The Sleeper Transition

Today we continue our series on transitions. All transitions have a common impact on our roles, our relationships, and our routines: transitions alter our lives. They change the roles we play, affect our relationships, and may require us to adjust our patterns. There are different types of transitions, but today I’m going to talk about the sleeper transition.

Sleeper transitions occur without a great amount of awareness around them. They sneak up on you. That’s why they’re called “sleeper transitions.” We might not even be aware that change is happening.

We may gradually improve skills.

There may be a slow change to a relationship.

We may improve our learning and not even realize it’s happening.

We have a tendency to get caught up in our lives, to not pay attention to what’s going on around us.

I’d like to challenge you to stop, pay attention, and become curious! Attention takes time to focus on our physical sensations, thoughts that come up… Take a moment to ask yourself, “I wonder why I was thinking that.”

Even paying attention to our environment around us can help us become more aware. And I don’t just mean our physical environment. It’s also the environment of our inner actions and the people we’re surrounded by.

Curiosity or interest leads us to a mindful investigation and exploration. It is coming to fully know the experience as it is, right here, right now.

In this way, we can avoid sleeper transitions sneaking up on us and surprising us when we might not feel equipped to handle a change.

So breathe in, “Oh well,” and on your exhale, become mindful. Understand your curiosity. Attempt that investigation. And honor the space between No Longer and Not Yet.