Visual symbols of love are more important to some people than to others. That’s why individuals have different attitudes toward wedding rings. Some never take the rings off after the wedding. Others don’t even wear a wedding band. That is another sign that people have different primary love languages. If receiving gifts is my primary love language, I will place great value on the ring you have given me and I will wear it with great pride. I will also be greatly moved emotionally by other…

Yesterday a dear friend of mine went through a rather challenging experience with her brother-in-law. The specifics are not important – her resolve was.

She had a choice to allow his behavior and actions to affect her life and respond in a negative way or she had the choice to go beyond the surface, understand and grow from this experience.

Below is a little passage from “The Art of Happiness” by HH Dalai Lama

Shifting…

Yesterday I decided to head to downtown Toronto. Typically, I will take a small bag with just the essentials: ID, money, credit card, cell phone, lip gloss. Yesterday, though, I took a backpack. And in it was goggles, a towel, several bottles of water, a bandana, a camera, painkillers. Usually I prepare for my downtown trip with fun and culture in mind. Yesterday I prepared to be tear gassed. (For the record, I also took my lip gloss. I am, after…

I’m not sure how old Bette Davis was when she said “Getting old ain’t for sissies” but I think she was into her 70’s. I’m just around the corner from 50 and (say the rest in a gravelly-voiced-Keanu-Reeves-in-Speed voice) Sister, I’m already there....

I’ve noticed obvious changes over the decade of my 40’s. There is more grey than colour in my roots now, and where I was once hard and defined, I’m now a little soft and…

A firefighter was working on the engine outside the station, when he noticed a little girl nearby in a little red wagon with little ladders hung off the sides, and a garden hose tightly coiled in the middle.

The girl was wearing a firefighter’s helmet. The wagon was being pulled by her dog and her cat. The firefighter walked over to take a closer look.

‘That sure is a nice fire truck,’ the firefighter said with admiration… ‘Thanks,’ the girl replied. The…

I have received an email with AMAZING re-building of Haiti videos that is a must see. They are TRULY REMARKABLE!

I see you can post videos here so will do so on the weekend.

:-)

The other day I was sitting here in the living room and a TV show came on – “Hell’s Kitchen” I couldn’t believe my ears. The verbal abuse I was hearing made the TV show cops look like PG 13.

But what makes things worse, at least in my opinion is that after a bit of research I found out that this show was the top rated show in the US for that hour.

That begs the question “What kind of society are we living in that not only promotes but patronizes verbal…

Ah had been doing a bit o' 'spar kin' with Ophelia Bottom (Hmm... she knows how to make a country boy smile) and mah mind wuz on other things when ah idly let slip an errant thought....."Pappy, what do you think about wedding rings fer men?"

"Well son,ah look at it this way, they are tourniquets that stop a bodies circulation...iffin you follow mah drift!"

Ah hadn't quite followed his drift because still thinking of Ophelia and rings, ah then asked mah Pappy…

This week we move on to “Quality Time”, which interestingly enough is my primary love language.

By “quality time,” I mean giving someone your undivided attention. I don’t mean sitting on a couch watching television together. When you spend time that way, ABC or NBC has your attention – not your spouse. What I mean is sitting on the couch with the TV off, looking at each other and talking, giving each other your undivided attention. It means taking a walk,…

• Instead of butter, solid margarine or lard, try olive or canola oil or margarine without trans fats.

• Instead of cream-based sauces, try tomato-based sauces.

• Instead of refined cereals,…

Holly and I are planning a trip to Washington, DC for a few days of meetings with my counterparts at the AARP Global Network. With representatives from Canada, the U.S., the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, India, and Chile, it’s like our version of the original G7 (now G8). Despite the working nature of the meetings, there will be some formality, and crisp-looking…

If you need a little inspiration in your Second Fifty – here are a few people that can certainly lead the way.

91 Year Old Water-skier

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8tQAdopfTo

101 Year Old Marathon Runner…

Have we become complacent? Are we caught up in our own little worlds? Do we no longer care about future generations.

When I was young we spoke out against Vietnam – a completely senseless war. Today we have Iraq. Obviously we didn’t learn anything – when we have wars mothers lose their children, women and men lose their spouses, and children lose their parents and men and women come back with mental scars for life.

Yes sometimes we need to defend ourselves – but…

“Always say “yes” to the present moment. What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to what already is? What could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now? Surrender to what is. Say “yes” to life — and see how life suddenly starts working for you

rather than against you.”

Eckhart Tolle

For…