Just as there are no true endings, there are also no true beginnings.
Nothing springs into being fully formed and ready to play. Everything “becomes”–growing from a diverse set of circumstances or base parts, changing constantly as it develops. Sometimes the process can take seconds, sometimes months and sometimes decades or more.
We don’t always see this growth happening. We don’t always realize that what we think is a sudden bloom of “new” has actually been creeping up on us for weeks. We don’t notice because we’re distracted and already over loaded with information. Or maybe because it’s more fun to be surprised.
Since becoming is an ongoing process, we have the chance to always influence the way that process flows. We have the chance to take part in creation–of ourselves, of the situations around us, of the world the future will see bloom.
In order to do that, we must take conscious action. Without that conscious action–without that application of will–we do little more than muddle through life in a reactive or passive way. It is only through being active that we can get what we want out of life.
Sometimes, being active is the only way to get what we need.
We’re always looking for the beginnings and endings of things. It’s part of how we’re trained to look at the world, part of how we construct the narrative of our lives. But in all that looking, we lose site of the middle, the place we are right now. More importantly, we lose sight of the fact that we’re the ones writing the story.
Even when it may be Destiny’s hand nudging us along, it is still our choice to heed those subtle calls or fight them. Even when Fate intervenes and throws us into the same situation again and again and again, it is up to us to choose whether we learn or repeat the lesson once more. Even when we are thrust into a situation–good or bad–that we did not ourselves create, we still have the choice of what to do once we’re there.
It is a new year now. But it isn’t really any different from the last one.
At least not until we make it different.
Until we will it to be different.
Until we live it.
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