Mind

We’re keeping our minds sharp after 50! From news that is important to us to ways to get centered and focused for the important work of being Better After 50! Find out about being happier, healthier and how to approach life after 50 with positivity and humor.

Hands making a heart at sunset

HOW TO START FEELING CONFIDENT, WORTHY, AND RELEVANT AGAIN

Have you ever felt irrelevant? No matter the past and circumstances that are swirling around you right now – have you ever felt THAT? How do you validate your relevance? Who’s there to judge? The truth is, no matter how worthless I feel, no matter how worthless you feel too, we were placed here for a damn good reason! A good reason indeed. Think about it for a second. Tell your sh**ty thoughts that tell you otherwise to shut the hell up! Think about your relevance. Read more by Lesya Li...

Confessions of a People-Pleasing Addict From Trauma Therapist Rythea Lee

Giving up the addiction of people-pleasing creates a crisis. Severe childhood trauma cannot be stuffed forever, can it? Not in my case.My entire sense of self is undergoing a massive renovation and the new look is ugly. My Father was so violent, my Mother so absent, that I was born a workaholic. Watch, listen, and learn; that took every bit of my brain power. I did not let down. Did not rest. Did not ā€œget to know myself.ā€ I got to knowĀ themĀ endlessly, and that was my very best strategy. It wasn’t just about observation; it was also about fixing the problem. ...

Tattoos: Never Say Never, Even After 60

I grew up in a world that was divided into two kinds of people: those who had tattoos and those who were afraid of people with tattoos. In the movies, prisoners and gang members, carnival workers and criminals had them. They marked reckless, defiant outsiders…tribal members with a shady moral compass. Ā Nazis tattooed people. End of story. Then in the 70s, the stigma dimmed a bit. Fashionable, creative, adventurous celebrities like Cher, Peter Fonda and Janis Joplin displayed their ink. The chests and arms of those ā€œin the serviceā€ in Viet Nam showed their proud affiliation. For the first time, although far from my thing, I saw tattoos as an indicator of something relevant to a person’s individual story, a canvas of their experiences....
Person deadlifting

Self-Discovery Through Deadlifting

A few months ago, I became a grandma, and I’m proud to say that I can safely rise from the floor while holding my granddaughter. I also grew my hair out to its natural silvery gray. Now I resemble that vibrant older woman I envisioned five years ago when I began deadlifting. In this elder stage of life, deep core strength grounds me in myself, fully present to the here and now, which is where I want to be....
Old Photo of Pam and Joy

Friends to the Bitter End

The audience is riled up, rocking its way towards midnight. I am standing on the stage with a microphone in my hand. The band plays behind me. I shout out over the noise, eager to keep going. ā€œI don’t look sick, do I?ā€ I ask, shaking my head and nodding to the crowd. ā€œNo, no, no,ā€ they shout back. Turning to my keyboard player, signaling for her to begin the intro, ā€œOne, two, three,ā€ I count, as my fingers strum guitar strings. I have been performing my entire adult life. Now, standing in the club, aptly titled The Bitter End, I have bargained my way out of the hospital to perform this gig....
Books on a table on a ship

My Solo Fling with a Mediterranean Playboy

It was a blustery August day in Marseille. The view overlooking the Mediterranean was dramatic. The waves crashed against the rocks, mere feet below my table. I chose Restaurant Peron because it was extensively featured in famed author Peter Mayle’s Caper series. The four books ran the gamut from vintage wine theft and unsolvable diamond heists to the influx of Russians along the French Riviera, and a real estate deal gone bad....
Magical autumn forest with sun rays

No Downside To Being An Optimist

At 10:00 on the night before Thanksgiving, two nurses walked into my room to say, without a trace of panic, that the ninth floor had to be evacuated to prepare for an influx of COVID patients. All seventeen of us were immediately to be transported to the fourth floor. Calmly and efficiently it took them ten minutes to maneuver my bed, my IV, and all my belongings thrown on top of the blanket, through silent hallways and down two elevators to my new room....
Woman writing story

Dementia: Writing the Story Now You May Never Hear

I’ll never forget the moment I found out my mother’s diagnosis. ā€˜Your mother has the classic symptoms of Alzheimer’s,’ the geriatric psychiatrist said. I wish I had encouraged Mum to tell me more about her life and recorded her stories. Robin Storey is a ghostwriter specializing in life stories and memoirs....
Closeup of hands with photos hanging with decoration lights on t

Everyone Knows Memory Fails as You Age. But Everyone Is Wrong.

In Case You Missed It....You'll want to read this great piece on memory from the NYT. "I’m 62 years old as I write this. Like many of my friends, I forget names that I used to be able to conjure up effortlessly. When packing my suitcase for a trip, I walk to the hall closet and by the time I get there, I don’t remember what I came for."...