Where did you get your ideas about what it means to get older? Are they serving you? Too late I have this vivid memory: I’m in middle school, that time when being cool becomes so intensely important. I get a too-short haircut I hate. I worry about how long it will take to grow my hair back out, because what if…
The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020 Somehow it feels like more than a year and less than a year. Amirite? What’s better and what’s worse in your life? So many people have lost work and more than 500,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. Even those of us who are healthy and employed have seen changes…
Even though we knew a new calendar doesn’t fix anything, so many of us were looking forward to a fresh start. The occupation of the U.S. Capitol showed us the error of our ways. Are we really still only in January? Just this month, we’ve watched video of armed protesters overtaking the U.S. Capitol, read about a new more contagious…
Even if the external environment stays as troubling as it is, we can make small tweaks to improve our day-to-day lives. In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear advocates for small improvements compounding over time. He calculated that if a plane takes off in Los Angeles bound for New York but it’s off course by just 3.5 degrees, it will land in Washington,…
Do you know that adage about the frog in a pot of boiling water — the frog doesn’t notice as the temperature slowly rises until he’s eventually boiling? If you’ve been too busy just staying afloat to reflect on how your life has changed during the pandemic, maybe it’s time to take the temperature of your water. What’s better? What’s worse?…
We can get so attached to the way things are, which can mean working really hard to protect against any dangers we imagine. But who imagined the coronavirus pandemic and related recession rocking our worlds, followed by demonstrations for racial justice? Could you have planned for 2020’s many jolts to our before lives? The truth is: Life is always changing. Once…
I pray that our societal near-death experience gives us a shift in perspective, and that we don’t simply recover but transform through it.
Welcome to the new home of my blog, Newvine Growing! For a decade now, I’ve written about what I describe as evolution, revolution and living life intentionally.
Lara Zielin’s book, “Author Your Life: How One Writer Changed Her Life Through the Power of Storytelling, and How Your Can, Too,” comes out Tuesday.
Giving up drinking for a month helped me see the social role we give booze, and made me feel physically better. So now what?
There’s a danger when we compare our own messy real lives with our friends’ well-curated social media lives that we’ll think we’re the only ones who spill the espresso, metaphorically.
We’ve made friends with three couples after serendipitous conversations in bars. Two more who we were introduced to.
Apparently not everyone turns random meetings into real friendships, so this is what’s worked for us.
“Midlife crisis” implies something that hits like a car crash, intense and immediate, then you simply put your life back in order. But no, Brene Brown wisely counsels. It’s a slow burn.
One of the magical things about decluttering is that it forces you to ask a wonderful question:
What is important to me in my life?
As you tackle a pile of clothes, a cluttered countertop, a shelf overflowing with books, there’s no way to get rid of clutter without answering that question.
I have come to enjoy wine and craft cocktails, and we love the social aspect of our neighborhood bars, where we know people.
But it’s time to cut down on booze to try to get my blood pressure back where it belongs.
I love salt. Given the choice between chocolate and French fries, I’ll have fries in my mouth when I answer. I have suggested that a salt lick on a necklace, like the candy necklaces of my childhood, would be an excellent invention.
But higher blood pressure points to the need to step away from the shaker.
Imagine a coach talking to a losing team in the locker room at halftime. Is it more motivating if he says, “You’re a bunch of no-talent losers and it’s no wonder you’re getting killed out there!” or “I know you can win this, so let’s turn it around and show them what you’re made of!”
I’ve had two recent moments when inspiring ideas surprised me.
First, during a reiki session, I saw colors, then the interior design of an e-book I want to write.
Then while watching opera, the concept “elasticity of joy” popped into my head.
John and I spent part of our autumn vacation giving retirement a test drive.
Vacation is typically synonymous with the “not working” part of retiring, so what was noteworthy was staying in a Santa Fe retirement community with our neighbor, Charles.
Inside Out and Mama Gena gave me timely reminders that the whole range of human emotions is valid. Even at holiday time.
Once I stopped coloring my hair, I began to understand I was defying the cultural expectation that we not age, like Peter Pan, and that challenging social norms is unnerving to some.
“People don’t learn from experiences, they learn from the reflection on their experiences.”
According to Robert Waldinger, director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, “The clearest message that we get from this 75-year study is this: Good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period.”
Nan Sanders Pokerwinski weighs the winter options: Stay in and make progress on projects she’s been itching to get into or go enjoy activities with friends?
Seven Spiritual Laws has been such a touchstone for me that I’m going to recap each of these laws over the coming weeks. The first law is pure potentiality.
