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Dance Like No One’s Watching: Dancing to Street Musicians

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Maybe it was the music itself that enticed me. Perhaps, it was the wine at dinner. Or maybe it was the allure of Italy itself that wound itself around my legs and compelled me to dance. All I knew was the night was still young as the sky was turning to twilight and the saxophone drew me towards it. What else could I do, but begin to sway and dance to its siren call? As I twirled and danced upon cobblestones, I caught glimpses of the musicians smiling as they played, keeping the song going as I was caught up in its magic spell. My skirt swished gently about my legs, my arms flowed of their own accord. I can still almost hum the low, almost slow almost sensual tune, though in truth it plays along the boundaries of memory, faded with time and unfamiliarity. 

To be young and uninhibited again, unbound by the constraints of societal expectations and propriety. To simply find yourself in a place where the music is playing and the urge to dance takes hold. It is not very often one stumbles upon street musicians unless one is in a city, such as Rome, but one must take advantage of such moments. It is one of my favorite memories from my semester abroad because I danced as if I were alone, unconcerned about the crowd or who might be watching. I let myself live freely in the moment, embracing the serendipity of music at twilight. 

As it so happens, not only did I delight those playing by my ample appreciation of the music, but also of a nearby photographer. He happened to catch me dancing and was inspired by my boldness. For a short time afterward, I was his muse with a short and impromptu photoshoot in the plaza before the Great Colosseum itself! I unfortunately only have the pictures which were sent on to me and lost the gentleman’s name. But I will forever be grateful for the phenomenal memories he helped preserve. Perhaps, this blog post will find him and I will be able to give him proper credit.

It was not my first foray into impromptu dancing, for I also danced at the spring festival in Marburg in the rain, again much to the delight of the musicians. I may have said only moments ago, “to be young and uninhibited again”, but the truth is, I still am! Uninhibited that is – I’m almost 40, one has to embrace middle age gracefully and not cling to youth in some sort of grotesque fashion. One should not stop dancing to street performers just because one is no longer in one’s 20’s! One should not stop embracing moments of joyful abandon. Is there a song to sing at karaoke? Belt it out! Did you stumble across a public art project inviting you to paint? Join in! Be spontaneous! Embrace your impulses and passions! Be silly! Don’t be afraid to look foolish! Had I not been fearless to dance in the middle of public, it would not have led to a photoshoot in the middle of Rome! How many people can say that of their journeys? Not many? Exactly! Fortune favors the bold after all! 

Now dear reader, you may be wondering why this would grace a bucket list as it seems like rather a small thing. Really, dancing on the street of all things to a “lowly” street performer? What sort of standards do you have for your bucket list, you may ask. 

First, it’s my blog and I’ll blog what I want to. My list, my rules. You go make your own list with your own rules. 

Second, consider how few people would actually be bold or brave enough to do this? How many of them hold back? Does it even occur to them to dance? Or have they been so conditioned against any sort of unauthorized or predesignated fun that they don’t even think to dance? Have you, dear reader, ever acted with such impulsive abandon? For me this was about living without fear or anyone’s judgements. A life well lived includes doing things off the beaten path, allowing your passions and impulses to occasionally run riot. I love music and I love dancing, why should I deny the urge to embrace life when it so fervently invites me to its arms? 

Besides, when you do embrace life not only do you bring delight to yourself, but also you bring joy to other people. In my hometown, there is a young man who frequently goes out dressed as a templar knight. His reasons are his own, but he started to become a bit of a celebrity. People are posting sightings of him. They’re excited to see him. It brings us joy. I love that there’s someone out there just living his best life as a templar knight! There’s another town in Canada where a man walks around with a giant carrot and people LOVE it. There’s stories of people passing out flower crowns or leaving chalk art on the sidewalk of their neighbors to bring them joy. The world needs our whimsy dear reader! 

Sidenote: Before doing chalk art, check your local ordinances as in some towns this may be illegal – some places really have outlawed fun! 

All of these are stories of people doing something a little impulsive and making the world a better, more magical place because of it. The third reason is that it made my trip to Rome that much more memorable. Consider how many travel stories seem to consist of the same things, especially such destinations as Rome. Don’t get me wrong there is a reason people go to the same places and see the same things, it would be silly to go to Rome as a tourist and eschew the Colosseum as plebeian because everyone goes to Rome to see it. But this punctuated my week-long trip with a truly memorable experience, it made the Colosseum special to me. When I think about the Colosseum, I think about dancing! I strain to recall that haunting tune. For a moment, I am back there. If we don’t authentically express ourselves out in the world, what are we even doing? Are we really deeply experiencing life or just pretending to?  

How can you dance like no one’s watching?

