Change is a thin place (S9E6)

Show Notes

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There are geographical places in the world where the distance between heaven and Earth collapses*. 

They are called 'thin places'. 

It's a term that comes from the ancient Celts and there may be places you have been in your life that have felt like a thin place - where you've felt that distance between heaven and earth contract. 

And for me, times of change often feel like the barriers we've erected between ourselves and the outer world get THINNER.

And

The barriers we've erected over the years between ourselves and our INNER world get thinner too.

In my own life I’ve inhabited a number of thin places. Times when my sensitivity to the world around me - and the world inside me - has become heightened.

It can feel challenging and vulnerable and difficult to manage.

And

It is part of waking up to our true selves.

JOURNALING PROMPT
What does a 'thin place' feel like to me?

REFERENCES
*Eric Weiner - Man Seeks God

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What is the Henny Flynn podcast?

A space to settle in and listen, and see where the episode takes you. This inspiring, reflective podcast is an invitation to travel deeper, with compassionate self-enquiry.

Henny shares insights from her own life, alongside practices that help us connect with our inner wisdom, explore our relationship with change and find a greater sense of flow. Henny believes we all hold our own answers, so there are no one-size-fits-all solutions here. This is a space to be with what’s true for you, and to grow from there.

If you’re drawn to slowing down, listening in, and exploring what it means to live with greater authenticity, this podcast is for you. Guided by psychology, mindfulness, therapeutic coaching, flow journaling, and everyday compassion, we explore ideas that help us step further into our inner worlds, in order to shape the changes we seek in our outer worlds.

Unknown: Every now and again,
I've recorded an episode of the

podcast and either it doesn't
record properly, or I've

actually forgotten to press
record or some other like

technical glitch has happened.

Or there's been like masses of
noise in the background. And I

just didn't notice when I was
talking. And every time that's

happened, when I re recorded it,
I've realised I've ended up with

a better result. So this time,
we were treated to many of

Ronnie sparks, which might
appear later. And for those of

you who are old enough, Ronnie
Barker, yeah, we've, we've had

that joke come up before. But I
also when I was listening back

to the podcast, literally having
just recorded it, I thought, I

don't think I was really that
clear with what I was trying to

say. And so here we go again.

And I'm hoping that this time
round, it really makes sense.

Now, you haven't got the benefit
of having heard the first

recording, but I would really
love to know whether or not this

way of explaining where he goes,
what I want to talk about lands

with you in the way that I hope
everything lands, that it helps

open up some fresh thought for
you. And we'll just give him

another second when if he keeps
barking, I'm letting him out of

the stable. Okay, so today I
want to talk about this idea of

change as a thin place. And I'm
going to begin by saying I don't

mean thin in any sense as being
a physical thing. Just one

moment, I need to pay some
attention to that dog. Hang on.

Okay, we're back. So, I mean it
in a actually I mean it in a

comes from a spiritual route. In
fact, it comes from ancient

Celts believing that there are
places in the world,

geographical places in the
world, which are thin places, ie

the distance between heaven and
earth is thinner. And there's a

quote from Eric Viner or wine,
I'm not sure quite how he

pronounced his surname that he
wrote in his travel log man

seeks God. And he wrote that
thin places are those rare

locales where the distance
between heaven and earth

collapses. And I think that word
is quite interesting, actually.

Because when we think about
change, often, even if it's

changed that we've sought, that
we're actively creating, we can

sometimes feel as though aspects
of our experience of our outer

world and critically, our inner
world can feel like they

collapse in some way. Now I
think the other sort of aspect

of this Celtic concept of the
thin place is that they're

places that make us feel there's
something larger than ourselves

in the world. Almost as though
we're held in a space between

worlds. And I want to, I want to
build on this idea with you and

explore how change can feel like
that. Now, if you've listened to

the podcast before, you'll know,
I've often talked about change

being in the liminal space. So
the place between this and that,

if we, if we imagine, you know,
going over a bridge from this,

to that, which is on the other
side of the bridge, the space

between this and that is the
liminal space. And that's the

space where the change happens.

It's the space where we feel
more vulnerable. It's the space

where we feel much more
sensitised to the world, we're

much more alert to what's going
on. Because we're not just

operating in this slightly kind
of mindless, just, you know,

going from A to B to C to D in
the way that we always have,

when we come into a time of
change, we everything can

change. And our sensitivity to
the world becomes much more

acute, we become much more
alert. And so I first started

using this metaphor, when I
began doing lots of work with

women going through menopause,
because I really see menopause

as a thin place. It's a time
when for so many women, there's

there is this really heightened
sensitivity to the outside

world. So we can see it in
really practical terms of you

know, people around us can
become much more irritating. You

know, even our skin can feel
much more sensitive, and stuff

kind of grates on us, maybe we
become much more frustrated with

what's going on in our outer
world. And equally, our

sensitivity to what's going on
in our inner world becomes

heightened as well. So our
sensitivity to our hormones,

obviously is heightened, but
also our sensitivity to our

emotions, maybe our sensitivity
to some of those parts of

ourselves, like the inner critic
can become much more heightened

as well. So things that we've
like happily been managing,

maybe suppressing, maybe trying
to ignore, but managing in some

way, becomes much harder to do
it essentially. And so that, for

me is where this metaphor of the
thin place comes in those

barriers that we've built up to
protect ourselves against

external stimulus, and the
barriers we've built up to

protect ourselves from the
internal stimulus start to

erode. And we become much more
aware of what's going on around

us. And actually, for me, this
is part of waking up, we hear

that term a lot about, you know,
this idea of waking up and

coming out of this kind of
sleepwalking through life. And

actually, I see menopause as
being like the most beautiful

opportunity for waking up and
really coming home coming in to

that. That inner place of heaven
if you like, which is what the

Celts are talking about, you
know, in that the place, the

thin places where the gap
between heaven and earth gets

smaller, they can really get a
sense of heaven. And we can see

that change and in this case,
menopause gives us this

opportunity to really come home
to ourselves to come home to

that that place of inner
spiritual connection in

connection with our true self.

