Aging

A woman is told in a million different ways that if she finds herself alone at middle age it means she is unlovable, unattractive, unappealing, unsexy. But what if it means she is independent, self-entertaining, free-spirited, and self-possessed?

Various types of exercise, including walking, have been found to promote mental health. They do this by boosting energy, improving sleep, relieving tension and stress, and combating anxiety and depression.

Yoga studios are crawling with raving lunatics. I should know. I was one of them and looked every bit the part: a rail-thin-rubber-bandy-raw-vegan-meditating-twice-a-day-yogi. While I could twist myself into a pretzel, it was only after tumbling off my mat that I began to embody what yoga truly means.

Discontent with our changing bodies is a rich source of suffering. The feeling is intensified as we age due to marketing and the cultural obsession with youthfulness. This leads many people to fight aging by any means necessary, often going to extraordinary lengths to hide it.

Stand strong. Surround yourself with people who accept you fiercely while compassionately challenging your edge. Likewise, be a person who honors fear while lovingly encouraging beyond it.

Thanks to social media, large numbers of people are engaging in a collective struggle against doubt, shame and anxiety. They know how the mind, body and soul can be imprisoned and that ultimately the struggle for all is the struggle for freedom.

As soon as sugar hits the tongue it sends signals to the brain which activate a series of electrical and chemical pathways known as the reward system. It’s a complicated network that helps us answer a simple question: “Do I want more?”

I’m a huge fan of James Hollis. He speaks well to the second passage of life. So often midlife is characterized as a humiliating attempt to hang onto our fleeing youth. James Hollis sees this time as a great spiritual awakening.