Thresholds and Resistance

There’s a reason why the land of the dead so often has an escort in mythology.

Anubis, the Valkyries, the Grim Reaper – all appear at the moment of the death of one life to walk with you through the gateway into the next.

They are called psychopomps.

These are keepers of the threshold, the liminal space between what has gone, and what has yet to be.

And this is one of the most vulnerable times, the scariest. The moment of change. The moment of truth. The moment of choice.

Will you let fear lead? Or will you follow a different guide?

Likewise – when we are on the threshold of creative life, of business, of love, of becoming something new and unknown – that is the scariest moment.

That is when momentum and how we walk is most important. And it is when it is hardest to put one foot in front of the next.

It’s when we feel the resistance.

At the Cliff’s Edge

Imagine you live in a tiny village, where it is safe, quiet, boring. The fields are dry, the work is dull, and there is no hope. You hate life there, truthfully. You have always longed for something more.

But just beyond the hills at the edge of the village is a cliff. It calls to you.

When you stand near the edge, the wind whips across it, and you can feel it in your soul.

The edge is terrifying, dizzying. And beyond it… extends a dark forest, distant misty mountains, and vast, strange lands. Maybe wondrous things, maybe horrible.

You know that the only way to live the life you want – to feel creative, alive, in love with life – is to cross that cliff.

And that’s also when your pulse pounds, your hands shake, sweat drenches your shirt, and you think of ten million reasons to go back.

Stepping into the Gap

In life, unlike in death, the crossing isn’t one we can take just once. Creative life, business, love, – all demand that we walk into that gap over, and over, and over. And over again.

And every time, we will find that fear.

Whether it looks like:

• Delay

• Procrastination

• Dopamine-seeking escapes

• Distraction

• Perfectionism

• Waiting for clarity

• Over-preparing…

Fear will always meet us at that border.

Often, it will morph like a shapeshifter, trying to glamor us into staying safely, miserably, in the known.

It’s the phantoms of our biology, trying to protect us from danger.

And instead condemning us to the slow agony of a meaningless life.

Calling the Psychopomp

What we need is a ritual, a habit, a keeper of the border. To walk with us, into the unknown, past the fear. Over and over, every day. Teaching us to take small enough steps that our nerves can tolerate it without catching on fire.

Now, more than ever, as the old world seems to be crumbling and the vastness of the unknown is looming larger and larger – we need our psychopomps.

Not to show us the way, or make it easy – it will always be hard, and the path is only made in the walking.

No, what we need is escorts to help us develop our capacity for the unknown, the fear, the wilderness.

Because hope is on the other side.