Whatever didn’t work in your life before this point was a reflection of the fact that you hadn’t yet integrated the different parts of yourself. Where you didn’t yet accept yourself, you attracted a lack of acceptance in others. Where you hadn’t dealt with your own shadows, you manifest shadowy situations.
Broken parts of you encountered broken parts of others. So now you know! That was then and this is now.
Midlife is our second chance. If you want to spend the years you have left simply reenacting the dramas of your past, you can. The same script will indeed be coming around again for your review. It always does. But if you choose, you can take that script and give it an awesome rewrite, totally get on top of your material, and take a bow at the end that blows everyone away.
Your play might be set in another town this time, and the characters might be different. But it is essentially the same play. Whether you were ready for your starring role last time is another story. Whether you behaved in a way that welcomed your opportunities and maximized their benefits is another story. But the fact that you ever attracted opportunities in the first place means that they belonged in your script. Now—through the power of atonement, humility, and a sincere desire to get it right in areas where you might have gotten it wrong before—you will attract the same opportunities again, in another form. An all-merciful God has sent them around once more, with even bigger plans for how they can bless you and others now.
Do the rewrite carefully. Your character should not say, “I’m too old now,” but rather, “I’m just getting started.” “I’m too weak for this” can be, “I am strong now.” “I blame them for what they did to me” can be, “I choose to forgive.” “What can I get from this situation?” can be, “What can I contribute?” And “What do I want to do?” can be, “Dear God, what would You have me do?” With every new thought, you can work a miracle—changing your script and changing your life.
--- From The Age of Miracles: Embracing the New Midlife, by Marianne Williamson