Find An Affirmation

I started yesterday's post talking about the creativity challenge hosted by the Music Therapy Marketplace. We're on day three, and today we are tasked to find an affirmation for ourselves to use before we are intentionally creative. If you are interested in joining us in this challenge, check out the MTM website for more information.

Now I am searching for an affirmation. I've realized that most of my daily creativity comes in these blog posts. There are days when the words just flow, make sense, and are creative in how they view music, therapy, and me. There are other days when things just get stuck. I try and try to create something that makes sense to me, but things just don't work. That doesn't usually affect my therapy day, but it does indicate to me how much I need to work with my creativity - nurturing it and allowing it to happen rather than trying to force it.

Getting ready to get into this Wednesday where anything can happen, I was drawn to a picture on Facebook this morning. Thanks to my Facebook friend, Sharolyn Marie, for liking this picture - it resonates with me today. The statement on the picture states:

Having a rough day?

Place your hand on your heart.

Feel that?

That's called purpose.

You are alive for a reason!

Don't give up!!!

This has lots of meanings on many different levels. For me, it's the reason to keep showing up Wednesday after Wednesday, even when clients are difficult to engage or screaming or trying to hurt each other or other things they haven't tried yet... There is a reason we are here.

There is a bigger reason we are here. You know those days when you feel like people just don't understand what music therapy is and what you do? Those are the days when it's important to remember your purpose. Your purpose is to help the future generations of music therapists to be recognized for the work that they will do. The previous generations of music therapists helped to pave the way for us to make our jobs (believe this to be true) EASIER for us. It is our job to continue the journey for the future of the profession, to keep fighting the fight for recognition, for jobs, for our clients, to help the profession grow and become more and more a part of the regular treatment and expectations of clients.

I'm rapidly becoming an "old fogey" of music therapy (it will happen to us all eventually), and one of the privileges of being someone who has been in this profession over two decades is that I can see how our profession has moved forward in areas of recognition, research, and response. When I first started working as a music therapist, jobs were hard to find. If you weren't a entrepreneur type (which I am NOT), you had to find a job in a related field or move to the few places where jobs were offered. No one knew what a music therapist did or was and the question came often. In the past 23 years, we have made great strides. Sometimes, in the middle of yet another conversation about the value of music therapy for clients, it doesn't feel like we have made strides, but we have. Now, when someone asks me what I do, the question is often followed up by things people have seen on media about the job. The general public is much more aware of music therapy than they used to be. Believe me, it is getting better. Twenty years from now, we will all be astounded at how much we have become part of the mainstream (every step is a step). I can't wait for that day!

Today, however, I am going to remember my purpose. I am going to walk into each and every session with my strategies, and I will continue my purpose trying to make a difference in the lives of the clients in front of me.

(and, I won't scream today, I swear!!)