How Long Will You Live?

There is an old-timey Cajun way of contemplating sunsets, by measuring and knowing the number of sunsets you've been given. It changes the way you'll look at your personal sunsets. If you were to live one hundred years, you'll only have 36,500 sunsets in your personal century. Doesn't sound like a lot of sunsets for one hundred years of wisdom, does it?

Looking back on my own 21,535 sunsets, I've had ample time to marvel at the breathtaking red, orange, pink and purple sunsets, that I've personally viewed. From a spectacular sunset in an ancient desert adobe mission, to the sky view on a junket boat on South China Sea, or to liquid glow from an Italian beach side by the Adriatic Sea - these are just few that I cherish, all personally holding particular meaning and insight.

So, why count your sunsets? What purpose will it serve? What insights will you find?

• Science accepts that some humans can live to be age 122.
• Anyone born after 2006 can expect to live to 77.5 years.
• The average 65 year old today can expect to live another 18.4 years.
• The average 75 year old today can expect to live another 9.3 years.
• The average woman can expect to live to 84.8 to 87.6 years.
• The average man can expect to live to 75.2 years to 85.5 years.

1. Drinking red wine in moderation weekly
2. Eating dark chocolate everyday
3. Smiling everyday
4. Having more sex more often
5. Eliminating unnecessary stress and manage unavoidable stress
6. Making exercise a priority
7. Getting some extra sleep
8. Spending time with those you love
9. Expanding your mind
10. Having a positive attitude

Well, if you are ten years old, you've only had 3,600 sunsets to get to know the ropes of living life. While you hopefully have a lifetime of sunsets still before you, it's not easy to be ten years old in 2008. If you are lucky, you've only got a tiny notion of what your life purpose might hold.

You still have lots to learn, as you race towards those remaining 32,900 sunsets. Sit on the porch in the evenings with someone older and wiser, watch the sunset, and listen to them talk about the mysteries of life. It's also a way to cleverly postpone your dreaded bedtime.

When you hit that first magical milestone of sixteen, you begin to think with 5,840 sunsets under your belt, you know it all, or at least more than your parents. You could be wrong, but might not fully know it for another 30,660 sunrises.

At sixteen, you probably don't have time for reflecting on sunsets. The wise young person will try to occasionally slip away from the distractions of young love and having fun to find themselves, and attempt to determine what their true strengths and talents are.

At that bigger milestone of eighteen, with a mere 730 sunsets passing since you turned sixteen, you've only amassed 6,570 sunsets. Wow! You still know it all.

However, now that you are an adult, you might wonder why there are so many times, as the sun sets on another day, that you don't feel as confident or together as some of your peers. Life is exciting though, with 29,930 sunsets remaining on your calendar. It's time to start planning your future sunsets, if you haven't already.

The ultimate milestone, of course is turning twenty-one. You now have 7,665 sunsets behind you. You'd think you'd understand by now, that's not really a lot of time on this planet.

Here you are, at an age when most of us are so full of ourselves, thinking we can conquer the world. The joke is that anyone who is more than a decade past your milestone, most likely is amused by your enthusiasm and a little jealous of your remaining 28,835 passages. Start living your sunsets, before too many responsibilities dictate your level of tiredness and the outcome of your successes.

Freaking out about turning age 30 seems a little silly, when it's a mere 10,950 days, yet that's what many of us do, especially women. Suddenly it seems, you are middle aged and getting older by the minute.

Your suspicions about time slipping by too fast, makes you wonder, why certain goals you had in your twenties never happened? Far worse, you worry that those benchmarks might never happen. With 25,550 sunsets gone, it might be time to stop and have another look at the quality of your future sunsets.

Turning 40, with the chapters of 14,600 sunsets closed, you suddenly have a real sense that you might be running out of time and energy. You are all too aware of this milestone in the life cycle, as it creates much anxiety and self-doubt. With only 21,900 sunsets ahead on the trail, it's time to get busy while you still can.

That half-century mark of 50 years, can make 18,250 sunsets panic time. After all, you are at the half way mark in terms of sunsets, with as many remaining as you've been blessed with. You've earned the right to stop and think about the other half of your hour glass, the sunsets remaining in your life. You'd be wise to do this, because surely, you've figured it out - sunsets are a gift, not a promise. It's time to make the best use of what sunsets you have left.

Turning 60, you'll find that 21,900 sunsets are quite an accomplishment. Not everyone made it this far. By now, you're painfully aware that the one thing you can't count on is how many of the remaining 14,600 sunsets, you'll be able to share with your peers. Some of them are already gone. Share your sunsets with those you love, whenever you can.

By the time, you are seventy, 25,550 sunsets have rested. You're wise enough to know that sunsets are more brightly colored than the sunrises. You've got exactly as many sunsets (10,950) left, as you witnessed when you were thirty. However, the difference is, you no longer have to make the time to enjoy your sunsets. You certainly have a whole lot more time for this vital activity. Use them wisely!

At age 80, 29,200 sunsets are a little tiring. Not only are the people around you thinking you're getting pretty old, but your aches and pains are telling you the same. Some of you might be forgetting, just how many sunsets you've been blessed with in your lifetime. If you are lucky, 7,300 sunsets still await you. By now, maybe you should consider making a note to remember to count your daily sunsets, it wouldn't hurt.

If you make it to age 90, 32,850 sunsets have passed and you've probably stopped counting. Nobody wants to be reminded, especially you, that you have the same number of sunsets left as that ten year old had amassed in the beginning.

With the hour glass of time running out, now is the last hour to make peace with yourself. Don't forget to express you love for your family and friends. Share what kernels of wisdom you might have left, with anyone who is willing to listen.

Back when my Grandpere Emile taught me to count my sunsets the Cajun way, I was just a child who thought he was being quite silly. He didn't get to see the 36,500 sunsets, even though he lived through a few more than 36,500. On that 36,500th sunset, blind for the last eight years of his life, he celebrated with cake and candles.

He was till counting his sunsets until the very last day of his life at age 100. "Tell me when the suns getting ready to go down and take me out on the porch to my rocking chair," he would order us in Cajun French. Then, we would have to tell him all the colors of "his personal sunset."

Finally, I hope you'll learn to count your sunsets too, should you come around to this way of thinking. It's a great way of reminding yourself how wonderful it is to be alive. The purpose of counting your sunsets is simple, it keeps you aware of how every day lived -- is both a blessing and an opportunity. The insights you will have by watching sunsets and reflecting on them, are as individual as all of humankind - don't take them for granted.

Do you aspire to be a "super centenarian" or at least want to live to be one hundred years old?

Reportedly, one of the longest living humans, was a Chinese man named Li Ching Yun, credited his long life to a vegetarian diet, special herbs (Fo-ti-tieng and ginseng tea every day), and most importantly -- a habit of "inward calm." Up until the day he died, he enjoyed good health. He outlived twenty-three wives and many of his own children and grandchildren. He still had his own teeth and had not lost his hair.