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Thanks for this post, Jennifer. As I think about my own experiences of growth and transformation, I feel like there are at least three different kinds that are probably good to distinguish. One type seems to show up when I have a certain clarity and I remain attentive. Here, the becoming is aligned with my goals (the ones that I’ve chosen wisely). Some days the path is steeper and I have to work harder. Other days there is a well-placed bench overlooking a lovely view where I get to rest for a while. This process of becoming has certain rhythms — weekdays and weekends, summer break and finals week, etc. My challenge is to be mindful that I’m not living like it’s finals week all the time. In another type of becoming, the experience is more like suddenly looking up and realizing I don’t like where I’m going. Perhaps I didn’t have clarity about where the trail was heading. Or, perhaps I learned something once I was on the trail that made me question my commitment to this journey. Or, perhaps I wasn’t staying attentive and missed a turn (usually because the masses were all tromping off some other way). In this case, my response has been to spend some time reflecting on what I really want, then leaving the relationship, quitting the job, or making some clear ending … and trying to pick up the trail I’m more aligned with, in a new relationship, a new job, etc. Finally, there is the actual “rite of passage” when you separate from the role you once had, dissolve the processes that carried you in those times, and learn to structure your life in ways consistent with the new role you are taking on in some system. For example, traditional cultures had (and continue to have) beautiful rituals—with rich mentoring, symbols, and ceremonies—to move boys and girls out of childhood and into adult responsibilities in their communities. A practical example of that in my life is the transition I’m about to begin as soon as I post this comment and then sit down to craft an email to the Servant Council of my religious order informing them that I intend to finish my decade-long term of service as the order’s Treasurer and Bookkeeper at the end of 2026. Success in that rite of passage will look like mindfully and carefully separating myself from all the various legal and financial authorities I have in that role, handing them off seamlessly to the person who will fill that role next, and — importantly — having no desire or need to “micromanage” that function in the future.

@Patricia Sheerin Thank you abundantly for these reflections. At first, I was surprised to not see the ecological impacts in your list of social, political, and economic downsides of AI, but then I was grateful to see you pull out those intersecting environmental costs at the end of your post. I concur with you wholeheartedly on all of these thoughts.

I'm still sitting with the way the workshop shifted my understanding of the distinctions between doing and being goals (and the relationship between them). And I have a renewed appreciation for the importance of reflection to keep "front of mind" the movement toward (or into) the being goals. Because they are objective and quantifiable, it is easier (for me, at least) to keep track of progress toward the doing goals. At the end of the day, I can quickly assess whether I did or did not "write at least 500 words" on a project, but it takes more time to tease out whether I feel like I'm living more from love than fear (and what I can do differently about that tomorrow). Finally, my intuition is that at least some of my being goals can be supported -- implemented even -- by explicit doing goals. For example, a being goal of "staying present" would surely be supported by a doing goal of "20 minutes of daily meditation." Those are all the things I'm still thinking about after this wonderful workshop. Thanks, Steven!

Comparing the general "feel" of a dream I had last night to one I had the night before, each of which pictured me in a different "work" (or "service") activity--both of which correspond to what I actually do in real life--I was struck by how much more fulfilling the one felt (while the other was perhaps more what I tell myself I "should" be doing to make a contribution). I tried to express that good feeling in words and came up with: "deep competence and full presence." That may be my theme for 2026.