8 Ways to Forge Into the Unknown

Here’s how you cross the threshold

Here’s how you cross the threshold

Photo by Stephen Leonardi on Unsplash

It’s easy to get lost in the moon.

There were so many amazing photos posted of the almost full moon. It was awe-and-then-some! I took several moments on my patio, breathing into the seeming expansiveness in the air created by the sight of the magnificent orb. I tried to get a photo but couldn’t capture it.

Just looking at it creates a sense of wonder about what lies beyond. It got me thinking about the unknown and what an impact, good and bad, it can have on our lives, and how the prospect of the unknown can bring on excitement, anticipation, fear, or terror in varying degrees or all at once.

As we strive to raise the level of our playing field we will continually approach and cross the threshold to the Unknown.

To my way of thinking, it’s the threshold that has a tendency to hold us back. It’s the threshold that symbolizes the self-imposed barriers that keep us from forging into the Unknown. The fears are, in and of themselves, not real because they are the types of fears that were born from past moments, past behaviors and experiences, and past outcomes. They were in the past, not in the present threshold moment.

A threshold is by definition “an entrance or a doorway.” It is also the “place or point of beginning; the outset.” And, to take it further, a threshold is “the point that must be exceeded to begin producing a given effect or result or to elicit a response.”

And, if you break it down, the Unknown in this reference means “it” just hasn’t happened yet. So, crossing the threshold into the unknown simply means beginning something that hasn’t happened yet. If you think about it with that scaled-down perspective, forging into the unknown is like everything we do, every second of every day, because every moment is new and hasn’t happened before.

Marianne Williamson says that “we either move in the direction of fear or we move in the direction of love.”

It’s a choice. When you approach an unknown, whether it’s a new scary project, a request for help, or a huge job opportunity, take a breath as you approach and reach that threshold moment.

Here’s how to cross the threshold:

Ask yourself which choice you are going to make, one of fear which will likely keep you stagnating, or one of love that will propel you and give you forward momentum.

Listen to the wisdom of your body. It knows the difference between love and fear. That gentle, wiser inner voice always chooses love.

Do a sense memory exercise. Think back to a time when you were completely fearless when you had no inhibitions. What did it feel like? Remember the ease, the effortlessness?

Feel called to break the rules. Say it out loud, “I release the urge to play it safe.”

Let go of the need to be right. ‘Nuf said.

Take the first step, every day. Then, another. Then, another.

Don’t try, do. Rather than, I’ll try, it’s I am.

State your self-beliefs as a creed, or manifesto:

“What I have to offer I offer with love.

I am not cookie cutter.

I’m unique.

I have an unusual power.

I’m good at forming my own communities.

I make valuable contributions as a leader.

I’m a storyteller.

I’m a communicator.

I am fearless.”

Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Do one thing every day that scares you.”

Yes, even when you make the choice to move in the direction of love as you forge into the unknown, it may still seem scary. But, it’s because you haven’t done it yet. It may still seem scary. But, do it anyway.

Key Message: Choose love at the threshold. Forge into the Unknown with the knowledge that it’s no longer unknown.