Month: May 2026

How are you using creativity in your daily life? Each of us is continually creating our world. Creativity isn’t something that happens somewhere else; something that only certain people have. Every time you draw a breath, you interact with the whole Universe to make life happen.

You don’t have a set path in front of you with a lot of signposts to tell you which way goes to what destination. It’s more that you are like creating the path, and then stepping onto it, in every moment.

Where does the path lead? What possible destinations can you visualize as you consider what you have to work with today? And how can you make it more of the journey that you want it to be?

Creativity Starts with Observation

Creativity can begin anywhere, at any time, using whatever happens to be on hand. It starts with observation.

Take a look around you for about 20 seconds and notice any small details about your setting that you didn’t see earlier. How has your awareness changed?

Maybe there are sounds that had escaped your awareness since you weren’t thinking of them. Colors may be more vivid when you give them more of your attention. Are there a lot of people around? Did you hear anything unusual? What smells are in your environment at this moment?

Breath Fuels Creativity

What feelings do you notice as you observe your surroundings? Take a few deep breaths, and feel the change in the way your senses are giving you information.

Your senses are always working, but often escape direct acknowledgement in the press of events and the needs of the daily activities. Acknowledging the power of your senses makes them more accessible to you.

The most obvious things tend to disappear because they have become so familiar. And yet, they are your strongest allies in creating a day that is rewarding for you.

A bit of light through the window can make everything much easier, or a small sound can bring you into a series of thoughts and associations that change your feelings in an instant. The little things are actually the big things.

Each moment is an illustration of your entire state of being, of your life process. It contains deep messages about your whole life and relationship with it, and with those around you. Consider what a gesture is, how even a tiny movement of a person’s body or of their hands can hold so much meaning.

A careless gesture holds the power to undo good things, while a small gesture of kindness can change someone’s life forever. Creating the response within yourself is the key to the next moment.

Be Aware of Your Inner State

Being aware of your inner state allows you to make decisions about it, instead of being borne along by whatever is going on, without you noticing it.

What is the best thing about your situation right now? And how does thinking about that make you feel? How can you pass that feeling into another person’s day so that it can grow and return to you again, bringing fresh surprises with it?

Thoughts Become Reality

Your thoughts become your reality. Thinking about what is best opens up positive flows in your mind, and lets your body relax as you process the beneficial enzymes that happy emotions produce in your system. It opens the doors of possibility for you. What would it be like to feel more of that?

You may have a type of emotional pattern that makes you feel happier when you are active, or perhaps you are more of “relax and dream” kind of person. Either way, each time you make the conscious decision to step into a creative state, you gain a little more control.

Creativity is the greatest force in the universe, and it lives inside of you. Your inner state is the thing you can control, and when you do that, you bring more and more of the good things into your life and those of others.

Let’s Reflect:

How do you bring creativity into your everyday life? What creative things do you love to do? Please share them in the comments below.

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Last night, I attended a showcase by one of my current female voice students (HN), age 29. I took one of my successful male voice students along, whom I taught from age 10 – 14, the same age as the gal on stage. Also seated on my other side was another female student, age 63, just beginning her musical journey. A wise choice for a healthier brain, body, and spirit.

All of us had different tastes in music while enjoying one commonality: music and community. The beauty of music is that when one learns and pursues it, at any level, whether for a career or a healthy hobby, it opens us up to appreciating the experiences and benefits of something different in our lives. Every time we participate in music, as a listener and especially as performer, it keeps us living creatively and with vitality, forming new neural pathways in the brain.

The Eldest in the Room

I was the eldest in the room, sporting my long silver-grey hair. (I’m blaming Covid for that one.) I felt proud and blessed to be entertained and accompanied by people younger than me. I found fulfillment and belonging. Seeing and hearing my influence in their lives as their music teacher gave me great joy. Once again, I felt myself moving into a different phase of my life, trying to accept it with grace and purpose.

Despite my age, I couldn’t help but reminisce about my many times on stage and in the studio. I desired to return to those times, while simultaneously I was fully aware that that’s never going to happen the same way as it used to. To assuage my longings, I tried to add up how many notes I’ve sung in my life, an impossible task. Perhaps mathematician Ronald Graham could. I’ve put a lot of miles on these vocal cords and am still racking them up, albeit with less intensity. It has kept me young at heart and up-tempo in brain. My lungs are happy too.

