Excerpt from Daily Cures, Wisdom for Healthy Aging by Connie Mason Michaelis Sister Dee is on the right Families are important. How obvious is that? We automatically think of parents raising children in a safe, secure, and loving environment. Our offspring could not survive without years of adult provision for all their basic needs, including a great deal of love. Another increasingly prevalent scenario is children caring for aging parents. Maybe that is not so obvious. In my

Excerpt from Daily Cures, Wisdom for Healthy Aging by Connie Mason Michaelis Iyla Mason's 94th birthday As I reflect on Mom’s 95 years, it is evident that the last five were some of her best. Of course, I was not around for the first 30, but I know the stories told by my sisters and mom herself. Life was full of responsibilities and hard work. Mom never slacked from duty. She raised three kids on the farm and was the caregiver for almost eight years for Grandpa Mason, h

Excerpt from Daily Cures, Wisdom for Healthy Aging by Connie Mason Michaelis I have a beautiful picture of hands displayed in my home. My two sisters and I had a professional photographer take pictures at Mom’s 90th birthday celebration, and one of them was a simple picture of our hands. We have always commented that our hands looked more alike than our faces. Mom was embarrassed that hers looked so wrinkled and worn. I could have picked my mom’s hands out of a lineup withou

Excerpt from Daily Cures, Wisdom for Healthy Aging by Connie Mason Michaelis The lessons from my fall and the resulting handicap continue to teach me lessons. Probably the most profound realization is the way strangers look or don’t look at you when riding in a wheelchair. You get a navel-level view of the world, and as you glance up at the passing individuals, it invites interaction by default. Some turn away and ignore you, some frown or grimace, and others smile kindly wit

Excerpt from Daily Cures, Wisdom for Healthy Aging by Connie Mason Michaelis Lessons from the Fall (The next four articles were written after a disastrous fall I had while on vacation in Michigan. While recovering, I used the time to learn some valuable lessons about vulnerability.) I took a shortcut down a flight of stairs, ending up head down on concrete. The left side of my body took a beating, which honestly saved me from a head injury, and for that, I am grateful. Se

Excerpt from Daily Cures, Wisdom for Healthy Aging by Connie Mason Michaelis I love it when people capture a whole philosophy in a nutshell. I talked to a lady who said she had decided at the ripe old age of 65 that she was determined not to mold but to keep moving forward with plans for an invigorating and active future. That thought is my mantra and so succinctly stated! Molding is the antithesis of movement; molding implies decay, rot, and rust. How many of those words h

Excerpt from Daily Cures, Wisdom for Healthy Aging by Connie Mason Michaelis December is a month of reflection and celebration, while January lends itself to goal setting, planning, and expectations. But this year seems more ominous when we anticipate not only a new year but a new decade! January 2020 seems like a momentous occasion to look backward and forward---to take a broader view. It was just yesterday that we were panicked about the threats of Y2K, and here we are a sc

Excerpt from Daily Cures, Wisdom for Healthy Aging by Connie Mason Michaelis Perhaps the stereotypes of the idealism of youth and the pessimism of older age both miss the mark. These characterizations don’t reflect the reality of life. I see an increasing optimism about aging and the opportunities it creates. On the other hand, we learn about rising teenage suicide rates, and it becomes apparent that there are a growing number of young people who have no hope for the future a

Excerpt from Daily Cures, Wisdom for Healthy Aging by Connie Mason Michaelis The title of an article in a fashion magazine struck me: “What Now?” The blog was addressing the newest fashion trends. Oh, brother, if you’ve lived long enough, you’ve seen it all. What goes around comes around. Tight leggings vs. bell bottoms, short vs. long, big and baggy vs. form-fitting, stilettos vs. flats, big hair vs. shiny and sleek. There is nothing new; it’s just re-fashioned and usually m

Excerpt from Daily Cures, Wisdom for Healthy Aging by Connie Mason Michaelis Flannery O’Connor famously said, “I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.” When I read something that I’ve written for the paper. I’m amazed that I wrote it. I ask myself, “How did I ever come up with that?” I am continually writing myself notes with a quote or an idea I come across, anticipating that an article will emerge. I have a collection of napkins or scraps of paper

