Trusting Your Intuition in Midlife: A Guide to Making Aligned Choices
"The most painful thing is to be misaligned, to have your life out there be different from your life in here." — Cheryl Strayed
Finding Your Inner Compass in Midlife Transitions
As a psychotherapist working with women in midlife, I've witnessed the profound transformation that happens when we learn to trust our inner wisdom. The journey of making aligned choices isn't about having all the answers—it's about learning to listen deeply to what your body and soul already know.
For years, I've been practicing and tending to the art of making choices that create deep alignment between my inner truth and outer life. This exploration has taught me that authentic decision-making is less about forcing choices and more about cultivating the ability to listen for inner knowing.
Starting Small: The Practice of Body Wisdom
The path to trusting your intuition begins with small, everyday decisions. I started with simple choices: what to wear, what to eat, which route to take on my morning walk. What surprised me was how quickly my body responded, offering clear guidance when I learned to pause and listen.
This practice revealed something profound: I don't so much make choices as I receive them through my body's innate wisdom. The word "choice" almost feels inadequate—what I'm really doing is tuning into my internal compass and allowing it to guide my next step.
Navigating Midlife's Crossroads
Midlife often presents us with an abundance of decisions that feel overwhelming. We find ourselves at crossroads regarding relationships, career paths, and life direction. It's a time of deep reckoning with the life we've created, a period where we may recognize aspects of our existence that no longer feel aligned with who we're becoming.
When this recognition dawns—that some elements of our carefully constructed life feel misaligned—it can be daunting to know where to begin. What should we keep? What needs to change? What must we release? What are we called to invite in?
The Power of Presence in Decision-Making
My approach to navigating these complex midlife transitions involves:
Listening deeply to what wants to emerge
Noticing the subtle signals our body provides
Moving one step at a time rather than trying to solve everything at once
Letting the noise about the future fade into the background
Coming closer and closer to the present moment
This practice of staying present has allowed my life to unfold with my full participation. Unlike earlier years when I made decisions from a more disconnected place, I now feel deeply embodied in my choices.
The Beauty of Conscious Living
Living with this level of presence and intentionality feels radically different from the earlier chapters of my adult life. While the journey isn't always easy—it includes the full range of human experience, including discomfort, pain, beauty, and joy—what's different is my capacity to be fully present for all of it.
There's profound agency in this approach. I feel my participation, my responsibility for each step. Most remarkably, I've discovered my ability to meet and bear whatever discomfort might arise, knowing it will pass and new possibilities will unfold.
Cultivating Your Practice of Inner Listening
If you're navigating your own midlife journey and seeking to cultivate deeper alignment, consider these practices:
Start with small decisions and notice how your body responds
Create quiet spaces for inner listening
Trust the wisdom that emerges, even when it defies logic
Move at your own pace, taking one conscious step at a time
Honor the full range of your experience without judgment
Working Together: Somatic Therapy
I work with emotionally mature women in midlife through an episodic approach to somatic psychotherapy. Together, we discover what you'd like to set as your intention—the essence, quality, or way of being you want to cultivate. Then we create a supportive framework to help you return again and again to this practice.
This work is designed for women who are ready to:
Trust their intuitive wisdom
Navigate midlife transitions with consciousness
Align their outer life with their inner truth
Develop a sustainable practice of presence
I offer sessions both virtually throughout California and in person in the Sebastopol/Santa Rosa area. If this approach resonates with you and you're curious about working together, I'd welcome the opportunity to connect and explore whether we might be a good fit.
Ready to begin trusting your inner wisdom? Reach out to explore how somatic therapy can support your journey toward greater alignment and authentic living.
