Monthly Archives: December 2015

Practice “Serenity now!”

Remember the “Serenity Now!” Seinfeld episode? George Costanza’s father Frank, played by the inimitable Jerry Stiller, was advised to say “Serenity now” every time his blood pressure was in danger of rising. But instead of calmly saying the phrase, he yelled it. I found myself channeling Frank Costanza recently when I spent a week trying […]

It’s not dementia–it’s multitasking amnesia!

There’s a cartoon making the rounds on the Internet that shows a woman saying, “I’ve expanded my skills. I can now forget what I’m doing while I’m actually doing it.” I can relate. How about you? Seriously—how many times have you walked into a room only to mutter, “Now why did I come in here?” […]

The joys of learning to say no

One of the best things about getting older is letting go of the need to please or impress other people at the expense of your own wellbeing. It’s kind of the emotional equivalent of f***-you money—having the psychic wherewithal to do and say what you want. At 62, I’ve finally realized that the world won’t […]

How humiliation helped me face my fear of flying

As a kid, I never thought twice about flying. My stepfather was in the Air Force, so we traveled quite a bit. Between the ages of six and 13, I lived in California, Massachusetts, Italy, Texas, Maine and Germany. My mother and stepfather had a rocky marriage, and during some of these deployments they separated […]