Alzheimer’s: Aging my way

05/21/2022

Cathy Brownfield

In 2021, there were 6.25 million Americans with Alzheimer’s: 1.1 million black, .76 million Latino, and 4.4 million non-Hispanic white. By 2060 those numbers are expected to double or more. (Black, 3.1 million; Latino, 3.7 million and non-Hispanic white, 7 million). More than 260,000 deaths annually are Alzheimer’s or dementia-related.

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Reaching our best potential

05/14/2022

Cathy Brownfield

This article is rooted in a search for words such as compassion, empathy, and mindfulness. The term “mindfulness” caught on a snag. How can there be a controversy about the meaning of “mindfulness”?

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Deaths of despair: A loss of hope

05/07/2022

Cathy Brownfield

Many of us remember the great recession of 2008. Others of us lived through the Economic Malaise of the late 1970s into the 1980s. (Economic Malaise was a gentler term than Great Depression.) How terrible it was for the families who depended on the steel mills for their livelihoods. And then everyone learned about ‘ripple effect.’ Contractors who worked for the steel industry were devastated as the dominoes continued to fall. Local stores were stricken when there were fewer customer dollars. You were fortunate if you could afford to have what you needed. Homes – and everything else families had worked hard to possess – were lost. And the quality of life declined. There was no stigma attached to the free lunch program at school.

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Are you ‘sober curious’?

04/30/2022

Cathy Brownfield

The Golden Years. These are supposed to be full of wonder, adventure, less stress than during the child-rearing years. These are supposed to be the years of doing all of the things you couldn’t do when you were raising children: had a job, obligations and responsibilities. (Frankly, I think the best years of our lives are when our children are growing up under our roof, safely tucked in at night after the door is locked.)

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Today's children are the future

04/16/2022

Cathy Brownfield

Children are the future. They keep a family’s lineage alive, generation following generation, carrying the tools they learn in their lives. As they grow, they are curious about the world around them, rambunctious and loud in play. They love unconditionally, trust. When they are grown, educated, and prepared to step into adult roles, they will share with the world what they have lived and learned from the generations who preceded them, the parents who raised them, the extended family that influenced them. They will teach, they will govern.

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