Natural supplements like ginger, turmeric, capsules to help my sciatica nerve pain, taking Vit. D and Vit. K – all these supplements and more, plus a multi vit. and mineral capsule are improving my health. We particularly need supplements as the soil our food is grown in is so depleted of health giving minerals and vitamins due to modern farming methods, that our vegetables and fruits contain about a third or less of the nutrients they once had in the early 1900s and even up until 1950. Another thing that I’ve gotten into recently is grounding or earthing (connecting with the earth by putting bare feet on the earth or grass). The electro magnetism, the electrons/negative ions mother earth provides when we are grounding is healing to our bodies and minds. There are plenty of videos and a couple of movies on YouTube that provide detailed info on grounding. There is research that has been done by scientists and doctors on grounding and they have measured the positive changes in the body of people who ground even 15 minutes a day (an hour is ideal to ground, but even 10 minutes of grounding show positive changes in many systems in the body). Dogs and other animals instinctively dig a hole in the earth and lie there until they are well or until their pain is gone. Another tool I use that has taken away headaches, reduced asthma issues, provided peace of mind, and so much more, is to listen to frequencies on YouTube that are healing of so very many symptoms. These are some of the ways I’ve helped myself to quickly heal myself of headaches and other ailments and helped myself feel better without taking medications which have side effects. Like anything else, there is more benefit (healing) if you keep these things up fairly consistently.

At age 57 I decided I didn’t want to work in an office anymore; I had worked in an office for most of my adult life out of necessity as so many do (not thinking during those years that there may be other ways of working/or living arrangements that might have enabled me to work at jobs I loved earlier in my life). I was at this time working as the lead secretary (as the position was called) to the president of an engineering firm who was a genius in his field and a generous man, but very difficult and demanding to work with and for! I learned a lot on this job as hadn’t worked for an engineering firm previously; learning the engineering terms (it was like learning a foreign language!), editing/adding to specs, spread sheets, proposals, etc., was very difficult at first, but I became good at it and when the main secretary to the president of the firm retired I stepped into her role. At the end, I was making $60,000 a year (which back then was a very good salary) with the very generous bonus’ and Christmas gifts given to the employees, but I wasn’t happy. After many years on this job, my creative side very much wanted to come out and at age 57 I gave a month’s notice and gave up my lucrative job to take a risk and teach dance classes to seniors and kids! I had spent my life dancing and performing so this was not coming out of nowhere – I had a background in dance. The office manager and the comptroller (whom I was friends with and had gone out with at times to clubs in Manhattan) no doubt thought I was a bit mad to give up a lucrative position for this risky venture; but when the calls kept coming in from senior centers and other senior facilities and also some nursery schools and day care centers for kids, they saw that there was a positive response to the mailings I had previously sent out. So for several years I taught dance and supplemented my income at times with additional part-time jobs. But at least part of the time I was able to work at something I loved doing. Then along came my first grandchild and I became a nanny for a number of years, delighting in this job! I went back to teaching the dance classes after being nanny for about 3 years, when my grandchild went to nursery school. I’m in my senior years and I’m still enjoying teaching dance classes at senior centers!

Living poor in this country doesn’t have to be miserable provided you have shelter – either an apartment you rent that you can afford or share a room in an apartment or house, or are living with a relative or a grown child and paying a low rent. So rent taken care of what can make your life more contented? Let’s take food next. If you have some money coming in you can shop at Aldi or another discount supermarket and also shop at a dollar shop for food, or have a meal while visiting family or friends, or get free meals at soup kitchens, churches, and free food at food pantries. Browsing a farmer’s market is fun and you may find some bargains. Cooking is fun and can be creative; you can learn to make low cost and healthy meals. Save money by cutting meat out or just buying a chicken and ground turkey once a month and by buying a little fish, eggs, peanut and other nut butters, and planning more vegetarian meals or big pots of chicken soup, lentil soup or stew with vegetables, or a pot of chili that last for at least a few days. Okay, meals taken care of, what next? Find some great thrift shops that sell all kinds of items at very low prices as well as new, never worn clothing donated by people and stores or buy lightly used clothes all at great prices. Garage sales are fun and often items are not expensive. Transportation in NYC gives half-fare metro cards to seniors that cover both trains and buses and in some suburbs it only costs seventy five cents to get from one town to another. Taking a bus ride and just relaxing and looking out the window is a relaxing way to spend some time. Or some towns have free town buses that take you to malls and various places in the town. So what do you do with your time if you have no money for entertainment? Many cities and suburbs offer free concerts and other free events throughout the year. Can’t beat that. In many areas there are free local papers where you can learn of free local events. Then there are many free events and activities at parks, senior centers and libraries and free days at museums and botanical gardens, zoos. You can find a community garden with benches and just enjoy sitting there for awhile or you can volunteer to help with the garden. If you have a laptop that has access to Wi-Fi you can learn about so many things on YouTube for free or watch free videos of every description or free films from every era. No laptop, then go to a library and make use of their computers to email, to learn, or just enjoy whatever. What other free pleasures are there? Sit outside in a park or sit at the library and read a good book, write a journal, a memoir, a review, or a blog. All free! If you have a cell phone, take a walk and take pictures of interesting things you see on your walk and share with a few people. Listen to music on YouTube for free, from classical to rock. Or take out free music CDs at the library or free DVDs. Dance by yourself in your abode, or go to a senior center and dance! Make designs and color them or color in a coloring book for adults. Some senior centers have a group that meets to enjoy coloring. Being in nature, walking (or sitting) barefoot on the grass is peaceful, free, and healing. Visiting friends and family is always pleasurable. As long as you have the necessities of shelter, food, water, heat or a cooling device, you are very blessed and have more than so many in our world! And in this country, there is help in getting these necessities; so get help if you need it until you do have the necessities. After that avail yourself of all the wonderful resources that can bring contentment and joy into our lives, like libraries, senior centers, parks, free days at museums and botanical gardens, farmer’s markets, used book shops, thrift shops, free films and videos on YouTube and elsewhere, free local events like concerts and dances. With the right mindset and your basic needs met, one can have/create a very good life!

