I have been providing a process of LifePath Mapping tools you can use to discover and explore meaningful aspects of your Life Story. Your life is the stuff that Myth is made of, for Myth is made up from the stuff of our lives.
So far (so you can catch up if you have just arrived; see the last four posts to review thoroughly), I have invited you to:
- Make a list of your Shaping Events (events, situations or relationships that have influenced the person you have become; number the events as you think of them, not necessarily in a chronological order);
- Retrospectively RATE each of your Shaping Events, using a scale of -5 to+5, to indicate the relative positive and/or negative impact of the event. (You can rate the event singly, e.g., +3, OR as a binary-impact event, e.g. +3/-2 to reflect both positive AND negativbe impacts of the same event); and
- Read through your list of Shaping Events several times slowly and SORT each event into personally meaningful KINDS of events. NAME your KINDS of events as Life Themes, and make a new list, of these Themes you have discovered along with the numbers of the events you have included with each Theme. You might have some Events that are associated with more than one Theme or some Themes with only a single Event, but most Themes will likely include two or more Events.
This week I will coach you to graphically “map” your Life Themes by using color coded trend lines reflecting the Ratings you have assigned to your Shaping Events for each Theme.
So, are you ready? Get a set of colored pencils or colored fine tip markers, and either print out and blow up the basic LIFE MAP Chart shown just below, or you can use a ruler and pencil or ink to create your own chart copying the one shown below, using a large piece of unlined paper (8.5x”17” is recommended, or you could use two 8.5”x11” unlined pages taped together from behind).
Notice you will have a solid, neutral center line (0 rated) as your chronological Age Line, with five light-toned dotted lines above and five dotted lines below that neutrally-rated Age Line. Please start by placing your birth year at the far left of your Age Line, and your current age to the far right.
Now on your Life Map Chart, choose colored pencils or pens for representing each of your Life Themes. Then use the Age Line to put the number of an event and the age you were at when it occurred, and use the Ratings (plus and/or minus) you have reconstructed for each of your Shaping Events for each Theme to PLOT the Event on the graph with a dot or X (using an X on both the positive and negative lines vertically for any binary event). Plot all of the Shaping Events for each Life Theme using this color-coded approach. Include a KEY box (as shown in the sample below) beside your Life Map Chart to indicate the colors you are associating with each of your Life Themes.
The Sample Life Map Chart shown below provides a simplified example of how you can plot your Shaping events and use same-Theme colored lines to LINK same-Theme events to reveal PATTERNS in how your Life Themes have unfolded over time. Notice for the sample Family event around age 25 in the chart below that it is not directly linked with the rest of the dark blue coded Family Theme events. Use your own reflection process to either link or keep separate same-Theme events to reflect your own understanding of how your Themes have patterned. (Most of your Themes will overlap more than shown in the Sample chart below.)
Mapping your Life Themes according to their meaningful Shaping Events will begin to reveal the relative Ups and Downs, and also the dynamic, overlapping and “mixed impacts” of your significant life experiences. You might be surprised to see how your Life Theme trends may have influenced your overall feelings of inspiration or depression during meaningful periods of your life over time.
Next week you will discover further how your Life Themes have factored into highly significant periods of your life experience, composing a meaningful storyline as distinctive Life Chapters.
art images are from pixabay.com
I really encourage you to take me up on engaging with this LifePath Mapping process for yourself rather than just reading through these posts. Feel free to share any insights or questions by Commenting below. I hope you may find this process to be illuminating and helpful as you reflect on the past, then consider where you are at Now, and from here (with later steps), project where you are going and how you can arrive at the destination of your innermost Heart’s desire.
Better Endings 