What are we seeking?

‘What are we seeking?’ is a question that has governed the initial years of my adult life. In retrospect, it has been the undercurrent of my career and professional pursuits; an in-depth exploration of all that we are and might become to ourselves and one another.

In addition to being a personal exploration of ‘becoming’- ‘What are we seeking?’ - had become a question of society at large and the people I’ve encountered, as constituent parts. With so much activity, and endeavour, passion and practice - uncovering the intention behind our actions - has always been a source of deep personal curiosity. It had always seemed logical to me that improved outcomes and appropriate solutions could be found in the unearthing of the intention behind action.

 I’ve been fascinated by the various ways individuals, groups and communities ask and answer this question: “what are we seeking?”. I’ve been most drawn to following and working for leaders whose answers mirrored mine.

With time, space and reflection, I realise how much of my early adulthood has been dedicated to "seeking" something. The more time I spent asking myself “what” the more I realised the real questions are “why” and “who”.

 Why am I seeking?

 Who am I seeking to be?

The answers to both are found in the intention behind action – the force governing our "seeking" – our inner child.

In essence, over this (relatively) short period of time – the one thing that has become abundantly clear – is that people are seeking to become the fullest version of their inner child. Their truest and fullest self, inhabiting the world beyond survival mode. 

This inner child is defined as “a person's supposed original or true self’. Some theories indicate that this inner child is with us and becomes concealed in adulthood.  This resonates deeply with reality and what I see from people and the world we currently live in.

What becomes even clearer, when I consider this reality, is that most people do not feel they are or have become the fullest version of this inner child. Most people no longer feel that there is an appropriate home for their inner child. They create alternative systems of safety, recognition and sufficiency for their inner child – irrespective of the emotional, psychological consequences. Feelings of alienation, depression, insecurity, stress, anxiety, and a general lack of flourishing and fulfilment begin to arise as evidence of a life lived exclusively in the survival zone.

This drive to find home, safety and possibility for this inner child to blossom is what we are ‘seeking’. It is who we are ‘seeking’ to be and crucially, why we are ‘seeking’.

Across this series of short articles and essays, I will highlight that the inner child seeks a healed and restored version of its original tribe – the place and context in which the inner child might be and become its fullest self.