I’ve basically always been a city gal and loved what the city offers, classes, culture, fascinating areas, shops and people, etc. But now in my senior years I find there’s a part of me now that also seems to long for a small spot of land, maybe a garden in which to sit and be quiet, grow some flowers and vegetables, fruit trees, etc. I’d like to collect rain water and filter it and not have to buy spring water or filter my water in my home. Or better yet have some land with a brook or fresh water stream on it. Part of me wants to become more self-sufficient and fill many of my needs directly from mother earth. I always loved the ocean too and now once again long to stroll by the surf and enjoy the salty ocean air. I still love the city, still love parties, music, dancing and being with people but would like to balance it more now by being close to nature, connecting more with nature. It seems like a missing part of me. 

These are the last days before I move and will I ever be grateful when it’s all over and I’m on the other side of this move. There aren’t other things that I have to be so focused on that I don’t enjoy doing as much as preparing and packing for a move! Since I live alone, I have no one who’s sharing this burden with me. So one feels isolated in a sea of boxes and chaos (along with my two cats who wonder what is going on)! This has been going on for weeks with an occasional walk or small food shopping, or going in the yard to ground myself on the grass and earth. I can’t wait to have time to focus on other pursuits and have some variety in my days and some fun! My fourth grandchild will be born soon after I move and I have that to look forward to. I love holding and rocking a wee one and that’s what I need and look forward to after the ordeal of packing and moving. My two cats, Quipsie Daisy and Ana Banana, move with me always and this whole move is bit of a trauma for them as well. But we will all have more space and comfort where we are moving, and that will be a welcome change.

I’m trying to think about whatever progress I have made in simplifying my life and becoming more minimalist and a bit more frugal. I’m in temporary housing for quite a number of months to come, so most of my things are in storage. And I’m afraid I have much too much stuff in storage! My intention is to go through all when I have a more permanent home and give away or discard, recycle much of it. I only took basic things I need to live with me in the temporary housing I’m living in for awhile. I’ve given away all but the most basic furniture that I need and want and to me that’s progress. And this furniture is in storage. I’ve gone through my clothes and have given away to clothing bins clothes and shoes I don’t wear or don’t like and have with me now very few basic outfits and only 2 pairs of shoes. I’ve done the same with shoulder bags, wallets, backpacks, etc., that I used to keep and now have 2 shoulder bags, 1 backpack, 1 wallet, etc. When I have my permanent home I will give away any clothes and shoes not needed or wanted that are now in storage. The way I shop for food and the way I eat now is much simpler. I basically will cook a chicken soup with lots of vegetables in it and eat that for days, also will cook a lentil soup with vegetables and alternate eating this with the chicken soup. I’ve cut most meat out; eat fish and eggs a few times a week. I shop at Aldi and discount dollar shops and this plus not eating much meat has cut my food budget a lot. I did give away many excess kitchen items, gadgets and plates, etc. So the kitchen was an area I feel I did well in minimizing what I kept. I will give away my TV which is in storage; I hated the programs and the commercials on TV so stopped watching it. I only watch videos, films, occasional news on my laptop; mainly I watch them on YouTube and also free films elsewhere on the internet. If ads come up I sit close enough to my laptop that I can mute them or press skip ads and many films have no ads to interrupt them. I have a smartphone with a $30 a month plan (has internet) and use Wi-Fi for my laptop so don’t pay for internet where I live. So I’m finding different ways to save money. I got rid of a few subscriptions I had, that I basically didn’t use. So living on S.S. and a tiny pension and whatever small earnings from teaching dance classes at senior centers is more than enough to live on. There’s plenty of free entertainment offered by the City and also in the suburbs; get a local newspaper and also find out what senior centers, parks, and towns have to offer. Areas I have much work yet to do, to minimalize, is with the copious books I have saved over the years and these are in storage. When I move I will donate many of them to libraries, vets organizations, etc. I will keep the “treasures” that I love or feel I may not be able to locate again. The other area I’m quite deficient in is minimalizing the papers, children’s artwork, articles, you name it that I have saved over so many years. All these are in storage and again when I have a permanent home I will work on sorting, discarding, and saving only some very special papers with very special memories. Creating a simpler life through minimalism, learning ways to save money, thinking about what you value most in life, is an ongoing process and something I’ll be working on for some time to come!

