Customer Reviews

Embracing Your Power Woman: 11 Steps to Coming of Age in Mid-life

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Nowadays it's said that 60 is the new 40 (or is that 45?). Barbara Wilder's terrific, empowering book makes that statement true. Each step in this marvelous work takes us closer to youth -- not Seventeen mag and not Merlin going backward -- but back to the future, to the youths we might have had were it not for cultural repressions, and back to the kind of strength we had as children, transformed into TRUE adulthood, maturity and fulfillment. Wilder gives meaning to aging, and nothing could be more important in a society that loathes old folk (and makes them loath themselves and therefore often live in utter selfishness) and that discards women after we have reached a "certain age." Someone once said middle-aged women could be cat burglars and get away with it because no one remembers what we look like, we are invisible. Take these 11 steps and your crime career is over -- you will be learn to be seen and never forgotten. Let us hope WIlder does a sequel: for men.

This book changed my life. As I entered middle age, I started to fear my future on almost every level. I worried about ageism in my career field, dreaded the physical changes my body was starting to go through, and became anxious about my relevance on the planet. Reading "Embracing Your Power Woman" made me stop and realize how unnecessary all this fear was. Unlike the cultural messages around us that seek to nullify the role of middle-aged and older women in our society, this book celebrates our strength, our wisdom and our important place in the world. It helped me get in touch with my own beauty and worth and allowed me to look forward to the next phase of my life with excitement, not dread. Every woman should read Ms. Wilder's book!

I was prepared to resist this book as "been there, done that," but I was soon drawn in by the creative way Wilder not only charts an emotional and psychological map of coming into one's own as a Power Woman, but illuminates where we are on the spectrum, both personally and in a mythic and social context. I found it validating to see what had gone right as well as awry in my own evolution as a woman in our culture. The deeper I got into the book, the more avidly I took notes, particularly in regard to Wilder's new paradigms of authentic leadership and profound definition of success. I found this book heartening and revitalizing.

Take a guided journey to build your woman strength as you are through Barbara Wilder's refresher course Embracing Your Power Woman: Coming Of Age In The Second Half Of Life. Yes, it's New Age: it uses myths, stories, and essays to explore aging concepts in women's lives - but it's deftly juxtaposes spiritual and health concerns with social issues as well, showing women how to become more focused and directed. An intriguing survey of money, health and beauty, self-directed power and motivation which is very highly recommended for Women's Studies and Self-Help supplemental reading lists.