Dealing with Grief and Fears

If this December you are feeling anything but merry and bright, it’s perfectly okay. There is no requirement to be “in the spirit,” or peaceful or joyful. And by all means, if you don’t feel like it, don’t deck the halls or hang the stockings with care…

Winston Churchill once said, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” Let’s not just get through the difficulties of our challenges and our adversities, let’s grow through them. Otherwise, what a waste to have them! The old saying, “When life gives you lemons…

As the holiday season approaches, I often think about those who are Suddenly Single – and have recently experienced life-altering events such as divorce, widowhood, or separation. Especially during the holidays, overwhelming feelings…

As a life coach for widows, I often talk with people who are using gratitude against themselves. Self-inflicted, forced gratitude is how many people attempt to kick themselves into a better emotional state. It isn’t effective…

The island of Okinawa in Japan is one of the longevity hot-spots of the world. That means it’s been identified as one of the five Blue Zones – areas where people live the longest and are the healthiest. Several beautiful concepts…

It’s Halloween season! I know because a walk down the streets of our quiet neighbourhood means bumping into a few skeletons if not disembodied heads. While this is the time for us to think about the light side of death, our western attitude…

My husband died in my arms right before Valentine’s Day 16 years ago. I soon found a quote by Alan Watts that became my mantra for many months afterward as I moved through the initial phases of widowhood: “The only way to make sense out of change…

Mental health issues are not uncommon as we age, and anxiety can be among the most common challenges to well-being we face as women over 60. Anxiety may occur in isolation or in conjunction with depression and cognitive decline…

With nearly a year under my belt of being a divorced 65-year-old, mother of four grown children, I have had time for reflection. The divorce was my choice. I sought and embraced it after years of apathy, contempt and hostility. I couldn’t change…

I was devastated. A few days before I turned 60, I was suddenly a widow. But really, I was typical. Surprisingly, the average age at which a wife becomes a widow is 59.4. About 1 million women a year in the U.S. experience what may be the most stressful event…