Navigating Liminal Spaces

Navigating Liminal Spaces

A few months ago I was at a swim meet with my sons.  It was at a really cool and interesting middle school.  Exploring the unique and unconventional space helped me to conceive of adding *architecture* to my Realm of Purpose access points:

“The importance of intentionally setting aside and cultivating spaces for different kinds of activities and energetic interactions.”

A fabulous space for education and community.  It made me wish I had gone to school in such a place.

As I explored with Arthur, my youngest (with whom you can hear me dialogue in A Higher Level ⬆️ episodes 8 & 17), he remarked “This reminds me of liminal spaces”.

That was new to me and he filled me in.  If you search for “liminal spaces” on Google you will find pictures of abandoned subway stations, stairwells, hallways, waterways.  They have a sort of eerie, haunting quality about them.

I’m not sure how they picked up that connotation at this particular point in time.

Liminal simply means “in the midst of transition”.

And transitions can be tough.  We all know what they’re like.  And for some reason we tend to avoid them when we see them coming or find ourselves amidst them.  But they are unavoidable.  We ALL must go through times of transition whether we want to or not.  And we growth-oriented people must PURSUE them, even though they are uncomfortable. Many of us know when we’re being called to something deeper, grander, and better.

A music professor once helped me to hear the difference between THEMES and TRANSITIONS in classical music.  He said…

“Themes are peaceful, stable, and melodic.  They have a feeling of rest about them.”

“Transitions are agitated, busy, unstable.  They scurry about, going in all different directions, and say ‘Don’t look at me! Look at the theme that’s coming up!’”

He was a great teacher, and that lesson has really stuck with me.

I realized that my clients often rely on me to help them navigate liminal spaces with strength, clarity, and intention.  They are leaving a point of rest, and headed toward another stable place.  But they must traverse a liminal transition first.  It’s uncomfortable and uncertain.  And involves making many changes that feel risky.  But it’s absolutely essential to end up at that glorious new episode of personal peace and prosperity.

This happens in stories too.  Pay attention the next time you watch a movie and you will clearly see which parts are stable and which parts are liminal.  Art imitates life, so it is based on patterns we all experience in the narratives of our lives, both individually and collectively.

Liminal spaces are difficult - uncertain, full of tough choices, and requiring great reserves of energy, intentional presence, and a highly attuned & sensitive responsiveness.  But the next episode always arrives, bringing the peace we seek.

This is a structure I can help you to discern and navigate in your own life: https://calendly.com/aaronjmarx/30min