Monthly Focus and Weekly Missions

With the new year, I thought I might add a few new features to the podcast and blog. I am using these features myself, and I thought that I would share what I am doing with my listeners and readers and see if they receive a benefit from doing these same things.

One of my main new ideas is a Monthly Focus. Each month I want to set up a sort of theme or idea to use as a centering focus for the month. For this month of January, I have chosen the focus of clarity. I recently read something about the value of having clear spaces, that we need the tools and space around us to be clear physically so that we have our best chances for creative thinking. As I though about this idea of clear space around us physically and mentally, I thought that a better word for me would be clarity, because the value of the clear spaces would be to bring me clarity of thought and provide me with clarity of tools available for me to use. My word focus for January is clarity.

Clarity can mean many different things, so try it on for yourself and see where it might lead you. That leads me to my next new idea, and that is to offer a weekly mission. For this week I suggest that we consider getting clarity about our calendars for this semester. Here are some questions to help us get started:

• Do you have your dates set for the semester?
• Do you have your studio recital or other events calendar dates set up and scheduled?
• What are your plans for the summer break? Have you registered for music camp or Suzuki institute?
• Do you have any instrument maintenance chores to take care of, like getting a different instrument size, rehairing the bow, replacing supplies, or getting new strings?

If you have any ideas about a monthly focus, or if you have any ideas about weekly missions, I welcome your sharing them with me.