In the previous post, I pointed out the major life chapters that occurred in Forrest Gump’s life. Because it is only a two-hour-and–forty-minute movie covering several decades of Forrest’s life, the life chapters are clearly defined. It’s easy to see how one chapter evolved, ended, and then led directly to a new, next life chapter. In the case of this movie, these changes were both dramatic and definitive.
What the movie didn’t have time to reveal were all of the subchapters and stories within the story. Most likely, many more details, events, and subchapters were also occurring … and they were not part of the movie.
One example of a chapter and subchapters that did occur was …
… Forrest and Jenny’s relationship. If we consider Forrest’s relationship with Jenny as a single chapter, then the sub-chapters of that relationship would include: Jenny as a little schoolgirl, the teenage years, college, singer, hippie, druggie, return home once, leave home (or run away) , Jenny becomes a Mama, the return to Greenbow (again), marriage to Forrest, and finally her death.
Jenny was only a single (albeit very important) chapter in Forrest’s life.
But when we look at Jenny’s chapter and all of the subchapters and stories within the story that occurred … it’s easy to imagine another whole book filled with its own chapters just to describe the relationship between Jenny and Forrest.
It seems to me that the more aware we become of the chapters of our own lives … of the chapters that we are presently living within … then the easier it is to make changes. We can change the things that are within our power to change … and we can learn to accept those things for which we have no control.
Awareness is the first step to writing the chapters, and subchapters, of your life.
How many chapters and subchapters are occurring in your life right now?
Do chapters have to always end in the same predictable fashion?
How do you want the next chapter of your life to turn out?
Next Blog Title: Cerebrate!
Next Blog Date: February 20, 2012