If you are interested in replicating the magic of impromptu dancing, the best way is to use your ears. Pay attention to your surroundings. Obviously if you visit a city, you are much more likely to encounter the stray musician. Be sure to pack along a few dollars to show your appreciation if you are intending on seeking out someone to dance to. However, I will admonish you to not seek this out specifically. After all, half the fun is stumbling about it naturally to let the music extend its hand with a flirtatious invitation to join it. Then by all means accept the invitation, let it embrace you in its arms and let go. 

The principle of course is to be open to serendipity and to take advantage of the opportunities that arise. When a creative opportunity presents itself, meet it head on, boldly and passionately. Dive in with careless abandon. After all, a life well lived is one with passion and risk. Not every boldly taken action will end well. You may be booed off stage of the open mic comedy club. You may be told afterward you sang worse than a braying donkey. But that’s okay! In the words of Theodore Roosevelt, “It is not the critic who counts….The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.” Do not content yourself with sitting on the sidelines dear reader! Enter the arena of life and dance as if no one was watching! 

Completed: Spring 2009 

Miles from home: 4,371 (though this can be completed almost anywhere) 

Cost: Serendipity is free

Falling into Autumn: Appreciating the Changing Seasons

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I love fall, the cooler days after the scorching heat of summer, the changing leaves, the cozy sweaters and warm drinks. I love the stormy days and misty mornings. I love the way the world seems to nestle down for the coming winter. 

One might wonder at something as mundane as a seasonal change being included on a bucket list. But then, dear reader, if you’ve read my other posts here then you already know my answer. If you have not, the answer is simple, because one ought to embrace the joy of living where one is at. One ought to remember that wherever one is, someone somewhere elsewhere dreams about the very place you find yourself. Think of all the millions of people who never get to experience the wonder of fall! Consider all the people who never get to see the leaves of their trees turn to brillant shades of yellow, orange and red. Throughout the tropical regions of the world, there are people who dream of witnessing the changing seasons, who find the vibrant colors of fall as enchanting as a tropical beach. There are even people in the United States who have never really experienced all four seasons as we do in the northern parts. 

When was the last time you joyfully walked through them, crunching gleefully as you marched through them? Perhaps, you were a young child and no longer given over to such frivolous and silly things. I implore you dear reader, abandon your adult self with all its imposed rules of oughts and shoulds. Indeed embrace the fall with a child-like enthusiasm and wonder. See the season with the eyes of someone who has never seen this particular form of natural magic. 

It was with this sort of attitude, that on my birthday I embarked to a nearby nature preserve to drink in the pleasure of the late fall. Trees typically peak about a week or two before my birthday meaning that there are often more leaves on the ground than in the trees and the forest isn’t quite as majestically dressed. The air is also usually a bit chillier requiring extra layers. That day I donned a hat, a warm caplet and fingerless gloves which would keep my fingers free for the task at hand. 

I took a few moments to simply breathe in the crisp morning air savoring the flavor of the forest on the cusp of winter before venturing forth onto the path. I listened carefully to the sounds of the woods around me, the water gurgling in a nearby stream and the way the leaves rustled underfoot. I then drank in full the sights of the forest enjoying the brilliant color of the trees in their glory. With a child’s enthusiasm, I trounced through the woods at times kicking up the leaves, at other times standing quietly to simply enjoy the sights, smells and sounds. There were few others out on the trail that morning, but mostly I was alone with the forest. 

I could not say just how long I was out there, but I walked quite a ways basking in nature’s glory before making the determination to go back. It was one the way back that I indulged in another child’s game, collecting leaves of various colors and forms. I made a bit of a game with it, sometimes exchanging a leaf that I had already picked up for one on the ground to make sure I did not become over burdened with them. With my collection well in hand, I headed back to my car quite content with my birthday treat to myself, a quiet morning fully immersed in the glory of autumn. It was something so incredibly simple, yet I enjoyed as much as an afternoon at a spa. I try to spend at least one day in the fall to really appreciate the season as if I were one of those tourists who traveled hundreds of miles on a carefully planned trip just to see the leaves. I am frequently amazed by the beauty that my home brings each year.

How to experience the beauty of fall?

If you live in the northern climes, I recommend tracking the peaking of the leaves in your local area and then planning a morning or afternoon out around that time to really enjoy the outdoors. Keep in mind that fall can be a rainy time of year, so being flexible is key. Luckily, it costs almost nothing to get out to the woods and go on a hike. 

There are many other ways to enjoy fall like visiting a pumpkin patch, corn mazes, apple picking and more, but this activity is all about the leaves. You could go a step further and use the leaves for art projects. I used mine just as table decorations for a few days. 

