Host: Sheryl Glick R.M.T.
Special Guest: Wendy Aronsson
In today’s episode of Healing from Within, your host, Sheryl Glick, author of her newest book, The Living Spirit: Answers for Healing and Infinite Love, welcomes special guest Wendy Aronsson (http://www.wendyaronssonlcsw.com/), author of Refeathering the Empty Nest: Life After the Children Leave. Sheryl and Wendy hope to offer new thoughts on a cycle all parents go through and how this time represents a profound shift from the rigors of everyday interactions with one’s children to a period of self-reflection and reorientation. With suggestions of how to do it well, in order to support yourselves and your children at this exciting time in your life, we hope you may discover that every cycle in your life is an opportunity to grow and find joy and a greater love of life. Wendy Aronsson has been a licensed psychotherapist since 1981 and is in a private practice in Greenwich, Connecticut, has consulted with local schools and is an active charter member of the Special Education section of the Greenwich Parent-Teacher Association.
In today’s episode, Wendy and Sheryl will discuss the normal flow and cycles of our lives and how each period offers tremendous possibilities for the creation of stronger self-values and a motivating force for a healthy and curious exploration of ourselves, our relationships, love and the world around us. Wendy will offer key advice for parents as they make the Shift- taking them from the rigors of daily parenting to a period of self-reflection and reorientation. We will also discuss how to move forward productively in new parenting roles with grown up children and in our roles as spouse, employee, friend, neighbor and self.
In Refeathering the Empty Nest, Wendy says there are approximately 25 million parents living in America who are classified as “empty nesters” according to a survey by Datamonitor. When parents no longer have to shuffle kids to soccer practice and attend to other robotic chores of daily living, many parents actually dread the changes, while other parents are able to enjoy their freedom. This might be because many people are afraid of becoming old and are also living vicariously through their children’s zestful activities and successes. Some may have lost the Spirit or direction of their own life and for a time been willing to mindlessly co-exist thinking change would never come and they will never grow old. Sheryl says this new Hovering generation of parents is different from the way she was raised by parents who encouraged independence, self-investigation and appreciated a simplified way of loving their children, allowing them more freedom to explore the world and its options. Today, many parents are intent on providing what is necessary to excel in the materialistic world and this focus has many implications on how they will view themselves, work opportunities, marriage choices and health concerns. Regardless of technological advancements, a longer life span and other modern day changes, there are still certain basic ways to help our children and ourselves realize that all cycles and change are actually necessary, unavoidable, and could be seen as self-fulfilling if we allow and accept everything without judgment and fear. Sheryl points out there are only two emotions that guide us in life- Love and Fear and everything positive is a variation of Love and everything negative is a variation of fear. Choosing whether we succumb to fear and suffering or hold our state of peace and harmony is indeed up to each of us.
One of the reasons for Wendy writing this book was that she was becoming aware that the baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, are facing challenges as their children mature and that these challenges are very different from parents in previous generations. Some of these changes include, a change in the economic systems, a lack of jobs, and parents who have their own aging parents.
