Liminality... Friend or Foe?
An open heart reflection about Liminal Spaces and Creativity
Hello!!!
Are you ok? I hope so.
The first week of December 2023 I had a super-clear experience of “Liminal Space”:
I was invited to the theater to watch a show in which my niece was acting
I was happy because she is a piece of my heart but I was really tired and when I’m exhausted I become a kind of Aesop’s Country Mouse
I’ve never been in that theater, plus, it is in a part of Milan I’m not familiar with
I booked a random restaurant searched on internet to have dinner after the play
To go there I had to ride the subway (which I’m not really happy to do, particularly at night)
And I found myself there, without my usual points of reference, without knowing what to expect, in one word, I was kind of “suspended”.
And it was awesome!
When I was back at home I had these puzzling yet so pleasant feelings.
“Ok”, I thought, “this is something more that just venturing in the unknown, how can I call it? How can I recreate an experience like this? And, mainly, how can I make sure it’ll be a positive experience?”
Here my reflections.
The “eerie” Liminal Space and Liminality
Can you say for sure when you passed through a space like this?
Do you remember your feelings, what you did, how it changed you, if it did?
My “usual” Liminal Space
Every single time I finish an edition of this newsletter, I find myself in this space, a gap in the flow, “already and not yet”.
I feel so relieved “aaah… it’s done” but, after a while, here comes the anxiety “what I do next?”, I kind of force myself to take a break but I really do not want to.
I took some notes to define deeper this space and that "liminality” thing.
Is Liminality a threat?
It is curious how liminal spaces and liminality are almost always related to something not entirely positive and most of the time there is this subtle feeling that it is a painful experience.
This does not sound right to me.
Leveraging Liminal Spaces (and Liminality too)
My answer is YES!
Like many other things in life, what matter the most is:
To be PRESENT
Do not HIDE
PROTECT your mental space
So, you can think and be Creative!
A Liminal Space is, indeed, a Creative Opportunity
Ok, this is it. Allow me to just remark the last point: what you can experience in a Liminal Space it is like the yogurt in your fridge: it has an expiring date.
When it is over, if you haven't eaten it, you can just throw away the lid and maybe reuse the container.
I would love to hear from you, what is your experience with Liminal Spaces.
A few links you may find interesting
Napflix : it is exactly as it sounds. “Napflix is a parody video platform where you can find the most silent and sleepy content selection to relax your brain and easily fall asleep.” I LOVE IT! It’s addictive!
Draw like Leonardo Da Vinci : it is not what it seems to be. It’s not a tutorial, it’s a list of suggestions. I like it.
I am a fond reader of https://dynomight.net/ website and it’s mirror here
. I would like to suggest this post:
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Until next time, take care and be happy today!
Mauro
It's seriously like therapy. Every time. It's always so good.
Definitely in a Gap between 45 & 50 "midlife crisis" aka midlife trauma
Coming out of the Surrender/Depression stage and into the Playground stage.
So I totally get this concept.
Finding oneself, again and again and again, is a human experience in the cycle of Liminality.
And thanks for Napflix! I used to put on cycling videos from the 90's to help me go to sleep. My ex-husband had so many VHS tapes with hours and hours of cycling videos recorded. I have sooo missed those tapes for the last 15yrs. I was so happy to see some of those recordings on Napflix!
Love this! Great storytelling and super interesting concept. Will be thinking about this for a while.