Liminal Space
The Space between what was and what will be.
Over this past year, the phrase Liminal Space has come up in a variety of places. It’s a phrase that I had to look up. Once I did, it became my mantra phrase for 2024. It has been a phrase that I have contemplated many times this year. And a space that I have occupied pretty much the whole year.
At first, I thought Liminal Space looked like:
It looks scary, treacherous, and marks a true jumping off and ending point. As the year progressed, I realized that it more like this:
It can be like the above with just one Liminal Space journey or there may be more than one thing going on at a time. (Take the above image, duplicate it, shift the position a little and overlap everything.) Whether it’s one journey or multiple journeys, the reality is that “the journey is the destination” and while you may have an end goal, it’s much more important to be on the journey learning, growing, changing and evolving otherwise you will never get to the end goal you want.
Liminal space is where evolution happens. If we stand on the precipice and look out in fear, never taking a step forward, we can’t influence or take any control over our destination. If we take those steps and begin, over time, sometimes quickly and sometimes over a lifetime, we evolve, grow and become the people we dream of becoming and achieve our dreams and goals.
This past April, I embarked on a new journey to become a Quantum Alignment System and StoryLab Coach. I completed my training in early June. This is one step of several to starting a Coaching business. There are many more steps to take.
In addition, I’m wandering through the Liminal Space of being a story writer and illustrator and becoming a published author. This has been a longer journey and over the past year, the way through began to take a new shape and direction.
In the midst of it all I learned to play pickleball and learned about how much energy my body needs to burn off in a day so that I not too tired, and not too full of energy so I can get a good night’s sleep. Right now, I’m in the space between having a knee with chronic pain and healing that knee after a full knee replacement surgery. I recently rearranged my office/studio to create two distinct spaces. It’s still in the Liminal space of what it was and what I want it to be.
Some people might look at my list and think, if you just focused on one of those things, you would be done and could move on to the next thing. I am a Manifesting Generator according to Human Design and a Time Bender according to Quantum Human Design. One of the trademark characteristics of this type is that we are meant to do more than one thing at a time. Here you may argue that it’s not possible to multitask. And that is true in the sense of literally working on multiple projects at once. But for us Manifesting Generator/Time Benders, we thrive on having multiple projects going at one time. It allows us to shift gears when we need a break from one thing and continue using our boundless energy on another.
As I have developed my skill of giving an idea up to my subconscious and to the Universe, I know that that project that is at rest will beckon me with possible next steps or solutions and it will be time to go back to it.1
As I have contemplated and worked on creating my business plan for my new coaching business2, I kept coming back to this phrase, Liminal Space. I want to help people who are on the precipice and feel stuck or unsure which new direction to go with their life as well as those who have begun the journey, but are hitting up against old stories of lack. I want to help others rediscover their soul calling and help them navigate the liminal space by clearing out the old stories, writing new ones, and taking steps forward at their pace. I will work with individuals to assess their needs and use the tools and techniques in my Swiss Army Pack best suited to each individual.
One of my favorite ways to relax and get into a meditative state is to make squiggle drawings and see what I see within. I made the squiggles and found the shapes on December 30th, and then the words and inking came on the 31st.
As we step into a new year, we step right into two possibilities; allowing the world to force change on us or getting clear on our dreams and taking the steps to journey toward a new destination.
Either way, change will happen. How are you going to wander through the Liminal Space of 2025?
Adam Grant talks about the procrastination sweet spot of original ideas.
https://www.ted.com/talks/adam_grant_the_surprising_habits_of_original_thinkers?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare
https://sarahatobias.com
Thanks for sharing this, Sarah! Parts made me curious, so I looked up some things, and what I found resonated.
Human Design: I'm also a Manifestor, but I'm a Fire Starter.
Quantum Human Design: The Initiator (Manifestor)
I also like to have more than one thing going at a time, so I thought we might be the same. We are similar, but different.