The Adult Years

"Cyclical thinking looks for human meaning in the ongoing flow of daily experience, from world news to family events to personal concerns."

"We are all the time putting our lives together and taking them apart."

"People ready to create life chapters experience a shifting of gears, out of the inward orientation of transition space into the social expansiveness of constructing a chapter."

"Transitions, however disorienting and painful they may be at first, are almost always pathways for growth and discovery."

"Over the years the string of cycles seems more like an ongoing movie, with pervasive themes, turning points, and changing characters."

"No matter how prepared twentysomethings are to leave home or how angry they are with their parents, breaking out of a family of origin is almost always more difficult than expected."

"Whenever you feel that you have "done your duty" to some major role in your life, you begin to look for a way to make space for your own personal agenda."

"Elders are not so much afraid of death as they are afraid of becoming dependent on others and on life-support systems."

"The most powerful principle that guides our thoughts and feelings throughout the adult years comes from the decisions made as a child about how the world works."

"What change has been to the twentieth century, chaos will be to the twenty-first."

"Self-renewal means staying at our best—body, mind, and spirit—throughout life's long years, day by day."

"Most coaching efforts have lacked a conceptual framework for designing and guiding training systems for mentors and those they are mentoring."