At midlife, human beings experience a universal wake-up call. We enter the second half of life, which Carl Jung described as the time when we are called to Individuation – to our true purpose and wholeness. We are called upon to be true to ourselves, which entails finding out who we really are and what we really believe.

    For women, more often than not, the challenges we face usually center around a loss of a job, of a marriage or of a parent; a significant illness; children leaving home; and menopause. And sometimes, we feel a loss of meaning in our lives and we are just called upon to be MORE than we have been before.  We want our life to have MEANING.

    Our psychological and spiritual journey to wholeness has two broad phases, each with different agendas. The first half of life focuses on the development of your personality - building a sense of yourself, which is the ego – as well as differentiating your skills and abilities. The second half of life involves the integration of all the disparate parts back together into a unified whole. 

    The passageway of midlife joins the first and the second halves of life. Midlife is the place of transition and transformation that is trying to aid you in your growth towards someplace positive. Life needs to have more meaning and focus outside of self. People in midlife wake up to the fact that they are half-way through their life and approaching death – which doesn’t really sink into the young – and they begin to contemplate the deeper meaning of their lives. They also look forward to the future of their collective world, seeing the need to bring about change for their children and grandchildren.

    Women in midlife want to be in control of their own lives. They want to connect to their own power, and once they do, they want to use it to create a world – both private and public – that fits their vision of life.

    I went through my midlife transition without the benefit of a mentor, and so I had to, in many ways, reinvent the wheel. I got through this transitional time by reconnecting with my Feminine side, allowing myself to step back from the ‘shoulds’ and ‘oughts’ of who I was, and listening to the inner voice that taught me how to BE a whole person.

Midlife and Individuation Coaching focuses on the shift from where you are to where you want to go.

1.  Learn how to step back from DOING things you ‘should’ do.
2. Understand what your talents and beliefs are. What are your secret dreams and desires?
3. Learn how to listen within.
4. Trust in BEING who you are.
5. Find a new way of DOING that fits your personality and your beliefs. Do what you really want to do.

    I can help you.

1. The most important step in changing your life is to understand what is no longer working for you. What is draining your energy? As you begin to understand that a lot of your DOING comes from others’ expectations, you have an easier time stopping this learned behavior. I can help you to identify and transform old behavior patterns that are draining your of life energy.
2. Through your Astrological Birth chart or other personality tests, I can help you articulate who you are and where your talents lie. Then together we can discover your secret dreams.
3. Through Dream Work, accessing the True Imagination, Story Work, meditation and journaling, you can begin to listen to your own authentic voice. You discover the archetypal story you are living in – the purpose of your life.
4. When you learn to love and accept yourself, you trust your way of BEING in the world. Out of this, you can learn to love life again and live it the way you want to.
5. Once you ‘belong to yourself’ you will find new ways of DOING things. I can help you implement your strategy for developing your next steps in life.

    Midlife is a time to look back and see where you’ve come from and to look ahead to see where you want to go. Using stories as guides, we can work together to discover why you made the choices you did – usually unconsciously following a ‘story script’ not of your own choosing – and where you want to change the story now that you can make conscious choices about your life. In my own life, I felt that I had been forced to accept a role in life I didn’t want. But at midlife, I realized that I wanted to be the best mother at raising my children. Out of that commitment, I learned how to really be free and chose the story and life I wanted to live.

    I work with the tools of Archetypal Astrology, Jungian Dreamwork, Storytelling and the Imagination to open you to the intuitive, feeling side of life which will inspire your new life. My process takes you on a journey home to yourself.

For More Information go to: www.imaginecoachingservices.com

Creativity Coaching 

Working with Your Inner Artist

"Love is the heart of Creativity, knowing is its brain, and doing is its musculature."  Eric Maisel

Are you Creative? If so, how do you live out that creativity? 

Are you an Artist?    Or do you want to be an artist?

There are many ways to live creatively. You do it by using your imagination, resourcefulness and self-discipline to bring art and beauty and meaning into everything you are and do – be it your job, your relationships, your cooking, your decorating, your life-style.   You might do that by bringing art into your home, going to a play, dance or bookstore, and seeing beauty wherever you go.

But if you have an overriding desire to create something – a piece of music, a dance, a picture, a photo, a novel or make a scientific breakthrough – you have to take yourself seriously and work at your art.  You have to name yourself as ARTIST.

Being an artist means that you're a visionary and a rebel. It means that you see what others cannot see, and feel what others cannot yet feel. Your senses are alive and you experience life in ways other people do not. Being an artist is a responsibility that you have to yourself and your culture.

So, what are you doing to enhance and strengthen your art?

 Being an artist takes courage, because our society does not value its artists – beyond those few who become 'Stars'.   It takes practice and discipline, because you can't get good at something – even if you're talented at it – without putting in the time. And then you have to give it attention – you have to desire it until it is so much a part of yourself that you can't live without doing it.

Many of you will have read The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. Perhaps you've learned the discipline and the confidence that working with your art can give you. But if you still haven't taken yourself seriously enough to 'do your art' you might need a creativity coach.

 That's where I come in. I can coach you through your creative process, giving you feed-back, insight, and accountability.

If you have a project that you're stuck with, or that you've put on the shelf for too long, or if you're just getting started, maybe it's time to take your courage in hand and give me a call! 

Call Cathy for an appointment at 310-71-7013.  And visit her Mythic Storytelling website:  www.starofthebards.com