Creating Magic in Midlife: 101 Questions and Answers to Reinvent Your Work, Relationships and Life! [Paperback]

Karla Freeman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2005

In Creating Magic in Midlife, Freeman, self-help expert and licensed clinical social worker poses and aswers 101 of the most vital questions for this generation. Addressing key areas like love, work, money, and health, Baby Boomers are shown how midlife offers a rich opportunity to actualize dreams and find joy. Questions like: How can I put work, money and passion together? Why is looking at energy a good way to explore and expand health and well-being? What are the relationships needs of midlife people? Even though Freeman's approach is light and friendly, her message couldn't be more timely, change and transformation are the keys to the kingdom.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Freeman has written a delightful book with wisdom and encouragement. Her questions and answers give guidance to magic and mastery. --Ann Todhunter Brode, Santa Barbara Health Source Magazine, 2005

About the Author

Since 1972, Karla Freeman has devoted her career as a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW), to raising awareness and developing programs on cutting-edge psychological themes of our time-----including personal empowerment, body-centered psychotherapy and conscious and joyful aging. She maintains a private practice in Santa Barbara, California focussing on individual, group, family and couples therapy as well as serving on the psychology faculty at Santa Barbara City College Adult Education division. Karla facilitates workshops and seminars nationally and internationally on topics such as Mid-life and Beyond, Surviving the Elder Crisis, Mind-Body Therapy, Healing from Trauma and Joyful Living.

Product Details

• Paperback: 219 pages
• Publisher: Philogenesis Publishers (October 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0976554003
• ISBN-13: 978-0976554004
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #891,934 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-researched advice told with humor and sensitivity, October 28, 2005

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creating Magic in Midlife: 101 Questions and Answers to Reinvent Your Work, Relationships and Life! (Paperback)

Karla Freeman declares midlife to be magical.

If you're a 50-something baby boomer, you've had significant life experiences. Seeing yourself with the potential to live another 30-50 years can empower your choices. Freeman says seeing this potential and knowing there's half a lifetime ahead of you beats sitting and staring at your wrinkles. She calls it the "Midlife Return" when you return to your hopes, dreams, creative yearnings and yet-to-be-explored self.

Do you want a second career, a new life abroad, a chance to be a writer or an actor? You have the time.

Using her 30 years of experience as a psychotherapist, the author helps individuals and groups cultivate magic in midlife. She is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) who maintains a private practice and facilitates workshops internationally.

This book consists of short easy-to-read chapters. It is a question and answer format, divided into four sections. Freeman suggests you read Section One, then flip around to any questions that are important to you. Section One is called "The Magic of Your Mission." The topics covered in the other sections include Work, Money and Passion; Health and Well-Being; and Relationships.

Section one explores Freeman's "syn" theory of creating magic. She explains how synchronicity, synergy and synthesis create midlife magic and apply to your lifetime choices. She describes a balanced life divided, like a pie, into slices. PIE stands for "put in energy." You choose what each piece of your life pie represents, and prioritize which slices to put your energy into.

Another exercise is used to start the process of change. On a sheet of paper, you draw a box and divide it into nine squares. Based on Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, you write a value in each square. Then you rate each by the amount of energy you are putting into it. The next step is to start shifting your energy to where you want it to be.

Addressing the key areas of love, work, money and health, Freeman skillfully guides readers on a journey toward fulfillment in the second half of life. She offers well-researched advice with humor and sensitivity. A list of resources is included, as well as an invitation to readers to relate their stories and experiences.

--- Reviewed by Elinor Nuxoll

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reinvent Your Life, May 13, 2006

By 

Rebecca Johnson "The Rebecca Review" (Washington State) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Creating Magic in Midlife: 101 Questions and Answers to Reinvent Your Work, Relationships and Life! (Paperback)

Before I started listening to my own still, small voice, I dragged myself around and tried to be happier by having more goals. Magic didn't come into my life until I started to ask myself what I really wanted, this moment. ~Karla Freeman

Creating Magic in Midlife is Karla Freeman's gift to anyone looking for answers as they enter a new stage of their life. Karla Freeman's vibrant and encouraging writing style creates a nurturing environment for anyone wishing to avoid a midlife crisis. Helpful questions draw attention to enlivening moments, as readers are encouraged to discover their true heart's desire.

Is it too late to improve relationships?
How can you begin a new career?
What does it take to handle drastic changes?
Can you still satisfy your deepest longings after 45?
Can a crisis become a moment of spiritual awakening?

The 101 questions and answers focus on ages 45-70, but anyone over 35 will find a wealth of wisdom in the life evaluation sections. Health, finances, energy enhancement and even a brief explanation of Ayurveda keeps the writing fresh and enlightening.

Ideas about walking to sort out emotions and suggestions for maximizing endorphin release gives this book a practical side. There are ideas for healing vacations, unique sections on menopause and she even discusses the issue of how we become stressed about trying to stay healthy. Isolation, Transference, grief ritual retreats, working from home and healthy living to prevent memory loss is also discussed.

Karla Freeman draws on her life experiences and well-read life to explore ideas about why a balance of work and love leads to a healthy life. This book may be the perfect starting point for a journey into your soul's deepest desires.

With numerous book suggestions throughout, Karla Freeman succeeds in not only creating an environment of support, she encourages further reading into areas that will be especially helpful for anyone wishing to avoid a midlife crisis as they embrace the ideas in Creating Magic in Midlife.

~The Rebecca Review

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An informative guide of the to enhancing the quality of our midlife experiences, March 10, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creating Magic in Midlife: 101 Questions and Answers to Reinvent Your Work, Relationships and Life! (Paperback)

Creating Magic In Midlife: 101 Questions & Answers To Reinvent Your Work, Relationships And Life by psychotherapist Karla Freeman is an informed and informative guide of the to enhancing the quality of our midlife experiences. As an easy to use and well documented guide, Creating Magic In Midlife is enhanced with a "user-friendly" four section premise of finding your mission, relationships, health and well-being, and work, money and passion. As an ideal book to assist the reader through their potential midlife crisis and the many issues that may be faced in such a time, Creating Magic In Midlife is highly recommended addition to the self-help, self-improve reading lists for anyone reaching that time of their life.