Category: Featured

You Are More Beautiful Than You Think!

I’m not crazy about the current Dove campaign in which a police artist draws a portrait of a forty-ish woman from her description (dour and harsh) and then draws another from the description by another woman who has spent a little time with her (warmer and more pleasant looking); the punch line is “you are more beautiful than you think.”

This is not news. We have been prettier than we thought all along. When we are not comparing ourselves unfavorably to models and movie stars — who, the fan magazines show us gleefully, don’t look at all like their glamorous selves when out doing errands — we are comparing present selves with our younger selves.

Remembering My Mother’s Life Affirming Death – Especially on Mother’s Day

Suzanne Braun Levine
Huff/Post 50

As any woman who has lost her mother does, I think of her especially on Mother’s Day. In fact, I think I will always consider Mother’s Day her day, not mine. And when I think of her life, I also remember the gift of her peaceful death.

When she died at 94, I felt sad, of course, but also relieved after several years of slow decline during which no matter how I tried to give her what she needed, I was one degree of deterioration behind in caring for her. And I felt grateful — grateful to her for the loving and gracious way she took her slow leave, and very grateful to the hospice team that guided our last months together. Thanks to them, she died at home, smiling to the end.

Cyma Shapiro Interviews Suzanne Braun Levine, Author of You Gotta Have Girlfriends

Cyma Shapiro
Motheringinthemiddle.com

Q: On the heels of your last book How We Love Now: Women Talk About Intimacy After Fifty, what compelled you to write this new book?

With each book about women of my generation – Inventing the Rest of Our Lives, Fifty Is the New Fifty, How We Love Now – I talked to more women, did more research, and learned more about the exciting new stage of life we are exploring. Every interview, no matter how wide-ranging, eventually got to the subject of girlfriends. “I couldn’t have done it without my girlfriends!” was the phrase I heard over and over again. I realized that I needed to write a book that focused on that life-enhancing subject. Hence, my just-out e-book You Gotta Have Girlfriends: A Post-Fifty Posse is Good for Your Health.

Authentic – Mary Thom Will Always
Be The Gold Standard

My “post-fifty posse” has lost Mary Thom, and it is hard to imagine how it will be at our next monthly dinner. We won’t need a round table for five any more.

Mary was the quintessential trusted colleague – she knew what needed to be done, how it needed to be done and what her part was – as well as the best kind of girlfriend.

Celebrating You Gotta Have Girlfriends With My Post-Fifty Posse!

My Post-Fifty Posse

We are five former Ms. magazine colleagues who have been having dinner together once a month for over 20 years. We like to try new places, which is a good thing, since I am not sure we would be welcome back to a restaurant after a visit. We generally sit there for three or four hours, order an assortment of appetizers, laugh uproariously — and pay with five credit cards!

YOU GOTTA HAVE GIRLFRIENDS –
My Circle of Trust on the Internet!

A Mini Blog Tour
For My Ebook

You Gotta Have Girlfriends is a traveling “circle of trust “- of love and support – on the Internet shared by my girlfriends. Join me to celebrate our post-fifty posses and ourselves on the blogs and websites of my pioneering girlfriends. — Suzanne

“Suzanne Levine takes us beyond the frontier of our own expectations and into a new and hope-filled stage of life.”
— Gloria Steinem

“Retirement or What Next™” for
Women Over 50 in Transition

May 18-19, 2013
Denver, Colorado

Ruthie Neubauer, my most cherished childhood friend, has become a wise therapist and with Karen Van Allen leads workshops for women like us. The next “Retirement or WHAT NEXT™” weekend is May18-19th, in Denver, CO. — Suzanne

This Weekend is for you if you…

Feel pressure to respond to the question: What do I do with the rest of my life? Know what you want but feel inhibited. Feel isolated with your inner questions. Wish to express yourself in new ways. Want support to play with ideas and dreams. Plan to retire and have concerns.

Celebrate Your Girlfriends Today!

You Gotta Have Girlfriends!
by Suzanne Braun Levine
Huff/Post50

My first ebook – You Gotta Have Girlfriends – A Post-Fifty Posse Is Good For Your Health – came out this week and I’m sharing the news on blogs, Facebook and Twitter. Huff/Post50 has a feature that I’ve written – with a slide show of personal photos, movie clips and famous quotes on friendship. I hope you will visit the page, and Comment, Tweet and Share it – widely!

Celebrate “You Gotta Have Girlfriends” on “Feisty Side of Fifty” Radio, April 16th

by Mary Eileen Williams
Feisty Side of Fifty

YOUR TRUE BODY-MIND CONNECTION

It’s been said that, as we age, our body-mind connection becomes even more important to our overall fitness. How we view our lives, what we think about growing older, and the importance we give to taking care of ourselves are major factors in the state of our wellbeing. But, perhaps not so surprisingly, it’s a different type of connection that impacts our health in a major way. It turns out that those wonderful women who share our lives rank right at the top of the list—especially during the second half of life.