music, therapy, and me

One of my quests for this year is to rip all of my CDs (yep, I still have CDs) onto my computer so I have the music in digital form without having to stream. So, I have been ripping CDs and listening to more music lately. I have realized that music has been missing from my life lately... Now, let me clarify because I am musicking all the time with my clients, but I have not been engaging in music for me lately. I listen to what my clients want to hear, not what I need in my own musical journey. So, part of this quest is to remind me of music for me. I was asked why I still have all of my CDs, and the simple reason is that I paid good money for all of these, and I don't want to give them away! I will keep them for as long as I possibly can! As I was listening and ripping and appreciating the music I have collected over the years, I have started to select songs for specific reasons (because I am a music therapist and goals are ALWAYS things that I think about - even for myself). One ...

I am in a period of change. This is partially due to my age, I am sure, and partially due to the fact that I have moved into a new home, and partially due to the fact that there are so many things happening in the world that there isn't much that remains static. Things are changing all around us, and it is sometimes difficult to keep up.  So, I am feeling a sense of accomplishment this morning. I woke up at 3:30 (my usual waking time these days) and finished a book. I have been reading Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett since Monday. It was nice to get to the ending. If you haven't read it, just know that I loved the Amazon series (there is a second season coming!!), and then I read the book. The series was very close to the book - something that I value in a remake and that doesn't happen often enough for me. After I finished the book, I took the pieces of furniture down to the office/studio to set up. Before I started that project, though, I looked at my utili...

There are some days where I want to stay in bed all day and others, like today, where I get up right when I'm supposed to and get lots of things done. I'm never sure what the reasoning is behind all this, but I try to take advantage of these bursts of energy when they happen. This morning, in the past hour, I've finished a load of laundry, answered lots of emails, finished my service (all but sermon) for church on Sunday, started arranging a training session for a music therapist across the globe, and covered all of my social media accounts to catch up on all emails. I feel very accomplished...and at 5:12 am! This is a good feeling. Yesterday was a totally different story here at home. I did NOT want to get up and I ended up starting my day an hour later than usual because of that feeling. There wasn't anything at work that was making me anxious or nervous or anything that I could identify, but I just enjoyed the warmth of my covers and did not want to move. I wan...

I received some news yesterday that kinda threw me into a tizzy. The news is good, but is along the lines of "that thing you thought you had four more months to coordinate? Yeah, maybe only a month now." I can't share any more details, but I can tell you that I am going to be spending some time today trying to see if I can figure out what has to be done immediately. This is actually a good thing for me. In the past seven days, I've had the "I'm feeling like I need a challenge" thoughts as one project wrapped up, and I was trying to come up with another one. I'm sure that this happened partially to get me going on something.  So, thank you, Universe, I appreciate the challenge. As a result of this new challenge, my plans for Friday have changed a bit. I really need to put things back where they belong in my music therapy clinic. I've either been sick or isolated in my office for the last two weeks, so things have piled up inside the cabinet...

I didn't get much time to write this morning, so I am making it up to myself by writing another post on this early weekend hour. The first week of the new year is almost over, and MY ROOM IS FINISHED!! It only took me 2 weeks... Oh, I feel the need to say that again. MY ROOM IS FINISHED! I am feeling things that I haven't felt in a long time. I am feeling happy. I am feeling that I can move. I am feeling like I have enough space to do the things that I have wanted to do with my clients but haven't been able to do because we had no personal space available. That isn't a problem any more! Do you ever feel like you are trapped? In a dead-end job? In a bad relationship? In a car sitting in the middle of the freeway? I do, and it is the most frustrating experience that I have (and it happens on a pretty regular basis). My last music therapy environment felt like a trap. It was dark, small, and irregular in shape (the only wall was a curved wall - bounced sound a...

****CAUTION FOR ALL YOU NON-MUSICIANS OUT THERE***** This is NOT the month to be telling the musicians in your life that they really need to slow down and enjoy the season. It's just NOT the time! It's getting busy around the music therapy room these days. I have to find out if the new principal wants a holiday sing along at the end of the semester (exactly 24 days away from today). She probably will because that's the type of person she is, so I'll be coordinating that program.  We were contacted last week about a surprise graduation ceremony occurring on that day as well, so I'll be cancelling services in order to coordinate the sound and music for that ceremony.  We have an all-school special event next Tuesday that will take over most of next Monday afternoon (one of my prep/planning times) and all of Tuesday, so no services that day.  I will be at the doctor this Wednesday for my final post-surgery check and am hoping to be released from care at that tim...

I had a very productive day yesterday. I washed dishes, organized all of the papers in my desk sorter, and cleaned the bedroom. I also rearranged some of the bookshelves, wrote a blog post, made chicken teriyaki in the crock pot, watched lots of Psych and Star Wars , finished one book and started another, and vacuumed. I split up hours into 30 minutes for me and 30 minutes for my home. It really worked wonders for me and my environment. As I was getting ready for sleep yesterday, I happened to see the moon and found that it was getting close to full. This explained quite a bit for me - I tend to cycle with the moon. I looked it up, and the moon will be full tomorrow. This should help me figure out how to cram more stuff to do into my afternoon and early evening. I have worked with those who swear that there is no full moon effect on others. I have to scoff because I am a person who has ups and downs associated with the phases of the moon. My poor mother had to wait an extra three ...

I am a movie fan and have this tendency to fall in love with a song that comes from a movie. I then have to go on a hunt for that particular song and cannot rest until I find that song. Thank goodness for iTunes - it has made the search SO much easier than it was in the golden past. Back then, I'd have to watch the credits, try to figure out the name of the song at the very end of the credits, and then try to find the song recorded somewhere. Now I just go on the internet, and VOILA! There's the song!   This song is an example of something that I just fell in love with when watching a movie. The movie, ME, Myself, and Irene , wasn't one that I really enjoyed, but this song caught my ear and wouldn't let go. I bought the soundtrack to the movie simply so I could have this song for my own. The song is The World Ain't Slowing Down by Ellis Paul. I haven't bought anything else by Ellis Paul, but I am thinking that I need to do so. He seems to have the ty...

The pastor at the church where I work starts off each service with a time to quiet ourselves. (He doesn't really know too much about using music to assist in the process as we usually launch off into some rip-rousing verse of a familiar song, but it's the thought, I guess.) I never really get to the quiet center part of the experience, but I like the concept. I enjoy finding moments of quiet in the midst of a busy day. I have a spot at work that I go to sit in when the noise and bustle of the music therapy room takes over (the A/C unit sounds like a jet engine taking off much of the time). It is in the hallway, in a window nook that faces east. The bench there just fits my leg length, and it is next to a very large plant-tree hybrid, so there is some fresh oxygen right next to the seat. I go there to sit, to think, to dream, and to be part of, yet removed from, the rest of the school. The environment isn't that quiet, but I am able to find that quiet center there. T...

I can tell you, morning comes awfully early during conference. I have been driving in every morning and driving home every evening to 1) save money and 2) sleep in my own bed and 3) rest my injured body so I can avoid getting overtired and pneumonia again and 4) cruise into surgery in two and a half weeks without another issue, so my conference experience this year hasn't been the same as in year's past, but I am finding that this just doesn't matter. Conference is exhausting! My conference experience these days is to be in meetings and to present information to others. I don't often get to go to concurrent sessions, or CMTE courses, or institutes. Yesterday, I went to two concurrent sessions (my only ones of the entire conference since I won't be at conference on Sunday morning - my choice). I went to one presentation about developmental theories of supervision (very detailed). I felt bad leaving at the time the session was over, but the presenter was still goi...