Wisdom Years Archives - Cheryl Richardson

What’s ending…and what isn’t

September 6, 2026/in Newsletters /by Admin

It’s a holiday weekend here in the U.S. and for many people it marks the end of summer and the start of a busy fall season. I used to hate this time of year. In mid-August, a cloud of sadness would drift my way as September approached and I’d ready myself for the tender transition. These days, though, I’ve come to see late summer as a secret delight. Hot and humid turns to warm days and cool nights. Congested beaches become spacious pathways that invite long, solitary walks. Traffic settles down, tourists return home, and suddenly there’s a whole new world waiting to be enjoyed. What used to feel like a painful ending has turned into a joyful new beginning.

Speaking of endings and beginnings, for those who thought I was saying a final goodbye to writing and teaching in last week’s blog, I can assure you I’m not going anywhere. While the Hay House conferences are ending, this blog, our “Wisdom Years” Zoom gatherings, and my insatiable curiosity about what it takes to make the rest of our lives the best of our lives are here to stay.

This week, as I enjoy the long weekend, I invite you to check out our newly organized “Exploring the Wisdom Years” library of Zoom gatherings. You can learn to love your aging body, face loss with courage and strength, deepen friendships later in life, and even de-clutter your home to enjoy more luxurious space.

You’ll find all the previous gatherings here.

And if you’re hungry for an in-person gathering, come to California in October for the final Hay House conference. You can find all the details here.

Love,

Cheryl

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A grateful goodbye

August 30, 2026/in Newsletters /by Admin

On October 3^rd and 4^th, I’ll be in Glendale, CA, for the final Hay House conference honoring what would have been Louise Hay’s 100^th birthday. It will be a reunion of sorts, and I’m looking forward to seeing colleagues and readers who have been together for decades. While life has changed a lot since the pandemic, and I’m grateful to be spending more time at home, there are things I really miss about my old speaking days.

I loved being on stage and entering a collective flow state where it suddenly felt as if the whole room were connected. I remember a conference in Vancouver where I listened to Geneen Roth (who spoke before me) and felt so inspired by her stories that I threw out my notes, got on stage after her, and told my own. This was something my publisher, Reid, had been telling me to do for years, and I finally listened. During my talk, I felt that sense of connectedness, and I could tell from my conversations with readers in the book signing line afterward that they felt it, too.

The final Hay House conference this October will not only give me another chance to have that experience; it will also allow me to formally close this chapter of what has been a beautiful book. As we enter our Wisdom Years, there are many endings that deserve acknowledgment and even celebration, yet most of us were never taught the importance of ritualizing a grateful goodbye.

I want to thank the people who played a pivotal role in my life. Reid Tracy, the publisher of Hay House, who helped shape my career. Colleagues who shared the stage with me over the years and inspired my growth and my work. The behind-the-scenes crew who pulled it all together in cities around the world and always made sure I was well cared for – Mollie, Nancy, Vicki, Brian, and so many more.

And, of course, Louise Hay, who, so many years ago, expressed her mission in five simple words before she even started Hay House: I want to help people.

And that she did. Millions of people all over the world.

I hope to see you in California in October. It would be lovely to see you and bid you a warm farewell, too. You can find all the details here.

Love,

Cheryl

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Loving an Aging Body

August 26, 2026/in Zoom Gatherings /by Admin

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What are you waiting for?

August 16, 2026/in Newsletters /by Admin

Last week’s Zoom gathering about discovering your Enneagram type and how it can support us in our Wisdom Years is available on our website here.

I’ve decided to forgo writing a new blog this week and instead enjoy a trip to an antique flea market with my friend, Kimmie (the gal with the sunflower smile). The topic of this former blog explains why 😀.

~*~ Don’t Postpone Your Joy~*~

I stood at the kitchen sink rinsing plates and putting them in the dishwasher when I noticed a familiar train of thought laying tracks in my head. Let’s see, I told myself, I’m done paying bills, balancing the bank accounts, and cleaning up the kitchen, so now I can make a cup of tea and finish reading my book.

Sounds harmless enough, except that it was the third time in a week that I caught myself acting as if I could only do what I wanted to do once work was done. It’s an old habit, a holdout from the stage of life dedicated to accomplishment and activity, but now, in this new era – the wisdom years – I have to keep reminding myself:

You don’t have to earn your joy.

So, I sat down in the living room, pulled a blanket over my lap, and spent the next hour finishing my most recent favorite book. As I turned the final page, I closed my eyes in an effort to hold onto the magic of the experience. My back told me I’d been sitting in the same position too long, but I didn’t want to break the spell by getting up to stretch.

Late to the party, I finished “The Correspondent” by Virginia Evans. This runaway bestseller tells the tale of a woman who confronts aging, past mistakes, unshared opinions, and the consequences of living in small spaces (both in her head and in her life). The story is told through letters she writes and receives, and it’s a unique format that gets better with each turn of the page.

These days, I’m spending more time with books than with my phone or computer and it’s been such a pleasure. I’m now reading “The Forty Rules of Love” by Elif Shafak (a spiritually rich story), and in the last few months, I’ve finished autobiographies by Barbra Streisand, Anthony Hopkins, and Lionel Richie. These types of books are compelling because they not only teach me about the lives of artists, but about how the past influences the present, the trajectory of a creative career, and what people learn along the way as they age and become more self-reflective (and they all do).

I’ve learned something important by not postponing joy: Nothing catastrophic happens when you make pleasure a higher priority in your daily life. Instead, it softens the edges of the day, stretches time in the most delicious way, and reminds us that life isn’t something to be earned—it’s something to be lived.

