Author Archives: Deborah Drucker

About Deborah Drucker

I am a native of California who lives in Southern California. I have a background in healthcare and Special Education. Writing is a new adventure for me.

Play and Creativity

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I have always liked coloring and playing with colors since I was a little girl. A way of bringing joy into our lives is doing things that we love. I recently used an Amazon gift card to buy myself two adult coloring books and a box of professional colored pencils. Amazon has a large selection of beautiful coloring books. You don’t have to be good at drawing because the pictures are already made. You get to color them however you chose. One of them I chose has Art Nouveau designs.

It is good to get into an activity that you enjoy and gets you into a relaxed, “flow” state. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi who developed the concept and defines the flow state as ” an almost euphoric state of concentration and complete involvement. ” This is good for stress relief, and we all have to have some relaxation and happiness in our lives every day.

There are so many demands for our attention. It can feel like we are pretty scattered and pulled in all different directions. We need to be sure to schedule activities that connect us with ourselves and help focus our attention back to what speaks to us.

A creative activity that is enjoyable for you can add some happiness and relaxation to your day. It is a form of play. Do you make time in your day for some creative play? What do you do that gets you into the flow?

Act Your Age

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The image on my post is of Bette Davis and Gary Merrill in ” All About Eve.” This film was about a middle-aged actress being undermined by a younger, inexperienced competitor and how Hollywood treats “older” actresses.

We tell kids to “act your age” when we think they are acting immature and older people are sometimes told the same thing. What do we mean when we tell an older person to “act your age?”

I was very happy and humbled to see the response to my last post about Aging Disgracefully. The response made me realize that there are many people out there who are thinking about this issue.

One big reason why I do not like being told about “aging gracefully” is that I interpret it to be a prescription on how we should all behave and live our lives as we get older. And there are all these assumptions and expectations that come attached to that description of aging. Here is something from Huffington Post: “Want to Age Gracefully? Avoid these 7 Things,” with a photo of George Clooney and Sandra Bullock on the top. The suggestion being that if we want to look like these celebrities, who are obviously “aging gracefully,” we should read the following. And it seems the author thinks being in your 50s is the start of aging. Another post on the “Gen Fab” blog called ” Ageing Gracefully: What Exactly Does That Mean? ” has a photo of Sandra Bullock as Superwoman in the top photo. They asked women, a group of bloggers nearing and post 50, what they thought of “aging gracefully.” I liked the slideshow in the post a little better which includes some opinions of the bloggers.

Here’s another post from Huff/Post 50 today: “It’s Hard for Men to Believe I Feel Attractive at 50.” I almost skipped reading it with that title but she did have a few things to say I thought were positive about aging.

Another thing that bothers me is that much is written at older people and not by older people. I would much rather read about the personal journey than what someone thinks that journey should be. So I was happy to read what some of you shared about how you are living your lives.

How should we “act our age?” I don’t think we have to prove anything, like be a marathon runner, swim to Cuba, or take up aerobic yoga. To me it is a process of self-discovery. If we have been athletes all our lives we may still want to be athletes. But there are so many other things we can do. One reader said she is “creatively aging.” I am in the process of discovery myself. I have been working a little as a tutor and I am volunteering as a literacy tutor. I am blogging. 🙂 I want to start exploring other possible interests as well.

How do you envision your aging? How do you want to “act your age?”

FYI for the Introverts among us and those who love them The Quiet Revolution website is getting ready to launch soon.

Aging Disgracefully

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I detest labels, stereotypes, and being put in a box. I have always been a bit of a rebel and will fight for your and my right to be different. Oh, how I hate conformity, how people are encouraged to march along in lock step, and never question anything. I hate group think. Pop think. Fads. Everyone following along with everyone else. This all being said, I really liked a post I read by Margaret Manning on her new site Boomerly called The Secret Life of Modern Grandmothers. I am not a grandmother yet but I am getting older and refuse to climb into a box , be labeled, and be expected to be any particular way that fits a stereotype of an older person.

I have read all these article about aging gracefully and I bristle. I want to be like the little girl who got her clean, frilly dress covered with mud, and ruined her party shoes. I borrowed the title of this post from Margaret’s post where she mentioned “aging disgracefully.”

