Senior News Daily Blog

Without pressure, carbon can never become diamond.  If you think you cannot stand the pressure, then you do not know that you are a human being.  The human body has been made to withstand extreme pressure to crystalize the consciousness. As Buddha reminds us, we are all born to suffer, not in the sense of […]

The romantic myth of Valentine’s Day would have you believe that your love is delivered in a box of chocolates or bouquet of flowers. The cards offer rhymes and flowery prose, proclaiming how wonderful it is to be in love; gushing over times together when feelings are so intense, we feel overwhelmed in bliss.  And therein […]

Do you remember your life, the all-encompassing chronology of buoyant first kisses and rancorous last words, grateful births and grievous deaths, promises made and vows un-kept? Supposedly, just before you die, your entire life flashes in front of your eyes, the scenes blinking like strobe lights as the years roll by.  “My Life,” the movie, […]

I had a question for our accountant, a long time friend who has been doing our tax return for more than twenty years.  As if on automatic pilot I began to write him an email. Then it dawned on me.  I know this man.  I have a relationship with him.  What is keeping me from […]

The value of looking back at life’s triumphs and heartbreaks comes from identifying with the yearning child and angst-driven teenager but doing so from the perspective of an adult with few illusions.  From a distance, detached from the event, we can see the nuances at the periphery of what took place.  The lessons are there. […]

The world is polarized, extreme positions characterizing virtually every issue.  In politics, it’s Progressives versus the alt-Right, their viewpoints frozen and unyielding be it climate change, gun control, immigration… each side obstinately holding tight to their entrenched belief; unwilling to compromise; insisting on all or nothing.  Sadly, with this hard linein place how can there […]

Black Friday, Gray Thursday, Cyber Tuesday, Small Business Saturday… I was struck by the onslaught of ‘special’ shopping days when stores open at ungodly early hours to offer consumers holiday bargains.  Now I’m not one to refuse a good deal when I see one, so no hectoring here about the true spirit of the holiday.  […]

I am trying mightily to stay on the path that leads to happiness, but that old saw of a headline is a constant reminder of how easy it is to trip myself up and fall on my ass. It is clear I am my own worst enemy, some unresolved aspect of my ego lurking in […]

Did you ever hear of the Dr. Moreof theory of aging?  “Whatever you are when you are young, you’ll be more of when you are old.” Of course Dr. Moreof is bogus.  But when some stereotype of a crabby old guy or grumpy grandma shows up on an awful sitcom, it’s no wonder we elders […]

A post on Thanksgiving Day should be a slam dunk.  Conjure up the Norman Rockwell painting, make up a list of all the things we’re thankful for and dig into the turkey and cranberry sauce.  That’s the sermon we’re accustomed to, but realistically it may be less than the truthful narrative that takes place on […]

There are days when I wake up feeling hopelessly despondent and about as relevant as a party-line, wall-mounted, rotary telephone.  That’s my daily challenge, to resist the self-deprecating tendency to think I have nothing left to live for; no value to contribute; no purpose whatsoever for still hanging around. I have to remind myself that […]

All of us I believe, arrive at adulthood with slights of childhood still needing to be healed. For some, the more fortunate, the wound needs but a suture or two. But many of us have suffered damage that remains problematic for decades. And the healing process can be lengthy. Self-esteem and capacity for love and […]

Reading the New York Times on a Sunday morning makes for an animated family dynamic. “All the news that’s fit to print” leaves my husband fit to be tied. He spends an hour reading the articles in the front sections, another hour on the opinion pieces in the Week in Review. Finally, a second coffee […]

Can it be that I am done with drama? Maybe I only can get up for the fives-and-tens, as in nine-gasp-oh coming up next year. Or could it be I’m becoming okay with living in a state of equanimity, a psychological condition to which I never give capital. Equanimity! I mean, what kind of wasted […]

Like so many of my friends and contemporaries, I’ve begun to encounter those awkward moments when memory fails.  The incidents happen occasionally and although bothersome, they are not occurring with a frequency that would elevate my concern.  Still, I’m a bit uneasy about what might lie ahead. As I’m guessing anyone my age would be.  […]

I had the good fortune to renew a relationship with a friend I had not seen for many years.  He knew me during a rough patch and curious about my current frame of mind he asked me, “Are you happy?” His memories of me were fraught with personal and business crisis so it surprised him […]

