Finding Meaning, Facing Fears

Book excerpt: Autumn is a time of bright colors and full harvest moons; a time to reap and savor what we’ve sown. Our autumn years are the ideal time to reexamine our lives. Often spurred on by a 50th birthday or the last child leaving home, it becomes important to question who we are in the larger scheme of things, to wonder what we really want from our lives. Finding Meaning, Facing Fears (Winner of the Alpha Sigma Nu Book Awards 2013) invites us to explore the many opportunities this time of life presents: opportunities to stretch in our capacities, to face and conquer old demons, and to meet new challenges with greater resources than were available to us before. We will also have a greater opportunity to give back to the world the benefit of our experiences and to think about and implement our personal legacies. Dr. Shapiro helps us discover which alternatives will serve best in our relationships, career, even spiritual quests, and offers answers to the inevitable questions we face as we get older, such as: “Is that all there is?” “Is it too late to change my life?” “Where do I go from here?” and, “I’ve got everything I thought I wanted; why aren’t I happy?”