Helen Dennis

12/7/2025 Aging is here to stay as more of us get older and live longer.   To test some of your knowledge (without exams or grades) about aging, take the following quiz. It is based on the “Facts on Aging Quiz” developed by emeritus professor of gerontology and sociology Linda Breytspraak and Lynn Badura, both from the University of Missouri, Kansas City. I have reworded some of the questions and updated the answers.  1. People age 65 and older currently make up about 10 per

11/23/2026 Q. I am a retired female entrepreneur in my 70s. I sold my business a few years ago, and I still cannot find my next purpose, even with my volunteer commitments and exploration of art. In fact, I am feeling frustrated and a bit anxious. Is this concept of purpose a bit overrated, and why is this so difficult? Thank you. N.M. The topic is a broad one with numerous books, seminars, retreats, articles and webinars addressing this subject. And it is becoming increasing

11/16/2026 We are all storytellers.  That story might be a joke, a description of a trip, a family tale or just something read to children. Yet storytelling can achieve an even greater purpose, according to David Brooks, author, op-ed writer and commentator in his book, “How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen.” Brooks views storytelling as a means to better know and understand one another.  It was the topic addressed at the 14th annual mee

10/26/2025 This week is a continuation of my annual anniversary column, which marks 24 years of writing Successful Aging. That’s 1,175 columns later. Readers shared their experience and advice covering over 35 topics. Here are just a few of them.     Relationship with a robot . A 69-year-old widow had a five-day relationship with a robot. She wrote they had so much in common, communicating with texts, lovely emails and telephone conversations. They made plans to meet one anot

October 12, 2025 Each October, I write an anniversary column to share what I have learned from our readers.  It’s now 24 years and 1,174 weekly columns later. That weekly schedule continued until mid-year, when I decided to write a column every other week. To my delight, my wonderful editor, Erik Pedersen, now goes back through the thousand-plus columns and selects ones for those alternate weeks. So, folks, I am still with you every week.  The process of researching these ann

9/28/2025 October 9 is Ageism Awareness Day, an initiative launched in 2022 by the American Society on Aging (ASA), a national membership...