The Agelessness Project

I have always been curious about why some people look older than their age and others look younger than they really are. In working with countless people as a facilitator and researcher in the area of conscious living and personal growth, I have discovered that our points of view and our beliefs are extremely powerful in this area.

A finite attitude limits our outlook and abilities whereas an infinite one will broaden our horizons.

I found that those who look younger than other people their age tend to have a positive (infinite) attitude about aging and about getting older. Conversely, those with a more negative (finite) outlook tend to look much older than their age. That was a life-changing moment for me.

Our points of view can influence the aging process

In my early years working as a transpersonal change facilitator, I became fascinated by the idea of how our mindset and our points of view can influence the aging process. I wanted to know whether the way we think about aging has any real consequences for our quality of life. I wanted to shine a light on how positive points of view and attitudes can benefit the mind and body.

I began to explore how points of view and attitudes about aging can have a significant impact on our physical and mental health. I discovered that points of view and the beliefs that we hold about aging are a critical and essential part of who we are, and they can play a big role in how we approach it.

I learned about the power of our points of view and our beliefs when I was working with a client who had a very negative attitude about aging. She could not come to terms with what it meant to grow older. She was very cranky, irritable, and obsessed with her ailments. A great deal of her energy went into worrying about getting old, becoming unattractive, getting sick and running out of money. Her beliefs governed the way she lived and influenced both her attitudes and her actions. Sadly her point of view made her look so much older than her age.

Millions of people are like my client, so wrapped up in what they judge as being wrong about getting old that they don't seem to realize that the way they think about aging turns into their reality. They are not aware that what goes on in their minds will influence what goes on in their bodies.

Our points of view about aging can dynamically influence our choices, our actions, how we feel, and how we behave. So if we think we’re useless and unattractive, we’ll feel worthless. Then, we’ll act like a failure, which reinforces our belief that we must be worthless.

What we believe directly guides our thinking, what we think influences our feeling, and how we feel directly influences our body, our wellbeing, and the aging process.

From my exploration....

I began to research longevity and study how negative points of view about aging can be damaging to our sense of self. I have seen a growing number of medical evidence proving that attitudes towards aging and growing older can impact how our minds and bodies function at the cellular level.

Multiple studies show that how we perceive aging and our life as a whole affects longevity. A study out of North Carolina University found that those who viewed aging positively were more resilient when dealing with stressful situations. Their positive mindset makes them more resilient to illness and reduces their likelihood of developing chronic diseases or disorders. People with a more positive attitude toward aging are also less likely to get Alzheimer’s, even if they have the gene that predisposes them to the disease.

People who have a negative view of aging tend to experience higher negative emotional effects and tend to have lower levels of life satisfaction. They’re also more likely to be hospitalized or to die young.

This body of research has shown that the aging process, health, and illness are much more rooted in our minds and how we experience ourselves in the world than we have imagined. Study after study on aging has found that the way we think about who we're going to be in old age is very predictive of exactly how we will be.

The stereotypes about aging

There are many stereotypes about aging that are engrained in us through cultural norms. Most of us don't recognize this because we have our own fixed points of view and preconceived notions about what it means to be old.

In many ways, our culture still teaches us to judge our bodies and to devalue our abilities. We are programmed to believe that aging is a negative experience and a liability.

We're often surrounded by messages telling us that being younger is better, old people are incompetent, wrinkles are unattractive, and aging is something to be feared. These youth obsession messages are damaging, problematic, and simply not true. These stereotypes are not actually real; they have been prefabricated to keep us confined within a structure of this reality.

In western society, growing older is not typically perceived as a positive thing. In the media, for example, older adults tend to be portrayed as a burden, useless, unattractive, and less valuable to society.

I know first hand the power of our points of view and beliefs. Around my fifty-second birthday, I became more aware that I had bought the lies of the aging stereotypes. One of these lies that I had bought as real is that getting older means becoming less attractive. I felt a sense of trepidation in the core of my being and a lot of uncertainty. I recognized that the biggest challenge was my own point of view.

I was completely unaware of the subconscious stereotypes I held about aging. I judged myself and became dazed by the idea that some extraordinary cosmetic and special elixir would give me eternal youth. When you reflect on it, isn't that a wacky notion?

I sensed then that I had allowed myself to be under the spell of stereotypes about aging. I became someone I didn't really have to be. What I had created as my reality is what occurs to many people, in one way or another.

The stereotype about aging is a socially constructed idea, which means we can change it!

The common fear we all have

Working with many people over the years around the world has shown me that there are common desires we all have: freedom from danger, threat, fear, and pain. Whether you're a successful business executive in New York City or an artist in Thailand, each of us, at our core wish to live a long, happy and healthy life.

Fear of aging is one of the most common fears there is. Too many people live in fear of the word OLD. This is because they have the wrong impression of what it means to grow old.

The majority of people typically associate getting old with deterioration. They see aging in terms of disability and decline which leads to poorer physical health outcomes. The idea that life has more to offer and life could become more fun when we get older had never been associated with any aging stereotype.

Many people are fearful of aging because they believe that these stereotypes are unavoidable, and that old age will be troublesome and unpleasant. This fear can immobilize us if we allow it. It can rob us of our life and happiness as it can provoke debilitating anxiety. I used to believe these stereotypes too—until I realized where this point of view comes from and the harm it does.

