A field guide to transition.

Phase 1 of the Bridges transitions model: the structurally necessary *letting-go of the old* — not only the situation but the identity, relationships, routines, and assumptions embedded in it — that every transition begins with. Counter to the intuition that transitions begin with the new, Bridges insists they begin with the surrender of the old.

Phase 2 of the Bridges transitions model and Bridges's signature contribution: the *liminal* "in-between time" of lostness, emptiness, and apparent dead-end that is, paradoxically, the *gestational medium of every real new beginning*. Bridges's most counter-cultural claim is that the neutral zone is *not pathology* but the source of the renewal everyone is seeking.

Phase 3 of the Bridges transitions model: the inner-aligned re-entry into a new way of being, which — paradoxically — *cannot be forced* and arrives by *resonance with a deep inner longing* once the neutral zone has done its work. Distinct from a mere *start* (the dated announcement that the new situation has begun).