I, like many, missed many things during the pandemic and even after the worst of it. Mostly I missed having some fun in my life doing things I always did to enjoy myself. I always loved parties, music, dancing, going to folk dance groups, meeting up with friends and family, social dancing at senior centers or a private club. Well after the pandemic, when things opened up once more, I again started enjoying doing some of these things. I also missed giving dance classes at senior centers as I had done for many years, and that I also started doing again. But lately I seem to long to add more to my life, like I’m wishing for a garden these days! I want a place where I can grow some flowers, some vegetables and herbs. A place I can sit barefoot and ground myself each day. A place to let my two kitties out to play and absorb those electrons from mother earth! A place where I can stretch and do some yoga in privacy out of doors. Also, maybe read or write while outside. Well, who knows it may happen that I have a garden at some point. In the meantime, there are parks to enjoy where I can sit and read, or take walks in nature, I can even sit with bare feet on the grass!

If I designed a fun day what would it look like? I may have lunch out with a friend and then go to an art museum. Or I would explore (and take photos of) a new area of New York City or a new (to me) suburban town, and eat at a new restaurant and write a review of it. I might stay at home and learn to bake a healthy bread or cook a new meal! How about a day where I go to a great thrift shop or antique store and discover treasures! When younger I enjoyed going to a yoga center for a class and then would sit in the library they had and read books on all kinds of interesting esoteric subjects. Something I loved doing years ago, was to go to health food stores before they were run by corporations; I delighted in learning about organic foods, and health in general. I loved finding interesting and informative books on health. I even saw Angela Lansbury years ago at a health store in Manhattan! A way I found to make working 9 to 5 more palatable was to spend my lunch hours browsing a Barnes and Noble book shop nearby and finding fantastic and stimulating books like “The Joy of Not Working” (really about learning to love one’s leisure time and learning how to create wonderful leisure time and activities for oneself) or another book I loved was the classic “Voluntary Simplicity” by Duane Elgin. A fun afternoon I enjoy with my younger son is to play a couple of ping pong games with him and then finish up with a scrabble game. Or have coffee at starbucks with my older son, then take an enjoyable walk (sometimes to Bryant Park), and end up having lunch at a diner. With my grandchildren I love dancing with them, painting or coloring with them, or taking them for a walk with them ending up on the rides in front of the pizza place where we get pizza after the rides, and then on to the ice cream shop. With my older granddaughter when she was little (and another dear toddler – I was nanny to both) I always loved taking her to Washington Square Park as she was growing up, and listening to the musicians, loved going to Scholastic for story time, or to Music Together for a really fun time, and we enjoyed swimming in a pool. I love working with color and enjoy crocheting with various colored yarn, or creating an abstract drawing and filling it in with colored markers. And binging on good or great films is always a delight. A picnic at a park, or a walk near the surf by the ocean, or a moonlight walk on the boardwalk are always fun. I’d go to a folk dance group and enjoy the music, dancing and the friendly folks. Or I’d go to the fun Elk’s Club D.J. dance with the oh so friendly crowd. I’d take a Qi Gong, yoga, or stretch class. If I had a garden, I’d enjoy planting flowers, herbs, fruit trees and berries. I’d lead a dance class at a senior center and then meet my friend afterwards for coffee and catching up. Learning something new, or doing a crossword puzzle is stimulating. Or I might work on a memoir that I started a while back. Creating a playlist of music I love and/or creating a new dance to teach at a senior center is great fun too. So many ways to create a fun day for ourselves. As many ways as there are people. What does your fun day look like?