The other day I took a tram in Geneva to get to a meeting. The tram was stopped and I happened to sit down at the joint of the tram – the place that’s bound together with accordion-like sides and acts like a hinge. I noticed no one else sat in this area and I soon discovered why. As the tram curves around corners the accordion area that connects the two sides of the long tram car moves and the space beneath my feet moved too! As long as the tram ran straight all felt fine and solid, but as soon as it turned the sides scrunched up on one side and lengthened on the other. The hinged floor beneath my feet moved too. Needless to say being in that transition space between the two sides of the car was not comfortable! Nothing felt stable and the constant movement kept me on edge. 

It became a perfect metaphor for transition areas in life. The area just behind me seemed calm and steady. In the area ahead of me people sat chatting contentedly as if they were in a park on a sunny day. But being in the middle – in transition is simply uncomfortable — at least for me. I quickly wanted to move out of that feeling of being in transition, in a place of great change and into the place I saw just up ahead with the others who sat in calm, steady places.

When last year I was in the throes of the transition a friend sent me a quote that made me laugh. “When one door opens another closes, but being in the hall way is hell.”  I wouldn’t say it’s hell, but it sure ain’t much fun. To those of you who are also daring to embrace change and are in the transition places, hang in there. This will not last and the peace and joy are just around the corner.

Bio: Debra Moffitt is the award winning author of Awake in the World: 108 Practices to Live a Divinely Inspired Life and “Garden of Bliss: Cultivating the Inner Landscape for Self-Discovery” (Llewellyn Worldwide, February 2013). A visionary, dreamer and teacher, she’s devoted to nurturing the spiritual in everyday life. She leads workshops on spiritual practices, writing and creativity in the U.S. and Europe. More at http://www.awakeintheworld.com and on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/DebraMoffittAwakeintheWorld