Category Archives: Aging

Kindness — A Good Rule

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Decide to treat all your neighbors with consideration and respect. Be a resident ‘ambassadors’ to help welcome newcomers as they transition into the community. Aspire to live by the Golden Rule.

Decide to treat all your neigh­bors with con­sid­er­a­tion and respect. Be a res­i­dent ‘ambas­sadors’ to help wel­come new­com­ers as they tran­si­tion into the com­mu­nity.
Aspire to live by the Golden Rule.

Today we often read about cyber bul­lies among young peo­ple, but bul­ly­ing also plagues seniors.  The behav­ior being ref­er­enced would be inci­dents of name-calling, bossy behav­ior, loud argu­ments, snubs and aggression.

Causes and strate­gies
Fear can be one rea­son for bul­ly­ing, says Renee Garfinkel, a Wash­ing­ton, D.C.-based psy­chol­o­gist who spe­cial­izes in aging issues, but it’s also “that human phe­nom­e­non of the strong pick­ing on the weak. It’s not a func­tion of aging. It’s a func­tion of pathol­ogy.” Con­tinue read­ing →

Gambling

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Gambling destroys the work ethic. The core values of the work ethic are all part of the free enterprise system. Gambling corrupts these values and replaces them with greed and selfishness. Rather than depending upon hard work, gamblers depend instead upon luck and chance.

Gam­bling destroys the work ethic. The core val­ues of the work ethic are all part of the free enter­prise sys­tem. Gam­bling cor­rupts these val­ues and replaces them with greed and self­ish­ness. Rather than depend­ing upon hard work, gam­blers depend instead upon luck and chance.

“I hate casi­nos!” was my not at all wimpy com­ment while my coworker replied in like man­ner….. “I love casi­nos!”  We were not devel­op­ing an argu­ment, but clearly our opin­ions were far apart when it came to the issue of gambling.

It got me think­ing……….  Why am I so opposed to gambling?

Go to any casino and you’ll see many gray heads at the slot machines and black­jack tables. Gam­bling has become a pop­u­lar pas­time for seniors who often have time to spare and holes in their lives to fill. Gam­bling, like many things in life, can become addic­tive and seniors who are bored or lonely may be more vul­ner­a­ble to addic­tive behav­iors. Con­tinue read­ing →

The God Walk

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Here’s the thing… It is never too late to develop a personal walk with God and old age is as good a time as any to begin.

Here’s the thing… It is never too late to develop a per­sonal walk with God and old age is as good a time as any to begin.

I grew up in the early 50’s and my par­ents like many of their friends believed in mak­ing it a prac­tice to attend church as a fam­ily.  For them, church was a core item in our home and not an adden­dum that would be dis­carded by other dis­trac­tions.  Quite the oppo­site… Other dis­trac­tions were dis­carded or never con­sid­ered on the basis of what they were learn­ing and becom­ing as a result of their devo­tion to per­sonal growth in their faith walk with God. Con­tinue read­ing →

Smile Anyway!

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Smiling is a good idea for lots of reasons. A sunny disposition and demeanor favorably colors the interactions of my days for the most part… but not every time.

Smil­ing is a good idea for lots of rea­sons. A sunny dis­po­si­tion and demeanor favor­ably col­ors the inter­ac­tions of my days for the most part… but not every time.

“Hi Smi­ley” was the greet­ing I recently received from a busi­ness asso­ciate while attend­ing a lovely event in glam­orous sur­round­ings.  It was early in the day and the mood was fes­tive and pleas­ant.  It was inter­est­ing to think about the notion that I must come across as a per­son who is smil­ing and cheer­ful a good bit of the time.  As I con­sid­ered this thought, the words to a song taught to me by my par­ents came to mind.

Let the sun­shine in, face it with a grin.
Smil­ers never lose, and frown­ers never win,
So let the sun­shine in, face it with a grin.
Open up your heart and let the sun­shine in. Con­tinue read­ing →

Grow Some Money

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I like working and having a job puts me in touch with some interesting people. There are jobs for those who are willing to put their passion and experience to good use.

I like work­ing and hav­ing a job puts me in touch with some inter­est­ing peo­ple. There are jobs for those who are will­ing to put their pas­sion and expe­ri­ence to good use.

I am hear­ing from some of my peers that they are def­i­nitely not liv­ing the com­fort­able retire­ment lifestyle they always imag­ined because the needed money is just not there.  Com­pli­cat­ing mat­ters, things keep get­ting more expen­sive, while incomes remains fixed. Something’s got to give.

