From our Music Therapy Intern…
This week in Day Program we completed a craft out of pipe cleaners and different colored beads. The pipe cleaners were twisted together at their midsection and then fanned out into eight straight spider legs. We then threaded various beads onto each of the legs. Red, orange, and yellow mostly, with the few brave greens and blues. Each bead had to be placed individually, one-by-one, until they formed a randomized string of fall colors. At last, all eight limbs were folded up and joined together at the top, creating an enclosed circuit. It was this moment when the pipe cleaners and beads became something more than simply the pieces and parts. As I completed the craft, I sat back and took a look at the rustic ear of corn, perfectly miniature and perfectly mine.
It was also then that I found a perfectly inspiring metaphor for my weekly blog.
It’s true, I tend to play up the poetic value in simple occurrences such as this, but I truly believe that they help me to reflect and process the season of life I am in right now. It is healthy for me to take moments to analyze how I feel, and how I feel about the way I feel. It is an astonishing rarity that humans actually take the time to identify and experience emotions, rather than simply allow them to come and go, or block them out entirely. And so, despite this unpopular and unconventional thought process, I do find value in pausing to reflect on the thoughts and emotions I am experiencing currently, and relate them to an outward occurrence such as making pipe cleaner corn cobs.
I am now in the official third month of this internship, meaning that “midterm” is approaching quickly, meaning that I must begin a handful of intensive songwriting and entrepreneurship projects. At first glance, I see the full corn cob with dozens of beads in a vast array of colors and patterns. I try to decode the technicolor collection. I stumble over the amount of detail and moving parts required to complete this task.
I take a moment, breathe, and begin to separate the project into its contents, realizing that this project is completed one piece at a time. Each bead is strung with care, just as I will complete each milestone in the project with patience and diligence. I now see this challenge as a path of stepping stones rather than a winding, unruly mountain. I have to start at the beginning and successfully traverse each foothold to reach the top.
This may not seem that revolutionary, but for some reason, putting these projects into the perspective of a beaded craft helped me to give myself grace and motivation rather than intimidation and anxiety. I am now looking forward to completing each subsection of these projects and learning more and more about how to be the best music therapist I can be along the way.
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Hannah Avery is our very first Music Therapy Intern here at Harmony Garden Music Therapy Services. Stay tuned for her blog posts as she goes (and grows) through her music therapy internship.
