The Liminal Space Approach

Our five-part framework has been designed and proven to help our clients through a major life transition with clarity and confidence.  Each phase, guided by a suite of reflective tools and exercises, serves a unique purpose to encourage personal growth and discovery.

Ending

  • Change disrupts and makes the future feel uncertain. Another word for change is ending.  Most want to move past endings quickly or avoid them all together, yet it is the first part in any successful transition. Endings invite us to be honest, to surrender control over what has occurred, and learn to let go of the old story. The more we accept an ending, the uncertainty we feel gradually becomes an openness to the choices before us.

    Questions to Consider

    • What is different now in your life?

    • Why was it meaningful, and how did it come to have that meaning?

    • What aches now (e.g., “I feel like I have no purpose.”)?

    • What does the ache reveal about what you desire for the future?

Waiting

  • Acceptance and letting go creates space to pay attention to our lives.  Waiting is about listening closer to what this season is inviting.  For many, waiting implies being stuck.  Just the opposite!  When we are waiting, it is always for something.  This is an active search for clues to our future, and they are everywhere if you know where to look.  Look close enough, and with a bit of help, eventually new ideas and a renewed mindset will emerge. During this phase, we increase our sense of ownership over our future and begin to cultivate real hope.

    Questions to Consider

    • What was your part in getting here?

    • What do you ‘still’ have that will enable the journey?

    • What will help you to stay patient and resilient?

    • If you suspend disbelief, what are the ‘what if’ questions you are asking?

    • What does this transition enable or make possible?

Rising

  • The rising phase is designed for curious learning through well-crafted experiments. Experimentation provides good data to make well-informed choices. Building off of the hope and ideas generated in the ‘waiting phase’, we begin to experiment and see what new pathways emerge. Before taking a ‘leap of faith’, it is always best to test for success.

    Questions to Consider

    • What desires and opportunities are the most compelling?

    • What gets you most energized and why?

    • What are the possible ways to experiment before you “take the leap”?

    • What (new and old) sources of resistance can you prepare for?

Investing

  • Eventually, a successful transition takes us to the edge for a leap that proclaims, “I’m all in!”.  Once we have experimented and discovered a new pathway that sticks, we need to commit to it. Part of committing is investing the different facets of our life that will help us grow towards and sustain a new beginning.  At this point, the greatest return from committing to a future are renewed purpose and confidence.

    Questions to Consider

    • What opportunities will you want to go ‘all in’ for?

    • What will help keep you ‘all in’?

    • What will cause inertia - a failure to sustain momentum?

    • What setbacks can you plan for and anticipate?

    • How will you document learning and growth?

Reveling

  • Successful transitions lead to new beginnings and transformation - of who we are and where we are heading. The final phase of a successful transition is reveling, where we celebrate what we’ve discovered and honor the hard work it’s taken to get here. This is a time for gratitude for what the transition made possible and what new beginning we have arrived at. 

    Questions to Consider

    • What discoveries and achievements need to be celebrated?

    • How do you want to celebrate?

    • What signs of a next transition are emerging?

    • What unmet expectations are keeping you from joy and gratitude?

Interested in meeting with a Guide?

We know how it feels to be unsettled and exposed because of a major life change.  We believe a liminal space provides a unique opportunity to grow and thrive, not just survive.  Let us help provide the guidance you need to reshape a tumultuous season into discovering your next life chapter.

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