A few years ago, an older, well-dressed woman walked into my therapy office. She seemed agitated. Nervously, she told me that she was unable to eat or sleep because she was troubled by sexual fantasies about her best friend’s husband. Read More

Our life’s worth. Value. Purpose. Maybe that conjures images of grandeur, of heroism, of large impact. But I know the worth of a life can also be found in quiet ways, small moments, simple gestures. Read More

On this fresh, cool, sun-dappled morning, I feel washed clean, full of clarity and determined to make some needed changes in my post-60 life.

A Spiritual Experience

This state of mind came to me through some tough work over the past 10 days. I am just emerging from a time of spiritual self-reflection as part of my religious observances, an emotionally powerful time when the core practice is to engage in harsh and unflinching self-evaluation. Read More

I sat bolt upright in the middle of the night and suddenly felt I was drowning in my own inadequacies. From different corners of my mind I was hearing, “Lazy! Weak! Running out of money!” Read More

Have you ever had the urge to enter the wilderness with a backpack, but dismissed it as an impossibly silly dream, because you felt too old and out of shape? I am here to tell you that you can do it! You don’t need to be young, thin, athletic or tough. Here is my story. Read More

Oh, how we wish for things to be different: Our bodies strong and healthy and, preferably, slim. Our children stable and successful; our grandchildren happy and thriving. Loved ones alive and healthy. Our marriages deeply loving, or else wishing for that elusive man to complete us. Plenty of money in savings. Read More

I am a typical earth mother – nurturing, a good listener, a therapist and a caregiver. In contrast, my close friend marches on Washington, travels to third world countries to fight for the preservation of environment and has tied herself to a tree to protest corporate greed Read More

As the Buddhists say, “pain and pleasure, praise and blame, loss and gain are the natural waves of being human.” Just sitting quietly in a wicker rocker in the sunshine, I am pulled up and down by text messages, phone calls and the fluctuations in my own mind. Read More

I sit on my living room floor, in front of the fire, after my morning tea. This is my time; time to slow my breath, relax my body and just be present. This is my way of soothing my mind and releasing the tension in my body. Nothing fancy, nothing strange; this is mindfulness meditation and I love it. Read More

My view of the world will never be quite the same.

This past week, a friend and I attended a mind-blowing exhibit at Dennos Museum in Traverse City. It is entitled “Grandmother Power: A Global Phenomenon,” and is based on the work of photojournalist/storyteller Paola Gianturco. She chronicles the stories of grandmothers around the world fighting for a better future for their grandchildren. Read More