True North Quest

Within all journeys are hidden gems of immense value. These treasures remain unknown unless we search for them. Sometimes we half-hear them in the stillness of a forest, at sunset or between two waves in an ocean of noise. Reflection is the key to discovery. This journal is a companion to the publication: The Spirit of Adventure Calls – A Compass for Life, Learning and Leadership. We trust that it will serve as a helpful guide that will lead you to your own True North – the place in this world where you live in alignment with your purpose, speak your truth and exist with more ease and grace, despite life’s inevitable challenges. May you find among these pages, a sacred place to reflect on your journey as you explore your vision, your values, your gifts, passions and strengths. Your most powerful ‘Medicine’ will be to discover these things and share them with others. As you do this, you will develop a stronger sense of who you are and why you are here. Every life has a sacred purpose, a ‘True North’ – the quest to find it can lead to many other valuable discoveries along the way. Link to: The Spirit of Adventure Calls: A Compass for Life, Learning & Leadership: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=3UW8DwAAQBAJ

Based on Bill George’s bestselling book True North, this personal guide offers leaders a comprehensive method for identifying their unique “True North.” The book offers methods for personal reflection and includes targeted exercises that help leaders hone in on the purpose of their leadership and developing their authentic leadership skills.

From one of the most distinguished admirals of our time and a former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, a meditation on leadership and character refracted through the lives of ten of the most illustrious naval commanders in history In Sailing True North, Admiral Stavridis offers lessons of leadership and character from the lives and careers of history's most significant naval commanders. He also brings a lifetime of reflection to bear on the subjects of his study--naval history, the vocation of the admiral, and global geopolitics. Above all, this is a book that will help you navigate your own life's voyage: the voyage of leadership of course, but more important, the voyage of character. Sailing True North helps us find the right course to chart. Simply as epic lives, the tales of these ten admirals offer up a collection of the greatest imaginable sea stories. Moreover, spanning 2,500 years from ancient Greece to the twenty-first century, Sailing True North is a book that offers a history of the world through the prism of our greatest naval leaders. None of the admirals in this volume were perfect, and some were deeply flawed. But from Themistocles, Drake, and Nelson to Nimitz, Rickover, and Hopper, important themes emerge, not least that serving your reputation is a poor substitute for serving your character; and that taking time to read and reflect is not a luxury, it's a necessity. By putting us on personal terms with historic leaders in the maritime sphere he knows so well, James Stavridis gives us a compass that can help us navigate the story of our own lives, wherever that voyage takes us.

The challenges we face these days are so great that we cannot rely entirely on ourselves, our communities, or our organizations to support us and help us stay on track. We need a small group of people with whom we can have in-depth discussions and share intimately about the most important things in our lives—our happiness and sadness, our hopes and fears, our beliefs and convictions. For the past thirty-five years, Bill George and Doug Baker have found the answer in what they call True North Groups. “At various times,” George and Baker write, “a True North Group will function as a nurturer, a grounding rod, a truth teller, and a mirror. At other times the group functions as a challenger or an inspirer. When people are wracked with self-doubts, it helps build their courage and ability to cope.” Drawing on recent research in psychology and sociology, George and Baker explain why True North Groups are so critical to helping us develop the self-awareness, compassion, emotional intelligence, and authenticity required to be inspired human beings and inspiring leaders. They cover every detail from choosing members, establishing norms, and dealing with conflicts to evaluating progress and deciding when it’s time to restructure. True North Groups provides a wealth of practical resources, including suggested topics for the first twelve meetings, advice on facilitating groups, techniques to evaluate group satisfaction, and much more. For the millions of people who are searching for greater meaning and intimacy in their lives, this book will help them to grow as leaders and as people—and to stay on course to their True North.

Human Beings hold the most powerful force in the Universe within them. Its realization brings us to an awareness of our true selves and our purpose for being here. The power awakens the Divine within, establishes unconditional love, and is the ultimate source of healing. This book brings you closer to discovering the greatest gift of your life - your truth! It takes you on a journey to self-discovery, answers life's most complicated questions, and reconnects you with your innate spiritual gifts. The Book of Divine Consciousness offers deep insights into spiritual awakening, self-realization, miracles, healing, and the existence of God. Your journey to unraveling your truth and purpose begins at this moment!

One of American literature’s most significant authors delivers “a coming-of-age story, a familial saga of estrangement . . . A slow-burning revenge tragedy” (The New York Times Book Review). An epic tale that pits a son against the legacy of his family’s desecration of the earth, and his own father’s more personal violations, Jim Harrison’s True North is a beautiful and moving novel that speaks to the territory in our hearts that calls us back to our roots. The scion of a family of wealthy timber barons, David Burkett has grown up with a father who is a malevolent force and a mother made vague and numb by alcohol and pills. He and his sister Cynthia, a firecracker who scandalizes the family at fourteen by taking up with the son of their Finnish-Native American gardener, are mostly left to make their own way. As David comes to adulthood—often guided and enlightened by the unforgettable, intractable, courageous women he loves—he realizes he must come to terms with his forefathers’ rapacious destruction of the woods of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, as well as the working people who made their wealth possible. Jim Harrison has given us a family tragedy of betrayal, amends, and justice for the worst sins. True North is a bravura performance from one of our finest writers, accomplished with deep humanity, humor, and redemptive soul. “A provocative tale that explores the roots of wealth and privilege in America . . . Harrison’s writing is superb, as always, rippling with thematic leaps and poetic insights.” —The Oregonian

“When the Spirit of Adventure Calls to our Heart, we must go.” This quote, written in memory of Mark Auricht who died on Mt Everest in 2001, reminds us of our enduring connection with nature and the magnetic attraction of adventure. It not only enlivens our soul, but also has the power to draw from within us, a strength, courage, resilience and passion that for some lies dormant until awakened. Beyond the story of triumph and tragedy in the Himalayan landscape, this book is also about the journey that takes place within us, when we explore the limits of our self-imposed boundaries to find the hidden treasures of our heart. As the world enters a time of unprecedented change, we must evolve new ways of thinking, living, learning and leading that will help us to navigate the challenging terrain of this new frontier. May this heart-felt tribute to the enduring spirit of Mark Auricht, serve as an inspiration and a compass for future leaders, adventurous souls and explorers of human potential.

In 1929, at the age of 24, Elliott Merrick left his position as an advertising executive in New Jersey and headed up to Labrador to work as an unpaid volunteer for the Grenfell Mission. In 1933 he wrote True North about his experiences in the northern wilderness, living and working with trappers, Indians and with the nurse he met and married in a remote community. The book describes the hard work and severe conditions, along with the joy and friendship he and his wife experienced.