Thoughtful Thursday: My Quote for the Week

As I have said, many times before, I have a box of quotations that I keep on my desk. When I remember it, I look at the quote that is visible, and I spend a little bit of time thinking about what the quote means to me in the place where I am. This week's quote was as follows:
Those who devote their lives to a cause greater than themselves always find a larger, fuller life than the one they remembered. - Wilbert E. Scheer
This quote challenged me a bit this week. I had some time this week when the "self" took over and demanded that I not spend my time on the cause of someone or something else.

My two brains warred with each other. The emotional brain was wailing about not wanting to be where I was and wanting to be able to do what I wanted to do. The rational brain was calmly stating, over and over, that what the emotional brain wanted was unsafe and not possible. The rational brain won out, but the emotional brain kept interrupting what was going on and restarting the entire argument over and over again.

On the surface, this quote seemed to fuel my emotional brain, but the more I think about the quote, the more it seems to support my rational brain and the need to take care of self in order to be able to devote that self to a cause. That started me to think about the quote in a different manner.

What is the cause that I have devoted my life to?

The obvious answer is MUSIC THERAPY, but I think it is smaller than that. I think that my cause is to work with my clients to move them towards independence and safe choices for their lives through music and music therapy. It is a small cause, but an important one to the people I interact with daily.

I know I've found a fuller life because of the profession I choose to devote my life to. I hope some of my clients remember some of the things that we have done and use those ideas, concepts, experiences to make life choices that are positive for them. One of the problems with the type of therapy I get to do is that we rarely find out what happens to our clients once they leave the facility. So, I have to trust that something has sunk in and stuck. I know that each one of my clients has taught me, just like each one of my interns has taught me and each one of my music therapy colleagues has taught me.

I'm off to my small cause today, to finish off the extended school year session and to get ready to take some time off. I think I will spend some time thinking about the new quote that is visible in my quote box, and I know that I will spend lots of time making things, cleaning things, and thinking.

Happy Thursday (and last day of ESY). 

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