OFFICIAL PROCLAMATION
April is Self-Care Awareness Month at MusicTherapyEd.com!
Taking care of yourself helps you enhance the time that you spend working by creating balance in your life. With adequate self-care, you will likely be more intuitive, listen better, play better, and even focus better during work hours.
Have you taken the time to build a solid self-care plan in to your life? Do you have a personal plan that supports you in the 5 major dimensions of Wellness: Social, Spiritual, Occupational, Emotional, and Physical Wellness?
We believe that a healthy music therapy community depends on the health and wellness of our individual community members. (Tweet that!) And we care about your health.
This month, we will help you create a personal “Map to Self-Care.” By the end of April, you will have a personalized map to use in your life that includes the 5 major aspects of personal wellness.
Get ready! We have a plan for you and will be there to support you every step of the way. Tune in to our Tuesday Shout-Out each week in April to start creating your Map to Self-Care.
<<<------- DOWNLOAD THE MAP HERE
Here is what to expect each week (LINKS NOW ADDED!):
April 1st: Social Wellness – How Our Peers Practice Wellness (SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE!)
April 8th: Spiritual Wellness – A Deep Relaxation Exercise using White Light and Imagery to tap in to the experience of Universal Love and Acceptance by Ellen Whealton, MA, MT-BC
April 15th: Occupational: Work/Life Fit – Finding the Right Fit by Julie A. Palmieri, MM, MT-BC
April 22nd: Emotional Wellness – A Music-Assisted Imagery Exercise to help you identify underlying emotions and feelings by Ellen Whealton, MA, MT-BC
April 29th: Physical Wellness – 3 Steps To Enhance Your Physical Wellness by Jessie Johnson, MT-BC
Life is a balancing act, and we are going to help you find your balance.
To kick off Showering Yourself With Kindness, we are getting SOCIAL with our wellness. Here are some tips and resources from some of our friends:
by Sara Ezra Torf-Fulton, Customer Support / MusicTherapyEd.com
I know this sounds too simple that is borderline “duh,” but add yourself to your To Do List. That way, you cannot ignore it and will still feel productive when taking time to focus on the things that keep you ground. The simple self-care things, like a run, make sense, but sometimes we even need to add “clean the house” or “haircut” to our own lists or we can start to feel that we are “wasting time” by taking care of ourselves. And the bottom line is, to stay healthy, productive, and happy, focusing on ourselves does deserve attention and love.
by Christine Stevens, MSW, MT-BC
Christine’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/ubdrumcircles
Christine’s article: http://www.ubdrumcircles.com/article_rda.html
Christine’s video on Big Happy Day: http://bighappyday.com/videos/conscious-listening-christine-stevens/
by Natalie Mullis, MT-BC
http://www.keychangesmusictherapy.com/self-care-for-all/
http://www.keychangesmusictherapy.com/yourself-the-person-you-forgot-to-care-for/
http://www.keychangesmusictherapy.com/4-tips-for-keeping-yourself-organized-from-a-very-unorganized-person/
What are your favorite self-care resources? We’ll shout them out all month over social media. In a comment below, list your blog posts, your favorite websites, your favorite products and more!
Be Well,
Kat Fulton, MM, MT-BC + Ellen Whealton, MA, MT-BC
MusicTherapyEd.com
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This is a very thoughtful and brilliant idea for self care Kat! Thank you so much! 🙂
Natalie,
Let’s ride the wave of self care this month! So glad you are right there with us!
Julie
My self care plan includes talking to a therapist myself. When I was working in hospice care, I became overwhelmed by the constant immersion in sickness and death and became a little depressed. Talking to a therapist helped me so much!
In terms of physical wellness, I drink lots of water to stay hydrated. Singing and talking all day wears my voice out sometimes, so I go for hot tea at lunch to soothe any scratchy throat problems. Recently, I began a yoga practice that has been very helpful in lowering my stress levels and clearing my mind. I also try to walk a few miles a few times per week now that the weather is warm.
Finally, I make a point to pray whenever I have a few spare minutes in my day. It helps get through the rough spots in my day. I also try to get together with friends when I can. I love my work, but sometimes I really just need some time to relax and unwind!
Valerie, what wonderful ways to take care of yourself! We are so glad you are focusing through yoga, water, prayer, and therapy — so, so important!
Thank you so much for sharing!
Julie
I’m riding the self-care wave, too! I’ve invited self-care into my life this month and have had an amazing healing experience almost every day this week. It is so neat how that works. Today at a coffee shop, I walked to the counter and struck up a conversation with a group of people sitting nearby. They told me that they had just come from a meditation course, where they had learned to work with energy. I was FASCINATED, so I asked to learn more. They said “Why don’t we just show you?”
Yes, Please!
Let’s just say it was AWESOME! It was similar to Reiki, but different at the same time. It was such an interesting experience and I feel it is directly related to my choice to bring self-care more in to my life. I can’t WAIT to see what the rest of the month brings my way! 🙂