Staring at the screen… don’t know what to write, lacking all inspiration or outrage or energy.  Maybe a sugar rush would help… tramping up and down the stairs surreptitiously snatching Hersey Kisses from the frig after spending five minutes on Spell Check trying to spell surreptitiously.  Up and down the stairs… reminds me of my […]

We’ve become accustomed to the ‘kind of amusing but not really funny’ jokes about being old: my back goes out more than I do… I took up jogging so I could hear heavy breathing again… I’m so old I remember when emojis were called hieroglyphics.  Bada boom. Thankfully, notions of aging as defined by some […]

Our lives are a series of passages: from boyhood to manhood; son to father; daughter to mother.  Of them all, perhaps no transition is more difficult than the traverse from middle age to senior citizen; reluctant to leave the glory days of our life’s chronology we struggle mightily to resist moving on. Having enjoyed the […]

My body is getting older.  Not so the brain.  Which often finishes the New York Times Crossword puzzle and is still sharp and alert. Which can be a problem, lest I’m at a rousing party and get an impulse to try that jitterbug move I’m famous for and land up in the drummer’s lap. Case […]

When I learned recently that the long time saint in my life was not always thus, it took me a moment to process the reality that my exemplar had feet of clay. My love for her was such that I never allowed for human weaknesses or vulnerabilities to filter her shining light. But it was […]

People have always saved scraps of their experience to help remind them of a magical time in their lives.  We save a shell from our vacation at the beach where we fell in love.  Perhaps a ticket stub from the championship game when the Cubs won the world series. It doesn’t make ‘intellectual’ sense.  It’s […]

Ten months ago we moved out of the city into a small and utterly charming house in a nearby suburb.   We were safe from the pandemic, digitally Nest alarmed, healthfully air-conditioned, feeling near hermetically sealed from the world, never mind the virus. Warm weather brought out the Hammacher Schlemmer​ deck furniture, a hammock, a birdbath […]

My body is getting older.  Not so the brain.  Which often finishes the New York Times Crossword puzzle and is still sharp and alert. Which can be a problem, lest I’m at a rousing party and get an impulse to try that jitterbug move I’m famous for and land up in the drummer’s lap. Case […]

Perhaps you have heard me tell this story before.  It is one of my favorites, in that it taught me a valuable lesson that continues to serve me well. Years ago, when my husband and I were closer to the start of our spiritual journeys, we traveled to an ashram for a workshop led by […]

Five years ago I had a conversation with death.  It had been in the offing for a long time but I just couldn’t bring myself to meet the apparition in the spooky black robe; he scared me.  It took the sudden demise of a dear friend to broker the meeting. I was never a stranger […]

Friends have always played a hugely important role in my life.  Never more so than during the pre-teens years when I was in the middle of a growth spurt with pants two inches above the ankle and a voice box vibrating between alto and baritone.  I ran with street kids and trust fund heirs alike.  […]

Ah yes, the occasional squabble between husband and wife over some issue so unimportant it’s too embarrassing to admit, as in “You left the light on in the kitchen” or “Why didn’t you pick up the mail when I asked you to?”  In reply, I have two options. Option one: “So I forgot… “followed by […]

There are days when I wake up feeling hopelessly despondent and about as relevant as a party-line, wall-mounted, rotary telephone.  That’s my daily challenge, to resist the self-deprecating tendency to think I have nothing left to live for; no value to contribute; no purpose whatsoever for still hanging around. I have to remind myself that […]

I am beset with childhood memories of living in a similar time: before the Civil Rights Bill; before Roe v Wade; before the Americans with Disabilities Act. I remember how bleak and uninviting my neighborhood was, the paint peeling off the porches and heartbreak and tragedy behind every doorway.  A kid from a rival high […]

Ordinarily I get out of bed with an attitude of gratitude, thinking positive thoughts and planning a day that includes more than becoming a lump on the sofa.  And then there are the occasional days when my inner spirit and higher purpose simply do not show up! What do I do then, when my Better […]

My head is not in the sand; I recognize the steady downward slide of the dumbbell weight and fewer number of reps during my occasional visits to the condo’s health club. But I refuse to classify locker room vanity as a measure of who I am.  Scrawny pectoral muscles are not indicative of a protracted […]

