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.
Author Jean Sage, born in New York City, was adopted and grew up in Pittsford, N.Y. She lives in the Mount Shasta, California area with her husband, Tim Corcoran, founder of Headwaters Outdoor School, their 3 dogs, and of course, an Owl. Still involved as a television newsagent, she travels between New York and California attending to her clients. All proceeds from the book will go to the nonprofit Walker/Hupp Fund, an affiliate of Upper Reaches that helps young men and women attend Headwaters Outdoor School, which teaches them to connect deeply with nature as a means to instill a sense of honor, self-responsibility, integrity, and service to their communities.
Sage started the Walker/Hupp Fund in honor of a friend who had served in Special Operations during the Vietnam War. He survived the war but was never the same upon his return.