My Knowledge and Experience Give Me Purpose

While talking to HN after the show, her young male videographer said to us, with kind intentions, “Oh, you must be her mother.” Flabbergasted at the first time I’ve ever heard anyone say that to me, I quickly recovered, took a step back, and said, “No, not her mother, but thanks.” Now the one with the flabbergasted face, he apologized for making what he thought was a faux pas, as he wandered off, hopping on one foot because the other was stuck in his mouth. I took it as a compliment, though, because I’m old enough to be her grandmother.

Accepting I’m at that vintage age, I’m now adding a new prowess to my purse of purposes, that of Fairy Godmother, as HN has deemed me. Using all my knowledge and experience, I provide guidance and employ the transformative powers of music to enable the young or old, heroes of the tale, to find their happy endings. It gives me some comfort to feel that even in a small way, I’m contributing to making the world a better place.

Shrinking Was Inevitable, But I Refuse to Give Up

I’m still performing as if I were 40 years younger. I refuse to let that go. I just do it differently. I still think I can sing those crazy high notes, but I can’t. It’s bad enough that my six-octave range has shrunk to four, but my once 5’10.5” frame has lost an inch. That was a sad few days when the doctor gave me that news. I was wondering why the bathroom sink kept getting closer.

I’ll keep reinventing myself till the day I die because that’s what keeps me young. Sure, it would be easier to kick back in the TV lounge chair, but I have a new show to put together with my memoir and new album coming out soon. It’s exciting.

I’ll Keep Trying

Yes, it takes me longer to get ready for these things, even though the process is the same. When asked to do a Zoom interview, I now inquire, “Is this on-camera or just audio, because I have to add two whole hours into my schedule to prep my appearance?” What little hair I have left is uncooperative, there are fewer eyelashes to curl, and futzing with those magnetic ones is frustrating.

I have more choices now: light brown eyebrow powder or silver grey. My skin sucks up three layers of creams faster than the most powerful vacuum cleaners, and my brightening powder catches the light just right, as I fear looking like a quasar when viewing my mug in the mirror. Then there’s my unforeseen career as face farmer to the ever-broadening field of white hair (and a few dark stragglers) now growing under my chin. Hand me the Japanese Weeding Sickle, or better yet, pass me the Flame Weeder, please. Whew, now back to doing music – so much more fun.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

What is your story of not giving up, regardless of life transitions? What have you had to come to terms with as you’ve aged?

One Christmas, I called my dear Aunt Florence to see if we could stop by with some treats.

“Are you home?” I asked.

“Hold on,” she said.

A minute later she came back laughing – that warm, familiar Aunt Florence laugh – and said, “Yes! I looked in the parking lot and my car is there, so I must be home!”

We laughed together. Then I hung up the phone and felt so sad.

That was the moment I truly understood what was happening to her. Not the diagnosis on paper. Not the doctor’s careful explanations. That phone call. That parking lot. That laugh that had no idea it was quietly breaking my heart.

That is what led me to peptides.

Not hype. Not vanity. Not chasing youth.

But a deep, personal determination to explore every possible avenue for healthy aging, cognitive support, vitality, and resilience – while our brains, muscles, metabolism, and bodies are still responsive to support.

The Questions I Couldn’t Stop Asking

As a Doctor of Naturopathy with more than 35 years of clinical experience, I’ve spent my career believing the body wants to heal when we support it wisely. But watching the women in my family – three aunts, my mother, several cousins – disappear into dementia one by one, I kept coming back to the same questions:

Is cognitive decline inevitable? Is exhaustion? Muscle loss? Weight gain? Feeling less like ourselves?

Or have we simply accepted too much as “normal aging”?

One of my clearest memories of my mother came during the progression of her dementia. She had avoided flying her entire adult life – so completely that she once took a train all the way from Florida to New York rather than step foot on an airplane. Later, when dementia had softened enough of her memory that the fear simply disappeared, I flew her home to be with me.

I was terrified about how she would handle it.

Instead, she smiled the entire flight.

When the plane took off, she threw her hands into the air and yelled, “Weeeeeee!”

Then she leaned over and whispered with complete sincerity, “This guy sure knows how to drive this thing!”

I have never loved her more than I did in that moment. And I have never been more determined to find a different story for myself – and for the women I work with.

