With our intimate partners, we can take responsibility for the parts of ourselves that are hardest to deal with - because we finally know ourselves well enough to do so.

By accepting our aging and letting its lessons broaden us internally, we become calmer in the face of the body's inevitable deterioration. Becoming less attached to our outer appearance is so liberating.

With our intimate partners, we can take responsibility for the parts of ourselves that are hardest to deal with - because we finally know ourselves well enough to do so.

With grown children, we can look back at both our mistakes and what we did well in our parenting, having conversations with a greater degree of honesty than was possible before. In getting older themselves, our adult children may begin to comprehend the burdens and strengths we carried from our own parents.

Stay open and curious, and realize that the best is yet to come.

Old friends become more and more precious to us as the years pass. They can look at us for who we once were and who we are now, appreciating the difficulties we have overcome, the abilities we have acquired, and the ways we have stayed true to ourselves.

Be patient with yourself and take heart. Your self-confidence will grow if you seek challenges and worry less about the initial insecurity.