The Silver Lining from Living Life in the Liminal Zone

Liminal refers to that space between, not one thing, nor quite the other, determinedly neither. This word comes to mind often these days. One of the interesting aspects of experiencing so much disruption in our lives, is that the sense of uncertainty does not stay neatly quarantined in the areas such as work or school that are actually disrupted. It is as if we experience life as more fluid, less firmly fixed around the edges, rather like a liquid that could bleed through the borders and edges we define for it. Change flows with it, and suddenly things that once seemed settled begin to move... and at the same time many of us are experiencing the tension that comes from being stuck in a man-made world. Four walls that do not flow, that stubbornly resist the gentle tides of the seasons and remain the same from one day to the next. This weird dislocation between rigid man-made habitats and the on-going disruption in what felt like "normal" life can be very unsettling over time. Kind of like a low-grade motion sickness. And yet...

And yet, in the softening of the edges of our routines and definitions of self, where these rub up against the four walls of our room, there is a whispering of possibilities. That maybe the world isn't as fixed as we have made it with our descriptions and identities. Maybe there is more possibility and opportunity lurking beneath the surface. As if a layer of gauze had been lifted from our lives, revealing the ways that we have attempted to pin reality into place. In these moments, vaguely disturbing yet at the same time oddly exciting, possibility lurks. What if? What if I didn't go back to work? What if I tried that new course I've been putting off? What if we home-schooled the kid that is happier that way? What if I didn't take the path that seemed so solid less than a year before? What if some other way opened?

For some of us, we have been forced down paths we would not have chosen and do not want, and we find ourselves nostalgic for the remembered and imagined certainty of "life before." Others of us, want to or not, are thrust into the sea of required new possibilities, and swimming as fast as we can in the waves of change. In the few moments of calm between the swells, however, we may find ourselves looking about in wonder at the world so changed around us. Familiar as our four walls yet never to be the same again.

This is the "cubic centimeter of chance" that Carlos Castaneda talked about. The moment where our perception shifts and we allow the "what if's" to show us something new beneath the veil of our expectations, a possible "what else could be." Seizing those moments allows us to use our creativity, to imagine and play with reality in that amazingly human way, to create something new. For instance, I find myself wondering, after twenty years, am I finished with this course, the Art of Constellation Facilitation? Is this the last time? What else would I like to do now? I feel the tendrils of something new that wants to emerge. But what? That isn't clear yet. Still in the liminal zone. Like the person on the bridge in the photo above, the other side hasn't yet revealed itself.

My wish for you is that your journey into the liminal zone be touched by grace and discovery, and possibilities for something new that delights you.