The need for change as we get older--an emotional pressure for one phase of our lives to transition into another--is a human phenomenon, neither male nor female. There simply comes a time in our lives--not fundamentally different from the way puberty separates childhood from adulthood--when it's time for one part of ourselves to die and for something new to be born.The purpose of this book by best-selling author and lecturer Marianne Williamson is to psychologically and spiritually reframe this transition so that it leads to a wonderful sense of joy and awakening.In our ability to rethink our lives lies our greatest power to change them. What we have called "middle age" need not be seen as a turning point toward death. It can be viewed as a magical turning point toward life as we've never known it, if we allow ourselves the power of an independent imagination--thought-forms that don't flow in a perfunctory manner from ancient assumptions merely handed down to us, but rather flower into new archetypal images of a humanity just getting started at 45 or 50.What we've learned by that time, from both our failures as well as our successes, tends to have humbled us into purity. When we were young, we had energy but we were clueless about what to do with it. Today, we have less energy, perhaps, but we have far more understanding of what each breath of life is for. And now at last, we have a destiny to fulfill--not a destiny of a life that's simply over, but rather a destiny of a life that is finally truly lived.Midlife is not a crisis; it's a time of rebirth. It's not a time to accept your death; it's a time to accept your "life"--and to finally, truly live it, as you and you alone know deep in your heart it was meant to be lived.

瑪麗安?威廉森國際知名作傢、紐約時報暢銷書作傢、演說傢，在已齣版的《愛的迴歸》等八本書中，有四本均高居紐約時報暢銷榜第一名，尤以《愛的迴歸》最負盛名。1978年她開始學習“奇跡課程”，1983年展開專業演說生涯，至今仍是教授“奇跡課程”最知名的老師。1989年成立“天使食物計劃”，提供洛杉磯地區艾滋病患的非營利餐車服務，亦是和平聯盟創辦人之一。瑪麗安?威廉森在好萊塢圈中也享有盛名，多位明星如1987年奧斯卡最佳女主角雪兒以及拉奎爾韋爾奇等都參加過她的演講，曾擔任美國?一夫人的顧問。