music, therapy, and me

Welcome to my corner of the world where it is currently storming. The thunder and lightning is going along with a steady rain. The winds haven't kicked up yet, but it will be a windy day as well as a storm-ridden time, and I am feeling restless. I had one client who cried throughout music therapy yesterday. We don't know why, but the client was presenting with a positive affect until entering the music therapy room when the client started to wail. This client does not do this often, so it was a mystery to us all. The client is non-speaking, so trying to figure it all out was difficult. I always want to change a sad mood into a happier mood, but there are times when we just need to wallow. Have you ever seen the episode of The Middle where Frankie is trying to have a good cry? Everything in her life interferes with her attempts to cry out everything that is happening in her body. I have days like that - the only thing that helps me release emotion, hormones, stress, and grief is...

I attended an online training about self-employment taxes as a musician last night. I found it a really good training as it explained things like self-employment tax, quarterly tax payments, and the difference between a hobby and a business. Basically, what I am doing right now is a hobby rather than a business. I am going to change this. Now, I am going to do something that I rarely do - recommend someone to you. If you are someone like me - someone who has NO idea what to do as far as taxes are concerned, then I recommend - Hannah Cole . Her website, sunlighttax.com , is a place where most of the questions can find answers. I have not had the opportunity to delve into all of the resources that Hannah offers, but the webinar that she gave last night was concise, clear, and important to me and my understanding of taxes as a creative professional. Check out her blog for more information about all sorts of things! One of the things that I am thinking about is how I want to pivot from hav...

For some reason, I am having the heebie-jeebies today.  I don't know why, and this may be a side effect of all the medication that I am taking right now, but I am jumpier than usual and a bit over-responsive to the news and commentaries that I am accessing. This is probably a function of said medication and a bit about the political climate that we live in, but for whatever reason, I am going through it.  I thoroughly dislike this feeling of general uneasiness that comes over me with the heebie-jeebies. It's like something is out there, just waiting to take over, and I know it is out there, but I am trying to avoid it. This is the theme of every anxiety dream that I have lately - hiding and avoiding things and people who annoy me. I don't know if I am feeling this way due to the medications or because the world is disintegrating around us all or because my brain is just wanting to take me on a ride. It is a mystery. No matter how I'm feeling, today is a work day, so I w...

I think I may have come to the end of this particular series of Sunday posts. At this point (and for a couple of weeks now), I have tried to come up with something new to talk about, but it has been a struggle. I am thinking it might be time to shift to another type of topic and discussion in this music therapy life of mine. But, what? I like to have a bit of structure to what I write and when I write it. Over the years that I have been writing, I have come into a type of routine. That routine has changed over the years, but I like having a bit of an expectation about what I am going to write each week. It helps to have some structure in my writing life. Without it, I tend to just ramble and babble about things that are not exactly about music or therapy - just about me! So, I want to think a bit about what my Sunday topic will be. I like alliteration, so I think it will be something that starts with an S. Song, sing, strategy, systems, somnolence, so many nice S words. I haven't r...

What?? A trip to the library on a Saturday? Yep. I signed up for a seminar about musicians in my local town and have to head out today to meet with other people. This is a HUGE step for me - going to a place where I will not know anyone to do things that are completely out of my wheelhouse. I am already regretting this decision, but it is something that I need to do. Here's the synopsis of what I'm doing later today:  Want to learn how to turn your art into a sustainable career? Join the library for a special session of What Works, a workshop on entrepreneurship for artists from the Mid-America Arts Alliance.…   So, that's what I am going to do - learn how to turn my art into a sustainable career. I hope that it will be something that I can finally accomplish - making some money from my art and my music outside of a full-time job. We will see what happens. I hope that there are lots of people in the auditorium because I don't want to be one of two - too much attentio...

I answered a strange survey this week about office use. I probably should have ignored it, but I was curious about what they wanted to know. One of the things that I noticed was that there were several questions about whether my office provided me with opportunities for collaboration and camaraderie.  My office does not. I am more than okay with that fact. I think there might be a need to maximize office space at the facility because we are becoming overly top heavy with administration staff who are doing jobs that used to be done with only one person - and now there are five people doing what Larry used to do all by himself. So, I think this is the reason that the survey came out, but I have some issues with the questions that they asked. I feel that they were very skewed towards an extroverted point of view and existence. I am an introvert. I am about as introverted as they come on any scale that anyone has developed. I really need quiet and alone time to recuperate after session...