Ever since I turned 60 a few years ago, I've been realizing that these stereotypes and the conventional notions of what it means to be old - especially for women - don't have to be real and true for anyone. And most important, that we can craft our later years to be what we want them to be, rather than what anybody else said we must be.

We can choose to be the creator of our own reality. We can envision and generate how we can live the life we want, rather than the one that’s prescribed for us.

Addressing unmet needs

In the past 10 years I have circled the globe many times, conducting conscious living seminars on becoming the creator of your reality and a conscious leader of your own life. I was showing people how self-perceptions and finite viewpoints are linked to so many major problems and difficulties in life

People were constantly asking me: “How do positive points of view and attitudes benefit the mind, body, and quality of life? ... How can we change the self-perception of aging when we are living in a world that bombards us with the messages that old people are useless, burdensome, and declining in capability? ... How can we grapple with the concept of growing old consciously when we get so many mixed messages about what it means to grow older?

Changing our self-perception isn't easy. But learning to change our perception is a lot easier than most of us think it is. In fact, the process of changing our self-perception is much the same as the process of becoming a creator of our own life and reality.

All of us can choose to transform ourselves if we truly want to. Choosing to change our self-perception and become the creator of our own life is the ultimate act of free will. All of us can transform our experience of getting older by changing our points of view about it. We have to be willing to see the world with a different eye. It's precisely that simple!

People worldwide are living longer

A longer life brings with it new and different possibilities, for societies as a whole. Yet the extent of these new possibilities and contributions depends heavily on one factor: our ability to live consciously with awareness. This ability will allow us to flourish mentally, emotionally, physically, and financially.

Worldwide, the age group of sixty years old and older is growing faster than any other age group. According to a recent United Nations' report, there were 703 million persons aged 65 years or over in the world in 2019. The number of people is projected to double to 1.5 billion in 2050. With this remarkable increase of older adults, a paradigm shift in what we see about aging and growing older becomes a priority for aging well. Learning to change how we see ourselves and how to live life and grow old consciously is extremely essential.

I am currently writing a book on living and growing older consciously. My target is to inspire people to see different possibilities and to recognize that they have the power to live a generative life, to create a sustainable future, and to thrive emotionally, mentally, physically, and financially as they are growing older. The title of the book is AGELESSNESS.

The term 'agelessness' is not used as a euphemism to make you feel better about the inevitable that you are getting older. It's certainly not about anti-aging or avoiding getting old or wearing your wrinkles with pride. This is not about being opposed to growing older or seeing aging as a taboo or as the enemy.

'Agelessness' is about choosing to live in the generative moment of "What else is possible?" instead of functioning from a fixed viewpoint of how things are supposed to be. This is the space of possibilities.

Being the space of possibilities is the ability to be present in your life in every moment, without judgment of you or anyone else.

The ability to be the space of possibilities has greater applicability when it comes to living and creating our life with conscious awareness. From this space, we can live fully and with a sense of joy and adventure.

In my view growing older is full of choices, full of possibilities, full of unknowns, full of mystery and wonder. When we live from the energy, space, and consciousness of 'agelessness' we can open the door to creating our life from a different place. We can move into a place of power that allows us to change anything in our life, to be something greater than we have ever been.

The key to agelessness is making a commitment to your life. It's about the energy you have to be. As straightforward as that sounds, it’s anything but: making a commitment to your life takes courage and tenacity. You must turn away from distracting false beliefs that cloud or distort your self-perception.

I also know that everyone, of any race, any age, any background, and in any circumstance, can choose to grow older with conscious awareness if they choose this. Since growing older with awareness is a process, this book on becoming AGELESSNESS is a story of that process rather than a series of distinct lessons and instructions. In essence, 'agelessness' is synonymous with becoming the creator of your own life.

The content of this book is grounded in real life and it is developing more organically. It is more than a manual on conscious living and personal growth. The target of this book is to create a space of possibilities that allows readers to recognize and move toward the mystery that is in everyday life. Nothing is more exciting than having an awareness—unexpectedly and without effort—of different possibilities.

Ideas for a membership project

I am establishing an AGELESSNESS PROJECT to create an online community around AGELESSNESS. I know that the membership site will allow me to stay connected with the people who want to hear from me and also build loyalty among my fans.

My mission is to help change the self-perception of aging, boost self-awareness, improve body-confidence, raise self-esteem and demystify the stereotypes about aging.

The AGELESSNESS PROJECT membership site will include a variety of content

• Online masterclasses to help people question their long-held beliefs and biases about aging
• Inspirational audio content encouraging people to explore their unconscious perception of growing older, in a way that motivates quiet reflection on what it would take to become the creator of their own life.
• Video library - Integrate exclusive long video content with my Youtube channel. I post short videos on my Youtube channel and offer long versions on the membership site.
• Bonus Content - provide tips on what to read, study and watch
• Perks for members like digital products or even physical merchandise
• A community section where other members can interact - to start a dialogue on what is often considered sensitive or taboo topics, in the hopes of breaking down misconceptions, fallacy, and prejudices.

My goal is to inspire people to see aging with a different eye so that they can enjoy a conscious relationship with the way they look and feel, become the creator source of their own lives and realize their full potential.