Constructive Awareness or The Art of Midlife

Constructive Awareness: Alexander Technique and the Spiritual Quest

Author: Daniel McGowan

Here is water in the desert of theory for many seekers - how to use the body's "here-and-now" to enhance spiritual awareness. McGowan shows how a proper head-neck-back relationship heightens our moment-to-moment awareness of the unity of mind-body-world, developing a pain-free body as a springboard for attaining high spiritual aspirations. The result is a solid, vitalizing basis for combining inner freedom and effective altruistic action in the everyday world.

Book about: Contabilit�

The Art of Midlife: Courage and Creative Living for Women

Author: Linda N Edelstein

The subject of midlife has been dominated by the woes of aging--menopause, divorce, hormone replacement therapies, aging parents, and fleeing children. Now a broad-ranging new work by clinical psychologist Linda N. Edelstein, Ph.D., The Art of Midlife, describes the freedom and authenticity that can be made a cornerstone of the middle years. She describes three healthy and predictable phases. First, women relinquish old ways, untying themselves from the past and mourning the losses of youth and its illusions. By placing less emphasis on the needs of others, women can live more creatively and enjoy the present. The women Dr. Edelstein studied have been able to move to the next step, in which they reconnect to themselves. They regain their authentic voices, simplify life, and allow long buried aspects of themselves to emerge. Finally, women refocus their futures. With courage, they embrace new people, ideas, activities, and work--and pursue adult dreams regardless of external rewards.

Library Journal

Although much has been written about midlife and the psychological changes that happen with it, most of what is published has focused on studies of men. Edelstein, a clinical psychologist, here focuses exclusively on women. Although somewhat aimed at the self-help crowd, this book is a more serious look at the psychology of midlife and how women have successfully dealt with it. The book is divided into three parts--"Relinquish the Old," "Reconnect to the Self," and "Refocus the Future"--and uses interviews with women who have creatively and happily moved into the second half of their lives by relinquishing, reconnecting, and refocusing. This book will be disappointing to readers looking for a quick fix but will enlighten those interested in learning more about this stage of a woman's life.--Elizabeth Caulfield Felt, Washington State Univ. Lib., Pullman Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

A clinical psychologist shifts the focus of women's midlife from such horrors as menopause and empty nests to the freedom and authority that is possible. She identifies three healthy and predictable phases: relinquishing and mourning old ways, regaining authentic voices and simplified lives, and refocusing the future to embrace long-buried aspects and new people and goals. Distributed in the US by Greenwood Press. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknew.com)

Table of Contents:

	Acknowledgments
	Introduction	1
Pt. I	Relinquish the Old	5
1	"Freedom Is Daily, Prose-Bound, Routine Remembering": An Overview of Midlife Creativity	7
2	"The Terrible Weight of All This Unused Life": Relinquish the Old	17
3	"Glowing Coals under Grey Ashes": Midlife	31
4	"First It Was in Black and White, and Then It Was in Color": Creativity and Insight	49
Pt. II	Reconnect to the Self	71
5	"She Must Braid Us All Together": The Psychology of Women	73
6	"I Am Her Only Novel": Relationships with Parents and Their Dreams for Us	91
7	"There's Still So Much I'd Like to See": How We Are Formed by Social Forces	99
8	"Once You Are Real You Can't Be Ugly": Authenticity	111
9	"Finding a Fortune in the Lining of an Old Coat": Aggression and Creativity	125
10	"The Long Meandering Fingers of Ice Will Thicken": Problems in Creative Living	143
Pt. III	Refocus the Future	159
11	"Life Shrinks or Expands in Proportion to One's Courage": Finding Courage	163
12	"Don't Dream It, Be It": Turning Points	171
13	"I Have a Brain and a Uterus and I Use Both": Women and Work	181
14	"Let the Beauty You Love Be What You Do": Achievements and Dreams	191
	Epilogue	201
	Bibliography	203
	Index	211