If you don’t live in a place where there is a dramatic shift of the seasons, embrace the cycles of the year wherever you may be. The subtler nature of the changes can be just as rewarding as the dramatic shift. Perhaps, there are certain flowers in bloom in the traditional autumn season that you can stop and appreciate. Appreciate the migration of birds who have come down to your warmer home to escape the coming cold of winter. Paying attention and celebrating nature throughout the year is a rewarding experience. We so often neglect the world around us as uninteresting and miss the magic that is occurring all around us instead looking to other people’s backyards for wonder and inspiration. Find the wonder in your natural environment.

Completed: November 2021

Cost: Free (maybe a few dollars in gas)

Miles from home: 6 miles

Give Blood: From Reverse Bucket List

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Much of what is on a bucket list may be considered a bit hedonistic. That is a criticism that some people have against them. To some people, it is a list of “empty pleasures”. Life should be spent bettering the world not chasing short term experiences you just check off a list. There may be some truth to those criticisms, but then again is it much worse than spending my days watching Netflix, scrolling through social media and spending all my money on amazon? The point of the list, for me at least, is to cultivate a sense of adventure, to explore the world, to experience life and learn about myself. It was about getting out of my house, away from the screens and living, to stop dreaming and start doing. It can in some ways be a form of self-expression. As someone whose daily profession is leaving the world a better place, having a bucket list is a form of self care. 

However, that doesn’t mean that I don’t still have goals that are altruistic in nature or have reflected on past actions on my reverse bucket list that fall under the category of “leaving the world a better place”. I’ve had experiences of volunteering and sacrificing part of myself for the benefit of others that have left a positive impact on me. It is part of my own self-expression and I feel it is important to include those experiences as part of a rich life.

Photo by Julia M Cameron on Pexels.com

One of those altruistic goals was to give blood. As it turns out, I have a O+ blood type which, while it is one of the most common blood types, it is also a good donor blood type. Blood types come in A, B, AB, O and positive or negative so you can have AB+ or B- or in my case O+. The letters A and B indicate common antigens and O indicates the absence of either A or B, positive and negative indicate the presence of a common antigen or the absence of it. If you have the antigens you can receive blood without the antigen but if you don’t have the antigen you can’t receive blood that has it. Therefore, I can receive both O+ and O- but not any A, B or AB blood. 

It is hard to describe the importance of blood donations. I am a daughter of two nurses, so I grew up knowing how important blood is for modern medicine. Blood allows doctors to perform miracles, to complete life saving surgeries that would normally kill a patient because of the blood loss, to treat cancer, to stop someone from dying from traumatic injury and treat chronic illnesses. A pint of blood can mean the difference between life and death and it is important to have an ongoing fresh supply. 

So when my school held a blood drive in my senior year, I naturally signed up to participate. It was important to me to give back and as it turns out my family’s blood lacks other antigens than the positive. We also have “sticky” blood which makes it great for trauma victims since it helps with clotting. Even though I didn’t enjoy needles, I knew that I was making a difference when I laid down on the chair and presented my arm. It was such a small act of inconvenience for me, missing some class, a brief time of discomfort, but the impact of this life saving gift was more than worth it to me. Why wouldn’t I give up a few hours of my life to save someone else’s? 

Being a positive influence in the world doesn’t always need big gestures or major political movements, sometimes something little can have a large impact.  Full disclosure, I did faint when I gave blood for the first time. About 4% of people faint. It isn’t an indication of any sort of medical distress but rather a vagal nerve response. Unfortunately, I have had other medical issues over the years causing frequent issues of low iron levels which make it difficult to give blood. I hope to be able to give blood now that the underlying issue causing the frequent bouts of anemia has been addressed. 

How can you donate blood?

Only about 3% of people ever donate blood and the demand for blood never ceases. It is a vital resource that cannot be replicated through other means. As they say “when you give, other’s live”. I highly encourage you, dear reader, to consider giving blood. If you cannot give blood, then consider how else you might positively impact the world.

Luckily, giving blood is fairly easy. Just call up your local branch of the American Red Cross to find out when and where they’re having their next blood drive. 

Completed: First time donating blood Spring 2006

Miles from home: 4 miles

Cost: Free

Spontaneous Experiences are Buried Treasure!

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There are some things in life one cannot plan for, but when opportunity comes knocking one has to be ready to follow the white rabbit and see how far into wonderland the journey will take you. This is a short story about how I once found buried treasure. 

