Liminal Moments

I was walking in from taking the trash cans out and a plane quietly cut through the foggy evening.  Low enough I could see its headlights but not hear it yet.  It made me imagine it was flying down a road of sorts in the sky, cutting a path through the night, navigating its way to land.  It made me feel a sense of melancholy for the ability to make plans to go, really anywhere, especially by air.  I sighed a little as I thought of who could be on board and imagining sitting in the airplane seat, looking out the window; a journey in a state of transition, just beginning or ending.  It reminded me of times I’ve sat there looking out an airplane window, thinking in my own world, watching the world come into view, trying to make sense of our approach path and enjoying that bit of magical unknown.

Upon sitting with that feeling, what I think I was really feeling was missing that type of liminal moment, that state of ambiguity where we are neither here nor there but in a state of transition, floating through the air.  Taking those moments to capture the quiet reflection and anticipation that occurs when we are on the edge of something, like the landing of the plane, the trip not quite started or ended, just hanging in a slow limbo.   In this slim space, it holds so much.  Wonder, anticipation, discomfort, being forever changed.  It depends on what kind of energy you bring with you to this moment.

This year has shown us so much of ourselves to varying degrees based on your openness to analyze it.  It’s been a foggy descent into a new reality for months, all of us dealing with it in our own ways.  For some straining to see what lies ahead with eagerness or fear, others blindly ignoring what is going on around them and some screaming that the plane is going down and trying to cause others to panic with them.  No matter what, the plane is going to land.  It may not be where we expected or in the time that you want, but we’re going to get there, get to a place where we don’t feel like we are in a state of a controlled fall through the air and can just ‘be’ for a while.

I dare to ask you, how can we use this time of transition to be a powerful moment of change and growth?  As the plane is descending, we hold hopes for who we’ll be when we fully enter the next phase.  The time to act on those hopes is now.  Are you committing to a new habit or learning more about yourself in the name of personal growth?  Will you change the way you talk to yourself so that you’re not living in a state of fear or with a sense of less-than?  Will you visualize an outcome you are excited about so that you’re not the one screaming on the plane about how our doom is imminent?  I challenge you to commit to a small act of change to improve your outlook, attitude and experience as we scout out what lies ahead.

So until I can sit back in that airplane seat and just let myself feel the adventure that lies in the transition of exploring new places, I hope that you can explore more of your inner self and who you want to be when we land this plane so that we are ready for the future. If you’re ready, you can start here.