WOW: Women's Older Wisdom


Aging Thoughtfully10

Still Marching After All These Years

GUEST POST by JANET WEIL After pouring out my heart to a dear friend about my anguish over the Gaza Genocide, I asked her, “What are you thinking and feeling about all this?” “I feel exhausted,” was her honest, sad reply. “I get it,” I told her. We all only have so much capacity for family, friends, community, and political activism. [...]

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Can I Live Without Email?

GUEST POST by JANET WEIL “It is possible that you do not receive many emails at all, in which case I am very jealous…” “A Simpler Guide to Gm@il by Ceri Clark “Could I live without email?” The question popped into my head as I was perusing “how to” computer books in the library. Why would I even think of such a thing? I first [...]

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Home Alone

If you live alone, if your family is scattered far and wide, if you recently lost a partner or spouse, if you can’t afford the plane fare to visit family or to enjoy a holiday escape, you may be feeling miserable and lonely, making you a prime candidate for the holiday blues.  No one wants to feel left out, but don’t fall prey to [...]

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Admit!  Adapt!  Adjust!  Accept!

GUEST POST by MARY LOU SMITH I will be turning eighty-five in January.  I work hard trying to admit, adjust, adapt, and accept what I can do. Easier said than done at times! I am an independent, active, creative and compassionate woman who left a forty-three-year abusive marriage in 2005 at the age of sixty-five. I have never looked back. [...]

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Listening to Elders

The passing down of elder wisdom is an honored tradition among cultures like the Natives Americans and the Japanese where elders are sought out for their sage advice. Unfortunately, this intergenerational exchange rarely happens in America’s youth-obsessed culture, which devalues elders and their lived experiences. But as more Americans [...]

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Facing My Fears of  Death

About seven months ago my beloved younger brother phoned to inform me he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.  He assured me he was accepting of his diagnosis, adding that he and his wife had applied for companion-assisted suicide at the point when his memory loss makes it difficult for him to function. Once I got over the shock of my brother’s [...]

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Falling Down!

GUEST POST by LISA SAVAGE Years ago, before I was within range of being considered an elder, I read in a geriatric doctor’s essay that his first move with a new patient was to examine her feet thoroughly. Because staying on one’s feet is foundational to maintaining good health for elders — a fall often precipitates a cascade of [...]

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