The first image that pops up for many of us around boomers and denial is that of an absence of something. Absence of good sense. Procrastinating. Not dealing with the issues. That would explain, for instance, AARP’s finding that while half of all boomers experience hearing loss, only 26% seek diagnosis. Of those who have severe hearing loss, 58% do not wear their hearing aid. Denial.

But these are boomers we’re talking about here, and nothing is so easily dismissed with one simply explanation.

In fact, I would suggest that for many, denial is not an “absence” but rather, a presence: a pro-active and strategic investment of time and money in something that they truly believe will address the real root of the issue.

Witness the rise of the book The Secret by Rhonda Byrne to the top of the best-seller lists. This book is being propelled upwards largely by the same crowd who frequent alternative spiritual churches like Unity and Religious Sciences. (And I will reveal something of myself by sharing with you my first-hand observation that many of the people in the pews in new thought churches across the country are women at midlife and beyond.)

From pulpit and from page, the message is the same: that by getting into vibrational harmony with the universe, you will attract what you most want. This includes things like raising your level of consciousness to have a happy, lucrative retirement (even if you’re spending your money on books like The Secret rather than putting it in your savings account…)

There’s nothing in the philosophy that precludes wearing hearing aids and visiting a financial planner. But boomers who would use this pro-active form of denial as their strategic approach to preparing for the future are too busy lighting candles and reciting mantras to do anything so mundane. But again, with this generation, everything takes on a flavor of its own. Even denial.

Carol Orsborn