Do You Have a GPS in Your Head?

United States
September 21, 2015 1:39pm CST
I, unfortunately, do not. I have always maintained that I could easily get lost in a walk-in closet, but my hubby has this weird power over the universe where he knows exactly where he is no matter what. On our honeymoon he was driving, and he decided on a whim to go off-road into the woods for a picturesque little side trip. Neither of us had ever been to that area before, and while we did have a GPS device in the car it was getting poor signals and didn't like that area at all....(kind of like me driving in Chicago or Detroit. ) So the device was quirky at best. All of a sudden he decides that if he takes this particular two-track in this particular direction, we will end up right back on the highway again. I had my doubts then, but never again, as he drove us right exactly where he said we were going. I'm sure the look on my face said it all... So, my question is...do you have this weird power over directions, maps and the universe in general, or are you more like me, forever lost?
9 people like this
8 responses
@MKAlubs (455)
• United States
21 Sep 15
A study was done a few years back on a group of native aborigine people in Australia. These people had no technology at all & lived in the wild & were out of doors almost all the time. Because of the way they lived they had an extremely acute sense of direction. They would bring these people into a dark room without windows, blindfold them, and then spin them around numerous times in one direction and then the other. Then they would ask them to point towards a certain direction such as east or south. Despite having been blindfolded & spun around numerous times they were all 100% accurate when asked to point in a certain direction. Being blindfolded in a dark room & being spun around had no affect on their sense of direction. Many believe, as I do, that human bodies have a natural sense of direction or gps system. But natural built-in sense of direction is like a muscle. If you don't use it & exercise it every day it begins to atrophy. The more humans lose touch with nature & the more we rely on technology, the less we use our body's natural sense of direction & we slowly lose that natural ability. Another test was conducted on taxi drivers in a mid-western U. S. city who had a keen sense of direction. The accuracy of their natural sense of direction was tested & then GPS devices were put in their cabs. One year later their natural sense of direction was once again tested & it was found that it was DRASTICALLY reduced after having relied on the GPS device in their car for a year. The natural sense of direction built in the human body is slowly withering away the more we lose touch with nature & the more we continue to rely on technological gadgetry. It won't be long before it is gone completely. My advice to everyone is to throw your GPS devices away. And spend more time in nature.
3 people like this
• United States
22 Sep 15
Wow, sounds pretty cool there. I'm not sure I personally have ever had a sense of direction, so there wouldn't be much to wither away, but yes I probably should spend more time in nature. If I threw my GPS away, I'd never get out of that walk-in closet.
1 person likes this
• United States
22 Sep 15
@1creekgirl My GPS doesn't try that stuff with me, thank goodness. She still tells me to turn left or right. Whew. She's nicer to me in that regard than my driver's training instructor was. hehe
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (42854)
• United States
22 Sep 15
Unfortunately, I've never had a natural sense of direction. Even trying to use my GPS doesn't guarantee I'll find my way. The other day when I was driving in another, larger city, the GPS said, "Turn south." South? How do I know where south is!
1 person likes this
• United States
22 Sep 15
Oh, I really like this post. You and me both. I have zero sense of direction. You could drop my hubby anywhere, blindfolded, spin him around, and he'd still know his directions. I'd just get dizzy.
3 people like this
• United States
22 Sep 15
Yup, same here, dizzier than I already am. LOL. I'm glad you like this.
2 people like this
@LadyDuck (472507)
• Switzerland
22 Sep 15
I never get lost, I surely have a GPS in my head and this is good, because my husband is like you, he gets lost in a closet.
2 people like this
• United States
22 Sep 15
I think it's good that we opposites find each other and get married, because if we didn't half the world would be lost and the other half would be driving each other crazy because they would all know the best short cut.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (472507)
• Switzerland
22 Sep 15
@Novelangel LOL, you are right.
@jaboUK (64354)
• United Kingdom
22 Sep 15
I used to do a lot of driving before these GPS were even thought of, and I could pretty much get myself anywhere I wanted to go.
2 people like this
• United States
22 Sep 15
Coolness, Jabo. You and my hubs are the same in that regard.
1 person likes this
• United States
22 Sep 15
i'm directionally impaired 'n 've a hubs such 's yers who seems to be completely in tune.
2 people like this
• United States
22 Sep 15
Yet we somehow find the one person in the world who completes us. I guess we aren't as directionally challenged as we think.
1 person likes this
• United States
22 Sep 15
@crazyhorseladycx Thank you...Me too! :)
1 person likes this
• United States
22 Sep 15
@Novelangel i'm glad'ja found such in yer fella, ms. kristie.
1 person likes this
@Ceerios (4698)
• Goodfellow, Texas
21 Sep 15
Ms Kristie ( @Novelangel ) - I always had thought I had one of those "GPS" thingies 'twixt my ears until I, somehow, got lost on City Island, New York. It has only one street. Now, I ask you...
3 people like this
• United States
22 Sep 15
One street? Hmmm. Looks to me like you and I are cut from the same bolt of cloth there, Gus. Don't feel bad...I once got lost driving back from my aunt's house...a house I've been to a million times before and which sits only a couple miles from where I grew up.
1 person likes this
@sueznewz2 (10409)
• Alicante, Spain
21 Sep 15
No i'm terrible with directions by instinct, but I am very good at map reading... I get disorientated very easily, and nearly always get confused where north south east and west are, when i'm driving... like I95 north or south.... well in my head I want to go east... so i've usually got a crib sheet with me ...lol's... but funnily enough I rarely get lost on my way to somewhere..its usually when I hit towns...
2 people like this
• United States
22 Sep 15
I'm pretty decent at map reading as well....once I actually find the road/highway/street/two-track/mud path that I'm driving on, on the map. Once that's done, I can pretty much track my location decently enough. If the road I'm on isn't on the map... I'm done for. LOL
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (42854)
• United States
22 Sep 15
I'm a lot like you, I think! We live in the country so when I go shopping in a larger town, I do okay if I stay on the outskirts. But If I ever find myself accidentally downtown, it's like the Bermuda Triangle. I drive and drive and eventually find my way out but my husband never gets lost. Glad both of us aren't geographically challenged.
1 person likes this
• United States
22 Sep 15
Exactly. I think we are designed to seek out a mate who completes us, and that's one of the ways that the completion happens.
1 person likes this