Happiness Intitiative - Nuts and Bolts
This is the end of the first week of my happiness initiative.
If you missed the first post about my attempt at changing my amygdala and responses to specific situations, it is the one preceding this post. I will go into some more detail about exactly what makes up this initiative in the following paragraphs. Please bear with me as I work through all of this on this blog...I think well when I can produce a product that I can see.
Anyway, this decision to seek happiness has been an interesting experience. It has required some changes in who I see, how I interact, and what I do in particular situations. Let me explain...
Take a Breath - Do you ever find yourself in situations where you are not breathing in a healthy manner? I do. I have asthma and respiratory infections on a regular basis and find breathing to be a challenge at the best of times. When I am involved in a situation that I find negative, I tend to engage in shallower breathing than necessary.
Breathing Initiative - I am purposely taking deep breaths whenever I can, and one just doesn't cut it. I am breathing and feeling the oxygen (as well as all the other gases) moving into my body.
Sing - When I was an intern, my internship director noted that she could tell when I was getting stressed in an interaction because my vocal pitch started to climb. She told me to sing instructions rather than to say them.
Singing Initiative - Taking advice from my ID, Sheryl Kelly, and from the article cited in my last post, I am now singing as much as I can. Picture me hurdling down the rural highways, singing about the dinks who cannot follow the basic rules of the road. I find it to be a funny picture. I am singing to myself, to my clients, to my co-workers. The combination of breathing and rhythmic awareness helps me regulate my emotions.
Leaving - There are just some people out there who are not healthy to hang around. I have decided that I will not become toxic in order to be accepted, so, I am not staying around.
Leaving Initiative - I listen, and then disengage. I also seek out others who are more positive about the job, about their circumstances, about life in general. It is easy to be pulled down and more difficult to be pulled up. I choose people who lift me up.
So, you may be wondering what this has to do with music therapy...
A therapist, first and foremost, has to be able to focus on the client in the session. As a human being, a therapist may have situations going on in a personal life that interfere with focusing on the client. A therapist who is unable to focus on the client is not effective. A therapist who loses focus on the client is heading towards burnout.
Now, I am not saying that a therapist has to be devoid of all emotion. That is not possible, but if a therapist is only able to focus on the negative situations in life, then he or she is not able to assist the client towards their goal. All the therapist will see is the failure, not the small successes.
My goal for the next 7 weeks is to become happier in all areas of my life - work, home, family. Join me?
If you missed the first post about my attempt at changing my amygdala and responses to specific situations, it is the one preceding this post. I will go into some more detail about exactly what makes up this initiative in the following paragraphs. Please bear with me as I work through all of this on this blog...I think well when I can produce a product that I can see.
Anyway, this decision to seek happiness has been an interesting experience. It has required some changes in who I see, how I interact, and what I do in particular situations. Let me explain...
Take a Breath - Do you ever find yourself in situations where you are not breathing in a healthy manner? I do. I have asthma and respiratory infections on a regular basis and find breathing to be a challenge at the best of times. When I am involved in a situation that I find negative, I tend to engage in shallower breathing than necessary.
Breathing Initiative - I am purposely taking deep breaths whenever I can, and one just doesn't cut it. I am breathing and feeling the oxygen (as well as all the other gases) moving into my body.
Sing - When I was an intern, my internship director noted that she could tell when I was getting stressed in an interaction because my vocal pitch started to climb. She told me to sing instructions rather than to say them.
Singing Initiative - Taking advice from my ID, Sheryl Kelly, and from the article cited in my last post, I am now singing as much as I can. Picture me hurdling down the rural highways, singing about the dinks who cannot follow the basic rules of the road. I find it to be a funny picture. I am singing to myself, to my clients, to my co-workers. The combination of breathing and rhythmic awareness helps me regulate my emotions.
Leaving - There are just some people out there who are not healthy to hang around. I have decided that I will not become toxic in order to be accepted, so, I am not staying around.
Leaving Initiative - I listen, and then disengage. I also seek out others who are more positive about the job, about their circumstances, about life in general. It is easy to be pulled down and more difficult to be pulled up. I choose people who lift me up.
So, you may be wondering what this has to do with music therapy...
A therapist, first and foremost, has to be able to focus on the client in the session. As a human being, a therapist may have situations going on in a personal life that interfere with focusing on the client. A therapist who is unable to focus on the client is not effective. A therapist who loses focus on the client is heading towards burnout.
Now, I am not saying that a therapist has to be devoid of all emotion. That is not possible, but if a therapist is only able to focus on the negative situations in life, then he or she is not able to assist the client towards their goal. All the therapist will see is the failure, not the small successes.
My goal for the next 7 weeks is to become happier in all areas of my life - work, home, family. Join me?
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