The most misread line on the hand. A short life line is not read as a short life — that superstition has no place in modern palmistry and never had much in the older traditions either. The life line is read as vitality, constitution, and how life has been lived: energy levels, resilience, and major changes of direction.

What actually gets read is how wide it swings. A life line arcing generously out into the palm is read as physical vigour, appetite, and enthusiasm. One hugging close to the thumb is read as a more contained, guarded energy — someone who conserves and paces themselves.

Breaks and overlaps are read as pivots rather than misfortune: a move, a career change, a reinvention. Where two segments overlap rather than simply stopping, the tradition reads it as a change you chose.