“My goal in life is to unite my avocation with my vocation/As my two eyes make one in sight." - Robert Frost. 

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It’s been a busy time in my life in virtual worlds.

The Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) conference in Second Life.

“If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships – the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world at peace.” – F.D.R.

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Jena Ball describes her motivation for doing a presentation at the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) conference.

We invite you to join Joshua Berrett for a fascinating deep dive into the life and music of Louis Armstrong. Entitled “Louis Armstrong: An Ageless Icon Revisited,” this course is held online using the Zoom platform. It consists of 8 Wednesday sessions from 10:30 am to 12:00 Noon Eastern Daylight Time, starting March 12 and ending April 8.

I have been writing concert notes for music organizations for many years. Lynne has suggested that I bring some of these notes to our readers, as part of my mission to encourage focused listening for brain health.

This approximately 6- minute Overture opened a recent concert I also performed in. There are two different videos to choose from. I have added a listening outline to guide you. Tell me what you think.

I want to thank you for being patient with my silence here over the past weeks. In early December I developed a sinus infection that has lingered in spite of antibiotics. I have learned a lot from this experience. You can guess that I am feeling more like myself now as I write this. Two big things are happening for us in 2025!

Something to boost our spirits as we begin the new year.In his 1979 movie Manhattan, Woody Allen, who plays the protagonist Isaac Davis, singles out Potato Head Blues as one of “the things that make life worth living.” He is referring to a 1927 recording by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven.
https://youtu.be/n7ccXJ0Y-CI

In honor of the season and the role that music plays in keeping our minds ageless, here is “Happy Holidays” from the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance. The song has special meaning for us since Lynne and Josh lived in Ann Arbor for 7 years. They loved it there, and Josh got his doctorate at the music school. The school sent him this song: https://youtu.be/LVlgHkI-lGI

Meet Horace the hippo and learn what parts of the brain are involved in creativity works and why being creative is good for your overall wellbeing.

It is certainly heart-warming to be appreciated and to appreciate others by saying “thanks.” But when my email is filled with hundreds of deals on Black Friday, which now seems to start, at the latest, the Monday before, with no end in sight, there’s a cognitive dissonance that triggers my natural skepticism. Aren’t we mostly just thanking the gods of commerce?

John Coltrane was always exploring, endlessly studying and practicing, and showing a deep devotion to his craft. His was a life marked by a spiritual quest reaching for the transcendental. “My Favorite Things” was Coltrane’s magnificent obsession during roughly the final seven years of his tragically short life; he was to die of liver cancer on July 17, 1967, just two months shy of his 41st birthday.

The possibility of designing an ageless mind came to me originally from the people I met and the experiences I had in virtual worlds. (Yes, there are others beyond Second Life.) The adventure continues. I have so many stories to tell you about the experiences and the people — friends who have worked with me over 13 years for each team member. Make it brief and informative to keep visitors engaged.

Most days I live in two worlds. They are called Real Life and Second Life. Both are misnomers. Real Life is the physical  world; Second Life is a virtual environment that is just as real, emotionally, as so-called “real” life.  In both worlds I have regular opportunities to meet people who show me, by their example, how it’s possible to develop a richer, more expansive mind as I grow older.

“How do you solve a problem like Maria ? How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?” So sings the Mother Abbess in the song “Maria,” one of the opening numbers from the 1959 musical The Sound of Music, the final collaboration of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. 

​When AMP was first started in 2015, our goal was to embrace a way of life that draws inspiration and practical advice from all the exciting new research being done on healthful aging. While that goal hasn’t changed - we are still excited and inspired by the work being done by others - we’ve gradually developed an approach of our own that is both unique and effective. That approach involves the use of avatars and virtual worlds.

I missed posting on Ageism Awareness Day. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t thought about ageism; I have been an active member of the American Society on Aging for many years. In my mid-80’s I have a somewhat different perspective on ageism that I did in my 60’s and 70’s.  Back then I was still working full-time. I was fortunate, as a psychotherapist and coach, to have been a solopreneur since my 40’s. So, a lot was under my control as long as my health held up.

Back in the early 1980’s I came up with the idea for a college course I named “Devils, Witches, and the Supernatural in Music.” It proved to be a popular elective for both the general student population and music majors—so I offered it a number of times in the 1980’s.

