…before counting down to 2012!
What a year. I have so many blessings to count and so many people to thank who have been here along my journey in 2011. Last year, I set the intention for ease and kindness in 2011, and boy did that manifest into some wonderfully rich experiences this year…
Personal Kindness
My Mom, Dad, and boyfriend have been uber supportive of all my endeavors. My mom keeps track of me on Facebook, giving me “likes” and comments. My dad and I call almost every Sunday. He gives me his valuable business perspective.
And my boyfriend – he is the most amazing, generous, kindest guy I’ve ever known. I’m biased, but there’s a reason I prefer his company over other guys, right? 
He is the best. AND his signature phrase he says in the slowest, calmest, deepest bass “Everyone needs to calm down around here.” That phrase is an automatic anxiety-reducer for me.
Thanks Mom and Dad and my man =)
Tribal Kindness
I’m throwing heaps of gratitude to the creative genius Emelie Rota. She designed the Online Zennn graphics, new RFG header, and there will be much more to come in 2012. She totally gets me, understands my mission (better than me even?!), and lays out the branding brilliance! Rhythm For Good version 2012 is going to be outstanding because of her art.
My girl Karen Christensen rocked out a photo shoot with me this year. Her photos will be a killer addon to 2012. You can see her site, writeup, and photo teaser of me here. Thank you Karen for helping me feel good about being myself and looking good! =)
I was so honored to have gotten a call a couple months ago from the mastermind behind Chocolate For Breakfast. Sue Ann Gleason is a woman of transparency, authenticity, and powerful intentions. Anything she touches turns to chocolate – no lie. Just read a bit of her journey at her blog or better yet, take her Seamless, Stress-Free & Savvy Teleconferences course. I did, and it was $47 well worth it! I would’ve paid $247 for her wisdom. Thank you, Sue Ann for opening your heart online: a beautiful scene that you’ve created.
Thank you so much to Kathleen Prophet, Self Creationist (and pianist!) who has opened the door for me to feel pain and suffering as thoroughly as I feel joy and bliss in my human experience. Sounds dark, and it is! In the most impassioned, catastrophic way. I’ve come to feel more meaningful connections with my clients as well as my Self by honing in on Kathleen’s work. Joy, sadness, and everything in between is all part of the human experience.
Thank you Beth Nicholls for running such a cool site about doing what you love and publishing my story.
Natalie Mullis has been so generous in helping me trouble-shoot, brainstorm, and vent throughout this entire year. She is a fellow music therapist who has also seen incredible success this year with her business. Thanks Nat for being my online buddy! =) She also writes for the No-Nonsense Professional aka No-No. Lots of personality over there! Check it.
Business Kindness
Much thanks go to Marie and Laura of B-school. Without this course I would have never launched Online Zennn, I would never have met the ladies above, I would never have known how to give a web-based Intro to Toning class, I would never have understood how to make an online business work, and I would have allowed Sound Health Music to stagnate. I signed up for their course, and then they dropped this video. (You have to know Lady Gaga to get it.) All of my boomwhacker dreams would come true if I could find a seamstress to dress my boomies like *that*! If you’re up for the challenge, let’s talk. For real.
In addition, from this course and the ladies who have inspired me, I have learned that business – online and offline – does not have to be stuffy and boring. Business can be fun. Business is all what you make of it, and as long as I continue to be authentic and transparent, my team and I will attract clients who are a perfect fit. Big lesson learned.
Here are some more incredible ladies I’ve met in person and online through the course: Susan Plucknett (women’s wellness), Christina Rasmussen (grief counseling), Denise Duffield-Thomas, just to name a few.
Thank you West Music for giving me a gong to give away for the holidays. I don’t know about you guys, but I had a blast giving that thing away! What a treat. What a gift. Thank you.
Music Therapy Kindness
Thank you to all the Zennn Masters for giving the first-ever, only-one-of-its-kind online CMTE course a shot. Online Zennn was a smashing success because of you Masters! You did amazing work. Watch out for the new January course. It’s coming atcha in a few weeks.
Thank you Intro to Toning participants for signing up already. Prepare for some wild vocal exploration. There’s still time to sign up!
Thank you, Wall Street Journal, for quoting me and writing about music therapy and dementia. Here’s my blog post about it.
Thank you Petra Kern for working so hard and doing such great work with Imagine, the online magazine dedicated to early childhood music therapy. Here’s a video I produced for the magazine on self-care. There are 8 music therapists featured. It’s very cool. Watch it!
Thank you Judith Pinkerton for interviewing me at Music 4 Life. You can download our 50-minute adventure mp3 or listen to the June 10, 2011 episode in iTunes. Thank you Janice Harris for interviewing me on the Music Therapy Show. Listen to our podcast here. Also, thanks to Kimberly Sena Moore for publishing my guest post about The Day My Business Died, and thank you Michelle Erfurt for publishing my guest post on What Does Marketing Feel Like To You?
