As the energies of Spring are beginning to blossom, it has offered an opportunity for me to reflect on how I'm aligning my life and my work with what is important to me, my family, my community and the wider planet.
I'm currently in my 45th year on this planet we call Earth (soon to be 46), and as the season changed from the lull of Winter into the fiery energies of Spring, I am feeling how that change is mirroring my inner nature back at me. Not just my own, but many others around me too, whether that be friends, work colleagues, or the wider social network and looking for themes in my wider community and network.
As human beings, we are part of a continual process of living and dying, beginnings and endings, an inevitability that is mirrored everywhere in nature. Plants, animals, and weather, continually change and transform into new states, into new forms. Winter ends, Spring begins, Spring blossoms, Spring Ends, Summer begins and so on, in one big endless cycle.
At each end/beginning point we are met with a threshold moment, an authentic opportunity to step into something new.
What is a threshold?
The familiar life horizon has been outgrown: the old concepts, ideals, and emotional patterns no longer fit; the time for the passing of a threshold is at hand.
Joseph Cambell - The Hero's Journey
In a general sense, both Individually and collectively we seem to be at what I can only describe as a threshold moment, a threshold being a sort of stepping-off point, where we cross over into a new place, a new way of being, a new relationship, a new job, a 'new way'.
One doesn't have to look far to see the degradation everywhere around us. Degradation of culture, degradation of nature, extractive capitalism, and major conflicts happening everywhere and if the Middle East is anything to go by, the whole world is on a knife edge.
Threshold moments are where we have an opportunity to grow, to change, to evolve.
We do this by letting go of those things that no longer serve us, that are not right for us, or in a recent case for me, having something in my life that was very right however the timing was very wrong. In that moment I hit a threshold moment whereby I had to make a difficult decision.
I don't know about you, it's often in these moments that by the very nature of deciding to 'cross the threshold', something HAS to die and end. Endings can very often be painful processes and so as a tendency, we may have ways of avoiding the inevitable and not ending something, even if the situation makes us unhappy or is unhealthy. We struggle to let go, however, it's in letting go that we can let come to the newness, the new people, the new opportunities, and the new growth.
Looking to nature for similar processes, we can see the metamorphosis that takes place when the Caterpillar cocoons itself before it emerges as a beautiful Butterfly....it's nature's way of letting go (the Caterpillar), to let come (The Butterfly).
Questions for reflection
Take 5-10 minutes to answer these questions. Maybe write them down in a journal or your favourite writing app.
In your life right now, what areas of your life no longer work for you? Be honest! Reflect on the personal, and professional. The people in your life, the place that you live, and places that you socialise. What needs to be let go of?
What does your heart long for? If you could transport yourself 3 years into the future, what would amazing look like?
What are the first steps you need to take to move towards that 'amazing'? Be brave, be honest!
I'd love for you to share your results with me. Please reply to email and let me know how you get on, it would be amazing to read your reflections.
How do I know if you're at a threshold? Here are some (not all) examples of potential threshold moments that can come up in life. How do you relate?
A general feeling of unsettledness
Sadness and depression
Menopausal.
Discontent with the status quo...life can't continue in the way it has done previously.
The environment in which one lives is creating results that nobody wants
Dis-satisfaction
Classic changes - Birth, Marriage/Divorce, Illness, Death, Emigration
Natural disaster.
The inner urge to grow as a human.
General intolerance of life.
Feeling like you have hit a wall or breaking point at work.
A yearning to hit the road and see the world.
Looking for more purpose and meaning.
I've hit (and crossed) many thresholds in my life, and have experienced the many from the list above. I know from personal experience how challenging, scary or disorientating they can be, and I wish I had a Guide or a Mentor during each change I went through.
If you're feeling or experiencing any of the above, please reach out and I would be happy to have a chat.
What is happening now? In service to the Feminine.
Some of you may know that my day job is that of an Innovation Consultant, and design programmes/deliver training that support Entrepreneurs. I'm fortunate in that I'm armed with some potent innovation tools and methods for digging into and understanding problems, and themes and gaining deep insight into what people are experiencing on a day-to-day basis. This is how the innovation process begins.
I am currently running a remarkable project that looks more deeply into change and threshold moments within a particular demographic - Women aged between 38-60. Why am I doing this and why am I doing this now?
For some time now I have been noting some clear themes, both within my Family Constellations work, and my wider field of life and work. E.g. 95% of people that attend my Family Constellations work, are Women, and typically Women aged between 38 - 60. What I was also noticing was that many of them were on the precipice of something, or very much in something, something liminal...a threshold.
I am interviewing around 40 Women, most of them Leaders in their fields of Government, Corporate, and Start-Ups. After 15 interviews to date, the insight and the depth of sharing have been nothing short of mind-blowing. Every one of the Women interviewed has shown up with their vulnerabilities, heart and mind wide open and has been an absolute privilege.
The insights and reflections from the research will be shared here in due course and will include both a report and a recorded interview whereby I will discuss some of the experiences and the themes from the research.
A key theme that has stood out by a country mile is many are at the threshold of a major change! Watch this space.....more to come.
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