The solu­tions are that same as they have always been.  Cut spend­ing and increase income at the same time. Con­tinue read­ing →

My Story

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I wrote my own story in 500 words, making sure I did not leave out the failures and mistakes that were also part of the tapestry of my life so far.

I wrote my own story in 500 words, mak­ing sure I did not leave out the fail­ures and mis­takes that were also part of the tapes­try of my life so far.

No mat­ter how old I feel, I know that I am in the final quar­ter of the game.  There is a lot of liv­ing left, but I think often about what I want to leave behind for the peo­ple I love.  The essence of con­nec­tion to other peo­ple is “being known” and I want those I love to know who I am and what I am about.

Obvi­ously, I will leave behind all my stuff and what­ever money I have accu­mu­lated, but what I really want to leave is the ideas and beliefs that have dri­ven every­thing along the way.  Con­tinue read­ing →

Food Is My Medicine

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For about the last year, I have been eating lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. OK… so my grocery bill is high, but it occurred to me that there has been a good trade-off here.

For about the last year, I have been eat­ing lots of fresh fruit and veg­eta­bles. OK… so my gro­cery bill is high, but it occurred to me that there has been a good trade-off here.

My peers are a group of aging peo­ple.  I hear plenty of talk about the cost of med­ica­tions that seem to be pre­scribed like a “mixed cock­tail” that some­times neces­si­tates elab­o­rate plans on the part the patient to make sure it all goes down at the right time, in the right dose.  In fact, this is so com­mon that one might assume that it just has to be that way.  I dis­agree. Con­tinue read­ing →

Pay it Forward

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Find a younger person that is living in the storm of life right now that you have lived in the past. There are no NEW problems, just recycled ones!

Find a younger per­son that is liv­ing in the storm of life right now that you have lived in the past. There are no NEW prob­lems, just recy­cled ones!

As we get older, there is a nat­ural drift toward iso­la­tion. Senior men and women begin to feel mar­gin­al­ized as their world shrinks and the choices are not as wide open as they were in the past. So how can we find mean­ing and pur­pose for our lives dur­ing the final sea­son? How can we invest our­selves dur­ing the final season?

We live our lives for­ward, but we under­stand them by look­ing back­ward. Con­tinue read­ing →

Change is Hard

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The fire started in the kitchen which is often the case in apartment living for seniors who for a variety of reasons find the kitchen to be less manageable as they age.

The fire started in the kitchen which is often the case in apart­ment liv­ing for seniors who for a vari­ety of rea­sons find the kitchen to be less man­age­able as they age.

I know a woman whose home was dam­aged in an acci­den­tal fire. The fire started in the kitchen which is often the case in apart­ment liv­ing for seniors who for a vari­ety of rea­sons find the kitchen to be less man­age­able as they age. Inde­pen­dent liv­ing includ­ing the reg­u­lar tasks of house­keep­ing can cre­ate fire haz­ards as we age. In this case, cloth items were on top of the stove. While emer­gency per­sonal were tak­ing her out of the apart­ment for a med­ical need, the stove was inad­ver­tently turned on result­ing in the fire which started while no one was at home. Con­tinue read­ing →

Small Furry Friends

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Although I could never imagine myself living with a dog of any kind, I can see that for my brother, his small but lively dogs are a very bright threesome in his life and a real necessity for this season.

Although I could never imag­ine myself liv­ing with a dog of any kind, I can see that for my brother, his small but lively dogs are a very bright three­some in his life and a real neces­sity for this season.

Hav­ing a pet requires a decent amount of ded­i­ca­tion and com­mit­ment, but seniors some­times find that pets are extremely ben­e­fi­cial friends and just a pure bun­dle of joy. The com­pan­ion­ship that his trio of lit­tle dogs pro­vides moti­vates my brother to get more involved in daily activ­i­ties and socializing.

Most fas­ci­nat­ing of this three­some is Augus­tus Valen­tine.  He is a lively York­shire Ter­rier that could jump almost to the top of the small fence enclo­sure that held him close to his team­mates on the patio when I came for a visit.  As I inquired about his name, I learned that at first glance, he just looked like a lit­tle guy named “Gus”.  Believ­ing that name was too casual for his spe­cial breed, the name was for­mal­ized on the spot to…… Augus­tus Valen­tine. Con­tinue read­ing →