Life is Not Linear

And that may be the most important lesson you can learn

Let’s start at the beginning … i.e. the very beginning.

You see, birth plans are all the rage now. When I had my children, at the turn of the millennium, it was becoming popular to choose a birthplace, position (and sometimes date) of your soon-to-arrive baby. These days, I understand that the idea of a well-researched, well-documented birth plan is ubiquitous.

Of course, it’s a wise idea to be prepared for childbirth — we aren’t regularly exposed to the birth experiences of other women, as we were in the times of small villages and tight-knit communities — but there is one important caveat I always share with young mothers-in-waiting, painstakingly preparing the details of their imminent delivery.

Life is not linear. It often has its own plans.

Straight lines are a human concept. In fact, the easiest way to determine a man-made environment from a natural one is to look for straight sides and perfectly cut angles. And it’s easy to see how this linear mindset has invaded, not just our environments, but also our approach to life.

For instance, these days it’s not enough to have a goal; a target; an aspiration — we are are also unconsciously bound to the idea that we must create a plan on how to get there. A logical plan. A reasoned plan. An acceptable plan that ticks all the boxes and, preferably, has been tried and tested by others before us. A plan that takes us from A to Z in the shortest possible fashion; in a straight line.

And here’s the biggest challenge with that: we can become attached to our plan. We can begin to believe that our plan is not just a wish list of events and achievements but, rather, a definitive road map of how things should happen; are going to happen; must happen in order for us to achieve the goal we desire.

For many people, this attachment is automatic and unconscious. (Even the most self-aware and adaptable among us can fall prey to a process we believe should be happening.) And it can undermine our daily energy, enthusiasm and fulfillment, by:

• blinding us to opportunities and possibilities that are great for us, but that aren’t obviously aligned with our plan
• compelling us to waste energy chasing dead end options or pushing against unripe opportunities (because we believe these to be necessary to our plan)
• stimulating feelings of disappointment, anger or self-admonishment if we don’t, or can’t, follow the plan as we had intended

Life is not linear and, for a happier life, I encourage you to avoid regarding your plans and projections as defined personal strategies, carved in stone.

Instead, view your plans as ever-evolving ‘rough drafts’, etched lightly in pencil and ready to be enhanced by the glow of possibility, or redirected by the winds of change.

Kim Forrester is an award-winning author, educator and intuitive consultant with over 15 years’ experience as a professional intuitive and spiritual teacher. She combines cutting edge science with traditional spirituality to offer the latest understandings of psi, consciousness and holistic well being.