Excerpt from Daily Cures, Wisdom for Healthy Aging by Connie Mason Michaelis Did you know that the cells you have in your body today, approximately 38 trillion, are not the ones you were born with? About a century ago, scientists discovered that some of our brain cells formed during fetal development persist throughout life, but most cells have a relatively short lifespan. Some cells are replaced every few days, and others may last a few years. For example, gut lining cells a

I have continued to read and contemplate the concept of the ‘second half of life.’ I frequently go back to Richard Rohr’s book Falling Upward, Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, as well as Chip Conley’s book, Wisdom @ Work; The Making of a Modern Elder. The second half is a bit of a misnomer since I’m soon to be 78! Better late than never, right? The theme, in a nutshell, is that we spend the first half of our lives accumulating, striving, climbing, and expanding. T

Excerpt from Daily Cures, Wisdom for Healthy Aging by Connie Mason Michaelis Western medicine trains us to believe that aging is the same thing as progressive bad health. That isn’t necessarily true. Gerontologists have studied the pathology of aging intensely, but they know very little about the wellness of aging. In other words, Western medicine examines diseases that occur as we get older and calls the compilation of those diseases “aging.” Apparently, there are other fac

Excerpt from Daily Cures, Wisdom for Healthy Aging by Connie Mason Michaelis Last week, an article appeared in the New York Times by Susan Jacoby entitled “We’re Getting Old, but We’re Not Doing Anything About It”. Of course, I was intrigued and read with curiosity. It both resonated with me and irritated me at the same time. The parts that resonated were multiple statistics about the aging population, such as the number of Americans over 65 will double in the next ten years.

Excerpt from Daily Cures, Wisdom for Healthy Living by Connie Mason Michaelis One of my favorite websites to recommend is Changing Aging by Dr. Bill Thomas. I was drawn to an article entitled “Seventy is the New Outspoken” by Carrie Knowles. The title was enough to grab me. Being 70 is a privilege and a gift. It is time to embrace the gift and make use of our years of experience and, yes, even our mistakes, to do something bigger and better. It is a special time to live large

Excerpt from Daily Cures, Wisdom for Healthy Living by Connie Mason Michaelis I read about a woman who had recently been widowed, and her discovery of how much strength came to her. So many tasks that her husband had handled fell to her, and she miraculously had the power to do them. She said, “I found that I could do a lot of things I’ve never done before; make decisions that I’ve never thought of before. I suppose I had it before, but I never used it.” Like a teabag, you

Excerpt from Daily Cures, Wisdom for Healthy Living by Connie Mason Michaelis Food has always been a rock-solid foundation in my family. I have memories of my mom killing a chicken in the front yard, singeing, and plucking the feathers. She thin-sliced her homemade noodles and hung them on the back of a kitchen chair to dry until they were ready to cook. The tradition of home cooking was passed to my siblings and me and then to my three daughters. No more killing the chic

Excerpt from Daily Cures, Wisdom for Healthy Living by Connie Mason Michaelis Why is home so sweet? I’m sure many have not experienced happy homes, but research shows that even children that had a very dysfunctional family life still yearn to go home. Home is our first experience of being known and discovered. Those around us and the physical nature of home begins to define us. Home is like a greenhouse where we sprout and grow strong before we go out into the world. The

Excerpt from Daily Cures, Wisdom for Healthy Living by Connie Mason Michaelis It is one thing to say, “I love you,” as a matter of fact, it can be stated very casually, but what if someone says, “I need you?” That expression can be deeply meaningful. On one side, the person expressing their need shows a particular vulnerability, and on the other hand, it gives someone else a sense of purpose. The appeal of volunteerism is based on this powerful emotion. No matter your age

Excerpt from Daily Cures, Wisdom for Healthy Living by Connie Mason Michaelis Good news! According to Carolina State University in Raleigh, adults aged 60+ fared better than their under 30 counterparts in making intuitive decisions, such as choosing a competent home repair contractor or a seat-of-the-pants chess or bridge move. “Seniors have a knowledge base they can fall back on. That information can automatically be accessed without much thinking. Relying on intuition is