Author: Natasha Josefowitz

In any communication between two people, each one evaluates, accepts, rejects, classifies, or assimilates what the other is saying. We all have a tendency to hear what pleases us, or what we think the other will say, preoccupied as we are by our own response—we often don’t really listen. One of the pleasures of conversation MORE >

What is important? Important to whom? In terms of what? In terms of people’s philosophy of life? In terms of one’s needs? In terms of one’s strengths? In terms of policy? Or in terms of one’s mental health? Throughout the years I had collected some people’s thoughts about what they thought was important. So I MORE >

As I have started to go out to restaurants and stores, I have noticed several instances of unacceptable behaviors towards waiters, salespeople, and other customer-service personnel. The loud blowup about a wrong order or slowness of service made me think about what people feel entitled to, like getting the expected services in a timely manner. MORE >

You swing gently on your trapeze somewhere near the top of the circus tent. It’s comfortable and secure, and then you see the next trapeze hurtling towards you. As you gage the time and the distance, you have to decide when the appropriate moment will come for you to leave the safe bar you’re hanging MORE >

My friend Joanne forwarded me an email from her granddaughter, Elizabeth Keegan Tapia. She thought the questions were interesting, provocative, and made her reminisce as well as reexamine some memories of past events. I, too, found the questions comprehensive and worth sharing as a possible vehicle for interviewing family members. The following are some modified MORE >

The other day, a friend of mine said that she was afraid of curbs. “Why?” I asked, surprised. “Because I can’t see as well, and I could fall,” she replied. This startled me. I started wondering whether I, too, worry about curbs. Sure enough, I have become aware that instead of stepping off mindlessly like MORE >

A new great-granddaughter was just born. Her parents named her Juniper. I thought it was a beautiful name, but was curious as it is a type of a tree. I talked to my grandson who said that several of their friends are calling their infants by tree names, wanting to be ecologically sensitive. They mentioned MORE >

“Your eye pressure is fifty,” says Dr. Robert Weinreb, Director of the Shiley Eye Institute and my ophthalmologist, whose expertise is glaucoma. “We have been unable to control your eye pressure with drops; I am recommending eye surgery.” I, of course, am immediately reluctant and ask, “What happens if we don’t operate?” “You may lose MORE >

One day in 1992, I received a phone call from a man who was representing Norwegian Cruise Lines after he had seen me on television. He said one of their ships was about to sail from Miami for a trip around South America; he invited me to be a lecturer on the cruise. The position MORE >

As we emerge from a year in isolation, we are suddenly thrust into situations we used to take for granted: proximity to others and opportunities to mingle, participate, contribute, to hear and be heard. But we have changed; we are not the same people as of a year ago. The changes in ourselves can be MORE >