The liminal stage
by Heather
Life, if you’re doing it right, is full of endings and beginnings–little deaths and births. There’s no point in clinging to what is moribund, to my mind. Which means that moving forward is the only real option. The alternative is being stuck, like Winnie the Pooh.
Yesterday, as part of the Hay House World Summit, I listened to Joan Borysenko’s talk on resilience. She spoke about how, almost continually in our lives, an old self or identity has died, and we find ourselves in a liminal stage–the threshold between the old and the new. The old self is gone, and the new self is not yet born. She said that the resilient not only survive these challenges and transitions, but come out on the other side deeper and richer for the experience. I believe that … I’ve certainly experienced it many times before, and I’m sure this time will be no different.
As of January, and perhaps really as of November, I am definitely in such a phase. Thus the SoulCollage card I made today represents this death and rebirth cycle … and all the uncertainty, discomfort, potential, and beauty of the liminal stage. I know it well.
What about you … do you have an identity or aspect of yourself that is no more? Is there one thing you can do today to move the process of reinvention, of birthing your new self, forward?
This post is illustrated with my SoulCollage card Becoming + The liminal stage. Card images are from W, Harper’s Bazaar, O Magazine, Martha Stewart Living, and a Van Cleef & Arpels ad.
About what matters 
I just noted that I am ‘clearing the decks’ around here… some reverse nesting as the first fall that I will be without either of my children approaches, some transitioning in my work away from one style to another… thank you for the reminder that there is an in-between phase.
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I’ve been doing a bit of deck-clearing myself 🙂 It’s a great way to keep yourself moving through it. Here’s to coming out the other side, stronger and deeper than we were before, to something even better!
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Yes. Yes. And I think I will follow your example and make a card to describe this phase. Thanks for the reminder!
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You’re welcome, Dee. Can’t wait to see what you make!
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[…] SoulCollage card I made last weekend is the first I’ve made that I found viscerally disturbing. Monday night, as I was driving […]
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[…] been in a rut forever, and don’t know how to get out. Perhaps you find yourself in a liminal stage between an ending and a new beginning, and things aren’t flowing as you’d like. […]
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Heather, hello! A striking card, so lovely. You know how sometimes, an other’s cards and/or reading can feel like that message was meant for you too? That’s what struck me about this one–even though you shared this several months ago, I’m seeing it today and appreciating its message. I’m was in this phase for the past couple of weeks (probably more like months) in my business life and just recently got back on track so to speak, moving forward. “Becoming + The liminal stage” was an encouragement and a reminder to me to continue in this direction 🙂
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Oh, I’m glad, Michelle 🙂 And glad to hear you’re back on track–always such a good feeling! ❤
I actually altered this card when I got back on track myself–but here it lives on in its original form 🙂
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