Why the Conversation About Aging Needs to Start Now

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, an estimated 7.4 million Americans age 65 and older are currently living with Alzheimer’s disease – and nearly two-thirds are women. Scientists now believe changes associated with dementia may begin 20 to 30 years before symptoms appear.

That realization stopped me in my tracks.

Because it means the conversation about aging shouldn’t begin after the crisis. It begins now – while our brains, muscles, metabolism, and resilience are still responsive to support.

Women over 50 are actually among the most informed and proactive consumers of peptide therapy today – and for good reason. The symptoms we’re told to simply accept – fatigue, brain fog, stubborn weight gain, poor sleep, muscle loss, joint stiffness – are increasingly understood as addressable, not inevitable.

So What Exactly Are Peptides?

Peptides are short chains of amino acids – tiny signaling molecules that help tell the body what to do. Some support repair. Some influence metabolism. Others may support sleep, inflammation, recovery, muscle maintenance, or cognitive function.

In simple terms, peptides act more like instructions than supplements. And that distinction matters.

One peptide that particularly caught my attention is Sermorelin, which works by stimulating the body’s own natural production of human growth hormone (HGH). HGH plays an important role in muscle maintenance, metabolism, bone density, sleep quality, recovery, and cognitive function.

What many people don’t realize is that HGH production naturally declines with age – beginning as early as our 30s, with some researchers estimating we lose roughly 15 percent per decade thereafter.

Women feel this decline deeply.

We notice it in the slower recovery after exercise. The sleep that no longer restores us. The creeping fatigue. The changes in body composition even when our habits haven’t changed. The feeling that our bodies suddenly became more difficult to live in.

And yet, we are often told to simply accept it.

I’m not accepting it. Now or ever.

What Peptides Are – And Are Not

Peptides are not miracle cures, shortcuts, or fountains of youth. They are not appropriate for everyone, and they should always be approached thoughtfully and with professional oversight.

I spent months researching 11 different peptide and telehealth companies before deciding to move forward. For me, quality and medical oversight mattered enormously. And they should for you too.

If you choose to explore peptides, it’s essential to work with:

• Licensed medical professionals
• Professional laboratory testing
• Individualized guidance
• Prescription-grade quality
• Ongoing support and monitoring

This should never be approached casually or through one-size-fits-all recommendations online. There are black markets, grey markets, and unregulated sources from countries all over the world. The right peptide approach is deeply individual.

Areas Peptides May Support

Research continues to evolve, and peptide therapy is not one-size-fits-all. Depending on your individual needs, peptides may support:

• Healthy aging pathways
• Lean muscle tone and strength
• Metabolism and body composition
• Sleep and recovery
• Cognitive clarity and focus
• Energy and resilience
• Healthy inflammatory response
• Bone and joint health
• Skin elasticity and collagen support

A New Conversation Worth Having

I want a future where we keep traveling, laughing, hiking, loving, learning, remembering, and fully living for decades to come. At 67, I am full of energy, strength, vision, and inspiration – and I believe that is available to every woman willing to explore what her body actually needs.

That is what peptides represent to me: not a shortcut, but a new conversation about aging. One rooted less in decline and more in support.

If you’re curious about exploring peptides for yourself, I’ve put together a free resource to help you get started. You can download Dr. Shirley’s Guide to Peptides After 50 right here.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

What “natural to ageing” symptoms are you experiencing? Have you been told it’s all normal and part of growing old? What has been your response? Have you heard of peptide therapy? What questions might you have after reading this article?

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Top Posts

Summer House Season 10 Reunion Looks

Amanda Batula’s Brown Suede Pocket Front Jacket and Ripped Jeans

Amanda Batula’s Black and Polka Dot Maxi Dress at the In The City Premiere Party

Amanda Batula’s Light Blue Striped T Shirt

Liz McGraw’s Black and White Greek Key Printed Kimono

Lindsay Hubbard’s Army Green Cargo Pants

Kelsey Swanson’s White Varsity Sweater

Amanda Batula’s Navy Blue Lounge Cardigan and Pants

Georgina Ferzli’s Navy Blue Sheer Dress

Lindsay Hubbard’s Green Striped Maxi Dress

Liz McGraw’s Red Light Face Wand

Amanda Batula’s Red Long Sleeve Ruffle Dress

Originally posted at: Jo-Ellen Tiberi’s Green Fringe Crochet Mini Dress