4 Questions to Consider on Being

For the past several weeks, my social media accounts and email inbox have been flooded with these messages:

This is your year!

Lose weight, get fit! Join now!

Earn 6 figures as a coach! 

Do more than you ever thought possible!

Increase your productivity!

I’m not surprised, really. These American slogans hound us frequently, their intensity growing as we prepare to turn another page in the calendar. While I understand their intent and timing, I don’t care for the rhetoric that feels more like a sales pitch screaming at me to perform more/better/faster. And don’t even get me started on the exclamation points!!!!!!!!! 

BUT. (Because we’re adults and can embrace nuance, right?)

There is value in doing, too, which reflects our agency in being able to choose positive intentions, set new goals, and decide how we want to grow within the year.

I get it. 

Making S.M.A.R.T. goals is helpful in moving toward a specific dream. 

Making conscious decisions to improve our health is an essential part of self-care.

Making better choices about how we spend our time is an exercise in wisdom. 

These actions are important to consider. 

My concern however, is that our culture remains fixated on our capacity for doing (and always doing more) but fails to invite us to consider who we’re becoming in the doing. When we look at the upside down kingdom of God, we see an emphasis on being, usually before the doing.

We read in the Gospels that Jesus invited people to think about their souls, their way of being in community. He was less interested in accolades, titles, behavior modification, or productivity because he knew that lasting change and growth must be rooted from within the soul.

We can set all the ‘right’ goals, talk about all that we’re doing, even meet our own expectations, and still fail to understand the importance of being, which asks us to slow down and think more critically about what’s actually driving our behaviors and choices.

If our doing is not inviting us to consider our being, it’s time to course correct. Reflecting on the following questions can be a first step in helping us to develop a mindset that is rooted in our identity and purpose, instead of our performance. I hope they serve you. 

Four Questions to Consider on Being in the New Year:

• What does ‘being’ look like in your own life?
• What does your schedule say about who you are and what do you want it to say?
• Who do you want to work toward becoming this year?
• How will you know you’re growing into the person you want to be? 

I’d love to hear how this post resonates with you. Feel free to share below or send me an email. 

Featured image by Amy Earl at Unsplash