Think of an experience of change in your life. It can be very significant or very ordinary. What feelings were associated with it? In discussion groups the commonly chosen words include ‘excitement’, ‘renewing’, ‘buzz’, ‘fearful’, ‘anxious’, ‘energized’, ‘bewilderment’.

But these words do not describe change but transition. Change is about the outer, practical task of moving house, office or job from A to B, for example. Transition is the inner psychological, emotional, relational and spiritual adjustments that I must make in order to live well with the outer change. Change is about where we are going. Transition is about what we are leaving. Change is about beginnings. Transition is about endings. …

It helps to realize that in even the most chaotic change there are always three basic stages to be lived through. Firstly, there will be the task of letting go – of leaving and making endings. There will be the final hope and longing of arriving somewhere new. And between these two is a place that is neither one nor the other. It has been called the ‘neutral zone’.

~ excerpted from “Spirituality Workbook: A Guide for Explorers, Pilgrims and Seekers” by David Runcorn, p.169.