Ageing gracefully is not for me. Another writer I follow, Ann Brenoff in the Huffington Post, wrote recently I’m Not Trying to Age Gracefully, So Don’t Pressure Me To. She makes some great points, that we all age differently. Some of us do need to dye our hair because we don’t look good with gray, and we all can’t look like your favorite celebrity, and some people have good genes so that’s why they look younger. She compares this pressure to “age gracefully” to “fat-shaming.”

I am for all of us, no matter what age, being our glorious, beautiful selves.

Empowerment To Be Yourself

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For more inspiration The Quiet Revolution is on Facebook.

Joy To The World and Peace

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We need an infusion of joy and to pray for peace in the world. My prayer is that those making war will stop and consider peace. Here are some uplifting inspirations for those of us weary from all war.

From Matt Harding on You Tube:

And Som Sabadell flashmob Banco Sabadell:

I am sharing this post on Lindaghill for Stream Of Consciousness Saturday to say “No” to hopelessness, negativity and to the dream killers of the world. And say “Yes” to all the good in the world.

Word Snap Weekly-Finding Your Way

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“Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.”–Jalaluddin Rumi

I love the message of this quote. Just let yourself be drawn by what you really love. No complicated instructions. You don’t have to read a self-help book or an article on the ” 10 Ways to Find Your Purpose.”

I agree with this advice. Follow your heart. Listen to your inner voice or what “pulls you” in a certain direction.

Tellicherry Pepper

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“The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook.”–Julia Child

I recently discovered this delicious pepper. Very tasty on steak when freshly ground on top before grilling. I think it would taste good on lamb as well. Telllicherry pepper comes from the southern coast of India. It is very fragrant and has a ” robust, pungent, fruity flavor” per the container’s description from Costco.

Some more information about the different types of pepper from Dana Angelo White on Food Network .

Do you have any favorite recipes with Tellicherry pepper?

I like boneless Rib Eye steaks for grilling, which are usually very tender.

Writer’s Quote Wednesday-Rumi

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“Keep walking, though there’s no place to get to.
Don’t try to see through the distances.
That’s not for human beings. Move within,
But don’t move the way fear makes you move.”
— Rumi

Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207-1273) was a 13th century Persian poet, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic. His poetry has been translated into many languages and is much appreciated around the world. After his death, his son and his followers founded the Mevlevi Order or Order of the Whirling Dervishes. The whirling dance is part of the Sufi Sana Ceremony.

|Writer’s Quote Wednesday|

Bees and Bliss

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I found my bliss. Ollie Hofnoodle’s Haven of Bliss that is. If you have seen A Christmas Story by Jean Shepard this is another film written by him that is very funny. What I love about it is that is epitomizes an era in American life of the middle class family. This is about Ralphie and his family when he is a teenager looking for his first job. His father still has his nose to the grindstone and wants nothing more than to get away for his annual 2 week summer vacation at a resort on Clear Lake. There are hilarious parts about Ralph’s first job, how the family dog “Fuzzhead” runs away, and the “epic car trip” on the way to the lake. Their family car is loaded up to the roof with all the comforts of home they want to bring to the vacation cabin. This was when a family typically had one family car. Shepard describes the mother’s lot in life, quite accurately I thought, when he says she never got to taste her food warm because she was constantly waiting on the rest of the family during mealtime.

There is one scene where the family is on the road and they recall how when then got to a certain place there was this bee that would come into the car and harass them. They wonder if the bee could still be there. The father says that’s ridiculous. Well, you guessed it, the bee shows up and the next scene is the whole family running down the road.

Bombus Californicus or Fervidus

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I saw this furry critter out in Palm Desert (photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey, UC Davis website) and I was happy to see it. I had not noticed any around our backyard near Los Angeles for a while. It may be that we don’t have enough flowering plants right now to attract them.

These are the black furry bumblebees with the yellow spot near their heads. I researched them a bit and found a post on the UC Davis website about these bubblebees and that they are now called Bombus Fervidus. I have read that the bubblebee is declining especially in Europe.

What kinds of bees are in your neighborhood and do you have bumblebees?

An interesting Bumblebee conservation Fact Sheet from the Xerces Society.