What changed your life?

[Skip]

Whenever a baby comes into the world, the adults in its family and community expect that child's life to follow a certain pattern. They do their best to teach the new member of their group all the relevant values, knowledge, skills, manners and attitudes to take its place in their world. They imagine a time-line that this person's life will follow from beginning to end.
But it very often doesn't work out that way. Things happen. Lives are disrupted. People change.

Have you ever gone through a major break in the time-line that was set out for you at birth?
What event has changed your life in some radical way?
The usual agents are armed conflict, extreme weather event, economic or political upheaval, etc. On a personal level, a major illness or injury might cause radical change, or a death in the family or some other traumatic experience. Sometimes it's religious conversion or some other departure from one's inherited values.

If you've had your life altered, has it been for better or worse?
Did you make the decision or was the change thrust upon you?
Have you adjusted well or poorly?

[Dalek Prime]

My conception and birth was forced upon me. After that, all the problems I've ever had were realised. Thanks folks. Couldn't have stopped at four kids, eh? I wouldn't have missed it. Honestly, I don't think I've ever fully adjusted to life in general. Doesn't stop me from making the most of it, but again, meh, I could have done without.

Okay, I'll let the optimism brigade have the spotlight now.

[Skip]

Making the most of something that was forced on you is optimistic.
I had all kinds of luck, and didn't make the most I could have of the good.

[Dalek Prime]

Making the most of something that was forced on you is optimistic.
I had all kinds of luck, and didn't make the most I could have of the good.

Bite your tongue, Skip. You're ruining my reputation as a pessimist.

I've messed up good things too Skip. I'm sure we all have. Heck, I've downright soured some good. But it ain't over yet, and I'm fairly determined to wring as much joy out of it where I can. We don't always have the power to make it happen, but we do have the power to make that our goal.

[Skip]

Works for me!

[Lacewing]

There have been continual significant shifts in my life, "good and bad"... which redirected my course over and over. I've experienced a wide range of paths... which I think is why I seem inclined to consider lots of perspectives, and I don't typically lock in on any one idea. I see bits of truth everywhere. And distortions everywhere. It feels like I've lived a hundred lives in this one life. There is nowhere along the way that I could have guessed all the places my life would lead to... and I still don't know (or have rules for) where it will go from here... which is very freeing. I can envision possibilities... and aim towards those... but I've learned that the universe can top that if we don't get in the way. So I continue to work hard and play a lot, and try to stay out of the way and enjoy what is.

One of my favorite new expressions that I heard from a friend is: "Be amazed and move on."

It reflects how tangled up (and stuck) we can get when we take ourselves or anything else too seriously... and try to lock it all down with our limited thinking. It seems that things flow best if energy keeps moving. If we try to contain or restrain it... things become condensed, thick, heavy, warped, distorted, etc. This can happen on so many levels within and around us... it really makes the journey an interesting challenge and exploration.

I guess this is why I'm so fascinated and perplexed by people who appear to be obsessed with one platform, repeating the same ideas over and over. I can't easily imagine such a thing. So it's informative to me to see THAT as one of the many possibilities in our human experience -- and to taunt it and question it, to see what it's made of and capable of (I guess). Wild stuff! At the same time, I seem to consider the "other" as "another potential form of me" (since I think everything is connected and ultimately of the same stuff)... and that's how I talk to it. I can be any of those "others"... even if I don't want to be... so it's informative to spar with it and myself.

[Skip]

"Be amazed and move on."

That's a lovely butterflyish view of life. If we could all adopt it, there would be a whole lot less trouble in the world: just what happens to us, not what we make.

On the other hand, since we have already made so much trouble for ourselves and one another, I suppose some people (ants?) feel bound to try fixing situations that went wrong; others (bees?) commit to making improvements - that's probably how they get stuck to a single platform. And nobody ever knows how bad the ticks will get.

One thing all us insects have in common, though, is a life-cycle defined by changes.

[Lacewing]

...I suppose some people (ants?) feel bound to try fixing situations that went wrong; others (bees?) commit to making improvements - that's probably how they get stuck to a single platform. And nobody ever knows how bad the ticks will get.

Yes, there seem to be waaaayyyyyy too many ticks!

It's helpful to sprout wings and fly beyond their territory.