internal GPS on and off at will. That will give us respite from being on call every waking, sleeping moment , so you can loosen up, yet stay secure in the knowledge that you can always get back to your bearings when you need to.