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The Energy of You Volume XX Issue #29

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Hi Reader,

I picked up a New York Times best seller this past week. The author was making the rounds on podcasts and the concept of looking at life in a holistic manner appealed to me. As I started to read there were a few ageist statements that ruffled my feathers. The last one segmented human growth into common stages: childhood, early career, raising a family, then after age fifty the “sunset years”… it had me grumbling.

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I stopped reading and looked to see how old the author was, thirty four - while he was talented and intelligent he had zero perspective on what aging actually is. A couple of days later his newsletter arrived…. And again an ageist statement that one should focus on life's little pleasures like the taste of an apple, a walk in the park or a moment with your child because when you're old you won’t be able to enjoy these things.

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Ummm says who!?!

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This mindset around aging as being a mandatory decline while fading into irrelevance and fragility is deeply ingrained in our culture. One we subconsciously reinforce when we do not challenge it. When we internalize this mindset we attract to us the very thing we do not want. The bias informs our energy system and our thoughts, beliefs, and energy fields begin scanning for proof.

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We do have the power to shift it. The first step is recognizing it, once you do it does keep jumping out at you. As we become aware that aging with intention and vitality is a highly viable option we can grow the pillars that support it.

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One of the pillars in vital aging is connection and community. A bonus is participating in a community with varied age groups. That might look like taking a class or volunteering. Perhaps a book club or hobby group. Each of us has different needs around connection and community, honoring that is a key component.

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The Loneliness Epidemic: Why Connection Matters

We’re wired for connection. From birth, our nervous systems seek out safe bonds,relationships that calm, energize, and ground us. As we age, those bonds become even more essential. Research shows that people who have satisfying relationships with their family, friends and community are happier, have fewer health problems and live longer. The key isn't just living longer it's living vibrantly, engaged, and fully present for all of life's experiences, including that delicious apple.

Research backs this up in striking ways:

• A landmark 2010 meta-analysis in PLoS Medicine found that people with strong social connections have a 50% greater chance of survival over a given period than those who are more isolated. That’s a bigger health factor than smoking, obesity, or lack of exercise.

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• The Harvard Study of Adult Development, one of the longest-running studies of aging, concluded that close relationships—not wealth, not fame, not career success—are what keep people happier and healthier throughout life. ​
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• Conversely, loneliness has been linked to increased risk of heart disease, dementia, depression, and shortened lifespan.
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Here's what happens in your body when you experience genuine connection: positive connections are processed by corticostriatal circuits, which make up the brain pathways that keep people motivated to receive rewards and reach goals. Social rewards, like making someone laugh or receiving a smile from a friend, releases hormones like dopamine to produce feelings of happiness and joy.

This isn't just about feeling good in the moment. When you feel loved, supported and connected, your body releases hormones like oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin. These boost your immune system, reduce the stress hormone cortisol and make you feel happy.

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The Hidden Power of Intergenerational Community

Here’s where it gets even more interesting: communities that span generations may hold the most healing power.

When we connect with people in different age groups than us, we experience different perspectives, wisdom, and energy. It’s a creative cycle of mutual exchange, energy flowing back and forth.

When we engage ourselves with others, we also combat the internalized ageism that quietly shapes our choices.

Take the author who implied older people can’t enjoy a walk in the park. I know countless women in their sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties who are hiking mountains, swimming oceans, dancing, and laughing harder than ever before. Their presence alone cracks open the cultural myth of decline.

By participating in community and connecting deeply with others, whether through volunteering, joining hobby groups, or even creating your own circles, you not only strengthen your own vitality, you become living proof that the aging narrative needs rewriting.

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Practical Ways to Build Community for Positive Aging

So how do you bring more connection into your life? Here are a few simple yet powerful starting points:

1. Take a Class – Whether it’s pottery, dance, language, or photography, learning in community strengthens the brain (hello, neuroplasticity!) and fosters connection.
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2. Volunteer – Giving your time creates meaning while linking you to others with shared values. Volunteering in intergenerational settings, like schools or youth mentoring, builds bridges across ages.
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3. Start or Join a Group – Book clubs, hiking groups, writing circles, or cooking meet-ups create ongoing opportunities for connection.
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4. Prioritize Rituals of Belonging – Regular weekly coffee dates, potluck dinners, or family game nights build continuity and a sense of belonging.
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5. Seek Online Communities – In addition to in person connection online connection can offer some benefit. Digital doesn’t have to mean disconnected. Thoughtful online circles (like women’s wisdom groups or purpose-driven masterminds) can provide surprising depth and support.
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Energy, Beliefs, and Collective Consciousness

Here’s where mind-body wisdom comes in: connection isn’t just social. It’s energetic.

Every interaction contributes to the collective consciousness we’re part of. When we connect with others in authentic, life-affirming ways, our energy field strengthens. This bolsters not only our emotional resilience but also our physical vitality.

Studies on biofield science are still emerging, but many suggest that intentional connection through presence, compassion, or even shared practices like meditation creates coherence in our nervous systems. That coherence ripples outward, influencing those around us.

Community, then, isn’t only about staving off loneliness. It’s a form of energetic alignment that keeps us grounded, resilient, and alive.

The energetic frequency of ageist beliefs can be recalibrated and expressed in our daily lives.

Rewriting the Aging Script Together

The author who dismissed older adults’ ability to savor life wasn’t intentionally harmful. He was reflecting the cultural script he’d absorbed, a script so many of us grew up with: youth equals vibrancy, age equals decline.

But here’s what we know: scripts can be rewritten.

Aging is not a sunset. It’s simply the next life stage.

And it’s the best time to create something you love.

So here's your assignment: This week, take one concrete step to build or strengthen a connection with someone outside your usual age cohort. Sign up for that class you've been considering. Volunteer for that cause that matters to you. Strike up a conversation with a neighbor. Join that group. Get creative, do what resonates for you.

Because every time you choose connection over isolation, engagement over withdrawal, curiosity over resignation, you're not just improving your own life. You're challenging the ageist narratives that limit all of us. You're proving that the best chapters of life aren't behind you, they're still being written.

And unlike that bestselling author, you have the lived experience to know what's actually possible. Use it.

What connection will you make this week? I'd love to hear how you're rewriting the aging script in your own life, click reply and let me know.​
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Be Inspired,

Cathy

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P.S. I've been working on a course on Mind-Body Medicine to support longevity for women to start in the fall (click here if you want to be on the early notification list).

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