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“Oh it’s you!”, she says surprisingly as she opens her door.  My name doesn’t come to her immediately, but she still recognizes me as someone who she is happy to see.  I had tried to call her and let her know I was coming to visit, however, my friend has lost her ability to use […]

It is common for mothers to experience a sense of loss and discomfort when their children become young adults and venture out on their own life’s journey.   This is most especially true when it is the last child to leave home leaving an empty nest.   The idea of their separation may come with mixed emotions.

Loneliness has been shown to be a major contributor to ill health as we age. It’s common for older women to become more isolated as the years go on and in that isolation, loneliness can creep in and can be accompanied by sadness, depression, or anxiety.    The camaraderie that women find in relationships with

They say that if you have learned to ride a bicycle you will never forget how. I remember learning as a child how to ride my bicycle. As a young mother, I taught my children to ride and later in life, I taught my granddaughter. I no longer own a bicycle and yet I am

I recently listened to a presentation by Gabor Mate where he posed the question, “Can being nice make you sick?” Gabor Mate is a Canadian physician, world-renowned trauma and addictions expert, and author who has done extensive work on the connection between our mental and physical health with an emphasis on chronic stress and illness.

“Be kind to past versions of yourself that didn’t know the things you now know.”    The author’s name didn’t accompany this quote on Facebook, unfortunately.   When I read it, I felt that it summed up quite nicely a very mature way of looking at regrets we may have as we grow older. Most of us

In the previous post, we looked at the nature of worrying and its impact on our lives.   We all have moments of worry.  For some, it manifests as troubling thoughts that come upon us from time to time but do not last.  For many, it is much more bothersome.  We become totally engaged in negative

The best definition I have heard for worrying is “using our imaginations to harm ourselves”.  We are brilliant storytellers, fabricating all the possible negative scenarios for the things we fear might happen.  We are especially good at this at night.   We lose precious sleep while tossing and turning trying to rid ourselves of the invasive

“Looking Forward At 100 ”  is a documentary highlighting the work of nursing instructor Heather Nelson and her team from Regina, Canada.   They set out to conduct a small study of centenarians curious to learn what brought these folks joy and whether or not they were still making future plans.   The study included six women

I am sitting at my kitchen table looking out at the pouring rain. We have had far more days of rain over the past few weeks than we have had sun.  If I had been planning to go camping in a tent today, or someone dear to me was planning a garden wedding,  I would be