Everyday life and work can lead to a detached analytical mood, especially for those of us called to prize objectivity and strive for perfection. However, in certain seasons we become frightfully aware of our sensitive side, the vast ocean of emotion and vision and passion churning under the surface. In her 45th year on this planet, family lawyer and mediator Rebecca Stanley was surprised by an outflow of poetry, after a number of difficult years in a new challenging career and parenting three teenagers with a life partner who was facing his own battles. As Rebecca sought to understand herself, her feelings, her choices and other’s stories, words birthed meaning. Dear Reader, this is my gift to you, a glimpse at the mess of my inner life. I share this as both a comfort and challenge to you. Explore the depths of your own heart, mind and soul where you will find your authentic self. The good, the bad and the ugly. All of the beautiful chaos. Peace, Rebecca

Offers humorous observations on women's friendships, moving, chicken soup, second parenthood, marriage, the fiftieth birthday, Girl Scout cookies, cars, air travel, names, fashion, and aging.

A woman’s wisdom is one of the Earth’s greatest natural resources. With a perspective that only a certain number of years on Earth can bring, the thirty-two women in Midlife Clarity show that midlife can be a release of our true self, a chance to be free of others’ expectations, and a time to inventory our blessings. With personal anecdotes, essays, short poetry, and plenty of humor, Midlife Clarity focuses on issues common to every woman. Whether the topic is men, self-discovery, death, or struggle, each woman finds those small moments of satisfaction and joy that, after all, are what life is all about. Their midlife musings are at once basic and sublime, obvious and profound, individual and global. They inspire us to welcome change in our own lives with the same humor, grit, and strength.

This book helps the reader in midlife crisis frame his/her experience in spiritual/contemplative terms, and thereby provides a wider context in which to understand and eventually accept it.

A Woman's wisdom is one of the earth's greatest natural resources. With a perspective that only a certain number of years on earth can bring, the thirty-two women in Midlife Clarity show that midlife can be a release of our true self, a chance to be free of others' expectations, and a time to inventory our blessings. With personal anecdotes, essays, short poetry, and plenty of humor, Midlife Clarity focuses on issues common to every woman. Whether the topic is men, self-discovery, death, or struggle, each woman finds those small moments of satisfaction and joy that, after all, are what life is all about. Their midlife musings are at once basic and sublime, obvious and profound, individual and global. They inspire us to welcome change in our own lives with the same humor, grit, and strength.