From the Listening Room – Mapping Midlife: A Practical Diagram of the Male Midlife Crisis

Vincent van Gogh, Green Wheat Fields, Auvers, 1890

I close my four-part series on male midlife thresholds and midlife crisis with a practical, diagram-style guide
in The Listening Room HQ : Mapping Midlife: A Practical Diagram of the Male Midlife Crisis.

This final note gathers the series’ language and tools into an easy-to-scan map of stages and fork points — intended as a practical aid for noticing where you are, what choices appear, and how to move through midlife with clearer intention and integrity.

Earlier Mondo Bizarre Magazine notes in this series:

The full series as published on The Listening Room HQ:

For the complete set and ongoing notes from the practice, visit The Listening Room HQ.

From the Listening Room HQ – The Midlife Crisis Decision Map

Gunter Damisch – Gelbe Kaskade, 1985

I continue my four-part series on male midlife thresholds and male midlife crisis on The Listening Room HQ with the third piece: The Midlife Crisis Decision Map.

This magazine note links the conversation between the magazine and The Listening Room HQ — my men’s practice – carrying the series’ practical focus on stages, fork points, and the choices that either trap men in repetition or open a path toward integrity and real inner work.

Previously on Mondo Bizarre Magazine:

On The Listening Room HQ the series reads as:

For those who want to follow the full sequence, visit The Listening Room HQ or read the pieces above. Each post builds toward practical language and tools for noticing stages, choosing differently, and moving through midlife with presence, clarity, and accountability.

From the Listening Room HQ – The Universal Midlife Crisis Script | The Midlife Crisis Loop

Gerhard Richter – Abstraktes Bild Nr. 611-1, 1986

In The Listening Room HQ, my men’s practice, I continue the deep dive into the male midlife journey with the second post in a four-part series: The Universal Midlife Crisis Script | The Midlife Crisis Loop.

This piece maps the repeating beats of midlife unraveling across psychology, mythology, addiction recovery, organizational burnout, and even astrology — showing how the same loop resurfaces in different guises.

It follows directly from our earlier feature on Mondo Bizarre Magazine: From The Listening Room HQ – Living the Archetype of Unsupported Male Midlife, where the groundwork for this series was laid.

The full four-part series on The Listening Room HQ:

Each post builds on the last, offering practical language and tools for noticing stages, making clearer choices, and moving through midlife with integrity and care.

From the Listening Room HQ – Living the Archetype of Unsupported Male Midlife

Martha Jungwirth - Metamorphosen, 2011
Martha Jungwirth – Metamorphosen, 2011

In a culture that often sidelines the midlife journey of men, this first post in a four-part series on The Listening Room HQ speaks to the archetype of the unsupported male midlife — the absence of elders, the lack of guidance, and the quiet crises that unfold when these are missing.

Read the full piece here: Living the Archetype of Unsupported Male Midlife.

This note opens a series that continues with:

For the complete series as published, visit The Listening Room HQ.

On the Threshold in The Listening Room HQ

František Kupka – Zeitmessung, 1934

My third post on The Listening Room HQ I speak about being on the threshold.

Stepping across a threshold isn’t just about crossing a line—it’s about entering a space where presence, movement, and attention meet.In this post, I explore how The Listening Room HQ provides a place for men to be heard, to hear themselves more clearly, and to engage in the subtle work of noticing and being present. You can read the full post here: On The Threshold

Creative Practice in Men’s Work in The Listening Room HQ

Ralf Peters, Sweets edition, 2025

My latest post in The Listening Room HQ is about what happens when creative practice enters the space of men’s work.

Creative practice has a way of loosening what words alone can’t reach. It’s not about art as product, but about opening. A way men can meet themselves, each other, and others differently.

It’s not theory or performance, it’s a way of grounding, disarming, and opening what’s otherwise hard to reach.

In spirit, it sits not far from Nick Cave’s Red Hand Files, a place where correspondence becomes a kind of soul map. The Listening Room HQ works in a similar way though with men’s practice: gathering fragments, gestures, and creative practice into a field of shared soul work.

You can read it here: Creative Practice in Men’s Work.