When my children were little, a neighbor told me: “just remember, everything is a phase.”
The point they were making was that if there was something annoying or frustrating my kids were doing, that I only needed to wait a while and it would likely stop on its own.
If you have never experienced it yourself, it can be difficult to understand what it’s like to feel deep anxiety and even physical pain as the result of being exposed to sensory stimuli like sounds, scents, lights, and crowds.
For people with sensory sensitivity, the intensity of these experiences ranges on a scale from mere inconvenience to completely incapacitating.
This issue is not nearly as rare as most people assume. In fact, 1 in 6 people living in the United States have either a sensory need or an invisible disability that makes them more prone to sensory needs. This group includes people with PTSD, autism, and dementia, as well as people who have had strokes.
There are few experiences more transformational than travel. Visiting new places, whether near or far, has a way of opening our hearts and minds.
And when we travel with people we love, there is the added benefit of being able to share those memorable experiences. From a simple weekend road trip to a month-long journey exploring another country, travel can change your life and your relationships for the better.
Two of the things people missed most during the first two years of Covid were spending time with family and travel. Knowing this, it’s not that surprising that as Covid-related travel restrictions lifted more and more people started booking trips that included extended family. Multigenerational travel was a growing trend prior to Covid, and it has become even more popular now that—hopefully—the worst of the pandemic is over.
By: Jill Brightman
The slightest aroma of sugar and vanilla can transport me instantly back in time to my grandmother’s kitchen. Each time I would visit, she always had my favorite – sugar cookies with a cherry in the middle – waiting to welcome me.
This happy recollection of my childhood, like so many other special memories, is undeniably intertwined with the vivid smells of the sweet treats I made in the kitchen with my grandparents, my mother, and now with my own children.
There’s a reason why cats and dogs seem to rule the internet.
Most of us get a little jolt of dopamine when viewing pictures and videos of these furry creatures being charming, silly, and deeply endearing. There’s no denying the age-old connection between our hearts and these lovable animals.
It also turns out that spending time with animals—especially companion animals, but other kinds as well—can help people with Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia lead happier, healthier lives.
Music is, quite literally, the soundtrack of our lives.
Music is a vehicle for memories, emotions, and healing. It can lift our spirits, calm our souls, help us fall in love, and bring us to tears. Our favorite songs become part of our emotional DNA. Even long after decades have passed by, we can still sing along perfectly because each and every word and nuance of melody is imprinted on our hearts.
Music also has deep connections with memory. Just consider how hearing the first few bars of a certain song can take you back through time to your first kiss, a high school dance, your best friend’s wedding, a family road trip, or an ordinary afternoon with your toddler. In a way, creating playlists of our favorite music from different phases in our lives is like creating an auditory scrapbook.
By Jill Brightman
As a child, one of my favorite past times was sorting through my family’s old, black and white photographs that had been passed down from multiple generations.
I romanticized the pictures of grandfather, in his World War II military uniform, and my grandmother, his young bride. I chuckled at looking at my own father as a gawky teen and was awestruck by looking at my great-grandparents in their turn of the century attire.
By Carol Frances
I’m about to leave the best job I’ve ever had. To work longer hours. To be on my feet all day and to deal with the public. I’m parting company with the finest group of colleagues I’ve ever had the privilege to work with to embark on a journey into the unknown.
I wouldn’t blame you if you called me crazy!
Losing a spouse is a devastating experience whether it happens at the end of a long illness or without any warning. In a moment, everything changes. For many, widowhood feels surreal, like the whole world has shifted slightly, leaving them standing apart from the life they used to know.
Modern culture in general, and American culture in particular, do not offer a lot of guidance for how to support someone who is grieving such a loss. This leaves many of us feeling deeply uncomfortable. In the worst cases, those awkward feelings keep us from offering the help we desperately want to provide to a friend or loved one.
We just don’t know what to do or say.
Maybe it’s human nature to always want to be something other than what we are.
When we are little kids, we want to be grownups, because we think they get to do whatever they want whenever they want.
As teenagers, we crave the freedom of young adults—no curfews, no homework, finally making some money of our own.
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