Synthesis Sunday: Still Not Reading Much in the Music Therapy World, But...

...I am thinking quite a bit about music therapy and how things work.

It is always interesting when I get pulled into specific thoughts and ways of thinking because these are the times when I become very focused on certain things and lose sight of the bigger picture for a while. After a bit, I do find that I am able to widen my gaze and find where specific thoughts and theories reside within the larger music therapy community. It does take some time for me to move from narrow thoughts to wider thoughts, though.

At the moment, I am into the thoughts about using established melodies and then changing their words to reflect what I need the words to be in the moment. See my post from 2/26/2022 for some short thoughts about that particular topic. I am also spending some time reading a dissertation that a friend of mine asked me to read and comment on - very interesting topic - goes in nicely with my quest for a Grand Unifying Theory of Music Therapy, so I am engaged in some music therapy reading - just not things that I can write about.

My brain keeps clicking away, and I am engaged in deep thoughts, but I am not really ready to synthesize things yet.

I find myself very pulled into different world situations happening around us all. There are far things happening and then there are closer things happening as well - a family friend died after an accident recently while things are escalating in the Ukraine, and Texas is denying health care to some people. There is so much to pay attention to and so much that interrupts thoughts and leads me to offering prayers for peace. Peace for the world. Peace for the Thomas family as they navigate grief and the loss of their father. Peace for those who are suddenly caught up in the pettiness of people who want to limit the definition of what being human means to their own narrow views.

At the same time, all I want to do is to fix things. I do not know what I can do in any of these situations. In times like these, I feel so very small and wonder if there is anything I can actually do.

I do not live in Texas, so I am not directly affected by the directive that is happening there, but I know that my state will probably try to do the same sort of restriction if the legal system supports the new directive that declares that gender affirming healthcare is "child abuse." The governor insists that mandated reporters (like music therapists) report this type of treatment. In my state, the current governor will never make this type of directive, but the legislators might think that it is a good idea to make this into a law. If that is the case, I may need to change professions because I do not agree that the health of my clients is less important than the wishes of the political leaders of my state.

I am not sure what I can do to help out with the global situation happening in the Ukraine. I am not scared of things happening in the world yet, but there is the potential for so much to happen. If I start to dwell on the idea of escalation and war, I get overwhelmed and start to sink into negativity. So, I engage in my prayer practice and try to figure out what I can do.

I know a bit more about how to engage with my family friends who are grieving right now, but I also am not interested in putting just a comment on social media to support them. There are so many comments that happen when a family member dies that it can become overwhelming to share the grief of other people when you are deep in your own grief. I am collecting writings and posts about grief that have helped me as I continue to navigate my own grief journey. I will eventually share those with the family members, but this is not the time. Now is the time to love them.

I have to focus on love.

When the situations in the world start to overwhelm me, I have to go back to the idea of love to help me figure out where I stand. Now, when I start to think about love, I think of it in the Jedi framework (of course!). Love for all life and striving to do no harm to others. Is it love to deny specific healthcare practices to some people but not to all? Is it love to declare that another country has to be invaded? Is it love to bombard a grieving family with your own needs in the moment?

As the sun rises outside, I am getting ready to head to church to lead worship. We will be offering communal prayers. I will be adding my own prayers to our entreaties. There will be prayers for those in Texas who are struggling with what to do. There will be prayers for the people caught up in the conflict in the world. There will be prayers for the Thomas family. That is what I can offer to these situations right now, so that is what I will send out into the universe.

And, then I will come back home and keep thinking about what I can do during these times.