Between times

I love this season, spring. We have just passed the astronomical midpoint of the year where the day and night are equal, that pause on the fulcrum between winter’s cold dark and summer’s hot light (here in the Northern hemisphere). It’s like a marker between to and from as if to say, we’re halfway there, so let’s get going. Or maybe you’re noticing and thinking, “Nooo, let’s hang on!” In either case, I advise dwelling right here – right here, in the between times. Take time to notice the transition and to be with it.

Life is full of transitions, full of change. Whether it is of our own doing or imposed upon us, whether it is something we think of as good or bad, all change has a between time. You can’t get from before to after without passing through in-between.

It’s important to our mental health to understand, accept and value the between time, the transit. Even if we’re in a hurry to leave behind something we’ve come to realize no longer serves us, we must go through the transition before we can get to the other side. The transit is comes before the other side of acceptance; of grief; the move from novice to mastery; the push from I can’t to I can.

When we can reframe an ending as an opportunity instead of a loss, we allow ourselves the space we need to take a time out. When we recognize that our expertise requires constant stepping up of skills to approach the desired next step, we accept the renewed humility of a student. We need time to just be. We need time to let go, whether the thing we are letting go of is something we are eager to reject or something we have enjoyed learning. We need to explore the new, neutral, neither here nor there territory of life. The prefix trans- in transition means “across, over, through, beyond, to go to a different place, condition or thing.”

You cannot move from here (whomever, whatever, wherever, whenever or however “here” is) to there (whomever, whatever, wherever, whenever or however “there” is) without transiting the between place.

Let this glorious season of spring remind you of the necessity of the rest stop, let it be your dwelling place, acknowledgement that growth is a life force, possibilities are everywhere and surprises await. Be alert. Be patient.

Be here now.