In looking at context, i looked at the notion of understanding that the behaviors we exhibit are getting us the results we are getting and then consciously choosing to keep them, modify them, eliminate them, and / or add new ones…
BUT… in that “space” between old and new… as we are in the process moving from where we have been to where we will be is where we are - it’s a transition… it’s a middle (and, if we’re honest, we are in reality always in the middle)…
Call me strange, but i have always been fascinated by middles… that space of transition… whether it’s in business where something is “broken” and needs fixing or starting a new thing…
humanity’s great stories and myths are all about middles - spaces of transitions… wilderness, desert, the sea are all places of “transition” as heroes, kings, and even gods move from one place or role or objective to another.
and not just in mythology… humanity of every culture on the planet has rites of passage as the children move from youth to adulthood. Marriage and the journey that is… having children and the never ending variations associated with that… We are better defined by our middles… our character is defined and realized in action in transitions and middles…
i have always found great prosperity and joy in transition from job to job in a company; in leaving one company and moving to another… i always learn so much and discover more about others and myself.
middles are messy… transitions are confusing and can be painful… relationships change as people can resent our choice or be supportive and new people can come into the picture…
John Updike passed away this week but i have always been drawn to an interview i heard with him where he talked about why he wrote about “ordinary” life and the middle class… he said, “I like middles,” and he continued. “It is in middles that extremes clash, where ambiguity restlessly rules.”
and i think that Updike nailed it… see, i dont think we like ambiguity… we dont like “clashes” - we like specificity and events and places… we talk in terms of “defining moments” and accomplishments… those are easier and better defined. they are simple and require very little explanation.
but i’m challenging myself to really look at understanding myself as ever in the middle… in motion and transition from “here” to “there” - whether that is a spiritual, mental, or physical journey…
and since i do spend most of my time in the middle… in transition… isnt it more accurate to define myself by the process i am engaged in rather than by something else?