Embrace the In Between: Autumn’s Transformational Space of Becoming
Autumn has a rich, juicy invitation to transformation.
Autumn is a liminal space. [Don’t you just love that word, liminal, liminality]
Autumn is the threshold between the growth and abundance of summer and the inner, restorative nature of wintering.
With that, October is a threshold and a transition space.
A season all to its own with so many rich lessons and teachings.
Increasingly, I find myself drawn more and more to autumn. Perhaps because I feel I am in the autumn of my own life journey.
I used to think transitions were places of being stuck or limbo. Thresholds has fascinated me over the last few years. Thresholds are this magical realm without any real integration into academic or mainstream conversation. Yet there are thresholds all over even if rarely embraced.
Where are the in betweens or transitional spaces around YOU? Is there a threshold in nature that is calling for your attention?
I’ve learned a lot of the importance of transitional spaces and places from Nature. In transformation - growth and change work - we often live in the liminal for awhile but I see most folks resist it because of it’s uncertainty and discomfort. I want to spend this season talking about what I’ve learned from my own massive transformations and from my conversations with colleagues and clients over these years.
In my work as a mentorship coach for transformation, it’s not surprising that most opening conversations start with some variation of these lines:
what’s my next chapter now that i know I’m done with this one…
how do I put myself back together after being so fragmented/burnout/compartmentalized…
I’m so done…..
I want to do work that matters to me and has an impact…
OMG YES! All of these speak to becoming - of saving yourself - they are markers of change beckoning.
In these variations I see these four markers:
Liminality. Wholeness. Authenticity. Impact.
Nature reflects cyclical transitions just as with our lives, too. Nature doesn’t worry if it will make it to the next season or what that season will hold. Nature doesn’t need to know what the end of autumn looks like before it is willing to change into winter. The Oak in front of my house knows it's time to transition. She trusts that more acorns will go next year and for now, she moves towards rest.
Wholeness is us - we are whole and interconnected to other whole beings. A client last week shared the goal to be healthy, but then listed all the external work things that they think would make them feel healthy. Yet it is our inner ecosystem that determines our wellness. Is your inner landscape whole and wild?
To know when you’re done with the bullshitery by living authentically, then you’re ready to be in the threshold for transformation. Look to ALL other beings besides humxns and you’ll see them living and acting authentically. Squirrels eating my squash, yea of course, they just being squirrels getting ready for winter. I still get to be annoyed when they throw apples down at me though.
Impact. We do this self-work of transformation for ourselves SO THAT we then make an impact in our communities where our gifts, expertise, skills, and passions are most needed. So when a client tells me, ‘it feels so selfish to prioritize me’ I say, ‘oh hell no! it’s selfish to NOT. You are needed as a whole person - as one full puzzle piece that has a specific fit in this big world.
Folks start to awaken to dreaming a life that is more true than the one they created for their social role self. All of emotional and thresholds involve letting go and imagining anew, which can be hard for the brain/ego because our neural pathways are so rutted in deep. Yet I’m living proof massive transformation can happen which is why I’m here doing with work with others.
One of my favorite hacks that I used is a language shift from “I’m stuck” to “I’m figuring it out” to help you approach thresholds more openly. The mindset shift out of the fear/afraid emotion and into curious helps you be creative in figuring things out and loosen those neural ruts.
Essentially thresholds are at the extensional transformation crossroads of:
Who are you stepping into becoming?
Who are leaving behind - what patterns, behaviors, and mindsets will not serve the one you are now?
Thresholds as a place for reflection and integration - these are lacking in our modern work world of being on a conveyor belt of busy.
What is the threshold in front of you today? What is asking for your attention?
Are you running full speed into all the things that need to be let go of?