Being. Doing. Becoming.

Ok. If you can forgive me one enigmatic, aphoristic, epigrammatic, semi-oracular indulgence, I'll wax existential for a few moments in a nearly tweetological form, in hopes of sparking some new realizations. This is for leaders. This is for achievers. This is for everyone. So, here goes. Where the metaphysical meets the moral, we find a moving structure.

To be, to do, and to become: in that order, and then it all recurs.

To be is about the present. It’s a dynamic and contemporaneous state.

To do moves into the future, bringing the past and present to bear.

To be is given to us, at one level, and dependent on us, at another, which is the use we make of the gift.

To do is to become. Action is accretion. Even non-action is the doing of refraining, and this also molds the clay.

Becoming is what being and doing are for.

Doing and becoming await our initiative. Being precedes it and is poured into the process that then either enriches or diminishes it.

Becoming can be obvious, or mysteriously subtle.

Becoming is sometimes hidden until it bursts forth in its form.

Being. Doing. Becoming. The cycle continues whether we're awake or asleep, attentive or distracted, wise or foolish, concerned or careless, willing or rebellious, desirous or not.

We need to understand this process. And then, use it well.

Beginner's Mind, Master's Mind

"A good surfer is happy to get a good ride. A great surfer creates a great ride." - Don Sharp

My workout partner Don and I were sitting around today after the time of physical exercise, and we ended up talking about surfing, tennis, basketball, woodcarving, and what it takes to get into The Zone in any activity.

When you first learn a new sport, or any new activity, your head is full of the rules, and the techniques and tips you've learned. They guide you into the new performance. But, as long as they're consciously in your head, they also inhibit your performance. You focus on them, and on whatever they direct you to notice and do. That process can get you from the level of beginner to a higher plane. But it can't take you all the way to mastery.

The master is no longer rehearsing and consulting rules and tips. He or she is picking up details in a mostly unconscious way, and adapting, adjusting, and using those details to create something new. A surfer who is advanced can let go of the self conscious mental chatter that the beginner needs. He or she becomes one with the wave and with the ride.

Don tells me that after a great couple of hours in the surf, he sometimes has trouble remembering the details. It's almost as if all the conscious processes of noticing and remembering were turned off. Thinking gives way to being. The unconscious takes over. And then, great things happen.

How do you get to this point? Practice. Experience. Immersion. Doing. And then, eventually, you'll enter the promised land of being.

May you have the great blessing to do something where you can just be.