Aging well
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Blooming
“One day you will look back and see that all along you were blooming.” ~ Morgan Harper Nichols, author and artist Do you ever fight the nagging belief that you haven’t done enough with your life? No matter how accomplished we are, many of us undervalue our achievements and overlook our daily victories. Or we focus too intently on our mistakes or missed opportunities. Try this instead: Take inventory of all that you’ve done — and give yourself the credit you deserve. Count every achievement, small or large, whether it’s raising a family, rescuing a shelter pet, renovating a house, learning to cook, earning a degree, volunteering at a shelter, climbing…
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Another Year: Thoughts on a Milestone Birthday
“Every birthday is a gift. Every day is a gift.” — Aretha Franklin A friend jokingly refers to the first week of August as my “birthday week” because I usually take full advantage of the opportunities to celebrate. This time around, however, I’m feeling a bit less celebratory and a lot more reflective. My driver’s license proves that I’ve landed on one of those milestone birthdays — the kind that inspires black balloons from the party store and bad jokes about seniority. For the past two years, I’ve facilitated a monthly workshop/discussion group titled “Aging with Grace & Courage” at a local library. Thanks to this group of thoughtful women,…
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Summer sunsets
“Sunsets, like childhood, are viewed with wonder not just because they are beautiful, but because they are fleeting.” ~Richard Paul Evans One of my favorite summer rituals is watching the sun set on Lake Michigan. To fully appreciate a sunset, you have to pause on the beach to admire the fiery color show — and stay long enough to see the sun disappear below the horizon. Sunsets inspire all of us to be fully present, to savor the moment. As other beachcombers gather to watch and applaud the spectacle, there’s a brief but lovely sense of community. Sometimes I’m moved to tears. As today’s quote reminds us, summertime passes quickly.…
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Summer memories: “The Art of Collecting Beach Stones”
“Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August.” ~Jenny Han, The Summer I Turned Pretty Summer is in full swing and Fourth of July celebrations are gearing up. Some of you will be heading for the beach or hitting the highway for a road trip. With that in mind, I’ll revisit a few previously published posts and articles with a summer theme over the next week. Here’s a favorite essay I wrote for Michigan Blue magazine on the art of collecting beach stones. To read it online, please click here. Wherever you live, I hope the sun is shining! ~CL
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Embrace your age
“Every year brings you closer to expressing your whole and healed self. I celebrate that. Honor it. Hold it in reverence. And I’m grateful for every age I’m blessed to become.” ~Oprah Winfrey The key phrase in today’s quote from Oprah is “your whole and healed self.” All of us suffer deep emotional wounds throughout our lives. Nobody leaves this world unscratched. One of the gifts of aging is the informed perspective we earn from years of experience. And how well we age depends on our attitude as well as the choices we make. We can dwell on the past and rehash our list of regrets; or we can move…
