music, therapy, and me

Oh my! I had forgotten this source of inspiration for me. I am so glad that this was the randomly selected post for this morning because I need this back in my life! Let me explain!! Today's post comes to you from July 8, 2013 . It reminded me of someone I used to follow pretty regularly and someone who inspired me by his story and his art. Danny Gregory is someone who writes about some of the things that I experience - he calls his "monkeys" and I call mine "goblins," but they are the same thing - the thoughts that keep me from doing what I want to do... I had completely forgotten Mr. Gregory, and I am so grateful that this post came up again. I have signed up for a weekly essay and have bookmarked his YouTube channel. I will subscribe to his channel as well once I've moved to the television. I think the best thing about Mr. Gregory's work for me is the fact that much of what he used to write about (and that I hope he will continue to write about ten ye...

It is Tuesday again, and I am gearing up for five groups and one individual. Usually, I have two individuals on this day, but one is away for the week, so I get a bit of a break. Not much, but a bit. The temperature is cooler - both outside and in my music therapy room - so tempers seemed to have cooled as well. We will see if that continues, but for the moment, I am enjoying the more relaxed atmosphere in the rooms next to me.  I felt the urge to sit down with my ideas book yesterday to record some ideas that have come to me as I have been moving into the role of observer rather than therapist. I am physically moving my body closer and closer to my office where I will spend most of the rest of my intern's time to provide supervision but not interference. I tend to be more likely to write TMEs when I am in my office for interns' sessions than when I am primary therapist. When I have to remove myself from client interactions, my brain starts to design things to do with those cli...

Did you know that I have a YouTube channel? Look for MJ Landaker, MT-BC to find all sorts of recorded presentations, Sunday School videos (I didn't have access to any other channel), some music therapy thoughts and therapeutic music experiences (TMEs). I don't post things very often, but there is lots of stuff there, so please check it out, and if you like what you see, then like, subscribe, and hit the bell so you can get notifications when I post new content. For now, though, here is a video from a bit ago (you can see a cameo from my Bella) showing off one of my favorite instruments!! Have a great Tuesday, all!!  

You know how we therapists are often our own worst critics? Yep. That's me. I am the loudest when it comes to my failings and things that I "NEED TO/SHOULD" do better in all areas of my life. No one is harder on me than I am, and I carry lots of shame when others correct me or criticize how I do things. Yesterday was not a particularly bad day, but it was not my most efficient day. I filmed two videos for my YouTube channel, uploaded them both, took about three hours for a worker's compensation doctor visit, and got very little done for the rest of the day. I did do a bit of goal brainstorming (I bought 13 books from the Barcelona $10 textbook sale) for my professional development for the next year. I cleared off the loveseat (one of my decluttering foci for this week), and then started to get my reading routine off the ground. I intend to spend some of my work days in reading this year. Yesterday's reading was not done during work hours, but I had to keep myself ...

There are systems involved in every thing we do as music therapists - even documentation. For me, documentation is a professional responsibility that is not required by my administrators. This translates into several facts that affect how and when I document. First, I can document in the manner and style that fits me the best. This is a good thing. Second, I can set my own requirements and timelines for documentation. This can be a good thing, but can also mean that I am missing something important to notate. Third, if I decide to change documentation formats, I can do so without talking to other people about it. I have spent some time thinking about the nuts and bolts of documentation. Check out my YouTube channel here to see some of my Music Therapy Morsels about how I do my job and things to consider when setting up documentation strategies and systems.   For me and for my clients, the most important part of documentation is response to intervention. Most of document...

Nothing is broken!! I went to the doctor yesterday who did all sorts of strength tests on my various joints and bones and his diagnosis is the same as mine - lots of sprains, but no breaks in my post-fall body. We chatted a bit about balance development so that I don't end up having to go to a nursing home when I'm a bit older due to falls such as these. We also talked about how much more difficult it is to get over things like this now that we have reached our age (that's right, my doctor is my age). I went home, put on some topical pain pads on the ankle and the arm, wrapped up in compression bandages and then rested by printing out 42 pages of visual aids and sitting and cutting things out. I feel better today than I did yesterday, but I'm still moving slowly.  The good thing is that my sessions do not require me to move quickly. I may be able to tolerate high fives and fist bumps today - we'll see. I have found that I am slowing down in all sorts of th...

