Just wanted to let all of  you know I will be slowing down over the next couple of months due to holiday season and personal issues.

 

I will get to the blog whenever I can to post some goodies but this slow down will hopefully not be for too long!

 

There’s plenty of reading here though and I hope you find it useful.

 

Have a wonderful holiday season and happy practicing.

 

Lisa

Wow what a day! I love singing!!!!!

 

I have been overwhelmed with an enormous sense of weighty confusion, really bogged down feeling quite flat and heavy.

 

I have been feeling quite unsettled with much of my life spinning around, homes, schools, business you name it the complexity of it all has been doing my head in.

 

To the core of all this is an ongoing pattern, always with too much to do, not enough time, unable to complete and finish what I need.  I am the preverbal person that bites off more than I can chew!

 

Well what a surprise today was for me to have it all come pouring out – and some tears too.

 

We didn’t get through much singing today, but we moved mountains of internal stuff.

 

With each note of my warm up came more stuff in my process, more and more and more. No wonder I feel lighter.

 

What is it to be happy?

 

I want to be happy.  I mean this was the very reason I started this adventure into music right? I have come so far, and yet feel at the exact same point I  was 6 months ago.

 

What is this veil, this shadow that keeps the hand brake on?

 

Once again it’s time to consolidate, really take stock of what I  am doing and what I am choosing to create.

 

I cannot possibly do everything before me and I’m spread so thin that I’m stretched and therefore not present or solid any one thing.

 

What a shock to see that I have been so caught up in things that I haven’t even had the space to dream.

 

No wonder things have been tiring – I’m exhausted just writing about it!

 

I know that things will shift and I can feel that coming.

 

This is what I want – simply to be myself!

 

I must get out of my own way and just trust that things are unfolding as they should and yet it’s time to be ruthless with how I spend my time.

 

It’s time to create the life that I truly want.

 

So that’s it for now – stay tuned.

 

 

Lisa’s Reply

 

 

Hi Joanna

 

I think many people, especially parents, can relate to what you are saying here and the feeling of having too much going on to be able to concentrate on some of your own pleasures.

 

Understanding this, I asked you if you could make some time to dream about what you wanted in music and that’s when lots of other issues started to come to the surface and it was great to really address those things clearly.

 

It’s really important to see or visualise where you want to be in the future and what you want out of your music (and life) because by doing that, half the work is done.

 

Trusting that life will help you get there is another aspect of this.

 

However, you felt you didn’t even have time to dream.

 

Much of what has been developing for you has been about reassessing some really important questions such as,

 

1.            Who am I?

 

2.            What do I want?

 

3.             What makes me truly happy?

 

The answers to these questions constantly change throughout our lives as we grow and develop and I think it was important for you to look at the answers to them for yourself.

 

Learning music brings up these questions because learning music is very much like learning life.

 

Sometimes (actually often) we feel like we  haven’t really learned anything, or are only just beginning to see how things work.

 

Learning music is not a linear process but rather more like a spiral, where we constantly revisit parts of our learning but perhaps from a different perspective.

 

As you can hear from your recordings, you have come a long way and are now looking to take your music a step further which  means you need to make room in your life for it.

 

Perhaps that’s why a lot of emotion was coming up for you, because you are making changes to live your (secret) dream of living music and changing parts of the way you live life is always uncomfortable.

 

It was a great lesson and very important.

 

Thank you for sharing it with me.

 

 

I’ve had a few comments asking me how I came to establish this blog and how to become a blogger.

 

So for all of you wishing to make your own blog site, I hope you find the following information helpful.

 

Before I begin I have to tell you that I come from a pretty computer illiterate background and I have managed to do all of this myself with the help of a wonderful teacher and mentor.

 

His name is Yaro Starak and he runs the following site.

 

 

If you are serious about doing a project such as this, you really need to dedicate at least two hours a day and sometimes more to begin with.

 

The assignments given help you to build your blog and are all really interesting.  Writing “My Life in Music” was one of these assignments and it has proved itself to be one of the most popular pages on this site.

 

The lessons are well paced and accompanied by great support in the form of resources which include interviews, podcasts, video tutorials and a Members Forum.

 

All the resources offered help you to create a comprehensive vision of your blog and realise how your vision can fit in with current trends as well as what you may wish to create in the future.

 

So, like music, you will be studying:

 

• technique (how to set up your site and manage it),
• creativity (your content and what to include),
• harmony (the relationship of your site to other sites in the blogosphere),
• rhythm (how often you should publish articles and how to get Search Engine Optomisation), and
• reading (how to read your audience and market your blog)

 

I am currently about half way through the program and am still enthusiastic, as you can see, posting at least one article per day.

 

The Blog Mastermind lessons cater to all kinds of people, setting up all kinds of blogs and offers a lifetime membership which means that long after your lessons finish you can still have access to some great resources and support in the Members Forum.

 

Honestly, this is the project I have been waiting for as far as taking my teaching and writing that one step further, and it’s come at just the right time.

 

Yaro’s Blog Mastermind has joyfully guided me through every step and it’s been well worth the time and the money.

 

 

 

For a short and fun video which explains RSS, please go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU.

 

If you would like me to explain, please read on:

 

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.   It is something you will want to use and here’s why:

 

1.  It saves you time.

2. You have a direct line of access to the information you want in your life.

3.  It’s personal and ensures your privacy.

 

All  you have to do to use RSS is to join a site which becomes your “home” address, like your email address.  There, you add the URL of websites and blogs you wish to view regularly (you will be shown how to do this on the site) and every time the blogs or websites you have chosen publish something new you will be notified AND the content will be delivered directly to your “home”, so you don’t have to go and look for it.  It’s like a subscription to a magazine or newspaper.

 

Here are a couple of the addresses where you can build your “home”:

Google Reader   www.google.com/reader

Bloglines  www.bloglines.com

So when you want to subscribe to an RSS feed.  Look for this button  and click on it.

You will then be taken to a page which either displays buttons like this…   and you can simply click on the one which is your “home” or you will be taken to a page with text on it.  If this is the case:

 

1. copy the address in the browser window,
2. go to your “home” or reader,
3. click on add subscription and paste that URL address you just copied.

 

And there you have it, now you can just sit back, check your mailbox for any new info any day.

 

Now you can RSS to my blog.  There’s so much I have to share with you!

 

Today’s challenge was about setting goals.  It was surprising how good it felt to write these goals in my practice diary.  Doing this really clarified where I’m headed for the next three weeks.  This is what I decided upon:

 

1. My goal for the session was to do at least an hour this sitting on a Sunday evening!  Done!
2. My goal for the week was to polish up and make sure I practice every song in my repertoire.  Started doing that!
3. My goal for the next three weeks was to complete a performance at my friend’s 40th birthday.  I haven’t gigged for more than a year since I had my baby so this is a great challenge and one I am really looking forward to.  Will keep you posted on how the gig went.

 

This exercise is definitely worthwhile and made me feel right on track.

 

I’d love to know how it went for you!

 

Today’s challenge was about setting goals.  It was surprising how good it felt to write these goals in my practice diary.  Doing this really clarified where I’m headed for the next three weeks.  This is what I decided upon:

 

1. My goal for the session was to do at least an hour this sitting on a Sunday evening!  Done!
2. My goal for the week was to polish up and make sure I practice every song in my repertoire.  Started doing that!
3. My goal for the next three weeks was to complete a performance at my friend’s 40th birthday.  I haven’t gigged for more than a year since I had my baby so this is a great challenge and one I am really looking forward to.  Will keep you posted on how the gig went.

 

This exercise is definitely worthwhile and made me feel right on track.

 

I’d love to know how it went for you!