Finding Happiness

The other morning, as I sat down to breakfast – a fresh cup of coffee, an almond cranberry scone topped with yogurt and homemade peach preserves – I realized that this simple pleasure had not happened by accident. The word that came to mind was discipline. I hadn’t particularly wanted to bake scones the evening before, nor had I been eager…

When I was a younger man, I thought I had the rest of my life planned. I wanted to write songs, travel, buy a motorhome, and eventually settle somewhere on the beach in Todos Santos, Baja California. After decades of working, I believed I had earned the chance to slow down and enjoy life at my own pace. Life had other plans…

There once was a clan of the Flibberty Flocks, Who polished their smiles and synchronized clocks. They ironed their curtains, they color-matched stew, And claimed that perfection was simply “what’s due.”

I was sitting in a circle of people I barely knew when it happened. A laugh. Not a polite one. A deep, from-the-belly laugh that felt like it came from somewhere I had forgotten. I didn’t realize how long it had been until it came back. I wasn’t looking for it. Joy just showed up. Here are five ways I’ve learned to practice it…

I’m not sure if it was turning 70, surviving cancer or simply having lived enough life to understand that there is nothing worth sacrificing your peace and well-being over. Through the years, I have done what most people (especially women) have done. I’ve taken care of everyone else, until there was nothing left for me…

Every Sunday morning for the last decade or so, my friend and I meet up at a local coffee shop. We always settle into the same two chairs by the back, next to a wall that displays a rotating mix of work by local artists. The baristas greet us warmly and know our orders by heart. For me, it’s a nonfat chai latte and bagel with double cream cheese – a weekly…

Are you not as happy in retirement as you had hoped? Please know there are many women out there who feel exactly the same way. Part of the problem might be that you haven’t yet found your rhythm. This article will help you figure out what that looks like for you…

Most of us feel grateful. We’ve come far and lived long. Yet all of us are human. So even amidst all that gratitude, we can occasionally feel antsy. Restless. I daresay, bored. Although now in our 60s, we can morph into those blasé children we were when…

A couple of weeks ago, I was out to dinner with friends when I noticed something fascinating. Every time a server emerged from the kitchen carrying plates of food, heads turned throughout the restaurant. Not all the heads. Just the hungry ones. People would glance up hopefully, trying not to look too eager…

You know that quote floating around the internet – the one that says “Grow old with someone who makes you feel young.” Well, I’m not just growing old with someone who makes me feel young… I somehow landed a man who makes me feel like I should a helmet and a permission slip…