Mid-Life Crisis
Midlife Crisis is a classic Jungian theme related to coming to terms with oneself in mid life.
During the first part of life we ​​are busy following the Ego's goals and meeting its needs. Some of these goals are to find love, create a family, have children, support them, and strive in the world of work and career. This type of aspirations consume most of the energy of adults. All of these are collective needs imposed by society and its expectations, as well as evolutionary and adaptive needs.
However, in mid life, the energy shifts from the outside to the inside, and the inner world seems to demand certain responses that are more aligned with individual needs ultimately meaningful to one's soul. This often comes with a crisis, which is what Jung called "mid-life crisis."
The age of this crisis has changed over time, but the symptoms basically remain the same: confusion, doubt, anger, loss of meaning, and lack of commitment to the previous life trajectory. Psychic life demands uncomfortable changes that can only be faced alone. Therefore, the search for one's "soul code", as James Hillman described it, can lead us to regain our original and true selves.
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For One Who Is Exhausted, a Blessing
by John O'Donohue
When the rhythm of the heart becomes hectic,
Time takes on the strain until it breaks;
Then all the unattended stress falls in
On the mind like an endless, increasing weight.
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The light in the mind becomes dim.
Things you could take in your stride before
Now become laborsome events of will.
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Weariness invades your spirit.
Gravity begins falling inside you,
Dragging down every bone.
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The tide you never valued has gone out.
And you are marooned on unsure ground.
Something within you has closed down;
And you cannot push yourself back to life.
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You have been forced to enter empty time.
The desire that drove you has relinquished.
There is nothing else to do now but rest
And patiently learn to receive the self
You have forsaken in the race of days.
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At first your thinking will darken
And sadness take over like listless weather.
The flow of unwept tears will frighten you.
You have traveled too fast over false ground;
Now your soul has come to take you back.
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Take refuge in your senses, open up
To all the small miracles you rushed through.
Become inclined to watch the way of rain
When it falls slow and free.
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Imitate the habit of twilight,
Taking time to open the well of color
That fostered the brightness of day.
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Draw alongside the silence of stone
Until its calmness can claim you.
Be excessively gentle with yourself.
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Stay clear of those vexed in spirit.
Learn to linger around someone of ease
Who feels they have all the time in the world.
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Gradually, you will return to yourself,
Having learned a new respect for your heart
And the joy that dwells far within slow time.
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Blessing the Space Between Us:A Book of Blessings by John O'Donohue