Some of life's most painful moments are those in which we find ourselves "betwixt and between." One chapter in our lives has ended – be it a job, a relationship, or a living situation – but the next chapter remains unclear. It's easy in these moments – and let's be honest, sometimes moments stretch into months and years – to feel lost and alone. MIT's Otto Scharmer describes our current planetary situation in similar terms. One way of life, characterized by an economic paradigm of infinite growth, is ending and dying, while the new has not yet been born. Humanity finds itself at an impasse, in the throes of a collective “dark night.”
Sometimes it is fear of the passage "betwixt and between" that keeps us trapped in situations that no longer serve us. Our mind and body show up for situations, even after our spirit has moved on. This is because our spirit cannot bear to live a lie! Author and diarist Anaïs Nin describes these moments as such: “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
One thing I have learned over the years is that whenever we find ourselves “evicted” from a situation, it is because we are being invited to something better. But often, there's a delay. The something better does not immediately present itself and we find ourselves "betwixt and between." We must learn to honor the space between no longer and not yet. Transitions cannot be rushed. This is the lesson of the chrysalis. We shed the cocoon when we are ready to fly, not a moment before.
Let us courageously let go of what no longer serves us, and step into the Wild Unknown.
--Elizabeth Amrien