Cross Your Next Threshold

Turn the dread that stops you into the joy that moves you

You are at the threshold…

Present and lucid. One foot in the known, one in the unknown. There is no judgment. There is no force. There is no rush.

Here, you are aware of your freedom to be yourself. Even if you do not know who you are.

Rays of amber light were arriving in our kitchen. It was that in-between time, Harlem dusk, when the war of the city gives way to its peace.

My wife was stirring a boiling pot of coconut curry soup and we were having one of those intense yet gentle sweet-spot conversations.

That past weekend we had hosted a young couple seeking marital advice, so she asked, “What did you notice about the evening?” As we continued talking, an issue emerged, namely my propensity to fill up space with words. In other words, I talked too much.

Talking limited me professionally, relationally, and spiritually. Secretly, I was ashamed of it. So, the conversation hit a nerve.

I stood in the middle of the kitchen with urgent calm around me.

She moved away from the stove and, as if putting a line on the kitchen floor for me to cross, said: “Is it time? For you. To tell yourself, ‘I’m done with the life of talking. I am a listener…