It was my senior year of college when one of our friends who graduated the year before decided to come back to campus for a visit. She introduced us to a new idea, geocaching. She explained the concept was that someone would put out gps coordinates of a container that participants would seek out in order to exchange goods, usually trinkets and the like. The containers had a log that one would record one’s name. One of the caches she was seeking out had a location somewhere on our campus. I wasn’t quite sure about the entire process, but it seemed like an interesting idea. Being the naturally, adventurous types myself, my roommate Ray and Laura set out to look for the cache. Keep in mind this was back in 2009 when many of us didn’t have smartphones with gps capabilities. We had a printed out map with coordinates and gumption. 

Soon we found ourselves out in the trails of our campus, looking through the undergrowth of the deciduous forest. You may think that I exaggerate when I speak about my college having a forest or trails, but the truth is, Messiah College (now Messiah University) had a rather large undeveloped section of campus called the “back 40”. It was always one of my favorite places to visit during my time there. Despite having walked on the trails many times, I had not ventured off the trails before that day; mostly because of my run in with a snake my first week on campus, but that day was not a day for cowards! Victory to the brave! 

I distinctly remember crunching through underbrush, keeping an eye out for poison ivy and snakes. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for or how I’d know if I found it, but I was determined to help my friend on her small expedition. It was around an old wooden bridge that we discovered not what we were looking for, but rather an old tin can that had been hammered shut. We checked the map and the coordinates, the tin was decidedly not the cache in question. At first, we sort of dismissed it and continued our search but to no avail. Intrigued by our discovery, though disappointed that we had not been successful in finding the cache, we headed back to our campus apartment.

It took quite a bit of doing, but eventually we were able to pry open the can to reveal a mud filled container of something. We dumped out the contents and were surprised to find it had been filled with quarters. We immediately began counting out piles of 4 and then stacking the piles up 10 at a time. We quickly discovered we had found over $100. Buried treasure! 

I had not set out that morning to find treasure, it was a spontaneous adventure untaken on a whim. Nor was it an especially long adventure, but it was memorable. And yes, I understand that $100 is not exactly buried treasure, certainly not in today’s economy, but to three poor college students it certainly felt like treasure.  

How can you find buried treasure?

I cannot promise that you’ll find treasure if you decide to go geocaching, but there are plenty of aps out there that will allow you to participate.  

To embody the principle of this particular post, embrace spontaneity. Go on that silly adventure with your friend, you never know where it will lead or what you will find. I have lots of stories that begin with an invitation to something unexpected. I have yet to regret saying yes. Having a list and making plans is all well and good, but one should not be so bore-sighted on the current goals that one is not open to opportunities that arise. Sure you might not have $100 at the end of the day, but you will have memories made with someone dear to you which is worth far more. 

Completed: 2009

Miles from home: 0 (when counting campus as the home point)

Cost: Free

Learn an Instrument: Rediscovering a Passion

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One of the definitive moments in my life is sitting on the couch staring at my mother’s boombox in absolute rapture as Pacabel’s Canon in D played. I was in love. It was without a doubt one of the most beautiful things I had ever heard, the violin. It was not simply an instrument, oh no, this was the very voice of my being. If I lose my ability to speak, let me only speak in notes and songs. If someone gave me a choice between becoming deaf or blind, I would pick blindness every time, do not deny me music, it is the very sustenance of my soul. 

I unfortunately would have to wait several years before being offered the opportunity to play, but in 3rd grade our school offered us music lessons. I was absolutely elated to be able to pick the violin. I would have no other instruments. But oh, how I struggled to master it. The violin is a very easy instrument in principle. After all, how hard can it be? You have four strings, you press down your fingers to shorten said strings in order to achieve the different notes and to produce the sound you move a bow across. Other instruments require learning combinations of key presses to produce the sounds and controlling your breath to go up and down octaves. Surely those are much harder to master. 

It is in fact considered one of the most difficult instruments to learn. In part because it is such an easy thing in principle it lends itself to having a wide variety of producible sounds and variations of intonation. Additionally, it has no guides; each note (with exception of the open strings) must be produced flawlessly with little more than muscle memory and your ear to guide you as you slide your hand up and down the neck of the violin.  The spacing between your fingers varies depending on the “position” you’re in, the higher the position the closer you must space your fingers to produce the correct notes in tune. You are constantly adjusting with little more than a prayer. 

There are no words to describe the thrill of playing with mastery, effortlessly hitting the notes, cheekily moving your bow in just the right way to go from quiet to loud, hitting the bow catch to enhance the power behind the stroke, connecting the notes together in a slur or punctuating them with a staccato. The violin may be one of the most challenging, but it is also one of the most rewarding because it allows you to have so much expression and creativity with the interpretation of a piece of music. 

This isn’t to knock other instruments or to write a post about the superiority of one instrument over the other. For me, the violin is the best instrument it speaks to me in a way no other instrument or creative expression can. Which is really what this bucket list item is for me. It’s about utilizing the violin to express myself in an entirely new way. Playing is a simple joy. 

