Muppets & the Middle

So there's a song that I remember from my childhood, from the Muppet show where Kermit's nephew Robin sings a little song. The camera zooms down on him sitting on a staircase. And he is somewhere, as he says, not at the bottom, not at the top. The song goes like this. Halfway down the stairs is a stair where I sit there isn't any other stair quite like it I'm not at the bottom I'm not at the top so this is the stair where I always stop halfway up the stairs isn't up and isn't down it isn't in the nursery, it isn't in the town and all sorts of funny thoughts run round my head it isn't real really anywhere it's somewhere else instead halfway down the stairs is a stair where I sit there isn't any other stair quite like it I'm not at the bottom I'm not at the top so this is the stair where I always stop.

So what do we find in the middle? I love how, within this scene, this giant staircase. YouTube it. And there's this tiny little, the littlest puppet you've ever seen before perched on the middle step. He says the end of the second verse. You know, I'm not really anywhere. I'm not at the top, I'm not at the bottom I'm not at the beginning, I'm not at the end I'm not at the start line or the finish line. I'm not anywhere but I'm somewhere else. Instead, insinuating that this is a place that we as humans spend very little time defining, very little time tapping into the benefit of being in the middle.

So the middle of what? What are we talking about here? I'll offer two ideas. First, the middle of our journey, in between the beginning and the end. If we think about a staircase like little Robin the frog, the beginning, that first step, and you look at the staircase above and you go, oh, I still have all these stairs to go up. Then you get to the top. You forget the middle, the anxiety of the beginning, the success and triumph of the end. And the middle is missed. Consider the projects you have worked on.

Consider the races you have signed up for. Consider the seasons that have that clear start. And then I can't wait for it to be over. Think about signing up to go back to school, and you're excited to learn more, and you get into the midst of the learning and you just go, gosh, when will this all be done? What do we miss in the middle of the journey? A second way to think about the middle. How about the middle of our capacity? Right? Our ability to give anything between 0% and 100%. Perhaps if we look at a physical analogy, hopping up onto a treadmill and going, I'm going to run at my max speed for as long as I can.

And once I cannot anymore, I will turn the treadmill off rather than lowering the speed to be able to go, I may not be able to do this, but I can do this. And not only is there worth in that, there is experience to be had. So in our journey, what are we missing out on this not being anywhere but being somewhere else instead. And within our capacity, what are we missing out when we cannot give the top effort? So we say, I'll just turn it off and give the bottom effort. What are we missing out on in the middle of the journey?

In the middle of our capacity? That's what we'll consider right now. This leads us to a familiar place, right? The definition for mindfulness that I really appreciate is the practice of being where you are with what, what you have and appreciating that or honoring that, making the most out of that. And that's what Robin is talking about, right? Robin says there's no place quite like this middle. It's not the top, it's not the bottom, it's not the beginning, it's not the end. It's in this moment that I am.

So consider these questions as you lay out, as you zoom in on the value of being right where you are for your journaling exercise today, I challenge you to see that the beginning and the end moments, the 0% and the 100% capacity moments, are few and far between. So as you apply this journaling exercise to some area of your life right now, the first two questions are really setting up the third. Question number one, where are you at in your journey? Are you at the beginning? Are you at the end? Are you somewhere in the middle?

Question number two, where are you at with your capacity, the energy you have to do, the focus you have to do? Are you at 0% drained, empty? Are you 100% firing full fledged? Are you somewhere in that one to 99% capacity? And assuming that most of our journeys put us somewhere after the beginning, before the end, somewhere in between one and 99% of our capacity? Question number three. What is it that you find in the middles that you do not find in the beginnings and the ends, the zeros and the 100s that you can appreciate, that you can tap into, that you can be nourished by?

That the beginnings and the ends and the zeros and the hundreds will never provide. Take some time right now to journal and consider these questions. Your mindset impacts whether you use the skills that you have or not. So, this week, as you've taken this time to truly consider and realize, the majority of your life is spent, spent after beginnings and before ends. The majority of your life is spent with more than 0% energy and less than 100%. So, perhaps this little frog is onto something encouraging us to see the magic of the middle.

Halfway down the stair is the stair where I sit. There isn't any stair quite like it. It's not at the bottom. It's not at the top. So this is the stair where I always stop. Stop to honor, stop to appreciate, stop to look at the world and all that there is to be nourished by knowing that there will always be beautiful memories at the beginnings, at the ends, when we are empty, and when we are full. So, as you move on through your week, I encourage you to apply these questions again and to look at the opportunity you have to sit down right where you are and to go.

This is an amazing place to be.