We are now capable of living 120 years and there are consequences:

• Working longer
• Social Security changing (Great Britain and Japan already have some means testing to determine who draws these funds)
• Taking sabbaticals
• Changing careers
• Must keep the mind active and look towards the future.

The future is the final frontier; we should be focused on that and how we are going to get there and what we want, our goals and aspirations.

What is the Middle East about but the past? They don't seem to think about the future. Bosnia was about the past. The Serbs, the Muslims, and the Christians; a thousand years of the past being hashed and rehashed. The same is true of the war in Ireland, 400 years of strife that escalated again 30 years ago. In short, many of us are creating a future just like the past. Golda Meir said, "There will never be peace in the Middle East until the Arabs love their children more than they hate the Jews."

It really doesn't matter how old you are: 20,30, 50, or even 80. What do you want your next five or ten years to be like? What do you want next month? Do you want it to be a rehash of old stuff? We tend to blame things that have happened in the past for what is happening now. If only your mother had been different. If only your third grade teacher hadn't humiliated you or if someone hadn't died, etc. I like what my friend Lazaris said, "I am going to lift a finger to help rather than point a finger in blame," because really blame never helps. Think about it. If what you are going to do depends on what your ex, your third grade teacher, or even what your boss said, you are really going to be in a pickle. What will be liberating will be to take back your power by taking back your responsibility for your future.

My daughter was listening to an interview the other day with an expert on longevity and he was discounting looking for magic pills, surgery, or medical breakthroughs. His suggestion was something that all of us really know: eat right, get enough exercise, be positive, and change your thinking. This is a complex matter. It has been estimated that we have about 50,000 thoughts each day. Do you know what yours are? Use the past as a backdrop, learn from it but dwell more on the future than the past. "If you don't know where you are going, you may land up some where else."

Music is important to our lives in many ways. My daughter has confirmed this importance as she has worked with institutionalized elderly for ten years. And as a gerontologist I have seen the benefits of music in the lives of older people. Because of this and the research we have done the result has been a video and CD.

More information about these please visit Music For Memories web site.

--Mary Simper, Ph.D