Author: Donald Trafton

“People who need people Are the luckiest people in the world. We’re children, needing other children And yet letting a grown-up pride Hide all the need inside. Acting more like children than children” Writer(s): Jule Styne, Bob Merrill musical “Funny Girl” I heard this song the other day and realized I’d never really heard the lyrics before. I was struck by the power and insights of this popular song. How could they have gotten it so right, especially in 1964? Here’s more: “Lovers… Are…

Chances are you are close to a person you love deeply . . .and that person appears to be aging faster than they should. What can you do? First, you must accept that their condition is controllable . . . by them!  Adults who develop positive attitudes about aging live more than seven years longer than peers who have negative attitudes. How can you help your loved one improve their attitude about their health? Point to the science. For at…

A couple of weeks ago my friend Paul let us know that he had a planned surgery scheduled and would need to postpone our regular Zoom call. Next, he described the procedure in some detail. It’s to correct a heart valve problem (Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement) and should be very low risk, according to 87 year old Paul. In the final line of his message Paul says: “I’ll keep you posted and prayers are appreciated.” Good move Paul! Asking for…

Think of the last time you had a side-splitting, tears-in-your-eyes, try-not-to-pee-your-pants laugh. Remember how good that felt? Actually, there’s strong clinical evidence that by “tickling your funny bone” you are not only being entertained, but enhancing your physical, psychological, and social well-being. I like that …a lot. So I set out on a quest to bring more laughter into my life. Here’s what I found: It’s better and easier in a group. Laughing is contagious, and the more you can…

Have you noticed? These are angry times. Watch the news …you’re bound to see plenty to be angry about. “Anger is one of the basic human emotions, as elemental as happiness, sadness, anxiety, or disgust. These emotions are tied to basic survival and were honed over the course of human history. Of course, anger too easily or frequently mobilized can undermine relationships or damage physical health in the long term. Prolonged release of the stress hormones that accompany anger can destroy neurons…

Victoria and I do some very powerful rituals each morning. The doing of them is a huge boost for our day. How about you? Do you know about the power of rituals? “Research shows that rituals offer numerous psychological advantages such as helping us savor experiences, giving us a sense of control, and reducing anxiety.” We all have our daily routine behaviors such as brushing our teeth, taking a bath, etc. Mostly, we do our routines without much thinking. Rituals…

The other day I ran across an interesting service: “Find happiness by contemplating your mortality. Each day, we’ll send you five invitations to stop and think about death.” It’s common to think of death as something to fear, but when we fear death (or anything), we give up our power to it. We can’t help but feel stressed. A much healthier approach would be to spend some time contemplating death so that you feel more comfortable with it. After all,…