Not too long ago, when I was asked if I had any children, I answered, “Yes, I have two, a boy and a girl.” But that’s not true now.  I no longer have kids. It’s been that way for some time now, considering both my son and my daughter are closing in on fifty.  But […]

Odd how I see you both so clearly, composites of the few photographs stored away in the carton that has moved with me for fifty years, occasionally opened, a provocateur of tears that continue silently as the worn cardboard sides are interlaced and you are shut away once again. There is a link missing from […]

“I will end hunger on this planet by the end of the year.  That is my solemn commitment.” I watched the speaker, a well dressed man in his late twenties, emote with passion and conviction.  It was the final hour of a three day workshop described by the promotional flyer as a new level of […]

“There is sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love.”–Washington Irving Learning to gently reveal who we are at the core of our identity is the path to […]

You’ve heard the saying about aging athletes – he’s lost a step but he more than makes up for it with experience. It’s true in life as well. At about the time the first Social Security check arrives most of us have recognized the transition from the person we used to be to the person […]

I admit to being creaky and making funny noises before I get warmed up but I fiercely dispute the societal assumption that Senior Citizens are like used cars ready for the junk heap. An odometer does not measure experience, wisdom and perspective. As the venerable lexicographer Peter Roget tells us, being a ‘senior’ is not […]

Aging gracefully I had the good fortune to renew a relationship with a friend I had not seen for many years.  He knew me during a rough patch and curious about my current frame of mind he asked me, “Are you happy?” His memories of me were fraught with personal and business crisis so it […]

Amanda Gorman’s poem, “The Hill We Climb,” was a highlight of the 2021 inauguration. It inspired both sides of the political spectrum with its lyrical vision “to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man.” Who would have thought that poetry could be the force that unites a country and […]

Guest post by Barbara Bengels – Do you remember what you were doing (or planning to do) when Covid shut down the world as we knew it? Were you teaching a class, standing in line at the supermarket, planning on seeing a play? Those were my plans; they’re still undone. How do we respond when […]

Last year at this time Arlene and I were vacationing in Ixtapa, Mexico having rented a gorgeous condominium overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  We were re-charging, self-care to the max. This year we’re house bound, self-isolating, currently overlooking about twelve inches of snow and lathering on Tiger Balm after shoveling a path for the mailman.  And […]

The merchants ardently promoting Valentine’s Day would have you believe that true love is delivered in a box of chocolates or bouquet of flowers.  If only it were that easy. Lasting love is built on a foundation of trust and intimacy.  And that cannot be ordered on-line from FDT or Fannie May.  It takes two […]

I hear it all the time, from young and old, couples newly met to spouses celebrating Golden anniversaries.  I wonder sometimes, as I listen to both the starry eyed and the disillusioned, if they knew what they were committing to when they exclaimed, giddy or resigned, “I’m in a relationship.” Did they fully know the […]

I think too much.  More often than not, I dwell on the negative side of my chattering prefrontal lobe, conjuring up dire endings to scenarios that have yet to be written. Sometimes the buzzing gets incessant and I find myself fixated on doom and gloom looming just around the corner, compulsively blowing up pint sized […]

The danger of a loving marriage is losing sight of love for one’s self.  True love is understanding how to be independent, together. Perhaps that surprises you. The most often heard mantra for a happy marriage is to put yourself second because as the common advice goes, when you start caring for your spouse more […]

The GPS to a tranquil and happy old age recommends “The Middle Way” I’m coping with a significant impending change: we’re moving from the heart of the city to a nearby suburb.  The adjustment will be dramatic.  From a two-block walk to restaurants, museums and shopping to mowing the backyard lawn and watching my granddaughter […]

Summing up, a life of transformation, and a year of change You’ve heard the saying about aging athletes – he’s lost a step but he more than makes up for it with experience. It’s true in life as well. At about the time the first Social Security check arrives most of us have recognized the […]

Dealing with a hole in my memory (Senior News Daily editorial staff) Like so many of my friends and contemporaries, I’ve begun to encounter those awkward moments when memory fails.  The incidents happen occasionally and although bothersome, they are not occurring with a frequency that would elevate my concern.  Still, I’m a bit uneasy about […]