A friend asked how I choose topics to write about on my blog. Hmm. I keep a list of ideas that come to my mind on solitary walks, through reading, or in conversations with friends and family. Then I decide to address a topic based on timing — on the dates of International Friendship, Color and […]
TAKE IT TO HEART
February is Heart Month, a time to increase awareness of heart-related conditions and further educate us about ways of improving our heart health. Although heart disease has dropped to the No. 2 cause (after cancer) of death in Canada, it remains the No. 1 killer of both men and women in the U.S. Yet, according […]
SAY NO TO NEGATIVITY
As the end of 2023 approaches, I set a guiding principle for next year: say no to negativity. That doesn’t mean I will no longer read the glut of negative news; I still want to be a member of an informed public. It means I will try to limit my negative thinking, to subdue the […]
INTERNATIONAL MEN’S DAY
November 19th is International Men’s Day (IMD). Feminists, don’t quip, “isn’t every day men’s day”? We accept IMD in part because feminism advocates social, economic, and political equality of the sexes. When we remember International Women’s Day (IWD) has been observed since the early 1900’s, celebrating the two different days a century later seems fair. […]
FOOD MATTERS
We often hear or read “we are what we eat” in discussions about nutrition. Recently I had the opportunity to put this adage to a test: instead of filling a prescription for a statin to address a new diagnosis of high cholesterol, I took six months to try and lower it through my diet. I […]
HEAD OR HEART?
In this post, guest writer Barbara Richardson discusses her bold and brave decision to introduce a puppy to her life. I love dogs. I bought a Labrador puppy when my son was nine as a companion for us when we moved to Kenya more than 20 years ago. We loved Rafiki (‘friend’ in Swahili) for […]
MIND THE BRAIN
Watching Christopher Nolan’s magnificent Oppenheimer twice and then reading articles about the “father of the atomic bomb” led me to contemplate the mind and the brain. Although the words differ in meaning, we tend to use them interchangeably. That’s okay for my musings. I admit to being in utter awe of Oppenheimer’s mind, about which […]
DATE YOURSELF
Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Given my title, you may think this post will be about conversations in which you date yourself by revealing, intentionally or not, your age or generation. No. It’s about inviting yourself on a solo date and then doing what’s necessary to ensure a fine time. […]
WORLD MEDITATION DAY
In 1972 I took up transcendental meditation (TM) to combat severe insomnia. And it worked! Repeating my mantra silently (no, Tim, I won’t divulge it to you or anyone else) for twenty minutes once or twice daily enabled me to go from three hours of sleep a night to a healthy seven. This cure — […]
HOW OLD AM I?
I reached a milestone birthday in 2022 and, coincidentally, attended a high school reunion of friends and acquaintances, many of whom also turned 7-0 last year. The lead-in to the occasion didn’t trouble me — until I noticed birthday greetings mentioned a new descriptor: septuagenarian. No one called me a quinquagenarian (aged between 50 and […]