The Three Compasses

A Way of Being with Situations

“What is not yet formed can nevertheless be felt.” - Eugene T. Gendlin

Human beings rarely navigate life through thought alone. Beneath our ideas, opinions, and decisions there are quieter processes constantly shaping how we orient ourselves: bodily sensing, emotional resonance, relationship, memory, atmosphere, and the situations unfolding around us.

Often, when situations become uncertain or emotionally charged, we search too quickly for clarity, certainty, or solutions. Yet lived situations are rarely experienced as fixed or simple. More often, they unfold gradually through sensing, relationship, reflection, and the capacity to stay with what has not yet fully formed.

Sometimes the first task is not to solve the situation, but to create enough space for the situation to begin revealing itself more clearly.

For me, the image of the Three Compasses has become a living metaphor. It has helped me to untangle situations and to find the space to sense into the different aspects that present themselves.

Rather than trying to grasp everything at once, it allows me to stay with what is there, one aspect at a time, while still holding the whole situation. In this way, the Three Compasses give me the space to be with whatever is present, without needing to immediately resolve or define it.

This is not a method or a theory in any rigid sense. It is simply a metaphor that helps me orient within lived experiencing. These are simply the ways the image has worked for me. Others may find their own way of holding it.

When I use the Three Compasses, I first use them to help me stay with what I am sensing or tracking. At the beginning, they help clear the field, creating enough space for whatever is there to begin coming forward in its own way and time.

Sometimes the experience of using the compasses feels a little like holding the dial of a compass steady. At first the movement may still feel unsettled, as though the situation has not yet found its direction. By staying with the felt sense, without rushing to resolve or interpret too quickly, something may gradually begin to settle or become clearer.

It is often within this pause, this waiting for the compass dial to steady, that the felt sense is able to move forward. The movement itself can be a sign that there is still more to sense, unfold, or explore within the situation.

Often the direction does not arrive all at once, but through small shifts that begin to feel more carryable. Over time, this can also begin to build a quiet sense of trust, not certainty, but trust in the process of staying with what is unfolding. For me, this is one of the reasons I return to the image of the compass. From there, I may begin to sense where the situation is asking to be held, whether it is more personal, relational, or part of a wider shared situation.

The compasses are not fixed categories or separate compartments of experience. They are dimensions of lived experiencing that emerge and shift within the unfolding of a situation. In this way, the Three Compasses help gather and hold the important threads without needing to resolve them too quickly. The intention of the compasses is not to produce quick answers or fixed interpretations, but to help us to remain oriented within situations that may initially feel unclear, emotionally charged, or too complex to grasp all at once.

FIELD OF LIVED EXPERIENCING

Every situation arises within a field of lived experiencing. We are always already within situations, sensing, responding, and interacting. Often we sense that something is not yet clear before it has had the space to reveal itself. This bodily sense of the whole situation is the felt sense. When we stay with it, aspects that are implicitly present but not yet articulated can begin to unfold. The field itself is never fixed. It includes atmosphere, memory, relationship, environment, history, and all that is carried implicitly within lived situations before words fully arrive.

INNER COMPASS

The inner compass begins with pausing and sensing into the situation as it is lived in the body. There may be unease, tension, or something unresolved. At other times there may be a sense of rightness, a direction, or a small step that feels able to carry forward. Staying with this allows the intricacy of the situation to begin to unfold.

The inner compass does not ask us to force clarity too quickly. Instead, it invites a different kind of attention, one that allows what is still unclear to remain present long enough for something more authentic to emerge.

RELATIONAL COMPASS

The relational dimension is not simply dialogue in the usual sense. It begins with an inner dialogue a listening to what is present in our own experiencing. When this is shared with another, the role of the other is not to interpret or analyse, but to offer presence, listening, and an embodied reflection. This creates the conditions in which what is there can be heard more fully.

What matters here is the quality of the space: time, attention, and a sense of safety. Within this kind of relational field, whatever is present can begin to unfold at its own pace. Often this dimension carries a particular felt tone. Emotions may arise - such as sensitivity, hurt, care, tension, or connection, not as something to be explained, but as part of how the situation is being lived.

Staying with this, in the presence of another, can allow aspects of the situation that are implicitly present to become more clearly felt and, gradually, articulated.

The relational compass also expands beyond human dialogue alone. It includes our lived relationship with the wider world , with land, nature, animals, place, and the living environments we inhabit together. In this sense, relationship is not limited to interpersonal encounter. It also includes our participation within a wider living field of interdependence and interaction.

COLLECTIVE COMPASS

Every situation also unfolds within the wider field of our shared life. At times something may not feel right; at other times something begins to fit or move. The body carries the whole situation as it is being lived.

The collective compass widens the field of awareness, allowing us to explore how the situation is unfolding within this wider field. At times, this wider field may also carry a distinct felt tone. There may be a sense of unfairness, injustice, betrayal or something not sitting right. At other times there may be a sense of rightness, alignment, or something wanting to be upheld.

These felt qualities are often sensed before they are fully conceptualised. They can point toward how the situation is being lived within the wider social, moral, ecological, and collective field. The collective compass therefore helps us remain aware that personal and relational experiencing are always unfolding within larger systems, histories, structures, and shared realities.

FINDING OUR WAY

Using the Three Compasses as a process guide, we can stay with situations that may initially feel unclear. As we begin to find our way within them, the intricacy of the situation becomes clearer in our experiencing. From this, the next step can emerge and carry forward.

A compass does not calm the storm. But it helps us remember the direction in which we wish to travel. And sometimes that is enough for the next step to emerge…

“The Body implies further steps”

Eugene T. Gendlin