Finding your way in the in-between

What does "liminal space" and what are its gifts?  

Heather Plett was our Fireside Conversation guest in THE STORY DOJO this month. What she said about her discoveries around liminal space stayed with me and caused me to think deeply. 

She began by introducing linear liminality. This is what most of us think about when we hear the words "liminal space." It is the space in-between stories, when something has ended and something else has not yet begun.

Each of us goes through this space many times in our lives -- between being a child and an adult; the end of a relationship and the beginning of the next phase. Losing an identity and forming a new one.

Heather also spoke about seasonal liminality. The seasons reflect this to us. There can be a cyclical nature to the in-between that can come around again and again.

And then she spoke about positional liminality. This is the constantly changing place between the ocean and the shore. It is in flux. In life this is the place of the truth speaker, the edgewalker and the storyteller. 

I've taken this short snippet out of our conversation so you can hear how Heather defines liminal space.

I began to realise I have experienced all of these types of liminality. Sometimes in an overlapping fashion.

I am in the space between identities. This is a linear liminal space that began for me with COVID, as I sense it did for many others.

I am in a seasonal liminality as I ponder what comes with the next season at the same time as being in the thrall of summer holiday spirit in my surroundings and wider network.

And I inhabit positional liminality in the way I live my life. I don't feel I am a placed based person and that takes me out of the consistency of life most people experience. Instead I tend to think my way around the world in a web of relationship, deeply drinking in each experience, culture, group I come into contact with. This has given me much joy, but also an ongoing question about where home is.

Liminal living requires both that we know how to care for ourselves through the waves of seeming stuckness and change and that we are both highly aware of and not attached to our own storyline. 

Working with -- being in! -- liminal space demands both self awareness and resilience. You need to know how to tend to your own wellbeing, how to blend courage and patience, but also how to ask for help and allow yourself to be supported in community.

What are the practices that help you stay in the "between stories" space gracefully? Please share them with me!