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Jan 3, 2024

"You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment." --Henry David Thoreau

Life's Present: Visits with my Mother and Dementia

In a touching reflection, Jackie Bailey shares heartwarming and intimate details about caring for her elderly mother, whose demeanor has softened with age and dementia. She muses, "It's not that mum has simply forgotten all her old beefs. Getting older is making her brain kinder." Citing studies on neuroimaging and the release of oxytocin, she asserts, "older people are kinder than the rest of us." In one neuroimaging study, the brain's reward center (i.e. the nucleus accubens) showed more activity for 75% of people aged 55 and older when they see money going to a charity, rather than to themselves, compared with less than 25% of younger people. Sprinkled with wisdom, humor, and acceptance, Bailey's story is a lesson in patience, love and understanding. Letting go of past pains and stepping into her mother's reality isn't just a part of aging - it's an opportunity for greater compassion.