Holy in the Hallway
There’s a saying, “One door closes and another one opens but it’s hell in the hallway.” I believe it’s Holy in the Hallway! The “hallway” is that in-between place when one chapter of our life is over and a new one hasn’t yet begun. You know what I mean: a major relationship ends, our career implodes, there’s an illness or loss or perhaps like now, we’re in the midst of a global crisis and the whole world is on hold. Welcome to the hallway! The hallway is a confusing, ill-defined place and it can feel as if we’re drifting in a thick fog. The...
read moreTurning Seventy
At seventy I am more myself than ever. – May Sarton I believe there’s a birthday for all of us when the whole aging thing really hits. It’s usually one of the big ones: forty, fifty, sixty, sixty-five. For me it was seventy. I wasn’t thrilled about turning seventy. I’ve always been youthful, healthy, and extremely active and although nothing had changed, I suddenly felt everything was different. I felt lost, fearful, and untethered; this was unknown territory. My fifties were fabulous and freeing; there’s no other period where you have...
read moreWabi-Sabi
I love the Japanese term, wabi-sabi, which, by the way is not a garnish for sushi. Wabi-Sabi describes an aesthetic based on imperfection, irregularity, simplicity, economy, modesty, and intimacy. Wabi is associated with rustic simplicity, quietness, and an understated elegance in nature as well as in manmade objects. Sabi refers to the beauty or serenity that comes with age. The most common example of wabi-sabi include a bowl, a tea cup, wood, paper, or fabric. Imagine a bowl whose patina has been worn off; one that contains...
read moreInspiration for the Eighties
I’m looking forward to eighty. -Oliver Sacks Fifty was a shock, because it was the end of the center period of my life. But once I got over that, 60 was great. Seventy was great. And I loved, I seriously loved aging. I found myself thinking things like, “I don’t want anything I don’t have. How great is that?” -Gloria Steinem If you’re eighty-five and you’re still working, you become interesting. -Betty Halbreich Age puzzles me. I thought it was a quiet time. My seventies were interesting and fairly...
read moreInspiration for the Seventies
“One day I woke up and there was a seventy year old woman in my bed.” – Gloria Steinem (Doing Seventy) “It’s great to let go. I should have started sooner.” -Isabel Allende (at age 71) “Your 40’s are good. Your 50’s are great. Your 60’s are fab. and you 70 is fucking awesome.” -Helen Mirren I wish I’d taken stock this way at a younger age. sort of a metaphysical version of cleaning for company, then wishing you’d done it before.” -Gloria Steinem...
read moreSome Thoughts on New Year’s Resolutions
Some Thoughts on New Year’s Resolutions – January 3, 2016 I stopped making New Year’s resolutions years ago. It reminds me of rules, restrictions, diets and to-do lists. Having been a marathon dieter in the past I cringe at anything resembling a set of limitations and constraints. Change and growth is a process and releasing old patterns and developing new behaviors takes time and not simply turning a page on the calendar. It is determined not by will power and self-control but by self-love, self-acceptance and self-forgiveness. And it...
read moreThe Sixties – Part 3
It’s official – You’re 65 and you can’t hide! There are certain ages that seem to carry more weight and sixty-five is definitely one of them. We can color our hair, work out, and eat lots of kale but at sixty-five we can no longer ignore the elephant (or rather the senior) in the room. We may not feel or even look old but let’s face it, there’s a stigma attached to sixty-five; it’s serious. And once you cross that mountain it’s an express train to seventy and you know what that means; early bird specials, brittle bones and walkers – or...
read moreThe Sixties: Part 2
Tell Me, What is it You Plan to Do with Your One Wild and Precious Older Years? Mary Oliver’s beautiful line from her beloved poem, A Summer’s Day, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” has inspired countless people. We think of someone asking that question at the beginning of their life but in fact, we can ask it at any time and at any age. Who do you want to be in your older years? What kind of life do you want to be living? Perhaps most important of all, what kind of attitude do you need? What actions...
read moreThe Sixties: Part 1
The Closing Uranus Square: Age 62-63 “Halleluiah, I’m sixty now, and even a little more, and some days I feel I have wings.” -Mary Oliver Following the Second Saturn Return (at age 58) is an aspect that is colorful, energizing and even a bit feisty. This is the Closing Uranus Square and takes place between the ages of sixty-two and sixty-three when that maverick Uranus is in its home stretch. By our early sixties Uranus has traveled three quarters around the chart and has another quarter to go before it returns to the place...
read moreGloria Steinem 80!
On March 25 Gloria Steinem celebrated her 80th birthday. Still travelling, writing, and speaking out, Steinem is going strong and working hard. Here are some of her thoughts on getting older. The first is from the recent (March 22, 2014) article in the New York Times, This is What 80 Looks Like,by Gail Collins. The rest are from her essay Doing Sixty (from her book, in Moving Beyond Words). More than her words, her life with its fierce passion and commitment, continues to be an inspiration for women of all ages. “Ever the positive...
read moreVirginia Bell, writer/astrologer
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