My collection of intermediate pieces that I have chosen to master over the next year or so

Sadly this was not always the case. I loved the violin and my parents knew this, so they encouraged me to pursue a potential music career. For reasons, I will not fully explain; I ended up with PTSD and unfortunately a secondary anxiety disorder. This greatly negatively impacted my ability to play. From a psychological perspective, my voice was silenced. I tried to hold on to it but the more I fought to keep my voice the worse it got and the worse my playing got. After high school, having failed my auditions for acceptance into a music program, I put the violin away. I kept telling myself that it was only temporary and I would practice again soon. It wasn’t until nearly 17 years later that I picked it back up again. 

I can’t say exactly what makes it different this time, only that I am playing 100% for myself. It isn’t to perform or to achieve anything. It was remembering why I loved playing in the first place, to reclaim that joy rather than focusing on achievement. Not having that pressure to compete has made going back to music like falling in love all over again. I think sometimes when we start to push ourselves into making our passions a profession or career or business it robs us of that joy. I probably wouldn’t have lost my music for 17 years if my violin playing had only been for joy as it is now. Granted the PTSD and secondary anxiety didn’t help but I wouldn’t have felt anxious about my playing if the playing had only been for its own sake and not my entire future. 

I cannot describe in words what it feels like to play now. Only that it feels like coming home. I approach it with a child’s enthusiasm and uncritical spirit. Mistakes are not a death sentence but a whimsical learning opportunity. I don’t mind people listening to my practice sessions, let them listen! I am in my own world once my boy hits the strings and I am in love with the violin once again. I almost never go a day without playing. It sustains me as much as food or water. A life without music was a life without color.  

Revisiting a piece I had mastered in middle school.

 I could have checked off “learn and instrument” from my reverse bucket list and continued to allow my violin to languish in the closet, but I didn’t because this wasn’t about learning to play an instrument, it was about rediscovering something that was lost and reclaiming it as my own. I wonder dear reader what creative outlets have you lost over the years? What passions have lain fallow under the guise of failure and self-doubt? What have you stopped doing because you weren’t “good enough”? What might happen if you picked it back up again? Would you rediscover a childlike wonder? Would you find yourself itching to get back to it after work? Would you find yourself refreshed in a way you haven’t been in a long time, like a desert after a rainstorm? Remember this isn’t to “turn your passion into a career”, so often that mindset was the very thing that turned you off your passion to begin with. Dear reader, you need not justify all that you do, sometimes you just love something; it brings you joy and that is the only justification that you need to pursue it 

How can you rekindle your lost passions?

If you’re like me, you may find your instrument hidden away in a closet somewhere only in need of a little TLC to get started once again. Perhaps, it requires a trip to the art store. Maybe you need to reach out to an intramural sports team.  Whatever it is, chances are you already know how to get back into it,  you just need to take the steps to do it. Even something like dance can be done by just clearing a little space in a room. After several months of play, I invested in new strings. After several more months, I am in search of a violin teacher to help coach me further.

30-Day Meditation Challenge 

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Some of my bucket list items come from the desire for self-improvement. I have written about how certain things that grace the typical bucket list are representative of some higher value like health. Learning to meditate comes out of that value system. I do want to be a healthy individual physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. I had hoped that learning would help me achieve this continuous goal. 

Meditation isn’t something I had been able to do before this challenge. In the movies, they’re always talking about “clearing your mind”. I don’t know about any of you, but my mind is never quiet. It’s always going, thinking of new things, making new connections, analyzing, processing, creating and making up an entire new worlds or languages. I often have trouble sleeping not because I’m up worrying about anything. No, I have a vivid and active imagination. I’ll space out and be dreaming up a whole creative story without even really being conscious of it. So being able to “clear” my mind is almost impossible.

I tried a meditation app which told me to picture my mind as a horse that I’m gently lassoing and making the rope shorter and shorter in order to learn the skill of clearing my mind. It would have me try to build up the time of having a clear mind with short bursts and to not worry if the thoughts drift in. It didn’t really work. My mind does not shut up, like ever. I would be just taking in the sound of a fan and suddenly, I’m thinking about the wind and thunderstorms and writing a poem about a gothic fairy prince stealing children like in the German poem Erlkoenig. I am very easily distracted. 

