“The show’s not dead as long as I believe in it,” Kermit The Frog says in The Muppets Take Manhattan. “The frog is stayin’.” Much like his beloved signature Muppet, Henson’s determination and faith in his abilities were two of the driving factors behind his successful career.
Despite being rebuffed on countless occasions and underestimated as a provider of simple and fluffy children’s entertainment, Henson was resolute in his capacity to blaze his own path and make his mark in the industry as a serious artist. He knew he had strengths both in puppetry and television production and sought to find a unique way to combine the two. His confidence allowed him to be willing to take chances and try new routes. “I think if you study – if you learn too much of what others have done, you may tend to take the same direction as everybody else,” he said. Instead, Henson chose to trust in himself and go his own way.
“One of the nice things about puppets is that it’s your own hand in there,” he said. “You can make it do anything you want it to.” Symbolic of his own career, Henson believed he could make himself do anything he wanted to if he only worked hard enough and kept believing in himself.
However, this did not mean that Henson was averse to seeking out help when necessary. He was talented but he recognized the fact that he did not know everything. “It’s just a matter of our figuring out how to receive the ideas or information that are waiting to be heard,” said Henson. “I don’t know exactly where ideas come from, but when I’m working well ideas just appear…It’s one of the ways I know there’s help and guidance out there.”
Thus, one of the main ways Henson found his confidence and strength was by spending a few minutes each morning in meditation and prayer. “I find that this really helps me to start the day with a good frame of reference,” he says. “As part of my prayers, I thank whoever is helping me – I’m sure that somebody or something is.” Through this daily practice, Henson was able to centre himself, gain focus and reinforce not only his goals but also his ability to achieve them. A busy man, it only took a few minutes every day to regain clarity and give him the motivation and confidence he needed to succeed.
When Henson was a young boy, television was a difficult industry to break into and the payoffs of doing so were not as great as they are today. Puppeteering was not a popular profession and there were few role models to whom Henson could look to for inspiration and advice. But, Henson knew where his talents lay and while he did not anticipate the scope his own success, he always knew he could make a positive contribution and in a different way than most. By having faith in himself, Henson was able to reinvent the world of puppetry and enrich imaginations around the world.
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