Awakening at Midlife: A Guide to Spirit and Self
Return to The True "You": The Joyful Life by Dr. Brehoney; a Review
Oct 18, 2008
Another timeless guide to reinventing one’s life, Behony’s advice seems as fresh and apropos as ever. At a time when seeking authenticity both as a culture and in one’s stage of life these pages are full of useful insight, wisdom and practical tips. A certified Jungian, Behoney’s understanding of the stages of a woman’s life come from both personal and professional understanding.
In Search of Wholeness
The opening chapter includes a most lucid diagram of Jung’s model of the psyche which when viewed carefully puts in place all the elusive terms Jungians use and brings much needed clarity to the lay reader.
This book picks up where Gail Sheehy and others leave off: how does one grow the inner life after the career, the marriage, the many vicissitudes of earthly and other worldly love. A book to make a companion of through the smooth and rough roads ahead.
Holding the Tension of Opposites
Brehony writes tellingly about that stage in life which Christians mystics have referred to as the “night sea journey” and others simply call the “descent into hell.” Loss, confusion, ambivalence and/or rejection about everything once thought to bring fulfillment is the order of the day.
Here the solution is none other than staying with it, not through sheer force of will but in using the wisdom of surrender. Or, as Brehoney writes, learn to “trust in the integrity of your own inner process, the wisdom of the Self.”
Descent and Passage
It is at this time people find their way back to religion or take up with some other transcendent function such as meditation or prayer. In holding the tension of opposites one learns, says the author, to both float and think at the same time. Float until the riptide releases the weight and then apply wisdom to navigate away from its grip.
Creativity and New Life
This is a book more rich with wisdom and plain common sense that must be a stronghold on ones bookshelf of how to. A primer in Jungian thought and a handbook for survival, this book could save your life.
Chapters of this book:
1. Introduction: The Challenge of Midlife
2. Growing UP and the Search for Wholeness
3. The Emergence of the Unconscious
4. Losses and Confronting Death
5. Entering the Chrysalis
6. Building Containers, Healing Relationships, and Finding Our Neighbors
7. Dreams and Dreamwork: The Royal Road
8. Creativity: Breathing Life into the Process
9. The Life of the Spirit: Prayer, Meditation, and Being
10. Living in the Body
11. Understanding and Helping
12. Concluding Thoughts
Awakening at Midlife: A Guide to Reviving Your Spirit, Recreating Your Life, and Returning to Your Truest Self by Katthleen A. Brehoney. New York: Riverhead Books (1997).
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