The word meditation comes from a latin word meaning “to ponder” but the practice of meditation is far older than even the latin language itself going back perhaps 150,000 or even 200,000 years. There are some theories that propose that the very act of “fire-gazing” meditation caused key changes in the brains of our ancestors to give rise to humans meaning that meditation may be older than the human species itself. There is a lot of evidence to suggest a long history of meditative states being used in rituals and shamanic practices. The earliest written records of the practice are found in the Hindu Vedas about 1500 BCE, but It isn’t as many may think strictly an Eastern practice. Records of meditative practices exist in the records of ancient Greeks, the Jewish Torah, druidry practices of the pagans spanning Ireland, France and Spain and even the Christian tradition. However, it got its more secular roots in the late 70’s from Kabat-Zinn when he founded the Stress Reduction Clinic which helped spawn the mindfulness movement in psychology. 

Going into the second summer of the pandemic, I found myself with a little more time at work than usual, in that I actually could take my 30 minute lunch break instead of shoving food in my mouth at my desk for about five minutes in between clients and writing my notes. We were also one of the only agencies not working from home because the nature of my job required me to work directly with people. This meant the common areas of our office building were sitting empty. 

Considering we were entering the second year of the pandemic and there didn’t seem to be a real end in sight to the ongoing upheaval as the affect shocks continued to roll their way through our society, it seemed that it was the opportune time to expand my repertoire of stress management. So I decided to spend a month meditating on my lunch break. I wasn’t doing it as part of a social media craze or anything, I just wanted to try meditation for 30 days and see whether my overall stress was reduced. I once heard a habit takes about 30 days, it actually is closer to 66 days. 

I went to one of the common rooms which was usually vacant away from any distractions or noise and pulled up youtube on my phone. A quick search yielded a 30 day meditation for beginners with most of the videos lasting about 20 minutes. I put myself in a comfortable position on the floor, closed my eyes and hit play. A soothing male voice then introduced me to the world of meditation. It was unlike any meditation I had ever tried before. 

Instead of telling me to clear my mind, my guide invited me to take in all the different sounds to let them flow into my mind and just notice the things around me. Instead of trying to “clear my mind” and ignore things, I was told to become aware of my surroundings. It was the first successful meditation I had ever tried and it was enjoyable. The previous times even a 10 minute habit a day quickly became a dreaded chore. Listen, if your “relaxation” technique becomes a dreaded chore, you’re not relaxing. He also had me try things like walking meditation, which also jived with me. I am someone who fidgets a lot and has trouble sitting still so a walking meditation was perfect for those days that I just needed to move. Ironically by not fighting all the inputs my brain was much quieter than when I was trying to not focus on the inputs and just exist. 

After 30 days, I don’t know that I found my overall stress was that much reduced, but I did have another tool in my belt for handling stress. There are times when I do take a few moments to get a cup of tea and meditate on the tea itself. The principles that I learned and the skill that I began to develop are things I use and have used in my own social work practice. It gave me a better understanding of meditation and a different way of communicating its principles to clients. I actually really enjoyed my daily meditation, so much that even afterwards I continued to visit his videos and listen to his guided mediations. Sadly, work did pick up again and I wasn’t able to keep up with the new lunch time habit. I did not find a way to incorporate it consistently at home. 

Overall, it was a good experience and I do recommend you try it. You may find, like me, that the usual guided meditations don’t work for you. Fear not! You may be neuro-atypical and a

different approach is needed to achieve the same effect. Remember there are many forms of mediation that have been developed over the millenia, it isn’t a one size fits all. Sitting cross legged on the floor breathing deep and clearing your mind is one form. Talking a meditative walk may be more effective for you. It isn’t about the how, more developing the skill of being able to relax and allow the world to happen around you without the need to change it. 

How can you learn to meditate?

It’s easy! There are many aps and youtube channels which take you through various kinds and methods of meditation. The key is finding one that resonates with you. Maybe you find one voice soothing or another irritating (pick the soothing voice), maybe telling you to “notice” things starts your brain racing and you need a different sort of strategy. Experiment and try it. It’s a crazy world and it seems that we are continuing to move from one global crisis to the next. While it won’t fix the crisis, meditation can help give you the extra edge to navigate your way through it successfully. 

I watched a 30 Day Meditation Challenge from One Mind Dharma on Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/@oneminddharma/playlists

Completed: 2021

Miles from home: Can be completed anywhere

Cost: $0-10 depending on the app you use 

Art Gallery Opening

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It was a beautiful day in late June, one of those rare, comfortable mid-summer days. The ones where the humidity is low and a cool light breeze blows through the air. After driving about twenty minutes to Intercourse, Pennsylvania through rolling farmlands, I arrived to what might at first seem a rather curious sight. Nestled among the shops peddling Amish made goods, quilts and antiques, an art gallery was hosting its grand opening. Curious indeed – but only to those not in the know about Lancaster’s not so secret art scene. I eagerly stepped into the gallery certain of what I would find.

