I am who I am because of who I am becoming. The future is creating the present. There is no past.

We are at the beginning of a new decade and a very different time. Although this change has been formulating for some time, it’s beginning to “unpack and install” itself into our life experience now. Nothing is going to be the same moving forward. Previous methods and approaches will meet more and more resistance until they are removed and replaced.

If your focus is on whom you are becoming and what you are creating, you will feel a momentum. If, on the other hand, you attempt to live in the past, you will feel as if you have disappeared into an alternate reality, a kind of self-inflicted solitude where nothing progresses and the days blend into one another in a sameness. 

Identifying and mapping out your desired future and then reeling it back into the present is the key to mastering the next wave, starting now.  Indeed, now is a time to be excited for what can be. The wind is at your back, so long as you roll up your sleeves and focus on who you are becoming. Dream big dreams!

Perhaps the most important existential question of our time is “Who am I as a unique individual (Western) — against the backdrop of the whole of humanity (Eastern) — and what is my relationship to my physical environment?” (Indigenous). 

So what does this mean, why is it so important, and why now? It means that we have to explore and celebrate our individuality – everyone’s, not just a selective few – our role in the larger community, and we must carefully consider our home, Mother Earth, of which our physical body is a part. And all of this has to work together. If, for example, we neglect the rainforest – the lungs of our ecosystem – eventually, we won’t be able to breathe. We must, therefore, bring our bodies into focus as a centerpiece of our lives, as a transformer to bring our dreams into reality. It will become increasingly more difficult to ignore the impact of our choices on Mother Earth, for she is entering a critical time.

We will no longer be able to retreat to our heads; we have to bring our bodies along with us and make these changes in real life not just in our beautiful minds. And somehow we have to do all of this together.

Within approximately the next 5 years, our communities will come into focus and be a much more critical part of our existence, not just because there are cities, towns, and associations, but because of an  increased awareness of how we belong to one another. Understanding and celebrating your uniqueness, therefore, is critical as a first step, because belonging doesn’t mean we give up our individuality. They already tried that experiment and it failed miserably!

More and more, we will define ourselves not by our jobs or the money we create. We will establish self-identity by what we value. Are we true to ourselves, and to what is most important to us?  When we aren’t honest with ourselves, the world around us will reflect this more and more directly. The rules and roles that no longer feel honest or integral to our innermost being will be challenged and removed. Institutional structures that are soul-crushing will fade away. New careers and possibilities that we have not yet imagined will become a mainstay.

Starting now, within small communities, in particular, rules will give way to guidelines. An expansion of awareness of self will become a centerpiece. Increasingly, you will be encouraged to express yourself, genuinely, to expand the boundaries of who you are to grow and stretch to new heights of awareness and being.  There will be an increased focus and understanding of the effect of your words on others, not in a politically-correct way, but in a self-aware way. Equally important will be a need to express your needs without apologizing or being afraid of what others will think.

It will become much more difficult to hide away and watch the world go by, or to interact only virtually. Reality will become much more participatory and in-person. You have to be here now. After all, that’s why you were born here.

The beginning of this wave of change is right now. Without delay, take inventory of what keeps you limited or small. Where are you hiding from yourself or the world or staying in a role that no longer works for you? Where are you trying to convince yourself that it does? Practice random acts of kindness with strangers, to kick off this new decade. It will change your life.