The version of meditation most of us were handed is: sit still, empty your mind, and arrive at some smooth, untroubled state where nothing gets to you. It's a lovely idea, but for a lot of midlife women it's also a trap.

Maybe you’re drawn to the idea of a ceremony to mark the threshold of menopause, but you don’t have a clear picture of what it involves. Here’s an opportunity to embrace the experience in a way that feels meaningful.

The conversation we're finally having about menopause is almost entirely medical. What you cannot find, almost anywhere, is someone acknowledging that you're also becoming a different woman.

I've sat in rooms where I could feel myself sliding sideways out of my own opinion. There was a dominant view and mine was different, and somewhere between the thought arriving and my mouth opening, I let it go.