music, therapy, and me

I have to write several songs today. I have a self-imposed and totally arbitrary deadline of tomorrow for sing about october , and I have a couple of ideas that need songs to go with them. It is time to get to the keyboard and start to write songs. I have the rough ideas started already. I used my project book for brainstorming and came up with several new ideas for the month. Now it is time to put the finishing touches on the edition and release it out into the world. This is the part of being a music therapist that I love the best right now - writing songs and finding things to do with those songs that support typical goals and objectives of clients from all sorts of populations! There is something really satisfying about writing music for clinical application that just fills my cup. I will grab my songwriting kit (more about that kit here ) because my composition process always starts by writing songs using a pencil and paper of some sort. I will sit down with the keyboard and just ...

This weekend was mostly spent in bed, but I did accomplish a weekend challenge from one of my Facebook groups. Every weekend, one of the group members posts a challenge for us to create. This weekend's challenge was a Christmas-themed challenge, and I decided to participate. We had to figure out something with paper that included the following: envelopes, Santa, a holiday saying, glitter (nope for me), and lace. We could replace one of the elements with a button, so I took out the glitter part because I am hopeless with glitter. Here is what I created...  This is an envelope that I made out of cardstock. I covered all of the flaps with scrapbook paper, added some paper lace die-cuts, a picture of Santa, and a holiday sentiment. It is a fancy gift card holder that I will give to our family friend, Mary, this Christmas. I am pretty happy with how it turned out. The entire thing folds into the envelope shape and is held together by the string which wraps around the button on the front...

Sunday comes around about every seven days, and here it is again. I didn't write last Sunday - I don't remember why - so I am here for this week's version of Just a Song Sunday , and I think I have a good topic today... For as long as I have had the means to do so, I have made playlists. Now, when I started, it was taping the radio onto a cassette tape, but now I can curate playlists from various sources to match every mood that I bring and that represents every client that comes to music therapy. It is an ongoing project, to be sure, but it is wonderful to have all sorts of songs at my literal fingertips. The power contained in playlists is not something that should be underestimated. In fact, one of my music therapy heroes (total fangirl here!), Jennifer Buchanan, has a book all about the power of playlists. It's called Wellness, Well Played: The Power of a Playlist  and discusses how playlists enhance our lives. I love Jennifer - she is a dynamic music therapist from...

It's the beginning of the month which means little around here except that it is time to get my month in order. If you are familiar with my blog and way of doing things, then you know that I am a pen and paper person rather than a digital calendar person. I have been using an agenda or planner for most of my life, and I enjoy the routine of writing things down. I have two planners that I design and use on a regular basis. The first is my personal planner. I keep track of chores, appointments, celebrations, and all sorts of stuff in that calendar. My current personal planner is a red covered dot grid journal that I bought from Michaels when they had a buy one, get one sale. I tend to stock up on blank books when those types of sales happen. I have a set pattern for setting up this planner - one week per spread with limited changes to the format. My second journal is my work planner. This is the one that has changed the most recently because my work has shifted from an out-of-home jo...

Friday has come around again, and the first pension payment is sitting in my bank account which is nice because I was terrified that it wouldn't arrive on time. Thankfully, it did, so I get a chance to pay my bills tomorrow without fearing an overdraft. It is amazing how much anxiety comes with money, so it is nice to have that particular fear dissipate this morning. It is Friday which means it is time for something fun - well, fun for me at least. I am trying to establish a routine for my tasks. I want Fridays to be fun as part of my regular routine. I want to do things that are joy-filled and that make me feel happy. For now, that means playing with paper and working on some challenge projects.  The challenge I have for this week includes using Santa Claus, lace, buttons, envelopes, and one more thing (I forget what) to make something. I don't know what I will end up making, but I will figure something out. In order to get this project going, I have to focus on the crafting p...

I am always the most content with myself when I am thinking through a big project. This type of project can be one that allows me to fix a pain point for either myself or for others. It is something that is just interesting to me and something that makes me want to engage in problem-solving. I am developing several projects at the moment, and this is something that is becoming an interesting exercise in project management as well as in attention. I have things to do with various thoughts that I am having - mostly in the realm of "let's talk about this" projects rather than "let's make this" projects, but it is interesting to me how my brain flits from place to place. This is one of the reasons that I have my book to write things down as they occur to me. At this moment, I remembered that I have a Zoom meeting because of my book. I have to be there since I am moderating the session! I also have a couple of laminating projects to do to finish up another idea, ...