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There are many times when being a spectator is a choice--watching the U.S. Open with a great view of Court 1 and surrounding visitors. Maybe, you'll catch a glimpse of one of the Williams' sisters or some other celebrity. Or how about attending a scintillating lecture on art you love to collect, listen to a lively U.S. Presidential debate or some glorious classical music. How lucky can you get?  However, when you're out to dinner with friends and little of the conversation has to do with you--not even a morsel about what you're doing or how your family is, you...

We all have disappointments...at times. You lose your job. You’re dumped by a boyfriend of five years. You don’t win the lottery. Your kid doesn’t get into the college of his choice. It's impossible not to experience disappointment if you have a life such as friendships, romantic liaisons and business relationships. And as you turn age 50plus, the disappointments mount and get more serious. Losses of loved ones through death or divorce, as we know all too well.     Some of the biggest disappointments happen in relationships where everybody has different expectations, which often aren't verbalized sufficiently or clear enough...

A pie chart is the perfect metaphor to visualize almost everything in your life. A round circle, you can divide it into any number of different-size pieces to display the relative size of various data. It might showcase your income and how you typically spend it—the biggest slice for housing, a smaller one for food and yet smaller ones for clothing, travel and entertainment. Seeing all together in one visual can help you to grasp how if you spent less on your home-related costs you might be able to retire sooner or take a long wished for vacation. A pie...

Americans are a pie loving people. It’s part of the American myth to say that something is “as American as apple pie.” But pie is Protean. It’s pretty and geometric. A perfect circle. It’s used in math for fractions: “We can all share a piece of the pie.”  And there are also all the sayings about pie: “Fractions are as easy as pie.” To a busy body or someone who is involved in too many things we might say: “She has her finger in every pie.” We do pie charts (which we flesh out in next week's blog), and use...

Need a new friend? Each of us does after we reach age 50-plus as our long-time or even relatively newer friends get busy, become ill, perhaps move away to retire or be closer geographically to their children and grandkids. Although it’s easier to maintain contact with friends in faraway places in today’s virtual world, there’s no substitute for human contact.   Friends come and go. Losing friends for whatever reason has happened to each of us multiple times. Some friendships are casual or even temporary; coming and going like a stomach cramp. Others are long-term. But we’re each always open to...