Change and challenge
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Mining for treasure
“I am a firm believer that every few years one needs to shake one’s life through a sieve, like a miner in the Yukon. The gold nuggets remain. The rest falls through like the soft earth it is.” ~Amy Poehler, Yes Please At the start of this year, I didn’t make traditional “resolutions.” Instead, I decided to make a few healthy changes. Just for starters, I had noticed that I can’t process alcohol like I did when I was younger, nor was my blood pressure benefitting from the salt I was shaking freely on my meals. So I stopped drinking alcohol, and I rarely reach for a salt shaker without…
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Willing to stand out
“You’ve got to be willing sometimes to stand alone. You’ve got to be willing to piss some people off. You’ve got to be willing to look different. Sound different. Be different. And those are risks that many of us are not willing to take.” ~Iyanla Vanzant Human beings are hard-wired to belong. We need to feel accepted by a group or a family. We need a tribe. Paradoxically, each of us also has a different set of experiences and personal opinions. As we mature, especially, we value authenticity — and individuality — in ourselves and others. So, what really happens when you say or do something that goes against the…
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Keep calm and carry on
“Don’t Panic.” ~ Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Yesterday was one of those days. I spent four hours working on a new 800-word column, only to watch it completely disappear from my computer monitor when I accidentally hit the wrong key. Gone. Totally gone. All my attempts to retrieve the piece failed; I couldn’t “undo” whatever I did to zap it. It didn’t help that I’d been rushing because I was scheduled to visit my cardiologist for a follow-up EKG later that afternoon. (I was sure everything would be off the charts, thanks to the morning’s calamity.) But I took a deep breath. I thought of the British meme,…
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The lure of longevity
“It’s paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone.” ~Andy Rooney Our cultural view of aging is fraught with contradictions. It’s safe to say that each of us wants to live a long life — but we’d like to do so in near-perfect health with motivation and energy to spare. And while we’re at it, we’d prefer to erase our wrinkles and tighten those saggy chins and knees. Yes, we want to have our birthday cake and eat it, too. ~CL If you’re interested in exploring the topic of aging, join our monthly “Aging with Grace &…
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Who’s in the driver’s seat?
“I don’t want to be a passenger in my own life.” ~Diane Ackerman Sometimes it’s nice to let someone else do the driving. Sometimes we just want to sit back, roll down the windows, and enjoy the ride. And there’s nothing wrong with that — unless we’re always dodging responsibility or letting someone else (or something else) control where we’re going. Do you often allow others to make your plans and decisions when you could be asserting your own choices? Do you structure your days around unhealthy or unproductive habits? Once in a while, it’s worth a reality check: Who or what is in the driver’s seat of your own…
