TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Novelist Ursula K. Le Guin decries the linear perspective that dominates modern storytelling. She says it’s “like an arrow, starting here and going straight there and THOK! hitting its mark.” Furthermore, she complains, plots are usually advanced through conflict, as if interesting action can’t possibly arise from any other catalyst. Your assignment in the coming week, Taurus, is to rebel against these oppressive conventions. Boycott any story whose narrative drive is fueled primarily by painful events. Protest movies that imply most human experiences are fraught with difficulty and resolved neatly. Most importantly, look back and celebrate the luminous mysteries that have shaped your life story: the meandering fascinations that didn’t lead to tidy conclusions, the wobbly joys that fed your soul, the adventures whose success was built on sweet breakthroughs rather than triumphs over suffering.

I’m not sure that I agree with the basic premise that development isn’t fueled by pain at all.