Carrie Link

PLAYING BOTH ENDS AGAINST THE MIDDLE

I'm a great starter and finisher, where I struggle is in that whole middle area. The thrill and newness of starting something is enough to get me going, likewise with the finishing. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, brings me greater satisfaction than "check, checking," that is crossing something off my never-ending "To Do" list.

I know that the lessons come from finding grace in the middle, but I resist, none-the-less. That middle area can be so tedious, so seemingly circumvented, interrupted, and unproductive. I like to "see" the fruits of my labor!


"I'm doing a medium wash," she calls from the laundry room to my ears in the kitchen, "do you have anything you want me to throw in?"

"A medium wash? WTF is a medium wash? I do darks and lights. Doesn't everyone? Isn't that what you're supposed to do? I don't even know what I'd put in a medium wash - what do I have that's medium?"

All that noise runs through my busy head until I move my body from the kitchen to the laundry room to take a look through the hamper. With new eyes I survey the scene. Wow. Who knew? Lots of my stinky, dirty clothes are in that medium category! I just never looked at them that way, trying always to make grey either dark or light, and finally landing on the excruciating decision that light grey is a light, and dark grey is a dark.

"She," the one with the new age laundry ideas, has taught me much about the middle. The middle ground of two opinions. The middle of breathing, that space between exhale and inhale. That magical space of breath that when meditated upon can actually lead to enlightenment. That middle stuff that makes up 90% of everything we do, and choosing to be good with "middle" and not resist. "What we resist, persists," I invoke my own mantra. What is so damn hard about "middle?"

Buddhists have taught for centuries that "The Middle Path" or "Middle Way" is THE way to go. Middle does not mean equal, middle means neutral, upright and centered, according to Buddha Net. Hmmmm... neutral? Upright? Centered? Those don't sound all that bad. Maybe those Buddhists have a point.

I'm off to do laundry, the "new" way.