dancewithjoy

Whether living in a small room or in a tiny house (which many have opted to live in for various reasons), I have found some things to be useful and practical. There needs to be an area for heating or cooking food and for this I have found four tier metal shelving very helpful. On the top shelf I have put my electric burner which holds two pots or a pot and a frying pan. I cook eggs, fish, meat, etc., in frying pan and in pot potatoes or vegetables. Near it should be salt and pepper shakers and a couple of spices you use regularly like garlic and onion powder. Also handy to have is a cooking timer. The next shelf holds my small microwave which I love for warming my coffee which always seems to be warm not hot! It also heats an occasional dinner when I don’t feel like cooking. Under that shelf I keep plates, bowls, cups, glasses, and a few other small kitchen utensils. On bottom shelf I have my large toaster oven which so far I hardly use. Near the kitchen appliance shelves is a TV tray which is my coffee center. On it is my Mr. Coffee, coffee filters, container with fresh coffee, and a jar of instant coffee. On a very small eating table I keep a small toaster, as I often make toast. There is a small matching chair to go with my eating table. Also on table are utensils (metal and plastic), forks, knives, and spoons. Stevia packets are in a small glass container. I find having a small futon couch takes up little space in the room and comfortably sits guests and makes a small but adequate bed at night with little trouble setting it up. The bedding can be put in box under the futon couch or can be put in a plastic bin near the futon. One comfortable chair (I have a well padded rocking chair) and two folding chairs are all the additional chairs that are needed. A medium-size bookshelf to hold not only a few books, but some ornamental items, a wine and/or liquor decanter and a few glasses, and anything else you want to keep on it is a necessary addition to any size room. A full-length mirror is a necessity in any place I live. In another corner of my room I have a very small folding table that serves as a desk and which can either hold your laptop and a lamp or a fan, lamp, radio, and maybe some art supplies for working with color designs as I enjoy. I find a laundry bag or cloth shopping bag is all I need as a laundry hamper. An inexpensive vacuum cleaner is a must in your tiny home. A cart with three or four plastic bins or drawers can hold small articles of clothing, socks, etc. A mini refrigerator is a must in any tiny house or room you live in. A small closet can be made by ordering a very tiny tension rod to be placed between a small space between a wall and another sturdy structure and hanging a minimal amount of clothes on it. Two tiny tables, one which holds a table lamp and an air filter and tissues, another which is in front of my comfortable chair and holds my laptop so I can watch free films or the news on YouTube or Amazon Prime completes the furniture in my tiny living space. I find a tiny home or room can be made to be cozy and homey.

Seems I’m waiting for many things in my life that will all start soon. Much patience has been needed and patience was not something I had a lot of in my life; but gradually I’m learning to have more of it out of necessity! The activity (international folk dancing) I have loved all my life was absent during the summer months, but is returning this September I’m happy to say. I’ve been searching for an apartment in this high rental market and have had to be very patient to find something suitable and affordable. But I will find something with work, patience and luck. Some friends I haven’t seen in awhile are returning from extended trips, I have missed them and I’m happy I will soon see them again. I’m retired and have one very p/t job I love leading a dance class for seniors. I’m hoping to soon get another dance job I love as well and waiting to hear on a job I applied for. I had positional vertigo over the summer and have needed great patience for this to heal and for my life to get back on an even keel! Slowly it has happened. So my life this summer has been on hold in many areas and I have needed much patience for things to start happening again and slowly my waiting will soon be over.

We are living in a new era where we will see amazing changes in the next 10 to 20 years, some good, some not so good. We will hear more and more about reputable people seeing UFOs; this week military men already reported to congressional hearing what they have witnessed in the skies. We already know about how the earth is warming, but besides that there will be many technological innovations. There will be many more changes in this new world and the world will be different than it was. We must learn to adapt, to be flexible and courageous to live in this new world.

