Time for quiet reflection can be good for the soul. That’s what happened when author Jean Sage spent a year in contemplation, living remotely in a mountain range, disturbed only by distant chainsaws or barking dogs, working remotely for her clients, thanks to technology. She reveals some of her discoveries in a new memoir released by Dog Ear Publishing.
“Letting Go: A Rite of Passage” shares personal details of the author’s life, from her adoption, a mother with narcissistic personality disorder, to her early marriage, motherhood and a second failed relationship that took nearly a decade to recover from thanks to his mental illness and her excessive drinking. Concentrating on her career – learning the television agent business – and her two children provided the anchors she needed. Vice president in a top sports management company in New York City brought valuable experience but highlighted the inequalities of the workplace in the 1980s, leading her to quit and move to California to start her own company.
That move proves life changing when a physical owl on several of her nightly dog walks confronts Sage. The physical owl experiences transform into ubiquitous images on magazines and books. She begins to recognize there may be a spiritual element as well when a magazine called “Shaman’s Drum” offers opportunities in the back of the magazine to explore shamanic practices with various people in the Los Angeles area. Years of exploration led Sage to Angles Arrien’s program in Sausalito where Arrien’s courses allowed attendees to find their individual way in walking “the spiritual path with practical feet.” The owl became a symbol for her life, and Arrien’s invitation to do a life review to step into conscious aging provided the impetus to reflect upon and write about her life and its meaning.
