Smiling contributes significantly to your happiness, health and longevity, so the research tells us.

Yeah, right, I’m thinking, when my dance teacher commands us to “Smile!” even as I am contorting my body into a completely unnatural position. If this choreography doesn’t kill me first – sure, I’ll smile! Read More

Mindfulness is front page news. A recent TIME Magazine cover announced “The Mindful Revolution: the Science of Finding Focus in a Stressed-out, Multitasking Culture…”

I had the chance to visit the original Starbucks on Pike Place in Seattle. It looks nothing like the chain I have come to rely upon. Yet the formula is the same. My drip coffee is filled to the brim. I have to pour out coffee to make “room.” (Yes, I’m one of those – a little coffee in my cream, please.) Read More

A few years ago, I made a vow to get out of my comfort zone. I was in my late 60s and had been observing a close friend so ensconced in her routine that if anything went slightly awry she became completely undone. Read More

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

I’m about to lose my job. It’s a long story, but the Reader’s Digest version is that I work for a large, British NGO in London that just lost a big chunk of its government funding.

As a result of that decision, my entire department is being shut down at the end of July. Read More

The past five years have been tough ones. My husband and I each lost a parent. We had three dogs die. I had two back surgeries and a neck surgery (one each year for three years in a row!) My dream job turned out to not be so dreamy. Believe it or not, this is not how we had it all planned! Read More

One of my favorite TV ads these days is of two ladies, grey and white haired respectively, who walk into Walgreen’s and purchase a variety of sunscreen ointments. Read More

In 2002, my husband asked me to meet him for lunch. It wasn’t our custom to meet for lunch and especially not at a nice restaurant. I should have known he was up to something! Read More

I have a good life – a great life, really. I experience the normal ups and downs, but in general, I am happy and healthy. My husband and I have had some great changes in our lives lately, and even my family and friends seem to be in good places. Thank goodness! Read More