What and Who

Change is a powerful theme in my life now, something I had not grasped until this weekend.

I finished reading two books - both about change.  I continue my professional conversation - about change.  I went through and re-evaluated my goals - and what needed to change. 

Change is a powerful theme - but what do I need to change?

This is the question that has come to dominate my thinking since the weekend.  There seems to be so much that I could change about myself - not just the trivial things of what I look like or simple items like what to keep in my life the important things of character and behavior, relationships and what I spend my life on.  Which of these things need to be changed?  From what to what?  And in what order?

But a thought followed on after these thoughts, something that really should have preceded them: who do I want to be?

This is the key (or at least one of the keys) that has escaped me until now. 

Who do I want to be?  What do I want to be like? What character attributes do I wish to have?  Whom do I wish to emulate - and how?

If one has the answer to this, it seems, the other issues fall into place.  If I know who I am to be, then what I need to change becomes easy.  It is a bit like sculpture as I understand it:  if carving an angel, simply remove all pieces of stone which do not look like an angel.  This, of course, presumes that you know what you are going to carve in the beginning.

Not that this first step is easy.  It takes time and energy to determine what you wish to be like.  Ideally it takes a great deal of careful thought - after all, once the decision is made, it can be difficult to remake yourself.  But once made, the matter of what to change should become much easier, a simple exercise of carving away all that is about you that is not what you see in your mind.

If I can determine the who, the what should easily slide into place.