music, therapy, and me

My prime thinking and working time is from about 4am until about 10am. This is the time where my body is refreshed and my mind can focus on all sorts of things that I get a bit tired of doing later in the day. As a result, I try to use the mornings to do most of my deep thinking. I find it much easier to establish routines in the morning than I do in the afternoons and evenings. Today's topic is my work morning routine = because I have an effective morning routine. My afternoon routine tends to be a bit less refined, so you get to hear about the mornings. My day starts when I walk into the music therapy room. I start off by turning on the lights. Usually, the first bank of lights is on (they are motion-sensing lights, so the lights themselves aren't on, but the switch is), so I turn on the lights that do not have the sensor attached. I then open up my office space. My office space is a mess. It always is a mess because I tend to need lots of things around me. I tend to ignore t...

I did everything that I wanted to do last evening. I got home, spent some time organizing my space and evening, and I did all the things. I finished sing about april - (you could purchase it here , if you want...). I found out that our Monthly Music Therapy Meets have been approved for CMTEs - no revisions!! Boom! I was also asked to develop a course for a different online platform. Eeeee! I was out of my bed until 7:50 and then fell asleep pretty easily. That's where the good things kinda stopped. All night, I woke up and struggled with getting back to sleep. I don't know if I was dreaming or startling myself awake or responding to hot flashes, but I woke up about five times that I remember. After all that, I dozed until my light turned on at 4:19am. I dragged myself out of bed, did my hygiene, and am now staring at the computer with bleary eyes and some difficulty breathing. I should probably use my inhaler - be right back... I didn't have anything on my mind that I reme...

I've harped on my need to get into my morning routine enough on this blog that the recurring theme is bringing me down. Let's just say that my routine is not as firmly established as I would like it to be - translation: I'm reverting back to my habit of arriving at work very early and leaving late - lots of unpaid time spent at work... I haven't spent much time at my crafting desk lately, and it is part of the routine that I had really started to enjoy. I have two mornings left of this workweek, and I want to do something creative and get my routine back where I want it to be. For now, though, I have to take my shower so I am ready to leave my home at my (shudder) later time. Time is something that causes me anxiety. It's silly to want to make sure that I am not late that I get places very early. No one cares at my work if I'm on time except for my interns. They care. No one else. Sure, we have badges that log when we access the building, but no one ever c...

I am heading back to work this week after a week off for Spring Break. Not much happened this past week - things were all about resting - and now it is time to get back into the morning routine that I started in February...that was interrupted many times in February due to inclement weather days...and that seems to serve me well, so I want to reestablish that particular routine. Here's the deal. I am an early riser and once I am up, I am ready to get going. There is very little sleeping in or snoozing in my home because my eyes pop open and off I go. I am one of those annoying morning people who just do best in the early morning hours. I tend to wake up about 4am most mornings. Lately, I've been waking up at about 2am no matter when I go to sleep. I would like to get back into the routine of waking up at 4am rather than at 2am. My evening routine tends to have little to no effect on my morning routine - if I go to sleep at midnight, I still wake up at 4am (or 2am) - I am ju...

I have a goal of formulating a morning and evening routine for myself. It's one of the things that I want to do for myself this year. I know what I want to have in that routine, but I am having difficulty getting a routine established so far. This is partially a function of my laziness, partially a function of the season (I don't feel good - darn harvest!!), and partially because I haven't found my motivation to get into a new routine. So, what do I do? I'm heading back into my goals and my desired routine to do what I encourage my clients to do - focus on one thing at a time, build up that one thing, and then add the next thing. One thing at a time. Isn't it amazing how much the things we do with our clients transfer into our own lives? Rather than taking on every single blooming thing that I want to do, I should listen to the advice that I give to my kids in crisis and focus on one thing and one thing only. Duh, right? So here goes my original goal of do...

Extended School Year (Week Two) Last week was a week full of humiliating circumstances that I had to go through - people changing things from how they were supposed to be to what they thought they should be without checking with the people who were directly affected (e.g., ME!) I looked wrong in all those circumstances (something I REALLY hate!), but I wasn't. I am hoping that this week will be a bit more settled. I declare, here and now, that I am going to make this Monday count. I'm not entirely sure how I am going to do this, but I am going to, by golly! This week is Centers week. I feel woefully unprepared for everything these days, so I'm not exactly sure what we are going to be doing. I'm thinking that the Orff instruments will play a role. We are working on the theme of "Helping Others." We could use the Orff instruments to play familiar songs with one client helping another to find the correct notes. We can use the boomwhackers and drums to mak...

Working in special education, like I do, and working in a residential treatment facility, like I do, means that I have clients available to me throughout the calendar year. When I was first hired, many years ago, the position was advertised as either a nine or twelve month position. My principal at the time did not give me a choice and signed me up for the full year position, covering our Extended School Year (ESY). I didn't argue. Way back then, we had three weeks between school and ESY. I would get REALLY bored with my own company, and I would head back to work with an enthusiastic attitude after going a bit stir crazy at home by myself. I had enough time during those breaks to go home to visit my family and then to work at home. Those days are gone. Today, I go back to work for our extended school year. Lots of things have changed in the many years that I have been at this particular facility, but one thing remains consistent - our students do much better with the structure of...