Finding Happiness

I love to listen to people talk, to hear their use and misuse of language. A few nights ago on the local news, a woman was talking about “all the neglection” her father was receiving at the nursing home. The phrase stuck with me. The idea of receiving neglection…

With the rise of all the scary stats among seniors (like Alzheimer’s, loneliness, depression, divorce, and nursing home occupancy), it’s becoming more and more difficult to lead an active, healthy, and engaged retirement lifestyle…

Although we can all agree that the pandemic years were quite bad, 2023 hasn’t been all that easier either. And though sometimes the days can seem grim, each day and in every situation, we have a choice. We can choose to focus on the negative…

When I look at my dogs, I marvel at their astonishing, vibrant self-esteem. My two big puppies, four and eleven years old, respectively, never question their deservability. They assume, and rightly so, that they are fully worth being fed yummy meals…

I began my downsizing journey many years ago. I found that it is more of an ongoing process than an event. Even though there were many events within the process, it was always focused around the removal of things. All of those cherished possessions…

I’m intrigued by the mythical land of Shangri-la – that magical location that symbolizes perfection. James Hilton talked about it in his 1933 novel, Lost Horizon, and song lyrics have referenced that idyllic place where you experience a perpetual…

As a woman over 70 who attended the 1977 National Women’s Conference, challenged her first employer for equal pay, dutifully wore sneakers with her suits while storming the halls of capitalism in the 1980s and later published as a feminist scholar…

Hopscotch. We played the game every day after school. We played it on the sidewalks and in the playgrounds outside the eighteen-floor brick building that was our home in Brooklyn, New York. We played as a way to hang out with each other…

I caught myself dancing in the kitchen this morning as I waited for my coffee to drip. Rain was coming down at about two inches an hour, but it couldn’t drench my mood. I’ve been feeling happy. Really happy. We all know the happy feeling…

When I was a young girl, still in the single digits of life, I dreamed of walking onto the stage alone to sing for an audience. In my imagination, I grudgingly allowed for there also to be a pianist onstage with me. As a very shy person whose musical vision…