What are you up to?

Dum de dum de dum. I wonder if there's anything happening this weekend.

Briiing briing... Huh, oh the phone, Hellooo, hellooo, who is it?

... I can't hear you, can you please speak up!

... PARDON! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!!

 ... what! a party! Fantastic!

... Sounds great, whereabouts?

... look forward to it, see you soon...

A sense of community does make a difference

A couple of things have happened this week at work, that have got me thinking again about community.

On Monday my music therapy colleagues and I had peer supervision. This is a time that I look forward to every month where we get together to talk about our clinical work and try to help each other to see things from a different perspective. We have been doing this since July, and we are really enjoying the process. It was my turn to present an issue, or something that has been bothering me about work. I work in an acute paediatric hospital setting so there are some pretty meaty things that come up sometimes, and this time put aside for us every month is fantastic. We are a small community of 5, but this experience helps to remind us that we are a little community within the larger community of the hospital. It also helps me to realise what a resource I have in my colleagues.

I also went along to the staff choir for the first time. I have been working in this job for just over a year now, and I have been repeatedly encouraged to go along to choir by a number of my workmates. It was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed the opportunity to sing just for me, and not for/with my patients.

I realised it had been a long time since I regularly played music for me.  I mentioned a few days ago that I was hoping to rejoin my orchestra this month, and the choir experience has strengthened my resolve to make it happen. This was another experience of community. The choir is an open choir, no auditions, no previous choir experience, or expertise needed. It is made up of cleaning staff, patient assistants, kitchen staff, allied health staff, as well as doctors, nurses and the CEO. I know of no other opportunity that brings all hospital employees together as equals. Quite a unique experience.

I had a very productive day at work today. I wonder if this is related to the sense of community I felt?

For me it reinforces my view of how important community can be.

Lazy Sunday lies ahead

The weather is perfect

The world championship cycling is on the TV - Go Cadel

Daylight saving Time has begun

It's great to be alive

I Love Books.

I am a book fan. I dream about having a library in my house that is wall to wall shelves absolutely chock full of books. Books provide opportunities for escapism, learning, adventures, sharing lives, and so many other things. They offer endless possibilities for those who similarly indulge in my passion for them.

Sourced at google images

 There are 3 bookshelves in my house, 2 of which are in my study. They house books related to my study - of course - as well as favourite books that I cannot bear to part with.

My theory about books is, they are there to share their stories with others. I give away lots of books, and I get lots of books from my family members and friends. I see this as a very simple way to build community, however, there are just some of these joyous adventures and places of wisdom that I wish to have the opportunity to take over and over.

I give away lots of my books to op shops for strangers to share and I get a little thrill from thinking about who will read this story next. So I was very excited when I got to work last week and a colleague had an idea about a book sharing shelf. She had cleared some space above her desk where people could bring in their books and they could be shared with others in the office. What a great opportunity  to build more meaningful relationships with colleagues. Books tell you a lot about a person, and it is a nice feeling to find that you like a similar style of books to someone else. It makes me feel connected and this is what we all as humans are striving for to improve out quality of life.

So get to it, share you books and you will feel great!

(PS so far so good for me and Blogtoberfest!)

BLOGTOBERFEST ... for lapsed bloggers

My name is Becoming Dr Doc, and I am a lapsed blogger!

I began blogging in May this year, stopped in May this year, then started again last week - in September this year.

Perhaps foolishly, I have decided to join in with Blogtoberfest - hosted by tinniegirl. By taking the plunge and joining in, I have opted in to blog every day in October!!!!!! (This does indeed seem a crazy thing for a lapsed blogger to do.)

If you look closely at these photos, you can see the city - very tiny - in the centre of the photos.

I took these photos from the window of a moving car, and the size of the city is how I see the end of October at this point in time! As a lapsed and extremely episodic blogger, posting every day for the next 31 days seems almost like an impossible task, but I am going to take on the challenge.

I may not succeed in posting every day, but if I post more often than my weekly average for the year, I will have exceeded my total posts - for ever and always, and this seems like a worthwhile goal.

It will be an exciting month, our house is being auctioned, it is my birthday month, and I am planning to rejoin my orchestra group after a few years break so there should be lots to talk about.

A festival is a great way to go about building community, which is something I like to wax lyrical about, and so with gusto I say, put your hair in pigtails, pitch your tent, turn up the music and let's party - it's festival month.

Freedom

I love flying on planes, they transport me in literal and figurative ways!

 I woke up this morning singing a song called Freedom that I learnt at my conference last week and got to sing with 100+ others. It was a magical experience, and today it got me thinking about freedom.

The experience of snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef is one of pure freedom. It is a silent world that allows thoughts to run free.

Waiting for the tram the other day, this lovely balloon flew by and took my mind away from the task at hand to another place, that was far away from the work I was travelling towards.

I realised that I experience a strong link between FREEDOM and TRANSPORT. Whether it be actual or virtual. Hmmm.

After a Long Hiatus...

My little blog has been neglected for a while now. I have been concentrating on health related things, and have taken a leave of absence from my studies.

I've been doing lots of hanging around ... Reading lots of books ... and generally taking it easy.

Last week I attended the annual Australian Music Therapy Conference in Melbourne. It was the best music therapy conference I have been to in a long time. Great programme, great networking, and plenty of opportunities to catch up with friends.

It was a great experience of being with like minded community, and inspired me to begin to think about my study again. So I asked tinniegirl to help me update my blog and make it look new and lovely.

I hope I have the wherewithall to keep going. Stay tuned...