Dear Older Self, Beware of your resentments. They are like poisonous weeds that are dangerous to your health and well being. Remember the suffering created by the resentments of an elderly woman you knew? She resented her husband’s loss of cognitive and motor skills. She often became verbally abusive of him. She would shame him for his failing memory and decreased abilities adding greatly to … [Read more...] about Notes to Our Older Selves: Take Inventory of Resentments

Dear Older Self, Codependency is a term that was originally coined to describe the dynamics that can play out in the lives of people who are in relationship with an addict or an alcoholic. Spouses, children, siblings and parents often think that they are responsible to control or change their addicted loved-one. This belief can, unfortunately, lead to increased suffering and destruction in … [Read more...] about Notes to Our Older Selves: Entrust Others to God’s Care

Dear Older Self, Author and blogger, Glennon Doyle Melton coined a word to capture the experience of life. She calls life “brutiful”. It is brutal. And it is beautiful. So, life is brutiful. Life is never just one or the other. There is so much that is hard about life. And so much that is blessed. For some of us it is too easy to get lost in the parts of life that are difficult. It is easy to … [Read more...] about Notes to Our Older Selves: Practice Gratitude

Dear Older Self, One of life’s great lessons is that much of life is not in your control. It has been critical to your spiritual and mental health and to the well being of your relationships to keep returning to the simple truth that you are not in charge of the universe or of other people. You are not in charge of much of anything. As you continue to age, you will be living more than ever with … [Read more...] about Notes to Our Older Selves: Entrust Yourself to God’s Care

Dear Older Self, Dear Older Self, We have been exploring the possibility that the most difficult anxiety of all may be the fear of being abandoned by others and by God. You may find yourself feeling like you have been forgotten even by God. These fears of abandonment may come from the thought that that as you decline in strength that you will also decline in value. This fear may be one of the … [Read more...] about Notes to Our Older Selves: Meditate on God’s Presence with You