Why are liminal spaces the secret laboratory of your mind?
By Anne-Laure Le Cunff | Published: 2025-09-29 14:30:00 | Source: Smart Skills – Big Think
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When I finished college, I was so anxious about what came next that I started applying for jobs a full year before graduation. When I left a big tech job, I threw myself straight into a startup. You rushed into new relationships after a breakup, or into the next project once the previous one ended.
I often filled in the gaps too quickly, because what was in between was impossible to sit with. I know I’m not the only one.
Maybe you left a job without knowing what the next step was, moved to a new city, or found yourself in that weird zone after a relationship ended.
These moments are destabilizing. You are standing in the hallway between what you were and what you are becoming. Your brain cries out for certainty, for solid ground, for the familiar rhythms of a life you understand.
What if I told you that this discomfort is not a defect in your psychology, but rather a trait?
These uncomfortable in-between spaces have a name in anthropology: liminal spaces. They are not just inevitable parts of life. It can be a laboratory for transformation, creativity, and growth.
Uncomfortable between them
The word “liminal” comes from Latin LemonWhich means “threshold”. Anthropologist Arnold van Gennep first described Liminal spaces in 1909 as the middle stage of a rite of passage, that ambiguous period in which we leave an old identity behind but have not yet stepped into a new one.
Boundary spaces change how the brain processes information. The anterior cingulate cortex, your brain’s conflict detector, becomes overactive in ambiguous situations. Meanwhile, the amygdala begins emitting warning signals about potential threats lurking in the unknown.
This neural response evolved to keep our ancestors alive in truly dangerous situations. But in modern liminal fields, this often backfires, creating anxiety about changes that could actually be opportunities for growth.
The basic idea is that uncertainty itself is not inherently negative — it’s just ambiguous information that our brains need to process — and that liminal spaces provide unique cognitive benefits not available during periods of stability:
- to learn: Your brain pays most attention to new information when it can’t predict what’s coming next, which makes liminal spaces ideal for learning.
- Creativity and problem solving: When your usual assumptions are suspended, your brain creates new connections that you would normally miss.
- Self-discovery: Escaping the constraints of your usual self-concept when you are between roles or life stages allows you to experience aspects of your identity that may have remained dormant in more stable times.
- steadfastness: Every time you successfully navigate a limited space, you develop a tolerance for uncertainty, the ability to remain effective even when you cannot predict outcomes.
But these benefits are not automatic. You need to change the way you respond to uncertainty.
How to flip a switch
The key to utilizing liminal spaces lies in what I call… The key to anxiety and curiosity. Anxiety and curiosity are both responses to uncertainty, but they lead to very different outcomes.
Anxiety narrows your focus to eliminate uncertainty as quickly as possible. Expands curiosity to explore what uncertainty may reveal.
research He appears Curiosity and anxiety activate similar areas of the brain, with an important difference: in the case of anxiety, these areas prioritize detecting threat; Driven by curiosity, they support exploration and learning.
Flipping a switch is a learnable skill. Here are three evidence-based practices that can help you turn uncertainty from a threat into an opportunity:
1. Cognitive reappraisal: reframing the narrative. Instead of viewing liminal spaces as something to escape from, practice reframing them as a laboratory for discovery. When you find yourself thinking, “I hate not knowing what’s next,” try “I wonder what this transition might teach me.” This form of Cognitive reappraisal It will reduce activity in the amygdala while increasing activity in areas of the frontal lobe associated with executive control.
2. Generative interrogation: Be a detective. Transform uncertainty from something that happens to you into something that you actively investigate. Instead of asking, “Why is this happening to me?” Try “What possibilities don’t I see yet?” Switch to Generative questions It turns your mind toward discovery rather than threat detection.
3. Personal experimentation: Conduct small experiments. Try a new habit or activity for a short trial period – a week of morning writing, or a solo lunch in a new place every Tuesday. this Experimental mentality Satisfies your mind’s need for action while maintaining your approach to exploratory uncertainty.
In a world where skills, relationships, and even identities are changing faster than ever, the ability to thrive in liminal spaces is essential.
So, the next time you find yourself in that uncomfortable corridor between what was and what could be, remember: you are not lost. You stand on the threshold of transformation, in a space designed by evolution to help you grow.
Your mind is already equipped with everything it needs for this transformation. All that is required is the courage to flip the switch.
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