The Dance of Heart and Mind: A Memoir

Multitudes of aging persons suspect we’re headed for dementia every time we forget a name, something we’ve read, misplace our keys, or forget a scheduled appointment. Media reports bombard us with projections of the coming epidemic of Alzheimer’s disease in the boomer population. Given these predictions, I questioned what I could do to understand more clearly my life, its stresses, consequences and antidotes. Would harvesting my life experiences and learning result in more nurture and protection of my memory and thinking capabilities? First envisioned as a legacy for my grandchildren, the disciplined effort of writing this memoir provided me with a deeper understanding of my life and that led to more compassion for myself and others. Consequently, I offer this book, in this time of diversity, as a catalyst for others to contribute their experiences, through shared reading and writing to a necessary dialogue that points to ways to live more honestly, justly, peacefully—and with less stress-related health problems as we age.