Being and becoming - how are we being what we want to become and becoming what we want to be?
It can be easy to live in the future.
‘When I get this role then…’
‘When I have x then…’
‘When I am y then…’
And when we get there often our attention still points to the future.
‘Now I am x, I want to…’
‘Now I have this, I need to…’
We are always in a process of becoming.
Becoming is unavoidable, in the same way a plant grows, or tries to grow in the conditions it exists in, in some way we are all moving forward.
If we are always becoming something, how much are we ever consciously what we are becoming?
For if we are always becoming:
How clear are we on what we want to become?
How are we being what we want to become in some way in every moment?
Perhaps a more useful question is what am I being now to become what I want?
Because what if what we are being means in some way we have already become what we want as much as moving us to what we want to become?
Our being can be the bridge to becoming what we want.
Right this is all a bit too abstract, so let's try and draw it with shapes…
In thinking about what we want to become and how we can be that in some way right now, we can more consciously be (and become) what we want.
Looking at the Venn diagrams, how much is how we are — our being — contributing to what we want to become?
How big is the overlap?
What would more of the overlap look like?
Still too abstract, what could this look like in practice?
What would you like to become or be more of?
This could be a range of things:
A caring partner
An artist
More present
An empowering leader
A supportive sibling
A top athlete
How are you being those things you want to become?
How are you being a caring partner, an artist, more present, an empowering leader, a supportive sibling, a top athlete?
All these things likely involve action, these actions come from how and who we are.
What we want to be will shape what we want to become, what we want to become will shape what we want to be in each moment.
So what is it for you to be a caring partner, or an artist, or more present, or an empowering leader etc?
What does that mean for how to go about becoming those things?
How are you being what you want to become?
If life is a process of becoming, in some way we will never finish becoming, in being what we want to become, in some way, each moment we already become what we want.
If we could be more of what we want to become now, knowing then, that we are what we want to be and to become, what would it be like?
