Menopause
Many women over the age of 40 are preparing for the menopause transition, which is more than a physical change to the body. Menopause presents an opportunity for a woman to obtain tremendous personal growth and empowerment, more than at any other time in her life. In our culture the prevalent thought is for a woman to dread menopause, to see it as a negative sign of aging and becoming old. What is actually the case is that it is the beginning of the second stage of her life in which she can open to surges in creativity, vitality, new perceptions of her life, increases in intuition and the desire to be of service to her community in new ways.
The first half of life, the pre-menopausal years, a woman’s goals and behaviors are driven by society’s demands. In the menopausal years, she defines her own goals and acts on them from an inner knowing of what is truly important to her. Menopause is actually a development stage in which a woman
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faces unfinished psycho-emotional business to provide an opportunity to find resolution. All the issues that were not resolved earlier are challenged in this life stage. Many of these issues are beliefs of what it is to be a woman, body image, relationships, the aging process and old patterns of thinking and behaving. When these issues remain active in the woman’s psyche, they actually prevent her from entering into her own unique wisdom. Persistent issues can actually contribute to health problems. These problems then become associated with menopause being the cause of the illness.
The menopause transition is a normal life stage. When menopause is engaged naturally, it does not bring along with it the traditional health concerns. Many of the risks that are reported such as, breast cancer, osteoporosis, heart disease, arthritis, depression, and memory loss can be prevented when a woman opens to her intuitive capabilities. By addressing the psychological and emotional aspects that block her functioning as her empowered self, she can relieve the symptoms that arise through the menopausal transition such as hot flashes, night sweats and the health risks associated with menopause. Women who are addressing their psycho-emotional well being are finding that they transition through "the change" without any symptoms at all.
When a woman’s relationship to herself in the menopausal years is one of feeling her intuition expanding and perceiving herself as a powerful, yet serene presence then this stage of life is experienced with a quiet joy. Menopause comes at a time when she is well established in her work and understands who
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