How does one shift timelines?

Dear Ones,

For quite some time, I have been wondering about the meaning of the composed word ‘timeline.’ It is a concept that sounds quite abstract and drawing a line on a piece of paper with a sprinkle of “life events” here and there doesn’t make a timeline come to life for me.

I understand a timeline might concern one’s life trajectory, or the path our daily circumstances are taking. Important life events, such as marriage, divorce, moving to a different city or country, getting a job, changing gender or religion, can certainly alter a person’s life; but why a timeline?

I believe it is the spiritual dimension of this shift that I cannot apprehend. Perhaps the day when a hermit comes out of her cave and starts reuniting with the world at large constitutes a significant spiritual change, hence a timeline shift.

That being said, I am rambling in search of a deeper understanding—perhaps one that would help me understand where my life ‘is going.’

Even the concept of a life “going somewhere” feels utterly strange, don’t you think so?

A person, an animal, a rocket, a star can go somewhere; but a life, with no legs or wings of its own, how does it go anywhere?