THE AGE OF
MIRACLES
E MBRACING THE
N EW M IDLIFE
MARIANNE
WILLIAMSON
Hay House, Inc.
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Copyright 2008 by Marianne Williamson
Published and distributed in the United States by: Hay House, Inc.: www.hayhouse.com Published and distributed in Australia by: Hay House Australia Pty. Ltd.: www.hayhouse.com.au Published and distributed in the United Kingdom by: Hay House UK, Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.uk Published and distributed in the Republic of South Africa by: Hay House SA (Pty), Ltd.: www.hayhouse.co.za Distributed in Canada by: Raincoast: www.raincoast.com Published in India by: Hay House Publishers India: www.hayhouse.co.in
Editorial supervision: Jill Kramer Design: Jenny Richards
Lyrics from Nick of Time used by permission of Bonnie Raitt, Kokomo Music, Inc., ASCAP.
Excerpt from Jung, C. G., Collected Works of C. G. Jung, Vol. 8. Reprinted by permission of Princeton University Press.
Excerpt from Little Gidding in Four Quartets, 1942 by T. S. Eliot and renewed in 1970 by Esme Valerie Eliot. Reprinted by permission of Harcourt, Inc.
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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Williamson, Marianne.
The age of miracles : embracing the new midlife / Marianne Williamson. -- 1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-4019-1719-7 (hardcover)
1. Middle age--Psychological aspects.
2. Middle-aged persons--Conduct of life. I. Title.
HQ1059.4.W57 2008
155.66--dc22 2007034606
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4019-1719-7
Tradepaper ISBN: 978-1-4019-1720-3
11 10 09 08 4 3 2 1
1st edition, January 2008
Printed in the United States of America
For my daughter,
whom I beyond adore
Contents
[T]horoughly unprepared we take the step into the afternoon of life; worse still, we take this step with the false assumption that our truths and ideals will serve us as hitherto. But we cannot live the afternoon of life according to the programme of lifes morning; for what was great in the morning will be little at evening, and what in the morning was true will at evening have become a lie.
Carl Jung,Stages of Life
W rinkles. Memory gaps. Cant remember what you did yesterday. Found your glasses in the refrigerator. The skin on your thighs is uneven. Your butt is too soft. Younger people call you maam (or sir). You used to be able to juggle so many more balls in the air. You dont know that face in the mirror anymore. Youre jealous of younger people. You cant believe you didnt appreciate it when you had it. You feel invisible. You havent a clue whos making music now. You used to be hip, but apparently not anymore .
If any of this sounds familiar, then welcome to the territory. Perhaps you could use a fresh layer of insight to help you navigate some shifting ground.
Every new experience confronts you with a choice, and aging is no exception. How the era of no longer young unfolds for youhow youll inhabit the space of midlife and beyondis an open question that only you can answer. If you choose the path of least resistancenonresistance not in a Taoist way but in a lazy waythen gravity will overwhelm you. Youll grow old with little grace or joy.
But if you claim for yourself another possibility, youll open the door something decidedly new. Considering the possibility that there might be another way, youll make room for a miracle. Youll pave another pathway, build new synapses in your brain, and physically and spiritually welcome new energies that would otherwise not find in you a receptive home.
Millions of us are entering a room we would have liked to avoid yet can avoid no longer. Yet if we take a good look, we realize the room doesnt have to be so bad perhaps it just needs a redesign. And then it will be in many ways a new room.
Midlife is not new territory, obviously, but what is new is how many of us are reaching for something outside its culturally prescribed norms. According to Werner Erhard, founder of the est organization, we can live our lives either acting out of circumstances or acting out of a vision. And when it comes to midlife, we can forge a new vision, a new conversation, to take us beyond the limited thought-forms that have defined its parameters for generations. The circumstances are fixed, but our experience of them is not. Every qIntroduction situation is experienced within the context of the conversation surrounding it, both in our heads and in our culture. And out of a new conversation about the meaning of midlife emerges new hope for those of us who find ourselves there.
When I say hope, do I mean the hope of more years? Not necessarily. Do I mean the hope of more fun, more meaning, more passion, more enlightenment? Absolutely. Hope, when it comes to age, is not just that the years get longer but that they get better. Recently I sat next to an aging movie star at a wedding reception. Now in his 80s, he told me with manly conviction that when his time came, he would go willingly, and get on to the next adventure. He seemed okay with whatever happens next because he is okay with whatever happens, period. He seemed connected to some flow of life thats too real to ever stop, that wouldnt dare shut down at the point of his death.