As a favorite person of mine used to tell me "you are a human being with the full range of human emotions." I needed to be told this because I used to judge my emotions and blame myself for having any "negative" ones. »more»

An elderly acquaintance of mine was talking about New Year's resolutions, and feeling despair about making them. "It seems I make the same ones, year after year, and I try hard to keep them, but I continue to have the same flaws no matter what I do." I think this starts to become really clear in midlife: we are who we are, and at times it feels impossible to change. »more»

I'm 48 and have never been married or had kids. It's pretty easy to feel marginalized in our family-oriented culture, and getting older has led to some soul searching... I should say, more soul searching than usual! »more»