Blog
I’ve been blogging since 2011. Here are my posts from the past two years for your reading enjoyment.
Being Grateful For Those Who Make Us Happy
Did you know that Saturday, Nov. 13 is World Kindness Day? Me, neither. But I am glad to learn that bit of information, and I am all in. I believe in kindness as a way of life; I agree with Aesop, famed storyteller from ancient Delphi, Greece, known for Aesop’s...
We’re In A Loneliness Epidemic and Kind Notes Can Help
Life is a flower of which love is the honey - Victor Hugo Ever have an experience of synchronicity? A week ago, a friend sent me a newspaper clipping about the global crisis in loneliness, and the very next day, another friend sent me an email about an organization...
Getting Your Supply of “Vitamin N” (Nature)
I’ve always been a fan of the great outdoors; as a child I loved riding my bike all over the small town where I grew up, and later as an adult, I have enjoyed running, going for “walks and talks” with my family and friends, and taking my dog out for his daily...
In Praise of Silence
Many people are uncomfortable with silence, and solitude, and yet, these are essential skills for aging well and living life fully. Silence can be restorative, and can build resilience in the face of crises, illness, loss and other life transitions. Learning to...
Hope, Tulips, and Living Positively
Emily Dickinson wrote, “Hope inspires the good to reveal itself.” We all want to be better human beings, to grow and to ennoble our souls. It’s soothing to know that hope takes goodness seriously and combines it with humility, to allow us to approach everything and...
Are We Ever Too Old To Make New Friends?
One of the many things we are learning, as we live through this pandemic, is the importance of our time with friends to our overall health and well-being. COVID-19 is an equal opportunity agent that has disrupted the social lives of people of all ages by requiring...
Grace and Gracelets: Gifts for the Soul
I've been thinking a lot about grace and how transformative it can be. I define grace as a special state of being in which I am given an unearned, unexpected gift, something that I don't deserve, and haven't asked for, that comes to me freely and with a love that...
Are You Prepared for a New Year?
Where we live, winter is the season in which we watch the undressing of the world – the trees made bare, the grounds where gardens once bloomed, now open and empty, and many kinds of animals hidden out of sight, in hibernation, to stay warm. In winter’s cold days, we instinctively turn inward and reflect. The earth itself seems to pause, resting in the darkness of winter’s long nights. Winter is like a shawl that Nature cloaks the world in, inviting us to be silent and to listen to the questions that arise from the soul: “Am I living the life I was meant to live?” and “Am I focused on what matters most?”
Gratitude In Six Words
Urban Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway was bragging over lunch to a group of fellow writers that he could compose a novel in six words (referred to as “flash fiction”). Someone wagered a $10 bet, and he won when he wrote, “For Sale, Baby Shoes, Never Worn.” I tell...
Three Things We Can Do To Be Loving, and Release Fear
Many of us are feeling anxious, afraid, and unsettled right now. These are heartbreakingly hard times that we are facing in 2020, but we are not powerless. It’s a harmful illusion to think that we are without choice in our lives, or that we lack the ability to act...
Hearts On Our Sleeves: A Journal
Order your copy of Elaine's journal, Hearts On Our Sleeves.
This journal is written for women in the second half of life; it is not meant to help you grow old gracefully, but to encourage you not to be afraid of getting older. There are 50 quotes on 50 pages of unlined paper. The blank writing spaces are to encourage you to fill them with whatever images you might enjoy sketching, or with written entries. Hearts On Our Sleeves is a traveling companion on the highway of life after 55.