A few minutest later, the sound of a violin and cello serenaded me as I sipped on a chilled glass of rose and took in the latest collection of art by Freiman Stoltzfus – personal friend and brilliant artist. A small crowd meandered inside speaking in hushed tones to one another excitedly. I caught snippets of conversation as I pursued almost as intrigued by those around me as the art itself. Who doesn’t love people watching? By all accounts, they were as enamored by the art as I was, but of course, his work was resplendent, as always. 

Fellow art enthusiasts

Naturally, I wanted to gush at him for a job well done one his second gallery, but one does not take up too much of an artist’s time on an evening like this. A gallery opening is not the time for catching up and conversing with the artist, but a time for him to mix and mingle with the crowd to sell his art. Manners dictated that I give him a polite hello, a brief congratulations and then space to do his job. An intimate dinner at a later time would be more than sufficient to catch up. 

Others mingled nearby, appreciating his use of color in combination with that subtle geometry of nature so prevalent in his works. Somehow his pieces manage to convey movement as well as sound, one can almost hear the pieces of Bach and Vivaldi when looking at them. His juxtaposition of nature and architecture transforms groves of trees into churches and flowers into stained glass windows. Many of his pieces harken back to his Amish roots and feature quilt patterns, pastures, fields and orchards.

I am always dazzled by the re-imagine of the themes that frequent his work. While he may often feature flowers or music, each time a different rendering or another motif has been added to the repertoire. As of this writing, his most recent motif has been Japanese, as he spent about a month visiting a friend in Japan. It is most reminiscent of Van Gogh’s own post-Japan phase. Who can blame either artist for being so enchanted by a country who created an entire profession dedicated to being a living work of art, the geisha? 

When one pictures a gallery opening, perhaps you see in your mind’s eye wealthy men and women milling around in a stark white room, sipping wine as they pretentiously critique the art that adorns the walls. Their oblique vocabulary and near incomprehensible assessment of the pieces in question may lead you to believe that such a place would not be for you. I assure you dear reader that art is indeed for everyone. After all, even the Neanderthals made art! The need and desire to create is embedded in our DNA! I am not recommending we jet off to New York City to attend some opening where an artist has squiggled across the page as some sort of obtuse commentary on the state of the world or art or some other thing. 

Freiman welcoming us all to his gallery

Don’t get me wrong, while I am not an aficionado of the art world and certainly not contemporary or modern or postmodern or whatever we’re calling current art these days, I can appreciate art as a commentary piece. I just object to having to read an entire essay in order to understand a work – at that point, you probably could have skipped the art and gone to the essay, but to each their own! Although, one could make an argument that the piece itself conveys emotions that an essay cannot. I shall halt in my musing less this become its own essay on modern art and its merits. I shall leave you to your own musings, gentle reader. 

This post is for those of us who want to appreciate a more accessible, down to earth art. Few people are going to look at a Renaissance, Neo-classical or Pre-Raphaelite painting and scratch their heads going “I don’t get it”. They at least can identify the subject matter even if they might not fully understand what the artist was trying to convey, the culture surrounding its creation and the values of that culture to influence the work. These however are a good 200 – 400 years old in terms of styles and one may be forgiven thinking the only art being produced these days are bananas taped to walls. However, there are many artists who paint in the older styles with a modern flare. Not every artist is a pretentious snob deriding the masses for simply not “getting” their art and walling art off as some sort of exclusive club. Most, if not all, really are producing art for everyone. They want their pieces to be appreciated by the most unsophisticated child to the greatest art critics of our time. They range from the bright playful colors of Brito, to the surrealist fantasies of Nam Das, to the impressionist Slava Ilyayev and beyond. 

There are many places in the various towns and cities across America where these artists gather either to sell together as a collaborative effort or in their own small galleries. Some blend art and craft together in an almost seamless line where you can’t quite decide where craft becomes art. I suppose the easiest is that crafts tend to have a practical purpose whereas art simply exists for beauty’s sake. I recommend going and checking out the local artists. I especially love speaking with them, learning about their passion, hearing why they tend to pick certain subjects or colors. Go and check them out, see which artist speaks to you and then lend them your support! 

Whether you attend a gallery opening or not, do take time to look at art. You will find your spirit enriched by the experience. Art connects us, communicates with us in a way words cannot, what we see reflected in art is also a reflection of ourselves. Art is creation and destruction. Art reaches across boundaries. Art can propel movements and shake empires. Art can also be a simple thing like a deep breath after a long day of work or a cool glass of water on a hot day. But whatever art is, it is for everyone. 

One his his many cartography inspired pieces

How can you go to an art gallery or exhibition opening?

