My Positive Thoughts for Today - Change Your Focus, Change Your Heart

Me with my favorite clinical instrument!

I am so very tired of the ranting mode that I've been in lately that I've decided to give myself (and you as well) a break from complaining and attempt to be uplifting for myself (and you as well, maybe) during this post. It's more than time, and I just have to realize that there are many more negative people out there in the world than I usually encounter. Also, I have to remind myself that people are much more likely to complain about the negative than to remember the positive. I try not to sink into my own patterns of negativity (which are more prevalent in the hot humidity of summer than in the winter), but not everyone has an active positive campaign going on in their lives like I have in mine. I wish they did.

So, being positive, I am going to think about music, therapy, and me.

My job is the same as every other job in the world. 

There are good things about it and there are bad things about it. There are days when the bad things take over my attitude and my outlook, but there are so many more days when the good things are up front and make me remember that being a music therapist is really something great!

My pledge to myself is that I will leave the job I have when it no longer interests me. This is the pledge that I made before I even started being a music therapist, and it is still true to me today. It extends beyond just my "job" into the realm of my profession as well. If music therapy in general ever becomes boring, I'll go work in a book store or find a job in a related field or (shudder) go back to school yet again. This is the deal that I have with myself.

I earned my degrees through paying for them and through my hard work.

I owe nothing to my professors, my internship supervisors, or my profession. If I have to leave to find my happiness, then I can go. There is no guilt associated with doing what is best for me. I've had former interns apologize to me for leaving the profession. I find this is silly! They don't have to continue to be music therapists out of some sort of misguided sense that they owe me anything! They more than paid me back for the time and effort of training them by being my interns! I would rather that they go find something that challenges them and makes them happy than have them stay in a profession or job that makes them unhappy. We often seem to have a misguided sense that we owe something to those who trained or taught us. Hey, I paid LOTS of tuition to those folks - I don't owe them anything! Neither do you!! Don't stay where you aren't happy! That's what you owe - you owe it to yourself to find happiness where you can.

Music therapy is still the best combination of the two things that I love more than anything else in the world - working with people and music.

There is nothing better than watching a student who has always looked at his brothers and sisters playing instruments but has never been able to play his own actually get to play an instrument. Singing a song that makes a woman sit back and close her eyes, breathing deeply and visibly relaxing, is a privilege that many people do not get to share in. Hearing staff members singing one of my songs to encourage clients to transition from someplace other than music therapy is thrilling.

I hope I never lose this sense that this is a great profession that just plain old makes me happy.

There are so many opportunities out there for someone who will look for them.

I have never had a time when I wasn't able to find something to do. I wasn't able to find a job as a music therapist where I lived when I first graduated from school, but I got two separate jobs because of my degree. I was able to put some music therapy into both of those jobs. I am staggered by the number of jobs that cross my inbox every day. There are jobs out there, but you often have to go where the jobs are. There is a job out there that I am considering applying to. I'm not sure that I want the position, but I think I would do myself a disservice if I didn't at least think about it. So, I think I will take this opportunity and try.

I get to play every single day.

My guitar is a major part of my life. I get to spend so much time composing songs, leading singing, helping others find their own sounds, and engaging rough and defiant kids into interaction through games and silly songs and sharing common experiences that I am constantly surrounded by the things that I love most in this life! If that's not job fulfillment, what is?

Music Therapy is a big part of my life, but it is not the only thing I do.

I write most often about music therapy, because it is a big part of who I am and what I like to think about, but I am a well-rounded person away from this keyboard and away from my job. I do lots of things that are not music related at all! I think that's important. I have been watching YouTube videos again (to help me get to sleep), and I have several new projects to try out. I'm looking forward to trying these and seeing if I can replicate them. I find such joy in making visual aids for my clinic and in making paper things for strangers and in making other things as well that I cannot imagine my life without those outlets.

Well, the sun is up, and it is time to go grocery shopping, so I'll leave this here. I'm feeling a bit more positive about myself and going out into the world than I did when I was reading my social media feeds - I really need to figure out if I can block certain ranters from my view...I haven't figured out how to do that within groups yet. Here's one of the pictures from my recent vacation to end all this up!

Diana's Room at the Allerton Garden, Kauai