First Chapter First Paragraph - Women Rowing North

I am linking up with Vicki @ I’d Rather Be At The Beach who hosts a meme every Tuesday to share the First Chapter First Paragraph or two of the book you are currently reading or plan to read soon.

I first read about this book on my friend Lesa's blog here.  Lesa did a great job sharing what she thought and felt as she read this new book by Mary Pipher - yes, the same Mary Pipher who wrote Reviving Ophelia many years ago.  I read that one too.  Here's a bit about...

Women Rowing North

by Mary Pipher

First Paragraph(s):

'I have everything I need to be happy right between my ears.' -- Jane Jarvis

Women Rowing North is about the specific issues women face as we transition from middle age to old age.  The core concern of this life stage, with all of its perils and pleasures, is how to cultivate resilient responses to the challenges we face.  Resilience is built by attention and intention.  We can take responsibility for our attitudes and focus on our strengths and our joys.  We can go deep and face truth squarely.  We can learn the skills that allow us to adapt to anything.  Yes, anything.

     With each new stage of life, we outgrow the strategies that worked for us at an earlier stage.  We find ourselves in an environment that pelts us with more challenges than our current self can manage.  If we don't grow bigger, we can become bitter.  When our problems become too big for us, our healthiest response is to expand our capacities.  That growth is qualitative.  We become deeper, kinder to ourselves and others, and more capable of bliss.

     Attitude is not everything, but it is almost everything.  In fact, in many situations, it is all we have.  Especially as we age, we can see clearly that we do not always have control, but we do have choices.  That is our power.  These choices determine whether we stagnate or grow into fully realized people.

Blurb:

Women growing older contend with ageism, misogyny, and loss. Yet as Mary Pipher shows, most older women are deeply happy and filled with gratitude for the gifts of life. Their struggles help them grow into the authentic, empathetic, and wise people they have always wanted to be.

In Women Rowing North, Pipher offers a timely examination of the cultural and developmental issues women face as they age. Drawing on her own experience as daughter, sister, mother, grandmother, caregiver, clinical psychologist, and cultural anthropologist, she explores ways women can cultivate resilient responses to the challenges they face. "If we can keep our wits about us, think clearly, and manage our emotions skillfully," Pipher writes, "we will experience a joyous time of our lives. If we have planned carefully and packed properly, if we have good maps and guides, the journey can be transcendent."

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I know that not everyone who stops by here is of a 'certain' age, but many are.  I think this book sounds quite interesting and hopeful.  Have you read anything by Mary Pipher?  Would you keep reading?