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ALL OF THE UNHAPPINESS OF MAN STEMS FROM ONE THING ONLY: THAT HE IS INCAPABLE OF STAYING QUIETLY ALONE IN HIS ROOM. Blaise Pascal.

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One of the most common descriptions of old age is that it is a stage lived in unwanted loneliness and isolation. So much so that geriatric experts advise older adults not to shut themselves in their homes or stop connecting with people their own age. This is why, in activity centers for older adults, there are plenty of groups where a kind of daily recreation takes place. Not long ago, a psychologist invited me to join one of these groups that she runs once a week. What really amazed me was that the activities were far from therapeutic; they were more like guessing games designed to entertain the participants. I found it hard to understand what the purpose of that activity could be for adults whose lives had surely been normally active. Old age isn’t always synonymous of a lack of understanding; and those people who age with their minds intact should be trained to spend their final days in a more meaningful way. Such a training should be based on showing to them how, in their last year...
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THE SECRET OF LONELINESS IN THE SECOND HALF OF LIFE

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So again, what is loneliness? Loneliness is focusing on what is absent instead of what is present. What is present is what is really meant for us; that is why it has come our way. What is absent is gone, and is probably sharing its journey with another soul. But how do we start enjoying what is there if we are so used to being with somebody else? Our best ally is time. Every transition in life needs time to evolve because our brain needs to adapt to the new situation; and it will. Already back in 1890, in his book The Principles of Psychology, William James wrote: "Organic matter, especially nervous tissue, seems endowed with a very extraordinary degree of plasticity." Much later it was demonstrated that the brain does not stop changing in childhood, but it continues to create neural pathways in order to adapt to new experiences. Due to its high degree of plasticity, its structure changes throughout life. When we are going through the experience of loss, our reality ch...
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A GUIDE TO OVERCOME DEPRESSION

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Of all life stressors that we go through in life, loss is the most difficult one to overcome. The path towards the reorganization of our life after a significant loss is a long and difficult one. The more significant the loss, the longer and more difficult is the path towards having a normal life again. Our life is shattered, and we are pervaded by emptiness, sadness, apathy, loneliness and fear. Often the feeling of disorientation will lead us to a lack of meaning and confusion regarding our beliefs. Our life as we knew it suddenly evaporates and all we see are debris all around us like after a deadly storm.
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CUIDEMOS LO QUE LA VIDA NOS DIO

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Estando un día en un ómnibus que me llevaba desde Bariloche a Villa La Angostura, por un instante dejé de mirar la espléndida escena que nos rodeaba porque una anciana sentada a dos filas delante mío me llamó curiosamente la atención. La señora se hallaba sentada en la fila de asientos al lado mío, dos asientos más adelante. Tenía sobre sus rodillas una chalina de lana gris oscuro con flores rosadas que sostenía con las dos manos. Con extremo cuidado levantó el borde derecho para ir doblando la prenda lentamente hasta terminar formando un cuadrado pequeño. Al ella terminar su tarea no pude menos que preguntarme qué había sido lo que me había llamado tanto la atención; y mientras pensaba, se me hizo viva la imagen de la anciana en su casa ordenando sus querencias. “Esta es una señal” –me dije. Yo creo firmemente en las señales que nos llegan desde afuera para ayudarnos a desarrollar una vida ordenada y de profundo significado. Fueron pasando los años y hoy, cuando ya estoy en la tercera...
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A MEDIDA QUE NOS VAMOS

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A medida que el tiempo transcurre es mayor el silencio del alma, van desapareciendo los recuerdos y van muriendo las esperanzas. Los rostros que durante años nos rodearon dejaron de ocupar nuestro espacio vacío, y a medida que el tiempo transcurre es menor el deseo de seguir recordando. Muchas menos son las sombras de la noche, y pocos son los deseos que un día tuvimos, pero lo que nos queda tiene color de oro y perfume de horas y flores desconocidas.
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TELEPATHY CURRENT UNDERSTANDING

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" Telepathy is considered a type of extrasensory perception (psi), … there is no conclusive evidence that telepathy occurs naturally without technological assistance. Research continues at the intersection of neuroscience, consciousness studies, and quantum physics, exploring whether subtle, non-physical connections between minds might exist (Amiettkumar, Science News Today.)” “Mi tío Vincenzo vivió con nosotros hasta que murió, a la edad de 56 años, de un ataque cardíaco en la provincia de Córdoba donde había ido a pasar unas vacaciones. En realidad, no era tío de mi hermano y mío, sino que era un tío de mi madre que había adquirido para ella la figura de padre. Esto había ocurrido cuando, de joven, mi madre se había enterado de que mi abuelo había hecho sufrir mucho a mi abuela con sus interminables aventuras amorosas, y entonces decidió reemplazarlo en sus afectos por su tío. Tío Vincenzo era un soltero empedernido que había tenido que irse de Italia porque, durante la época...
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LONELINESS IN OUR LAST STAGE HAS TO DO WITH OTHERS

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A few years ago, due to my divorce, I moved from Coral Gables to Miami Beach. While living right on the beach by the sea brings me a lot of serenity and joy for life, the fact that in Miami Beach it’s very hard to make new friends annoys me. It was then that a former work colleague suggested introducing me to one of her friends who, coincidentally, lives very near me and is also from Argentina. After my colleague gave me her name and phone number, I sent her a text message and we both decided to meet for dinner at a nearby restaurant. While at this stage of my life I prefer to have lunch rather than dinner, my colleague's friend replied that she was very busy with work during the day and that having lunch was not an option for her. So we agreed to have dinner instead. On the day we were supposed to meet, I arrived at the restaurant a little early and decided to wait for my future friend while enjoying a glass of chilled white wine. And so half an hour went by without her showing up...
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