It’s simple! Find your local art community and watch out for events. You may find your local university frequently displays artists or even one night events at your library. You may be surprised at the talent you see displayed or that your local artist is actually world renowned! Some may be a bit more humble on both counts, but that wasn’t really the point.

Completed: July 2021

Miles from home: 15 miles

Cost: Free to go (most openings are)

Art Cost: You most likely will not be able to purchase the art at an opening because let’s face it, we’re budget bucket listers and having 3 grand to drop on even a modest painting is not something we can do. However, many artists have alternatives such as giclées and prints. Freiman usually has a small collection of 6×6 paintings for $125 to help make his art accessible to those who want original art without the large price tag. 

See a Live Play: Shakespeare in the Park

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Perhaps, I owe many of these adventures to my mother because while she did not teach me these principles directly she set the example. Growing up, we didn’t have a lot of money. I wore my sister’s clothing once she grew out of it, shopped at thrift stores and grocery outlets, ate leftovers, and used the library as a primary source of entertainment. We rarely went on trips longer than a day, but my mother worked hard to ensure my childhood was still enriched. She scoured the newspapers and kept her ear to the ground for low cost or free events. It was at a time when the internet didn’t really exist and being on the lower end of the economic scale, we were late adopters of most technology. I remember going to things like a bank opening and riding a pony, visiting museums when it was free admission for kids and going to concerts at our church or library. One of these events was the annual Shakespeare in the park play and it remains to this day one of my favorite childhood memories. 

Every summer, we’d pack up a picnic dinner, chairs, blankets and head to the park. We’d stake our place among the quickly growing crowd. After eating sandwiches and drinking the rare soda, my brother, sister and I were allowed to go play on the playground with the other children until the play began. We would let our imagination run wild on the playground imagining dragons or fairies around every corner. We would make quick friends of the other children that were there to join in our games even though the friendship lasted less than an hour. Despite our fun, our parents never had to entice us away from the playground because we were so eager to watch the real magic begin. There was nothing so enchanting as a play by the bard himself.

Lake at Longs Park

The plays were put on by the Theater of the Seventh Sister, named after the seventh star of the pleiades constellation. It was a group that put on performances from the late 80’s through late 2010’s. These were by no means broadway spectacles but it didn’t matter with the generous support of the community, these phenomenal actors and actresses brought Shakespeare’s comedies to life each year as part of a larger arts in the park summer series. I remember sitting on a blanket at just eight years old completely spellbound as they spoke in the poetry of the plays, absorbing the rhythm of iambic pentameter. The heat of the summer melted away and I was transported to another place and time. The experience solidified both my adoration of Shakespeare and my love of live theater. 

I will not hold up theater over film or television as some sort of superior artform nor will I say that the opposite is true. Both have their place, but film and television is far more common and unfortunately far more accessible. Many people have not had the opportunity or privilege of watching a live performance. It is very different to see a story spring forth with moving sets and props. The way they speak to communicate emotions is not the same way as in a film, their movements and expressions are more exaggerated. 

The Globe by Richard Croft is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.0

It is fun to see how the same words can be reinterpreted by an actor, with different emphases or cadences. Where one might let their voice break of heartbreak, another may get more forceful with anger, both valid interpretations. I often find myself responding more on an emotional level to a live performance than to a recorded one on a screen. Perhaps because there is a more direct connection with a live person, when one could reach out and touch them, it feels somehow more real even if the sets are clearly more fake. That is the strange paradox of a live performance, when so much is stripped away by the very nature of a play, what is left can seem more real than a movie filmed with a full set. I do not remember all the films I have seen. I do not usually have strong emotional reactions to movies. I certainly don’t remember most of the episodes of the hundreds of shows I’ve consumed, but I do remember the plays. I remember how they made me feel. I remember how the actors moved, the inflection in their voices. I remember magic. To this day, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, The Tempest, A Comedy of Heirs and The Taming of the Shrew remain etched in my mind. I can still hear the echoing voices projected from the amphitheater. 

How you can complete this item: 

If you have not seen a live play, I do recommend you go to one. It doesn’t have to be Shakespeare. While he is considered by many to be one of the greatest playwrights that ever lived, he is not for everyone, much in the same way not everyone enjoys Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicals or think Taylor Swift is the greatest song writer that ever graced the stage (I would be one of those people). Find what would interest you, there are plenty of plays to interest anyone. Be like my mother, scour the newspapers (or facebook events page) to see what live shows may be in your area. Many cities support the arts and try to help the public access them by putting on shows in places like parks or larger theaters. Pack a picnic, let the kids play on the playground until the show begins and then lean back in your chair and lose yourself for an hour or two in something truly phenomenal. 

Completed: Childhood

Miles from home: 12

Cost: Free