Aging well
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Forgiveness
“Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.” ~Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre Responding to a recent “Life Lines” post about kicking our bad habits, a subscriber confided that giving up grudges tops her list of resolutions this year. We agreed that forgiveness is essential to our wellbeing — but not so easy to put into practice. Speaking for myself, I find it difficult to let go of righteous anger and resentment. But I’m trying. Everyone struggles with grudges, emotional wounds, and petty grievances. Yet we do so at great cost to our own health and wellbeing. As Anne Lamott writes in Traveling Mercies, “Not…
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What does it mean to age well?
“It’s paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone.” ~Andy Rooney What does it really mean to age well? Our cultural view of aging is fraught with contradictions. It’s safe to say that each of us wants to live a good, long life — but we’d like to do so in perfect health with motivation and energy to spare. And while we’re at it, we’d prefer to erase our wrinkles and tighten those saggy chins and knees. We’d like to maintain the beauty and resilience of our youth while we earn the wisdom of our elder years.…
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When things get crazy
“The world is a puzzle. There’s no need to make sense out of it.” ~Socrates Sometimes it feels as if the whole world is falling apart. If old Socrates thought his life was a puzzle, I wonder what he’d think of our lives today? The best we can do, at times, is throw our hands in the air and surrender to the chaos — without adding any more to it. Sometimes we can’t save the world or even clean out the whole garage. As any good philosopher will tell you, there are situations beyond our immediate control. But we can always take care of our own little corner of the…
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September and transitions
“It is when we are in transition that we are most completely alive.” – William Bridges September is a month of transitions. A new school year begins; summer activities wind down. As the light changes and temperatures drop, we prepare our homes and gardens for winter. We begin to stock the pantry with everything we need for cool-weather comfort recipes. In one of my workshops, a woman remarked about the bittersweet aspects of autumn. She feels a little sad when fall comes, she said, despite the colorful beauty of the season. I knew exactly what she meant. A reminder of our own aging, late September prepares us for the changes…
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A no-regrets guide to caregiving
“There are only four kinds of people in the world: Those who have been caregivers. Those who are currently caregivers. Those who will be caregivers, and those who will need a caregiver.” ~Rosalyn Carter As our loved ones age — and as we age — caregiving becomes a reality we must face, one way or another. I learned during the first year of my widowed mother’s illness that caregiving duties can take a toll on you, especially if you’re not prepared. Written in retrospect, my “No-regrets Guide to Caregiving” appears this week online in The Oakland Press, and in the September print issue of Vitality. You can read it here.…