(To be continued)

Packing most of your things up to go to storage is major, traumatic, just like a regular move! I had a team of family members who were kind enough and had muscle enough to move my many, many boxes and zippered moving bags plus most of my minimal furniture to a nearby self-storage building. I was exhausted from the week of finishing up packing and sealing up boxes, and labeling. I admit to myself that I have saved way too many things, and my intent, and hope not just a dream, is to go through each box at my eventual new rental and give away/throw away/recycle much of what’s in each box and bag! I’ve saved things connected with each of my two sons as they were growing up, also saved artwork, photos, books I read to them and more from three of my grandchildren, and recently saved things that belonged to my brother and sister who passed on last year. Also have saved things from my mom and dad that I value. Not to mention all the things I personally save like articles I’ve wanted to read, things I’ve written, art work of mine and family members, tons of notes on dance, choreography, dance classes I’ve taught, etc., etc.

Temporarily I’ll be living in one room, but ultimately need to find a 1 bedroom apartment. Which isn’t easy in the rental market out there at this time. But I keep searching and I will find!

I have been suffering with lower back pain (besides the positional vertigo and other symptoms I have) for a few months now, never used to have it. I watched several of Dr. Berg’s videos on YouTube regarding Vitamin D and Vitamin K2 deficiency and their link with several symptoms people suffer with. I encourage people to check his health videos out as he informs us of the probable causes of our symptoms and doesn’t just try to mask the symptoms and then they inevitably come back when we haven’t gotten to the root causes of our ailments and solved them at that level. So anyway, I’ve followed what he said on the video and have been taking Vitamin D each day; now when I take walks these days I noticed that the lower back pain is much better and sometimes altogether gone. I’ve been taking 8,000 to 10,000 IUS a day and also trying to get some sun each day and I believe my back pain will be gone soon and hopefully the remnant of the positional vertigo I’ve been suffering from will be gone as well. Remember to watch Dr. Berg’s YouTube videos on Vitamin D and Vitamin K for the full story.

I recently watched an AMA podcast wherein Dr. Frank Clark, a psychiatrist, was being interviewed on this YouTube podcast by AMA’s Chief Experience Officer regarding the connection between good mental health, the creative expression and art. I strongly urge others to watch this excellent podcast if desiring to experience a different type of meditation that also slows down and quiets the mind. Dr. Clark relates that one should not strive for perfection in whatever art form you choose to work with, as there should be no stress involved in the process. It can be a calming, peaceful, mind quieting process when approached in this manner. And one naturally improves in time at what one repeatedly does. Writing can be a wonderful creative outlet to write out your feelings and thoughts about what’s on your mind. A journal, blog, writing letters or even a memoir can be therapeutic. Using colored markers to create your own pictures or in an adult coloring book is very soothing and a great meditation. One can listen to music, play music, sing, or dance, as these are all wonderful creative outlets for self-expression. Here’s to better mental health and having fun through art and creative self-expression!

Why so many disturbed youngsters, so much addiction, crime, violence in this country? We have focused as a country on the things that don’t bring a feeling of love, protection, security, positive values, or peace to our children. We have focused on the outer values while we have neglected the inner values of positive, loving family life. Parents are often stressed about jobs and money and so tired when they do come home they can’t be effective parents. We have to teach our children positive values through our actions and example thereby creating, helping develop, good character in our children. Perhaps one answer is for parents to take less stressful jobs or one parent take part-time work while their children are very young. 

We focus on the outer trappings of money, status, greed, always wanting more, instead of being content with what we have – as long as we have our basic needs and a bit more met. 

