Boxes, Bags, and File Folders...Oh My!

My house is full of boxes – no, I’m not in the process of moving out or moving in, but the boxes are necessary to hold all the various bits and pieces in my world. I have a box that has all the strings for all my stringed instruments. Another box holds the capos, picks, rosin, and other paraphernalia needed for the instruments. A third box is where all my receipts from 2021 sit, ready to be taped up and stored for the obligatory 7 years. Oh, yes, and there’s a box for each of the books in my inventory of publications with a number of how many are left in the box written so I can keep track.

And in my file cabinets are folders for each of my workshop handouts, and one for each of my private students, plus my current gigs, current receipts, and oh so many other things.

Then there are the canvas bags: One has the music binder, cables, microphone, and pickup for my gigs at the assisted living facilities. Another has my Gaelic Muses binder and things I need for rehearsals. Another is for my duo, Silverwood, and another for playing harp at Stanford Hospital – each ready to grab and go, with a prayer that I grabbed the correct one!

So what do all these bags and boxes and file folders signify on a deeper level? I have been working on “creating a brand” which means: what is my music about, and how can I present it in a cohesive way to the world? I have the typical branding items in place: photo, colors, font, logo. But there are so many aspects of me that everywhere I turn, there is another box “oh, don’t forget about that” or another bag “whoops, that’s also important” or another folder… So, who am I really? And how do I include all the important details in a one-page with a single photo, a few video links and one (and only one) song that will say who I am? 

With help from Bree Noble’s program, I’ve realized that it isn’t all the details and various things I do that define me. It’s deeper than that. It’s down to the core beliefs and values, and how that is expressed in so many ways in my songwriting, my teaching, my bedside harp music.

So, with some introspection, here I am (feel free to sing along with the video below):

I love wishing you well, when I see you excel, I can feel my heart swell.
I love cheering you on, ‘til the night turns to dawn, and all fear is gone.
Sometimes I feel my wishing could heal the heart that is breaking.
I like to pretend my wishing could mend the world in its aching.
I love wishing you well, wishing you well.
I love wishing you well, wishing you well.

I love seeing you through, believing in you, that your dreams will come true.
I love hoping the best, for wild success, and no, nothing less!
Sometimes I feel my wishing could heal the heart that is breaking.
I like to pretend my wishing could mend the world in its aching.
I love wishing you well, wishing you well.
I love wishing you well, wishing you well.

And if all my wish can do, is bring a smile to you,
That smile could ease the hurt in your heart and my heart too!
Sometimes I feel my wishing could heal the heart that is breaking.
I like to pretend my wishing could mend the world in its aching.
I love wishing you well, wishing you well.
I love wishing you well, wishing you well.