It is another snow day here in my neck of the woods. I am getting ready to head out a bit early so I can get to work. We'll see if I am successful or not. I'm not looking forward to going out, but both of my interns have obligations to do, and they don't go to work if I don't go to work on these inclement weather days. MY rule is that I don't do ice. I need to put on my clothes (rather than my pjs), layer on the cold weather gear, and go outside to see how much ice there is out there - that will help me make my decision about whether I chance it today or not. (There is an inch of snow covering about two inches of slush out there right now.) All of my roads are completely covered which means icy conditions and snow covered roads the entire way to work. I hate missing snow days, but I also hate sitting in ditches (which I've done on one of these days) and having thousands of dollars worth of car repairs (which I've done on a day that should have been an inclem...

There are times when my mind gets mired into specific trains of thought. This is one of those times, I think, and I am trying really hard to pull myself out of the quicksand that is inclement weather days into something else. I've been writing lots about the "me" side of this blog lately and not so much about the "music" and "therapy" parts. It's easy to do when your schedule gets messed up and all you see is more inclement weather in your future... Time to pull myself up and out. I love being a music therapist. I love working with other music therapists to help them get to the best type of therapist that they can be. I thoroughly enjoy working with music therapy students and helping them figure out how to become music therapists during their internships. I like doing these things both in person and via webinars/recordings. I love starting an idea, offering that idea to other people, and then watching that idea expand in ways I never would ha...

It's that time of year again. The television shows constant weight-loss program advertisements, fitness centers are advertising New Year's specials, and all work-out apparel and equipment are on ridiculous sales!! Many people are thinking about their New Year's resolutions, and I've decided to check up on my New (School) Year resolutions. These are my personal resolutions. I have another list of professional resolutions, but they are pretty boring - continue to develop the internship program, continue to provide music therapy services, etc. Yawn! So, here are my personal resolutions and intentions. I always start my intentions at the beginning of the new school year because that is my major checkpoint. January is simply the middle of the school year for me, so I've found that resolutions made in January are not nearly as effective for me as the ones that I make in August. So, here is an update on my goals from August. The original text is in black type and the ...

My secret shame...I watch too many YouTube videos! Everyone has at least one weakness, and mine is that I am currently spending WAY TOO MUCH time watching bullet journal planning videos. If you read this blog on a regular basis, you know that I use the bullet journal method for my life - personally and professionally. I enjoy watching what others do with their journals - mine is definitely NOT fancy or pretty. It is functional, and I have FINALLY found a system that works for me, but I still get pulled into the YouTube world of Bullet Journal Plan With Me videos. These videos all happen the same way. A person with a great manicure focuses the camera onto a wonderful background where the journal is featured. There is almost always a cat who shows up to see what is going on (so far, I only have the cat to contribute - my manicure is never GREAT!). There is a cute theme that is accompanied by a variety of artistic skills - watercoloring, stickers (often designed by the star of the v...

Today is an anniversary, of sorts! I've written two thousand, eighteen posts as of today!!! I am astounded that I am still writing these daily thoughts, twelve years after I started this entire blog. I initially started a blog because I could and because it seemed to be a good medium for me to figure out music therapy thoughts and problems. My first year was not a very productive year. If you go back, you'll see that there was only one back in 2006 - a very innocuous post about the weather in Kansas at the moment. The next years brought some more thoughts, but I didn't really figure out what I wanted this blog to be until about 2014. I now write about 338 posts per year, about several different music therapy topics, and about lots of "me" topics! Now, I know that this is a TME Tuesday, so I am going to share a YouTube video that I recently shared in a songswap challenge on Facebook. I am going to make videos a priority when it comes to my next stuff to do, so ...

One of the things that I do occasionally (but may be doing a bit more now that I'm getting a bit more familiar with things like YouTube and my video editing software) is produce short music therapy-based videos. I sat down yesterday and made one - all about my Always Box - an organization tool that I use to maintain some of the supplies that I need during almost every single session. Just so you know, the purpose behind these morsels is to share tips and techniques about doing music therapy that I've learned in my career as a therapist. These things are not the ONLY right way to do stuff, and I think these videos will act as inspiration for me to investigate how others do things. They are quick (no more than 8 minutes long), and they are meant to help music therapists and students figure out why we do what we do as therapists. Here it is...without further ado - Music Therapy Morsel - the Always Box! (One of the things that I haven't quite figured out yet is how to fi...