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Becki Cohn-Vargas, Ed.D, has been blogging regularly for Sixty and Me since 2015. She is a retired educator and independent consultant. She's the co-author of three books on identity safe schools where students of all backgrounds flourish. Becki and her husband live in the San Francisco Bay Area and have three adult children and one grandchild. You can connect with her at the links below.

Latest Posts By Becki Cohn-Vargas

6 years ago

5 Ways to Be at Peace After a Cancer Diagnosis… When Healing Is a Full Time Job

Like most of the women reading Sixty and Me, I have always been the matriarch and doer. Looking back at my old journals reminded me I always used to have a million balls in the air, projects with the community and with my family. Read More

6 years ago

My Cancer Journey: 10 Weeks in, Here’s What I’ve Learned

Over the last few years, I’ve led the greatest life. Writing, making films, traveling, blogging and gardening. My husband and I have traveled to Europe, Alaska, Yellowstone, and often to our Nicaraguan jungle reserve. I mothered an orphaned monkey for two years and released her. Read More

7 years ago

3 Ways to Pursue a Perennial Mindset

Turning 65 sets a person thinking and looking at the discussions taking place in the world around us. It is one reason I love reading and writing the 60 and Me
blogs. Read More

7 years ago

Throw Out Your “To Do” List and Get More from Semi-Retirement

Do you have a checklist in your mind that ticks off what counts? I do. It’s a proverbial one.

Let’s see, I get a point for working long hours, another point for making money, a point for having a day when I did not overeat and did my exercises. I get points for visiting a sick person, but not as many as I do when I get a new job contract, especially one that affords status. Read More

7 years ago

A Heartfelt Tribute to Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen died this November at the age of 82. He recorded his final album from a special chair in his living room two weeks before his death despite his body being wracked with cancer and suffering from severe back pain. Read More

8 years ago

How My Alaskan Vacation Gave Me a New Perspective on Life and the World

As I sit here, feeling cozy back at home, my mug says “Alaska, the last frontier.” I am trying to keep the spirit of the amazing month of July alive in my thoughts. Read More

8 years ago

The Latest Technology is Amazing But Can Never Replace a Hug

My father turned 90 in May. We had a small birthday party at his house, which I filmed on my phone. He was blowing out candles on a cake, although he could not eat the cake. He has a feeding tube and has not eaten normally for over 20 years, since his last cancer surgery. Read More

8 years ago

Amending Our Process: Crafting Apologies that Heal, Part 2

In the first part of this blog, we learned two ways to apologize, expressing regret and taking responsibility from Chapman’s work on The Five Languages of Apology.

Here we learn the other three more ways to apologize: making restitution, repentance or commitment to change, and asking for forgiveness. I am proud to share my sister’s article and so lucky to have a wonderful sister and be so close to her. Here is the second part of her article… Read More

8 years ago

Amending Our Process: Crafting Apologies that Heal, Part 1

I recently published a blog on the Five Languages of Love, based on the work of Gary Chapman for Sixty and Me. Subsequently, I discovered that my sister, also an author and therapist, had written an article on the Five Languages of Apology, also based on his work. I am so happy to be able to share it here on Sixty and Me. Here’s what she said… Read More

8 years ago

How to Develop the 3 Most Important Types of Compassion

“The cultivation of compassion is no longer a luxury, but a necessity, if our species is to survive.” – The Dalai Lama

In the first part of this blog, I shared several research studies that point to a compassionate lifestyle as a path to health and happiness. In this blog, I will share what I am learning at the Compassion in Education Working Group about cultivating and practicing the compassionate lifestyle. Read More