We are in a process of proceeding step by step with LifePath mapping tools to reveal the patterning and momentum of your life sojourn to Now. Last week (see previous two or three posts to catch up or you can catch up just with this post), you composed a list of significant Shaping Events from your life: those meaningful events, situations and/or relationships that “have influenced the person you have become.” I asked you to also RATE each of your Shaping Events, from -5 to +5, according to their relative impact. You could rate an event singly, e.g. +3 as having had a positive influence, or as a ‘binary’ event, e.g. +3/-3, indicating how the same event or situation has had both negative and positive impacts from your retrospective point of view.
Now then, next, from this list of Shaping Events you can easily discover your Life Themes! These are those KINDS of events, situations and/or relationships that have provided the primary content, as it were, of your Life Story.
Read through your list of Shaping Events several times slowly, looking for KINDS of these events that you have listed. SORT all of the Shaping Events from your list into a set of Kinds of events that are your Life Themes. Also, NAME these themes in a way that is personally meaningful to you. Some of your events might be included in more than one Theme, and some Themes could include but one event, though most of your Themes will likely include two or more of your Shaping Events.
Now then, make a new list, this time of the Life Themes you have discovered, and to the right of each Theme in this list add the numbers you initially assigned (or do now) to your Shaping Events that you would include as examples of each of your Themes.
For example (just a sample for two hypothetical Themes):
Life Themes Shaping Events
FAMILY #1, #2, #7, #12
HAPPY TIMES #1, #4, #5, #11
images are from pixabay.com
This is enough to add to your LifePath mapping process for this week. I encourage you to discover the Life Themes evident from your list of Shaping Events and also to contemplate and/or journal or talk with a loved one, or someone with which you might be sharing this process, about your Life Themes.
As preparation for your next step of actually “mapping” your Life Themes (See next week’s post), I encourage you to journal and/or reflect about what ROLE each of your Life Themes has had in your life. Has one or more of them been an uplifting influence in your life, helping you move forward with your interests and goals? Have one or more of them more been holding you “back” or keeping you “down” in some way? When in your life has one or another of your Life Themes dominated or been central to your experience?
For example, in reviewing my Life Themes at one point I realized I would usually Travel (one of my Themes) after a significant downward trend in a Relationship (another Theme), and this often helped me to recoup and go forward again with other goal-related themes in my life.
So, proceed! BTW one book I highly recommend that could be looked at as an informal companion to the LifePath mapping process is The Life You were Born to Live, by Dan Millman. Less obviously, another excellent background book for this self-discovery ‘life mapping’ approach would be Journey of Souls, by Dr. Michael Newton.
Better Endings 