When it comes to brain health, one of the subjects Lynne and I talk a lot about is creativity. There are almost as many ways to be creative as there are people on the planet but we tend to divide and channel our creativity into categories, each with rules, guidelines, and expectations by which we judge the value of the creative work.

I turned 86 this summer – no, that’s NOT the confession I’m making. In fact, I’m very grateful that I’ve made it this far, when so many of my dearest friends haven’t. But I have recently been reflecting more than usual on Life and my own life, and I’m struck by how much I’m still learning about both, even at this advanced age.

Just who and what are we?  In the early 19th-century E.T.A. Hoffmann wrote about “the conflict of human nature with the unknown, monstrous powers that surround it.” There is much demonizing of the “other” these days. At the same time, we are having trouble confronting change and our mortality: we challenge authority, bargain with fate.

I have become fascinated with cats in music since I wrote the previous post on “The Cat’s Meow.” Let me introduce you to a divertissement from The Sleeping Beauty (1890), the second of Tchaikovsky’s three great fairy-tale ballets -- the other two being Swan Lake (1877) and his final masterpiece, The Nutcracker.(1891-1892).

We are jazzed! Or am I showing my age by using that phrase? Josh and I spent an exhilarating hour on Tuesday August 27th, talking with Dr. Dorian Mintzer on her “Revolutionize Your Retirement” podcast about the many facets of the Ageless Mind Project. We gave listeners insight into the evolution of the nonprofit Ageless Mind Project from 1995 to the present. We explained what an “Ageless Mind” is and why it’s a “Project.”

Since the early 2000s, Lynne and Josh Berrett have been pioneers in a holistic approach to aging that transforms it into a dynamic process of renewal. Their initial venture, Music and Happiness, combined Josh’s expertise as a musician and musicologist with Lynne’s training in Positive Psychology coaching to focus on “mindful listening” for brain health.
 

“Who are we, really? It's the kind of question that gnaws at you while you're trudging through Red Rock Canyon, possibly lost in the rough, indifferent terrain, definitely wrestling with the broader existential landscape just as much as the merciless one sprawling before you. We're essentially a collection of stories, aren't we? The kind you might confess over stiff whiskey in a dim, smoky bar or spill out in the raw, vulnerable hours of a long, solitary drive back to the chaos of the city.” - From “It’s Complicated: Who are we, really?” by Gloria Horton-Young

I am a dog more than a cat person, perhaps because our family had a dog, Blackie, when I was growing up. However, our grandkids’ cat won my heart when she overcame her shyness (that’s why they named her Sneaker) to jump into my lap and rub her cheek against mine. We have become firm friends and now I eagerly listen for her welcoming “meow” when we visit.
That brings me to some of the current memes about cats and cat ladies being passed around. Let me introduce you to a charming melodic mash-up encapsulated in the simple sound: “meow.”

As someone who once went into anaphylactic shock as a result of ingesting bee pollen (on the advice of a healthcare professional no less) I have great respect for the bees who brave the reproductive tracks of flowers to obtain it. For those who have never heard of Anaphylaxis, it’s a severe allergic reaction that causes the body to go into shock. Within minutes after eating the pollen, my eyes were swollen shut, my lips had ballooned out past the tip of my nose, and my airways had begun to close. Only the quick response of a friend - who got me to the emergency room in record time - and a very good nurse who found a vein the top of my hand - saved my life.

There is a 6 foot tall, ungainly Rubber Tree plant in my house. It’s so big that I have to lean it against this window facing East so it won’t fall over because of its weight. Opening and closing the blinds without knocking it over is a challenge.

It’s over 50 years old now. it was an anniversary gift from my husband in the mid-1960’s. It traveled with us from Michigan to Connecticut in a U-Haul in the mid-1970’s. It refuses to die.

“How glad I am to be able to roam in wood and thicket, among the trees, and flowers and rocks. No one can love the country as I do…My bad hearing does not trouble me here. In the country, every tree seems to speak to me, saying ‘Holy ! Holy!’ In the woods there is enchantment which expresses all things.” - Beethoven

About the Author - Leon Brown, Jr.
I am retired, but remain an active observer of our beautiful, but often cruel and dysfunctional world. After 73 years on the planet, I've gained much insight into the political and social realities that are stifling our progress, and remain uncertain about our future.  I currently reside in a foreign country (Utah).

I have a penchant for transporting myself deep within nature.

