Aging can be so challenging for the older woman that it’s a wonder any of us enjoy a happy old age, but it’s within reach once we learn to recognize thinking patterns that box us in. It’s natural to indulge in thinking about good times in the past. Romancing the past can be problematic when it becomes obsessive and obscures the reality [...]
Pat Taub
GUEST POST by JANET WEIL “Here’s the check, sweetheart.” The handsome young waiter laid the little tray on the table. Seating me at a booth, he had started with, “I guess it’s just the two of us.” I felt a vague annoyance. Now, after his calling me “sweetie” twice before, annoyance was turning to anger, a familiar emotion [...]
Pat Taub
We all have core stories we tell ourselves that keep us trapped in a negative narrative: “I can’t seem to speak up when my feelings are hurt; I have a hard time believing I’m good enough; I’m too old to be in a relationship.” Esther Perel, the popular relationship therapist, believes that the stories we tell ourselves are adaptive [...]
Pat Taub
Finding your voice is coming home to yourself, being true to what matters to you, and no longer suppressing your feelings. The noted Canadian psychiatrist, Gabor Mate, refers to finding your voice as acting with agency. In this recent book, “The Myth of Normal,” he contends that nice women, who do for others at the expense of their [...]
Pat Taub
Still Life at Eighty is a reassuring memoir chock full of humor, irreverence, and wisdom. Abigail Thomas greets her old age with vulnerability and spunk, refusing to buy into the familiar worries that often accompany aging. She is refreshingly positive about aging. Thomas has learned to love her solitude, shed guilty feelings, and be unapologetic [...]
Pat Taub
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
Currently I’m vacationing in Key West, where I’m surrounded by young women, parading their toned stomachs in midriff tops. In response, I’m practicing positive self-talk to avoid falling prey to the cultural message that rejects the older woman’s body, which is no longer taut. Curious to learn how other older women feel about their [...]
Pat Taub
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
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
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