Carol's Reflections

Freedom 101

Fifty years ago this month, I met my husband Dan atop a scaffold at a rock and roll concert in a warehouse, the Hell’s Angels serving as security and my husband part of the psychedelic light show crew. My parents didn’t approve of their college junior dating an ex-sailor fresh

The Grace in Aging

Getting lost in your emotional reactivity isn’t where you want to be. –Ram Dass I want to apologize, right off the bat, for all those years and years of lunches, phone conversations and long walks in parks together in which I complained endlessly about my mother. When she passed, my

Journal of a Solitude

Ask me about the meaning of life, and I’ll have tons to say. Ask me if I’ve come to terms with mortality, and you’ll get a thoughtful answer complete with sub-texts. But the other day, someone asked me something that left me speechless. “Are you happy?” I wish I could

The Gift of Years: Blog and Discussion

Hello Fierce Ones, I’m pleased to announce the next selection of the Conscious Aging Book Club: The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully by Joan Chittister. The discussion board opens today in the comment section below and culminates September 6 both online and in-person at 10:30 a.m., Parnassus Books, Nashville.

Personal Note: Angelica’s Last Breath

“Try to live with the part of your soul which understands eternity, which is not afraid of death. And that part of your soul is love.” –Leo Tolstoy Dear Friends of Older, Wiser, Fiercer, Over the past few years, many of you have given me valuable feedback on several of

Moses–Benched

When I speak before audiences, I often ask them to picture an old woman sitting alone on a park bench. Then I ask them to share the first image/thought/impulse that pops into their mind. The younger the audience, the more likely they are to feel sorry for the lonely woman

“The Measure of My Days”

“As we age we are more alive than seems likely, convenient or even bearable.” –Florida Scott-Maxwell, The Measure of My Days : Conscious Aging Book Club Selection May On the eve of my 70thyear I found more than a guide to hold my hand across the threshold—I found a soul

Seventy is Different*

Seventy is different than the sixties. How do I know? Because just two months ago, at the tender age of 69, the outcome I’m about to describe would have been very different. And the young nursing student who had been eavesdropping on my conversation with old friends at lunch may

Beside the Point

The gang from Zumba class were trying out a new restaurant for my seventieth birthday. Service was slow and we were overly hungry. It was a spectacularly unlucky case of timing that just when I finally decided to start unwrapping my birthday presents, the long-absent waiter suddenly showed up with

Cosmic vs. Actual Mothers: 11/6/17

During my midlife tenure at divinity school, feminist theologians liberated the notion of God the Father into God the Mother. As a featured presenter this week in a free on-line summit for older women on the theme Older, Wiser, Freer: Thriving in Our Third Act, I’ve been putting a lot