The world is in such a mad rush, and we have deadlines and obligations. But it is at our peril that we deny ourselves nature by passing it by.

The best therapy opens every sense to the abundance of gifts surrounding us every day, regardless of location.

When I die, do not place me in a plain pine box and relegate
 
me to a cemetery plot, with only a tombstone to commemorate
 
my temporal time in this world, destined to be forgotten.

“Look up at the sky. There is a light, a beauty up there, that no shadow can touch.” - J.R.R. Tolkien

My friend and I are dedicated walkers. We walk to stay physically healthy and mentally sane. Unfortunately we live too far apart to walk together regularly, so we’ve gotten in the habit of texting one another when we have something to share. Of course we could just call, but talking is a distraction. Neither of us wants to miss the feel of the late afternoon breeze on our cheeks, the sudden scamper of a critter across our path, or the evolving shapes of the clouds in the sky.

Many factors - such as my life changes and choices, family, community and structural facts - have combined to protect or undermine my mental health.  I find that a type of walking meditation helps to bring me back into balance.  During these meditations I practice mindfulness. I ask myself, “What is my mind full of today and how is it affecting me?”
So what do I meditate on while I’m walking?  Mostly remaining upright and making sure the wheels of my walker are not hindered, which would throw me headfirst onto the ground.  

“When I am depressed, or stressed, or in need of a dose of the Divine, I go deep into the woods and sit with the trees. My soul communes with them, and sings with their roots. Although I cannot see them, I know they are below me, settled deep underground. When they need support, they reach for their surrounding roots, entwining one with the other. Those roots, enmeshed as they are, form a sacred community, palpable to me.
 - Audrey Roth”

AMP co-founder and musician extraordinaire, Joshua Berrett, takes you into nature with Beethoven this week in his post, “Beethoven was a Nature Lover Too!” Stop by his Substack to read about how nature inspired Beethoven and to hear an exquisite recording of Symphony No. 6, also known as the Pastoral. Here’s the link: https://joshuaberrett.substack.com/p/beethoven-was-a-nature-lover-too

The cat distribution system makes its own rules.
 
If you think you can beat it, you’re simply a fool.
 
On my daily walk around the lawn,
 
Where I can often see does and fawns,
 
The CDS sent me a floof and five babies,
My first thought, a spoof, maybe?

This is Part III of AMP’s Nature Journaling series. If you would like to know more about how to create a nature journal and to submit some of your journal entries for publication here on the AMP Substack, please visit Journaling with Nature by clicking HERE.

As you may recall, we have been posting suggestions from Phil Youngblood, a retired university professor who is both a lover of the natural world and an active member of the Texas Master Naturalist Program. In Nature Journaling - Part II Phil offered three approaches to nature that he felt would spark a writer’s interest: Learn, Socialize, and Do.

Ageless Mind Project Co-founder and music aficionado shares his love affair with a piece of music that captured his heart when he was about eight or nine years old. That music was Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no. 4 in G. In this post he shares the reasons why he loves the piece so much and invites you to experience it with him. Click the link below to join him.
https://open.substack.com/pub/joshuaberrett/p/a-magical-beethoven-experience

I haven't lived in a household with a car for 50 years, so walking and public transport (plus a few taxis) is how I get about. A lot of my walking is functional (e.g. going to the shops or work) but I've always also "gone for walks". In COVID lock down that became a daily thing and although I don't still do a non-functional walk every day, I think I still do them more than pre-COVID.

Thanks to a post by a nature-loving friend who asked that we approach the natural world like a curious child, I tumbled down a rabbit hole of “whys,” “wherefores," and “what ifs,” only to emerge with a lot of boring facts and a headache.

Part I “Walk” - in the gardens of Chenonceau castle along the Cher river in the Loire valley, under the early evening sunlight, the “golden hour,” shortly before closing, so we avoided the usual large crowd of visitors, as this is one of the most popular castles in the area.

https://agelessmindproject.substack.com/p/chenonceau-castle

Ageless Mind Project Co-founder and music aficionado shares his love affair with a piece of music that captured his heart when he was about eight or nine years old. That music was Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no. 4 in G. In this post he shares the reasons why he loves the piece so much and invites you to experience it with him. Click the link below to join him.
https://open.substack.com/pub/joshuaberrett/p/a-magical-beethoven-experience