First published in 1980, Transitions was the first book to explore the underlying and universal pattern of transition. Recently named one of the 50 most important self-help books of all time, Transitions remains the essential guide for coping with the inevitable changes in life. Transitions takes listeners step-by-step through the three perilous stages of any life passage, explaining how each stage can be understood and embraced. Offering an elegantly simple yet profoundly insightful roadmap for successfully navigating change and moving into a hopeful future, the process is ever relevant and applicable today. Among the subjects covered: Endings. Every transition begins with one. Too often we misunderstand them, confuse them with finality: "That's it, all over, finished!" Yet how we recognize endings is key to how we can begin anew. The Neutral Zone. The second hurdle of transitions: a seemingly unproductive "time-out" when we feel disconnected from people and things in the past and emotionally unconnected to the present. Yet the neutral zone is really a time of reorientation. How can we make the most of it? The New Beginning. In transitions, we come to beginnings only at the end, when we launch new activities. To make a successful new beginning requires more than simply persevering. It requires an understanding of external signs and inner signals that point the way to the future.