Health & wellbeing
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Identity crisis?
“The reward for conformity is that everyone likes you but yourself.” ~Rita Mae Brown High school kids typically work hard to fit in with their peer groups. Even the non-conformists dress like the other non-conformists. One of the gifts of aging is feeling comfortable with yourself. You develop your own style, making choices that reflect your taste and character in everything you do. You don’t have to follow trends because you trust your own creative ideas. Maturity is all about discovering yourself, not figuring out how to impress — or fit in with others. ~CL If you enjoy “Life Lines,” please share the site with your friends.
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Putting yourself last?
“Sometimes you have to put your own needs first, even if that doesn’t please others. You are not required to set yourself on fire to keep other people warm.” ~Shannon Olson When I was younger, I often placed the needs and wishes of others before my own — even in matters as simple as choosing where to go out for dinner. Everyone else, it seemed, had better ideas or bigger problems to solve than I had. Even when I was overbooked with parenting duties or exhausted after caring for an elderly parent, I tried to make time for everyone who asked for it. Maturity has given me permission to put…
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What if …?
“You’ll never get anywhere if you go about what-iffing like that.” ~Roald Dahl Last year, a local yoga teacher began one of our sessions with a talk about managing stress and anxiety. Most of us focus on negative outcomes or worst-case scenarios when we’re frightened or worried, she explained, which only makes us twice as anxious. And then she posed the question: “What if we focus instead on what it will be like when everything turns out OK?” By changing our perspective, we could change the tone of our day. For me, it was a bright flash of brilliance in a dark time. Fear and anxiety have been eroding my peace…
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Small treats and rituals
“One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats.” ~Iris Murdoch After dinner, my husband and I grab a mug of tea or coffee and head for our favorite chairs to watch World News Tonight with David Muir on TV. Sometimes we treat ourselves to ice cream or a chocolate truffle. It’s a ritual that our dog, Coco, happily anticipates — because we also reward her with a handful of dog biscuits if she has finished her dinner. Watching her savor each cookie never fails to bring me joy. Sometimes we set our goals impossibly high, deluding ourselves into thinking that happiness depends on huge wins, special…
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Who’s really in control?
“Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don’t.” ~ Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free Control freaks always top my list of annoyances. You probably know a few of them. They’re the ones who expect everything to go according to their plans, not yours. They always have a better idea, or so they’ll tell you. Their opinions are always right and yours are always wrong. This is partly why control freaks are such terrible listeners; there’s no room for other ideas inside their heads. At their worst, control freaks…