So, this week, I’m reminding you to join me for a little pleasure. I’ll be meandering around a flea market. What will you do?

Love,

Cheryl

Image note: This artwork was AI-generated. The writing and reflections are entirely my own.

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What if we’ve had it backwards all along?

July 26, 2026/in Newsletters /by Admin

I’m a passionate lifelong learner. I swear I came out of the womb with my nose in a book, and in my wisdom years, I find that this desire has only grown stronger.

Lately, I’ve been enjoying a deeper dive into science and the emerging work on the nature of consciousness within the scientific community. Right now, I’m reading a book by Federico Faggin, an Italian-American physicist called Irreducible: Consciousness, Life, Computers, and Human Nature.

Traditional science focuses on matter first, then the brain, then consciousness. Faggin’s theory challenges this view. After having had a profound spiritual experience, Faggin speculates that life is created from consciousness first, with the mind, and then matter following.

At the core of Faggin’s work is the belief that consciousness is love. Not in a touchy-feely, soft-skill sort of way, but as a powerful creative force from which everything is born and sustained. Love is a fundamental property or expression of consciousness; it’s what we’re made of and what connects us. When we are truly present to love, we experience the unified field of consciousness.

This week I had an experience of this. I woke up one morning feeling uninspired and blah, so I decided to get outside and run a few errands. I arrived at the pet store and noticed my friend Kimmie’s car in the parking lot. I hadn’t seen her in a while and was happy to have a chance to say hello.

Kimmie is like a sunflower. She beams with an electric exuberance that’s contagious. She cooks a meal and radiates joy. She tells a story and shines with delight. On this day, when I called her name in the dog treat aisle, she turned around and greeted me with a 500-watt smile. As we hugged and caught up, I felt wrapped in a delicious mix of warmth, aliveness, and yes, love.

I left the store transformed – happy, open-hearted, and grateful, and this feeling stayed with me. While shopping for groceries, I smiled at people. I chatted with clerks and helped a woman with her bags. I seemed to move within an atmosphere of love that connected me with everyone I encountered.

This is what Federico is talking about, I thought to myself as I drove home. This state, this energy, is us. It’s our natural operating system, but we forget. The experience of love doesn’t have to be a random event; it’s a practice of presence and remembering.

Later that day, as I thought about what happened, I had a vision of a vast web of electrical currents connecting every human being on the planet. Each time someone became present to the frequency of love (field of consciousness), the entire grid grew more loving, vibrant, and strong.

This is what you need to focus on, I told myself. Figure out how to stay connected to the web.

This morning, while standing on my back deck watching a Monarch butterfly drift through the yard, I spotted an eight-point buck in the field behind our home. He looked up when I said hello, and we stared at each other for several minutes. He was majestic, jaw-dropping, an unexpected blessing. Once again, love flooded my body. You’re strengthening the field, I told myself as I did my best to stay present to the experience. Everything you, humanity, and the planet need is right here in this web, this field of consciousness. You just have to keep returning to love.

I hope this makes sense. It’s an experience that’s hard to put into words and one I’m continuing to explore.

Let’s enjoy the web together this week during a Zoom gathering on Wednesday, July 29^th at 3pm ET/12pm PT. Bring your thoughts on consciousness, the wisdom years, or questions about prior Zoom gatherings (including the Enneagram!). We’ll have a chance to connect without an agenda. You’ll get an invite if you’ve joined us before. If not, you can sign up here.

Love,

Cheryl

Photo by Shannon Potter on Unsplash

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I thought I needed a roadmap, but I was wrong.

May 17, 2026/in Newsletters /by Admin

In January of 2012, during a TEDxWomen talk, Jane Fonda referred to the last three decades of a person’s life as the third act, a developmental stage she sees as a staircase leading to: “the upward ascension of the human spirit bringing us into wisdom, wholeness, and authenticity.” Jane sees age not as pathology, but as potential, as longevity affords us another second adult life. How wonderful that we have more time to grow…

I’ve held Fonda’s perspective close over the last several years. It’s allowed me to see the challenges and opportunities of aging as fodder for a new stage of personal growth. The decision to embrace rather than resist aging is giving me some of the toughest challenges I’ve ever faced and some of the best years of my life.

As someone who has always liked a roadmap – a linear, practical path for moving through life (what I see as a more structured, masculine way of operating), I’ve found conscious aging to be a more feminine journey. This path is about presence and spontaneity rather than plans and expectations. It’s less about setting goals and intentions and more about patience – trusting the magnificent mystery of life to show me my next best step. And it’s about consistently strengthening the muscles I need to climb the staircase with confidence and courage.

Some of the capabilities that need strengthening to age well are quite challenging. You’ll need the ability to let go of responsibilities that are no longer yours so you have more space for self-reflection, growth, and trying something new. Then comes the harder task of sitting in the space you’ve created (without distractions) long enough to hear the truth of what your soul wants rather than your noisy mind.

You’ll have to increase your ability to set firm, loving boundaries around your time and energy (without apology) so you stop wasting your life on what you’ve outgrown. And you’ll want to get really good at returning to the present moment again and again because this practice will teach you to trust yourself and your ability to redirect your anxious mind when it hijacks your life.

Finally, you’ll want to know when enough is enough because, at some point, the striving for more actually gets in the way of receiving and appreciating the joy that’s always been right in front of you.

This is my life, my priorities, my path, and it’s well worth the work. The wisdom years ask for less ambition and more attention. Less certainty, more trust. It’s become pretty clear that we don’t discover wisdom at the top of the stairs, we earn it one step at a time. Thanks for taking the journey with me ❤️.

Love,

Cheryl

Photo by Gerald Murphy on Unsplash

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