{"id":1911,"date":"2019-05-15T00:39:26","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T00:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/?p=1911"},"modified":"2019-05-15T00:39:27","modified_gmt":"2019-05-15T00:39:27","slug":"finding-hope-in-the-middle-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/2019\/05\/15\/finding-hope-in-the-middle-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Hope in the Middle Season"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/files\/2019\/05\/20190427_110849.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1913\" width=\"248\" height=\"353\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/files\/2019\/05\/20190427_110849.jpg 561w, https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/files\/2019\/05\/20190427_110849-210x300.jpg 210w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 248px) 100vw, 248px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Tao leader <br>Lives fully in every moment\u201d<br><em>&nbsp;                            Tao Te Ching, <\/em>Chapter 14<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of us love beginnings and endings, starting new\nprojects and celebrating their completion. But this month, after planting tomatoes,\nmy vegetable garden is in the long middle season. The fruits of summer will come\nlater, and the most abundant harvests only after summer has passed. Now\nprogress is so slow nothing seems to be happening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sustaining hope in the middle season can be challenging when\nwe\u2019re highly motivated, intent on reaching our goals. But patience with process\nis essential for maintaining our peace of mind. For we spend most of our lives &nbsp;in the time known in classical epics as <em>in medias res<\/em>\u2014in the middle of\nthings\u2014between the excitement of new beginnings and the fulfillment of conclusions.\nOur projects, careers, and relationships all have long middle seasons. In time,\nenthusiasm for new projects can diminish, the glamorous new career can become\ndaily routine, and courtship settles down into daily life with the one we love.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we focus too much on future goals, we can miss the present\u2014the\nvital gift of this day. At my university, I hear students talk about getting all\ntheir required classes \u201cout of the way.\u201d But graduating seniors often say they\nwished they\u2019d spent more time enjoying college because these years went by so\nquickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you find your mind racing ahead of you, you can\ncultivate greater patience and hope in the middle season by slowing down,\ntaking a deep breath, and bringing yourself back to the present moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Are you in the middle season with a project,\ncareer, educational process, or relationship?<\/li><li>Have you been rushing, impatient, trying to push\nthings?<\/li><li>If so, take time to reframe the process:\nfocusing not so much on getting this moment over with as experiencing what it\nhas to offer. <\/li><li>Take a deep breath and remind yourself:<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;\u201cThe Tao leader <br>Lives fully in every moment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then look for the gift in the present moment. Enjoy the\nprocess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Reference<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An earlier version of this lesson was published in Dreher,\nD. E. (2002). <em>Inner gardening: A seasonal\npath to inner peace. <\/em>New York, NY: HarperCollins Quill. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThe Tao leader Lives fully in every moment\u201d&nbsp; Tao Te Ching, Chapter 14 Most of us love beginnings and endings, starting new projects and celebrating their completion. But this month, after planting tomatoes, my vegetable garden is in the long &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/2019\/05\/15\/finding-hope-in-the-middle-season\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"qubely_global_settings":"","qubely_interactions":"","kk_blocks_editor_width":"","_kiokenblocks_attr":"","_kiokenblocks_dimensions":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,10,3],"tags":[38,29],"class_list":["post-1911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-contemplative-leader","category-mindful-leader","category-spiritual-practice","tag-hope","tag-tao-te-ching"],"gutentor_comment":0,"qubely_featured_image_url":null,"qubely_author":{"display_name":"writeherewritenow","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/author\/writeherewritenow\/"},"qubely_comment":0,"qubely_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/category\/contemplative-leader\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Contemplative Leader<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/category\/mindful-leader\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Mindful Leader<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/category\/spiritual-practice\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Spiritual Practice<\/a>","qubely_excerpt":"\u201cThe Tao leader Lives fully in every moment\u201d&nbsp; Tao Te Ching, Chapter 14 Most of us love beginnings and endings, starting new projects and celebrating their completion. But this month, after planting tomatoes, my vegetable garden is in the long &hellip; Continue reading &rarr;","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1911"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1916,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1911\/revisions\/1916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}