So Much Of What We Experience in Life Is Initiation

Life Transitions & Initiations

Welcome to the Hero's Journey. You have to go through the experience, because you can't go around it.

Liminiality

A moment when you're no longer feeling at home. - Victor Turner

Think of an initiation a life changing event. You know something has to change, and that this change is going to take effort. Maybe you feel a little nervous about the future. You need to move forward.

This space is called the liminal space.

Liminality is the space between. It is a threshold movement that happens in the space between where things once worked, but no longer do -- and before change occurs -- Liminality is the call of a life initiation.

Think of it as standing in a hallway, and there is a door before you. You can not walk through this door until you complete whatever challenge is in front of you.

So. Here you are. In the middle.

There is a door behind you, that you may (and we sometimes do) run back through--but you shouldn't -- because that life back there isn't really for you any more. You can not go back. You also can't stay in this quasi safe spot and hide between the doors of the past and the future.

You'll stagnate here in the space of liminality if you stay too long.

What will you choose to do? Will you freeze? Will you try and go back? Will you be fearful or curious as you open the door and step into something new?

Will you brave the call?

Initiation as Something Deep and Meaningful

The Only Way Forward is Through.

Initiations are never finished

What is an initiation? An initiation is simply a beginning.

Initiations are deep, they are not points of education. These are not entry points, rather they are points in life that evoke change within us.

Initiations change us, and without change -- one can not be prepared to navigate life.

An initiation will always have a component of struggle. They are not easy. This is not moving to a new city, or getting a new job. The initiation is meeting the challenge of this new life adventure.

Should you have a ceremony or ritual to mark this threshold moment, and acknowledge it for what it is?

To Ritual, or Not To Ritual?

Why not favor the richness of creating a ritual in the space of a life event that is a Big Deal?

Ritual is a choice. We go to the doctor, to a therapist, do all kinds of things in moments of transition searching for something that will help. When we get the help, do we celebrate?

Let these key moments speak to your heart and soul.

Rituals come from the religious traditions, but they do not have to be religious nor elaborate experiences. They can have depth but they can also be light to celebrate life experiences.

Be careful though, if they are too light, you may miss the importance and the impact of the moment. You may miss the magic because you did not take time to reflect on this threshold moment after you crossed it.

An argument for ritual is that ritual is a tangible experience where you know you have navigated the challenge or a life initiation.

Rituals are important to the psyche so that you know something important is going on.

Rituals need to be real, and not so symbolic that the meaning is lost.

If ordinary action speaks to how you are getting on with life, ritual speaks to the deepest part of the soul, that's why it's a ritual.

I say try it. What do you have to lose?

Initiation and Personal Growth

Getting Older Doesn't give you wisdom - Thomas Moore

If you successfully navigate a challenge in life—where success doesn’t always equate to winning—you have embraced acceptance and found peace with the outcome.

It's important not to diminish these transformative moments by treating them as mere ordinary experiences.

Meet them with your most creative and curious and open self, or do not.

You have the opportunity to experience these transitional points in life with the depth and richness that they truly are. By leaning into initiations with a growth mindset - you can take the hum drum and make it truly awe inspiring.

If you choose to.

Initiation Requires a Leap of Faith

Initiations in life are uncomfortable

The challenge of initiation is to turn the fear of "What if I fail" into the question

"What can I do to fly"?

Iniation takes courage

There is risk

You can do it.

The Call to Initiation is Often to do Something Difficult

You Can Do Hard Things.

Iniation takes courage and that courage is not always a guarantee that you will end up in a better place.

One aspect of initiation is to approach this thing as one of the challenges of life

Are you thinking "it's only me" ?

It's rarely only you, even though it might feel that way.

The point of initiation is that we are fundamentally changed by the experience we have gone through, and we are all changing all the time. Think about it, how boring would life be if you were always the same?

Take chances.

Do uncomfortable things.

Grow.

Evolve.

...and then do it all over again..

Examples of Life's Initiations

There are so many points and periods in life where we go through initiations:

Chronic Illness
Birth
Marriage
Menarche
Menopause
Divorce/Breakup
Estrangement
Midlife
A Move
A Death
An Accident
New Jobs
Puberty
A Big Change
A Loss of Some Kind
A Gain of Some Kind

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