One needn't look too far to find the majesty and wonder of the Universe and the natural world right under our feet and at every turn. Evidence of the miracles of nature are models for what is possible in the human condition. So why do we forget this in times of crisis, strife, or a (figurative) pinched nerve?
We also needn't look too far to find crashing systems on every front. As I write, there are a reported 114 wars and armed conflicts waging. According to the Geneva Academy, 45 are in the Middle East and North America, 35 in Africa, 21 in
Asia, 7 in Europe, 6 in Latin America (evenly divided between Mexico and Columbia.)
Despite Her wonder, we are facing an environmental crisis and Mother Nature is aching for our call-to-conscious. Political systems are blowing the cover off what we believed to be unacceptable. Relationships are coming to important endings.
On the eve of September 21, 2012, when, according to the Mayan prophecy, the known world would come to an end, I asked the question, "When will it begin?" Some hunkered down expecting an apocalypse but that was simply a narrow understanding of what was to happen.
Recently, I heard the question, "When will it end?" We are definitely in the liminal space between the new and old world, but that can also be said about every moment too. The bigger question is, what is my responsibility and privilege in the moment and of this evolutionary birth canal we are in? Do you feel the contractions? Sheila Cash calls this our Evolutionary Impulse.
We are living in two realities at once, so how do we navigate these times? Especially when mental crises and depression are on the rise, and for reasonable cause. Maybe the answer lies in the awareness that these times are waiting for us to know our power. Maybe these times are only asking us for a little self-realization.
These times, dear Ones, are what the Liminal Odyssey is made for and why we are here on this planet in this moment. (In my humble and very strong opinion!) In these times, we are given gold-plated opportunities to catch ourselves in the moment we notice a physical tug or pressure or feel despair, and then stop. Just stop. Take inventory of what we are feeling and remember we have agency. When we remember we are this moment's midwife, we can slow down to the speed of awe and wonder and remember we have choice and responsibility to that moment.
Now's the time to remember all the lessons and skills, practices, and wisdom you have accumulated in order to live this miraculous life that got you this far and how much you have learned to date. Now's the time to honor those lessons and yourself for living them. Take note of them. Odds are you will fill up a legal-size notebook page or two. Don't waste a single lesson! Why do you think you had to learn them in the first place? Certainly not to forget them, or else you'd be destined to relive them over and over again. (Silly but true!)
Sounds easy? It is not at all hard, but it does take practice, practice, practice.
You know those lessons were good ones because they brought you to your knees, or woke you up to a new understanding of yourself, a relationship, and/or conditions of the world around you. Many of them were heartwarming and inspirational too. Either way, they reframed your understanding of life. They also created assumptions of the way things are through your lens, so it's time to call those assumptions to the table and get real, check your integrity with yourself, and make sure the assumptions really serve your higher good. In fact, lose them all together!
Questioning assumptions is the single most powerful thing we can do as a human being right now. Why is this relationship important? Why do I skip to that conclusion? Why is that viewpoint important enough to fight over? Such an inquiry is one of the healthiest habits we can form. That is where the liminal space thrives.
A gift of the human condition is our ability to reason and make informed choices based on lived experiences through our unique filter of the world. Is it time to dust off that filter? "Why" not?
The Liminal Odyssey book is designed to help you see the miraculous nature in the mundane through a series of stories froth with big lessons. The Guidebook is where the practicing is made simple.