Introducing Sheila Kelley, the genius behind S Factor, with what we think is one of the most amazing articles of the year. 

In the year 2007, a total of six people in my life died. Beyond people living in war torn countries, who knows anyone for whom six loved ones departed this good green Earth in a typical year? It was intense. I realized as I walking my dog yesterday that there are few to whom I’ve talked about that experience. Three of my loved ones died from brain tumors from various cancers. Two more were utterly freak accidents. The final passing was from complications of diabetes.  My kind and compassionate business partners and close friends knew; but it became almost embarrassing. It was like: “Another one? Really? Your poor family!” I caught myself wondering if those that knew would think I was making things up like some sort of whacko attention-getting ploy.  I grew to loathe the phone ringing because all too often I would hang up with a sinking, shock-like feeling realizing, while whirling, that I still had to keep it together to move through life. Ironically, 2007 was also the year I plunged into co-ownership of Balance Restored Center for Integrative Medicine in Mill Valley, which is the site for my acupuncture practice and which I love. When it rains it pours it seems.

I’m sitting in the green room, about to appear on Daytime TV, and the television is blaring in the background. Now mind you, I don’t have television in my home so I’m a bit out of the loop. But since I’ve been sitting here, I’ve seen one anti-depressant ad after another (mixed in with ads for lawyers who want to help you sue your doctor if you had complications from your anti-depressant). WTF?

While we mark the transitions of early life with rituals — everything from baptisms, communions, and bar and bat mitzvahs to graduations — the more subtle, yet profound, awakenings available to those in midlife go virtually unnoticed.

I wanted to change that, so last year I attended my first ever weekend-long all-women’s retreat in honor of my 40^th birthday. It seemed like the perfect way to mark an incredibly significant and exciting milestone with a time of deep contemplation, intention-setting and celebration.