Whether or not you have a kind
of, you know, you enjoy thinking

about those terms like
spirituality or not, you know,

just just this idea of like
coming home to ourselves, maybe

enough. So, as I've, you know,
sat with this metaphor and used

it to support clients to help
them make sense of what's going

on for them.

I have also become aware that
actually pretty much any time of

change is or can be a thin
place. It can be a time when we

open ourselves up to seeing
things in a slightly different

way or to noticing things in a
slightly different way or with

more sensitivity with more
awareness and I think it feels

particularly acute, when it's a
change that is big. And it's a

change that perhaps we haven't
directly sought. So changes like

a period of ill health changes
like menopause, maybe changes

like burnout, you know, in the
change that that can become

really required when we're in a
time of extreme stress or grief.

But also, I think there's a,
there's a thin place at times of

having a child, or times of
maybe retiring from what you've

been doing for the last kind of
20 3040 years, and sort of

coming into a different time of
life coming into a new phase of

your life. So I really want to
just kind of land that idea with

you. That change offers us or
periods of change, offer us this

opportunity to really sit with
this heightened awareness of the

external world and the
heightened awareness of our

internal world. And then look at
what opportunities that gives us

because it's all very well to
say, Oh, well, you know,

menopause is a thin place, or
great, that doesn't really help

me that much, because it still
feels difficult or complex or

challenging, or whatever, I
don't know what to do with it,

whatever that might be. So the
reason why I think it's useful

is that we then have this open
invitation to then explore Well,

what is it that might be
triggering some more challenging

responses? And what would I like
to put into place to really

protect myself properly, look
after myself properly, rather

than just kind of that defensive
barrier that tries to block or

suppress, but really turn toward
the stuff that might be

challenging us, and, and do
whatever work with a capital W

is needed to help us manage that
through, and I mean, that about

the external stuff, as well as
the internal stuff. And, and to

be honest, this relates to the
episode that I did a couple of

weeks ago about stress unseen.

So often, when we're in that,
that sort of sleepwalking state,

which we can move in and out of
being awake, and sleepwalking,

by the way, it's not just like a
once and done, you know, I fully

recognise that. But when we're
in that, that kind of

sleepwalking state that's stress
unseen can is still there, it's

still impacting us. And then
when we come into this thinner

place, that awareness of that
stress is much more acute. And

therefore, that is what gives us
the opportunity to deal with it,

perhaps in a completely
different way. And equally, when

we're talking about this
internal landscape, this rich,

immense, incredible internal
landscape that we all carry with

us, when we come into a thin
place, and we have this

opportunity, this invitation to
look inwards, and to really see

what is going to serve us as we
move forward in our life and

what perhaps needs some
attention, what perhaps, is

asking for something from us
that we haven't been giving it

for whatever reason. And, and so
I think ultimately, while the

thin places might feel scary,
they might feel really

challenging, they might make us
feel really vulnerable. They are

also such an incredible space
for growth, even if that growth

is a very subtle thing. So it
doesn't need to be drama. It can

be a very subtle and a very
tender thing. And lastly, I just

want to leave you with a another
kind of an extension to this

metaphor of change being a thin
place in the production of yarn

as in threads that's used, you
know, wool thread that's used

for weaving And there's a term
thick place. And it's used for

when the, the yarn has been spun
in an inconsistent way. And you

end up with these kind of
slightly lumpy bits in the yarn.

And when we think about life as
a tapestry that we're weaving, a

kind of like this idea of,
sometimes, the yarn that we're

weaving with, has like these
sick places in it, where it

feels much harder to weave it
through. And to kind of create

the picture that we're trying to
create, or to manifest the

picture that we're trying to
manifest. And so I just kind of

like the idea of just being
aware of when there might be a

thick place going on as well,
like somewhere where staff is

feeling a bit rigid, a bit
heavy, maybe the barriers that

we've built up around us are
like, really, really entrenched,

and perhaps to then consciously
come into a thinner place to

connect with ourselves with the
world around us in a slightly

different way. That means that
we can experience what we're

experiencing differently and,
and reconnect with what is

really of service and a value to
ourselves. So, I think, you

know, as I've been listening to
myself talking, I think I've

expressed it in a way that feels
like, the, my true sense of what

this then place concept is. And,
and with that, I really hope

that it made sense to you too.

And I'd love to hear from you.

So let me know if it does
resonate. If you feel you you

might be in a thin place in your
life right now. Or if you notice

that there's been a time in your
life where you were in a thin

place where you became much more
sensitised to the world around

you in the world inside you. And
I think there's an opportunity

for a journaling prompt here
too. Which is perhaps just to

explore what what have been the
thin places in your life? What

does the thin place mean to me?

Yeah, maybe that's it, just so
whether or not you love to

journal if you don't just ignore
this part, but if you do love to

journal, perhaps just to explore
what does a thin place feel

like? To me? That's better, what
does the thin place feel like to

me? So alright, my darlings. I
hope you enjoyed that little

exploration. That concept and if
we've ever worked together, if

you've ever done coaching with
me, then you're probably already

familiar with it. And you know,
if it sparks some thoughts for

you, the making you feel as
though maybe you are in a thin

place and you would like to have
a guide, walk beside you as you

move through this part of your
life. Then do reach out to me.

This is the work that I'm here
to do. And I would love to

support you if that feels useful
for you. All right, my darlings.

You take care and I send you a
hug and a wave