You look at where you're going and where you are and it never makes sense, but then you look back at where you've been and a pattern seems to emerge.

My life seemed to be a series of events and accidents. Yet when I look back, I see a pattern.

My advice: just keep movin' straight ahead. Every now and then you find yourself in a different place.

What may not make sense now is leading you to what will in time.

When going back makes sense, you are going ahead.

You must determine where you have been in your life, so that you can know where you are now. If you don’t know where you are, precisely, then you could be anywhere. Anywhere is too many places to be, and some of those places are very bad. You must determine where you have been in your life, because otherwise you can’t get to where you’re going. You can’t get from point A to point B unless you are already at point A, and if you’re just “anywhere” the chances you are at point A are very small indeed. You must determine where you are going in your life, because you cannot get there unless you move in that direction. Random wandering will not move you forward. It will instead disappoint and frustrate you and make you anxious and unhappy and hard to get along with (and then resentful, and then vengeful, and then worse). Say what you mean, so that you can find out what you mean. Act out what you say, so you can find out what happens. Then pay attention. Note your errors. Articulate them. Strive to correct them. That is how you discover the meaning of your life. That will protect you from the tragedy of your life. How could it be otherwise? Confront the chaos of Being. Take aim against a sea of troubles. Specify your destination, and chart your course. Admit to what you want. Tell those around you who you are. Narrow, and gaze attentively, and move forward, forthrightly. Be precise in your speech.

I happen to know this, and I happen to know that, and maybe I know that;and I work everything out from there. Tomorrow I may forgot that this is true, but remember that something else is true, so I can reconstruct it all again. I am never quite sure of where I am supposed to begin or where I am supposed to end. I just remember enough all the time so that as the memory fades and some of the pieces fall out I can put the thing back together again every day

Put things in perspective by going back before going forward

I rarely end up where I was intending to go, but often I end up somewhere I needed to be.

Where there's a pattern, there's a reason.

When I want to understand what is happening today or try to decide what will happen tomorrow, I look back.

You don’t see much of any path unless you are Janus, looking simultaneously backward and forward.

Well, perhaps the path appears straight when we look back at it. On the way, we often feel lost.

You must determine where you are going in your life, because you cannot get there unless you move in that direction. Random wandering will not move you forward. It will instead disappoint and frustrate you and make you anxious and unhappy and hard to get along with (and then resentful, and then vengeful, and then worse).