Last weekend I saw a sculpture of a man carving himself out of a block of stone in the Hindu temple, BAPS Shri Swaminarayan. The man wasn’t carving something separate, but bringing himself out of the stone with deliberation.
It reminded me that we are not simply discovered. We create ourselves. In the language of biology, this is autopoiesis, the capacity of a living system to continually produce and regenerate itself. That is what we are doing.
In my work leading change, I see this play out every day. Change is not something that happens to us. It is something we participate in. Every choice, every conversation, every moment we step forward or hold back, we are shaping who we are becoming.
The question is not whether you are being formed. The question is whether you are doing it intentionally.
This week, pay attention to your chisel. Notice the moments that matter and use them. That is where your life takes shape.
“What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the soul.”
– Joseph Addison
