The Fountain of Truth

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By Genie James, MMSc

womancouchSome women laughingly say hairdos define their decades. Remember “rat teasing” at the crown or mile-high bouffants for the prom? Swanky (and scorched) long hair perms? Or perhaps a more mature, practical, new-mother bob? And, finally, when plucking gray hairs threatened to make you bald, your first all-over hair color?

I also look at old photos, miss my long naturally brown and curly locks, laugh and cringe at old hairdos. Still what causes me greater chagrin is how certain books have encapsulated the essence of my twenties, thirties, forties and new-fifties. Yes, books.

I was twenty-seven and head-over-heels crazy about David (who I had been dating for four years) when my skinny, twenty-two year old manicurist Cynthia gave me my first theme book. More accurately Cynthia was the seventeenth person that Christmas to give me Robin Norwood’s Women Who Love to Much, When You Keep Wishing and Hoping He’ll Change.

Meditations for Women Who Do Too Much by Anne Wilson Schaef defined my corporate striving, cubicle-to-corner-office thirties. Receiving one to three copies a year, I stopped counting at number twenty-four.

Gears shifted in my forties. Downsized, divorced, and grappling with the death of both dreams and loved ones, five copies of Pema Chodron’s When Things Fall Apart, Heart Advice for Difficult Times were gently thrust into my hands.

Core themes across these decades are obvious: hyper-achieving workaholic with codependent relationship tendencies. Is anything different in my fifties? More importantly, am I different?

familywalkYes and no. I am more aware, yet also, still prone to bungee-cord back into unhealthy, unproductive habits — particularly when stressed or fatigued. The difference now is that I forgive myself more easily than before, and I do my best to show up differently and learn as I go. Two things I guarantee to be true: Staying stuck makes you depressed, bitter, and older faster; and intentionally learning from what hasn’t worked by doing something different the next time can be a hopeful, invigorating youth-tonic.

Stimulated by my own questions and struggles, I have dug deep into groundbreaking medical science associated with healthy, happy, optimal aging. To be honest, my own questions combined with the fact that I have skin in the game: I am CEO of Dr. Randolph’s Ageless and Wellness Medical Center and Dr. Randolph (Randy) is not only my husband and business partner, he is also one of the nation’s most respected experts in this emerging realm of optimal aging medicine.

Drawing on my clinical background in psychology and adult neurological processing, I have also put myself under the microscope while exploring the neuroscience of happiness and personal achievement. Having the most fun ever, I have interviewed hundreds of women from nineteen to ninety-three, all traversing the decades in enviable fashion. Some of the new medical science on aging is mind-popping revolutionary. Much of women’s shared wisdom is as old as dirt.

Just in case you might be interested, I put everything down on paper. My new book Fountain of Truth! How to Outsmart Hype, False Hope, and Heredity to Recalibrate Your Age comes out in April 2013.

– Genie James is an Author, Speaker, Business Owner and Liftoff Activist for women and girls.
As a trailblazer in natural women’s health, personalized medicine and relationship-centered care, Genie first turned the traditional medical community on its ear with Making Managed Care Work (McGraw-Hill, 1997) and Winning in the Women’s Healthcare Marketplace (Jossey-Bass, 2000). She is the co-author of From Belly Fat to Belly Flat (Health Communications, Inc. 2007; now in five languages), and From Hormone Hell to Hormone Well (Health Communication, Inc. 2009; winner of the 2010 National Consumer Health Information Bronze Award) with her husband C.W. Randolph, Jr., M.D., R.Ph. Genie’s fifth book In the Mood Again (Simon and Schuster 2010) offers hope and solutions for the over forty million American women and men living in low-sex, no-sex relationships. THE FOUNTAIN OF TRUTH! Outsmart Hype, False Hope and Heredity to Recalibrate How You Age (Health Communications, Inc. April 2013) is a recommended toolbox that every woman will need to healthily and happily navigate the decades. Find out more: agelessandwellness.com

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