The holiday season can be filled with joy…or not. The season is full of goodwill and optimistic hope for the coming year. When we find ourselves doubting brotherly love or having negative thoughts about the coming year, we may feel out of step with those around us.
Isolation and health problems put older adults at risk, but few receive the help they need.
Aging is not easy, especially in our youth-obsessed society. For millennia cultures have made room for older adults in family and community; yet American adults face isolation from social networks and often end up in care facilities that meet […]
4/22/13 well.blogs.nytimes.com
Marvin Tolkin was 83 when he decided that the unexamined life wasn’t worth living. Until then, it had never occurred to him that there might be emotional “issues” he wanted to explore with a counselor.
“I don’t think I ever needed therapy,” said Mr. Tolkin, a retired manufacturer of women’s undergarments who lives in […]
Many men have spent their lives learning to be self-sufficient and teaching their sons this independence. I wonder why we think that men would reach out when they begin feeling depressed. It goes against the grain of the fabric that makes up their lives to ask for help for every little thing – and sometimes very large things.
Let’s talk about how we underestimate the power of touch and physical intimacy. Serious research about the sense of touch began about 40 years ago. We know that babies without the nurturing of being held and touched do not thrive in the same way infants who are held and touched. Mammals like apes, dogs, cats, and even humpback whales enjoy a good scratching. Research informs us that touch can help us deal with many of the challenges that come our way in life; pain, fear, anxiety, stress, sickness, grief, and loneliness.