Our children experience being left without their parent’s presence so much of the time (or when they are there they are preoccupied or very tired) and this can lead to their thinking that jobs, money, everything else is more important to their parents than they are – more important than being there for them. Quality time does not replace having a parent or nurturing family member or friend who can hold and hug the child when they need that, take walks with the child, teach them to ride a bike, have their little friends over and so many other things that create happiness and security for a child most importantly until the child is 5 or 6 years of life. Children need a parent that sees that the child has nourishing meals, takes naps when needed, sends them to bed on time so they are rested when they get up in morning and spends some time talking to the child (from birth on), spends some time playing with the child and providing creative play like clay, water play, coloring, painting, playing with little toy people and a playhouse (to help the child express all their feelings and emotions they sometimes can’t handle and help these feelings come out during creative play). And after the tender years of perhaps up to 6 years of age, children still need to have the presence of their parents as much as possible or a close relative or friend around who is someone nurturing and someone who is around when the child comes home from school. They need people near them to talk to them, to help them understand right and wrong, someone to teach them to be good to themselves, to value themselves and those around them. Someone with good values who knows that caring for a child helps them grow into individuals who have self-love and therefore learns to care for and love others. The TV and movies teach the wrong values of violence and sex exploitation. And the commercials are mostly lies for the sake of making money and what kind of values are they teaching? So if our children spend time watching screens instead of being led in positive, constructive ways of thinking and positive activities, is it any wonder they grow up with distorted values and maybe worse – maybe self loathing and wanting to strike back? It isn’t just in school that they sometimes learn inappropriate values or learn some things much earlier than they should be exposed to these ideas – what we allow into our children’s everyday viewing and hearing is feeding them mostly with false and detrimental values.

If we start to go back to the value of strong family units for children they have more of a chance of surviving the chaos and false values inherent in our society. I am grateful for the freedom we have in this country – but freedom does not mean license to do or express whatever. In the Montessori system of education they stress and teach liberty (freedom) along with discipline. We cannot have one without the other or we have an anything goes approach to living and that can lead to dysfunction, chaos and crime and a lack of caring for ourselves and others which leads to depression and possibly mental illness.

I’m a senior and have been trying since February to find a 1 bedroom apartment to rent. It’s crazy; the average person has to pay at least $1,700 to over $2,000 for even a 1 bedroom or studio apartment. And it doesn’t matter where you apply for a rental, whether it’s NYC or NJ, everywhere you search the rents are humongous in this outrageous housing market! Starting in February I applied for senior housing out here in Hasbrouck Heights, but to no avail as the waiting list is very long! And since then I have tried all sorts of things like shares, studios, 1 bedroom apartments, and I try all over two states! I’ve gone into real estate offices; one place gave me the silent treatment once they heard what rent I was looking for, another place was friendly but never called me back! It’s very discouraging; online, half the time they don’t even acknowledge your application or they tell you they have 55 people wanting the apartment you applied for. We seniors had better stay put as it’s almost impossible to find anything we’d be able to afford on our S.S. check. In my case I can’t stay where I am and must move for various reasons. To make matters harder I have 2 cats and must find a pet friendly place to live. But one can’t give up, so on with my search! Wish me luck!

I realized today that the best way for me to feel connected to God and to worship Source, the Creator, the Great Spirit, is through listening to music and song. When younger I studied ballet and modern dance and I created dances to Amazing Grace, Ave Maria (Gounod and Schubert), You Light Up My Life and later on other music like You Raise Me Up, a song by Rabbi Carlebach- that filled me with the spirit and love of my Creator. The same music and more still touches me on a deep level and raises me up where I feel the love of life, of God, of being alive and I feel grateful for all of it. I grew up in a mixed religion family and was taught to love God through my mom’s poetry and dance, through my dad’s spiritual talks, and the bible stories I read. I did not go to any church or synagogue. I could go into any temple, church or shul and pray with all and feel we were all worshiping the one God, the same God. People tell me I’m not religious, that I’m spiritual and I guess that is so. I cannot choose any one religion or any one label, as I feel they all belong to God. All roads lead to God. People choose the religion that speaks to them or that they were born into. I was born into a home where God was worshiped through music and song, through poetry, through dance, through love of life and people. Most of all through our hearts connecting with the Spirit of all life.