Natasha Josefowitz

By Natasha Josefowitz, ACSW, Ph.D. LA JOLLA, California — I assume that most of my readers live in places where they have access to foo clean water, a roof over their heads, and medical help 24/7, as I do. We have no fears that someone might come in the middle of the night to arrest

By Natasha Josefowitz, ACSW, Ph.D. LA JOLLA, California — There are new plays opening in San Diego; I will not see them. I won’t go indoors with crowds, nor have I been to a restaurant or museum in over two years. I have missed and am still missing many of the cultural events in my

By Natasha Josefowitz, ACSW, Ph.D. I began writing my columns in 1980. It was a weekly then, first for the San Diego Business Journal, followed by the San Diego Daily Transcript, then syndicated with Copley News for several years, then the La Jolla Light. At present, it is a bimonthly column with the La Jolla

My newspaper came today with a large, glossy supplement of ideas for gift giving. I also received several catalogs with holiday gift ideas. Some magazines are even trying to be helpful by designating categories: for the man who has everything, for the woman in your life (a generation ago the suggestion was giving her a vacuum cleaner), gadgets for seniors, and, of course, toys for children, even toys for dogs and cats. Given the ongoing pandemic, we are being urged to buy early in order to avoid predicted supply-chain delays. [Natasha Josefowitz, ACSW, Ph.D]

More than 10,000 people turn 65 every day in the United States, and people are living longer. In 2019, the average life expectancy of American men was 76 years, while for women it was 81. Accordingly, I am already living 15 years beyond what is projected. Until very recently, I thought of myself as old, that was until I realized it is my children who are old; I am in a new category called old-old. [Natasha Josefowitz, ACSW, Ph.D]

Shoulds are injunctions carried over from earlier in life, from parents, teachers, religious leaders, and other authority figures. Some have become dispensable. As we grow older, we shed many of these shoulds. [Natasha Josefowitz]

By Natasha Josefowitz, ACSW, Ph.D. LA JOLLA, California — Having just finished reading Suzanne Simard’s book, Finding the Mother Tree, I was bowled over by the ability of trees to communicate with each other through a microbial networks. The Mother Tree is in reality an old tree in the forest who is needed by younger

By Natasha Josefowitz, ACSW, Ph.D. LA JOLLA, California — The title of the book is intriguing: Wiser: The Scientific Roots of Wisdom, Compassion, and What Makes Us Good by Dr. Dilip Jeste. I was eager to read it and hopeful that I would indeed become wiser. I will turn 95 on October 31. I still

By Natasha Josefowitz, ACSW, Ph.D. LA JOLLA, California — It starts in the morning. Voice 1: “Get up!” Voice 2: “I’m still sleepy.” Voice 1, impatiently: “You’ll be late for work!” Voice 2, pleading: “Five more minutes.” It goes on at breakfast. Voice 1: “Cereal and fruit!” Voice 2: “There’s a doughnut left in the

In our society, we are often afraid to speak honestly and directly. We don’t want to upset, offend, or step on someone’s toes. We fear being seen as aggressive, pushy, opinionated, demanding, or critical so intensely that we often pussyfoot around and avoid what really needs to be said. And while I applaud our new-found sensitivity to other people’s feelings, effective communication is often needlessly sacrificed. [Natasha Josefowitz, ACSW, Ph.D]

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 is to talk about oneself, each believing that the other is fascinated by the tale. We love an audience. [Natasha Josefowitz, ACSW, Ph.D]