Every day, we are given opportunities to progress. Usually the real growth opportunities appear, not only when we least expect them, but also when we are most vulnerable, which is often in the middle of the task at hand.
The beginning of any task welcomes us as a new friend, and the end teases us with a glimpse of the finish line. But the middle is the mystery, the test you prepared for and must pass, the moment that has been awaiting you. In the middle, we find the clues we need to discover and release the buried treasure that lies within each of us. But, many times we don’t see the middle for the opportunity that it is, and instead of rising to the challenge, we abandon course.
For instance, many of our 60 Day Challengers are coming to the halfway point entering unfamiliar territory. Add in the unusual and extreme heat of the last few weeks and any challenge becomes even more uncomfortable. Irritable and anxious, our tendency is to simply shut down. “I didn’t think it would hurt this much”, “Why am I hungry all the time?”, “I don’t think that I can do Camel pose today because I just feel like crying!” At the beginning, these appear as signs that we’ve reached our limits. But “the riddle is in the middle”: this is not a time to stop, but a time to go!
“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” These are your days! Now find the twist in the plot, hear the crescendo in the song, feel the dead heat in the middle of the summer. In these middle moments we are on the cusp of change and transformation is within reach. It is up to each of us to write the end of our script with the actions we initiate here, in the middle.
So, stay tuned to those times when you want to run, and come back to center. Find your breath and in each inhale and exhale locate stillness and peace. Lean into the discomfort with a watchful eye and an open heart and right there in the middle, renew your vision of who you long to be.
–Michele Vennard