The soldier was on a rant which is a very common thing. I listen to him with half an ear except for when I decide to pay attention. I can’t do this all the time because the rants are so frequent they threaten my coveted good mood if I don’t filter. But he is genius-like if you do pay attention which for me is another reason not to. Because there is only so much I want to learn on a Saturday.

But sometimes he pops off with something that utterly fascinates me and this happened over the weekend. And I don’t even remember what he was talking about. I wasn’t listening right up until he said how stupid people are which are pretty much code words for me. I am always interested in how stupid people are, aren’t you?

Anyway, I remember now. He was talking about well-meaning people doing more harm than good with their ill-conceived charitable acts.

“I don’t know why,” he said. “But people seem to think things happen in a linear fashion when they don’t. The universe has its own way and it’s not linear.”

“What?’

“People think things happen linearly, but they don’t. Things happen exponentially. Some things do happen in a linear way. This will get you that, now and then but not very often. Most things happen exponentially. They happen all at once. Like you. You write and write and write and nothing happens and then one day something does happen and it’s completely out of proportion.”

I immediately attached this idea to the outer planet transits. Some gal sits in a horrible marriage for 15 years and then BAM. She’s out of there. Someone struggles to lose weight, or quit smoking or whatever else it is and then BAM. It happens.

I thought of geysers at Yellowstone. You stand there and look at nothing and then BAM! Up it comes. And I have been thinking about this since.

It seems to me if you want to live well you have to learn to ride the geyser when it comes. It also explains why tit for tat gets you nowhere and making this conscious can save you all kinds of grief.

Do you witness this phenomena in your life?