Small Guide, Big Journey

Synchronistically, the number of pages in the small book corresponds to the age of the author, who has worked for decades in transpersonal psychology and psychotherapy. Here she beautifully distils the wisdom of her experience on relationships and phases of human maturation, commenting that 'the main aim of our journey is learning to live consciously.' She begins with the wounded inner child and how to manage its demands, moving on to balancing the positive and negative in the archetypes of mother and father, also drawing on relevant myths. Every reader will recognise slightly different aspects here, also in the chapter devoted to relationships involving the acceptance of the other's otherness, especially in conflict situations. Most readers of this journal will have been through the process of midlife as crisis and renewal and discovered that energy follows thought. Beata tells the story of the friend declaring on her 80^th birthday that she did not have much of a future, 'but I do enjoy the present' – maybe the reason she lived to be 101. At this stage it is important to 'live at the intersection of time and timelessness and ask what the truly important things are in life.' If we do this, then we can experience 'a second flowering of body and soul' based on positive expectations. In this respect, Beata also gives some good advice on achieving simplicity and uncluttering – and when we let go of the body, we can look forward to the next phase of our journey.