Today Ed and I put our 11-year-old grandson Louis on a flight alone (as an unaccompanied minor) from London to Newark, with a plane change in Reykjavik. This photo is a selfie we took at the airport. Louis turned around to face us just before going around the corner of…
My last blog post suggested that men might be touch-starved. But it’s clearly not just men who aren’t being touched enough. In her book Touch(2001), Tiffany Field argued that many societies, ours among them, are dangerously touch-deprived, leading to an epidemic of what she referred to as “touch hunger.” Why…
When I mention to my women friends that Ed and I snuggle for hours every morning before we get up, they often respond, “Oh, my husband wouldn’t like to do that.Sex is what he wants when I lie awake next to him.” But here’s the thing: Even though we often…
We all know that sex can be exciting, compelling and revitalizing. But did you know that when researchers recently asked happily married couples how important sex was to the success of their marriage —on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest — the average rank was only 6….
This week’s blog posts have explored the four faces of our heart, according to Buddhist teachings (click here), and the direct or “far” enemies of those faces, which prevent us from living in state of unselfish love (click here). I suggested that far enemies are relatively easy to identify because…
Earlier this week (click here), I explored the notion that, according to Buddhist philosophy, our heart has four faces, each one reflecting a different kind of unselfish love. Not surprisingly, each face has a direct enemy, a polar opposite that unambiguously works against the development of the positive states: The direct…
Did you know that your heart has four faces? Each sees the world in a different way and points you in a different direction, like the four needles of a compass. But each one belongs to your heart. They are known as the Brahmaviharas: Loving-kindness Compassion Appreciative joy Equanimity The image…
In my first two blogs this week, I pointed to recent studies suggesting that simply feeling younger than our chronological age is associated with a longer (click here) and healthier (click here) life. The quick and easy message seems to be: Think of yourself as young and you will stay…
Earlier this week, I reported on a 2015 JAMA study suggesting that simply feeling younger than our chronological age can prolong our lives. But until recently, the question remained: Does feeling younger actually prolong lives that are healthy and vibrant? Dr. Jeanyung Chey and her team of researchers from Seoul National…
About a year ago, I posted a blog titled “Counting the Days.” I wrote, “according to the Social Security Life Expectancy Calculator, I’m predicted to live another 7,000 days or so. Of course, it may be a lot fewer than that.” Or it may be a lot more. And it…