Have you ever walked into a room with some purpose in mind, only to completely forget what it was when you got there?

There is a reason, and it’s not mental decline.

In 2011, researchers did a study in crossing thresholds and found out it’s those darn doors! When people were tested, it was discovered that they consistently forgot what they meant to do once they crossed a through a doorway.

It’s not age, it’s annoying.

Where our world is now, it is like standing right in a doorway. On a threshold. We have left one way of being in the world altogether and we are not quite yet in the next experience.

What will we carry with us in the form of “how it used to be” and what will we have to forget about?

Change is not easy. Anyone can stay the same; it takes courage to change.

Joseph Wirthlin wrote, “Those who stand at the threshold of life always waiting for the right time to change are like the man who stands at the bank of a river waiting for the water to pass so he can cross on dry land.”

There is an interesting Latin word — liminal, meaning threshold, any point or place of in-between.

A liminal space is the time between the “what was” and “next!” It is a place of transition, waiting, and not knowing.

We are right now sort of in the waiting room of our new normal. Really liminal! We do have within us the ability to cross that river of change.

Being kind to each other. Being fully aware is what can help us to choose love over fear. Being fully aware that we share this threshold can give us a peaceful way of being in this challenging time.

The Rev. Linda McNamar is a Laguna Woods Village resident.