GUEST POST by MICHAEL STEINMAN Imagine you’ve had a visible medical scare: a dermatologist has carved a chunk out of your forehead,...
Aging Thoughtfully10
Astrology as a Tool for Self-Understanding
GUEST POST By LAURIE FARRINGTON My fascination with astrology began the first time I saw the symbols on those little horoscope booklets by the grocery store check-out counters in the early 1960s. Following many years of self-study, I began my formal practice of astrology in 1994. As a professional consulting astrologer, I use the tool of astrology [...]
Pat Taub
The Night of the Bras
GUEST POST by BARBARA MUDD It was full darkness outside. The spring air was perfect. I was lying face down on the edge of a dock with eight other middle-aged and senior-aged women doing the same thing. We were hanging over the dock with water below us. At the exact same time, we all put our hands into the cold water and began swirling [...]
Pat Taub
How I Learned to Embrace Poetry
Because of the way I was introduced to poetry, it took me awhile to develop an appreciation for poetry. In middle school I was forced to memorize classic poems like Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken.” I remember standing in front of my 8th grade class, woodenly reciting the poem, then sitting down and that was that. Frost’s poem wasn’t [...]
Pat Taub
I Cane, I Saw, I Conquered
GUEST POST by MICHAEL STEINMAN I’ve never been a sprinter. And in the past decade, some friends have commented on my odd forward motion. “You walk funny. Are you OK?” You could say I limp, or perhaps hobble. A woman I was dating told me that she was “concerned” about “my mobility issues,” to which [...]
Pat Taub
Everyday Rituals
GUEST POST by JACOB WATSON While the events of our everyday lives are often repetitious, to see them as rituals brings the energy of the sacred to daily life. Years ago, walking in an urban park I sat on a bench to rest. I watched a fly buzz around my head and then disappear into the bushes. Suddenly, sitting down to rest was completely unique. [...]
Pat Taub
Debunking “Successful Aging”
I rankle whenever I hear the term, “successful aging,” which has become the Boomers’ mantra. I take issue because it implies there is a right and wrong way to age. Successful aging is defined in terms of a self-centered wellness regime as opposed to a compassionate focus on the elder’s wisdom years, where giving back to society [...]
Pat Taub
Home Alone For the Holidays
The holiday season is upon us. Thanksgiving is next week, soon to be followed by Christmas and Hanukkah where images of happy extended families are portrayed in TV commercials and Hallmark specials. But if you’re among all those older women and men who live alone, who don’t have a family to celebrate with, or who recently lost a partner, [...]
Pat Taub
Endearing Siblings
GUEST POST by JACOB WATSON When we enter our family as a newborn the rules are already in place. As we grow up in our families of origin, we observe the spirit of the family. When older, and hopefully wiser, we create our own family, with its own spirit. This is what endures over generations. It is spirit because it is not limited by space [...]
Pat Taub
Don’t Wait…The Clock is Ticking
GUEST POST by PAT BESSEY Don’t wait! I have heard this before. However, after the loss of my husband LeRoy Lowell in January, it takes on a whole new meaning. This was my third marriage, and we were together for thirty-two years. My first marriage was when I was fifteen, a sophomore in high school and expecting a baby. That marriage ended [...]
Pat Taub
Awakening to Magic
During a recent visit with a woman minister, she described being called to the ministry by a woman she barely knew, who approached her with a vision of my friend as a minister. In exchange I related the time I was in Crete and wandered into an olive grove, where I felt strong vibrations, provoking tears of familiarity, as if I were revisiting [...]
Pat Taub