Crazy, mad, big thanks to all of my amazing clients who my team and I serve day-in and day-out. We are the privileged witnesses to older adults, corporate employees, children affected by cancer, as their life journey unfolds. We are blessed to offer the experience of music as the vehicle for change. Thank you for being you and teaching us beyond our understanding, our dear clients.
Finally, thanks Elise for calling me “a beast” right here =) I’m honored to blog about in my beastly ways!
2012 Intention and Final Thanks
I mentioned last year that I don’t do goals or resolutions. I set intentions as I hang out at both the giving and receiving ends. My intention for 2012 is clarity. Not clarity in knowing everything (that’s no fun!), but clarity in doing the work, creating the art, playing the music, dropping new videos, creating the programs, and putting my unique talents out there into the world. Clarity in being involved in the process of creation in-the-moment. Creative clarity with little-to-no expectations.
Now I’d like to give a HUGE thanks to YOU for reading Rhythm For Good. Your comments, your participation, your enthusiasm for the rhythm is deeply appreciated here. I leave you and 2011 with this quote from Wayne Dyer:
When you don’t trust yourself, you are not trusting in the wisdom that created you. That’s an insult to your Creator.
What’s in store for you in 2012? Trust your gut. Throw it down in a comment below! Cheers =)
LOVE you, Kat Fulton! bYou ROCK my world! Just moments ago, I knew nothing and no one in this online scene and in you I saw something I could relate to… my many yeared relationship to music/teaching/performance. I watched you, your way, how ALIVE you are with your peeps… your BIG GIANT HEART… a BRILLIANT woman (no friggin joke) and so g REEEEEEEAL! AND… sucessssssssFUL! I thought, wow… if these are the ingredients for success in this format… I can do this! so… thank YOU for being here, Kat so I could find me!
Your honoring here speaks volumes to who you are. For to have all that you have… and still choose to embrace the dark side and KNOW its gift and value, is the real success as I know it.
hmmmmmm… new year? I love yours about your intention for clarity. Mine is going to be courage and persistance… never give up, for that is all that is required in the forumla of success… whether that be in my business, my love life, my family, my dark psyche. YAY! Thanks for holding the space for my New Year intentions, Kat! You truly ROCK and roollllllllllll! xoxox
Wow Kathleen. You know it’s so amazing our connection. I’m one way. You’re another way. Yet there’s is such deep deep mutual respect that there’s this crazy enormous creative space for learning from one another.
You are a scorpio, right? All my best friends are scorpios. Anyway, I love your intention of courage and persistence. Keep at it. We’ll support each other.
Hahaha! I know! right? Upsidedown meet Rightsideup and insideout meet outsidein! Really just different ends of the same axis! Yes… Scorpio… hmmmm… and you, Ares! we were once ruled by the same ruler, Mars… until Pluto came along. Both Warrior Women…. AND we both have Cancer moons! which is what softens us… nurturers of the feeling world. Without that we would be pretty unbearable! hahahaha! OMW! we BOTH have Aquarius rising too! WOWZZziiiieeee… no wonder… no wonder we are resonating with each other’s tone!!
I LOVE this! Girl, you have so much excellence I wish I was closer so it could rub off more.
I’m hoping for calm connectedness in 2012. I want to keep growing, manage the growth, and be able to reach out to support and be supported even more!
Calmmmmmmmmmmmm. I love that one. I think our intentions go hand-in-hand Natalie! Sounds like you are ready to rise rise rise and keep it real at the same time.
I know you can do it. You are going to rock 2012 with a calmmmmmm RISE. =)
Sending you soooo much continued magic in 2012! It’s going to be a BIG year for you, my dear, and I’m honored to have been a part of it. Much gratitude!!! : )
My amazing photographer! Can’t wait to do another shoot… and I haven’t even cashed these photos in yet! Had soooo much fun with you =)
Oh Kat, I am so honored to be a member of your tribe. Your music has danced through my life in more ways than you know. It was because of you that I found a volunteer to engage my father in music therapy a couple times a month. He is clapping and tapping to “the rhythm” and I am so grateful to know there is music in his life.
Keep shining your light and finding ways to splash us with your joy and your talent. You are up to BIG things and I am delighted to be a witness to all that unfolds!
Here’s to creativity clarity with no expectations! xxxooo
Yayyyy. Incredible! I’m so happy to hear about your dad clapping and toe-tapping! Fantastic.
Sue Ann I look up to you so much. Thanks for helping me along in 2011. Looking forward to seeing YOU unfold in 2012, too!
You’ve had a great year, Kat! Thank YOU for all of the energy and inspiration you give to the rest of us as well. It’s going to be a great 2012!!
Thanks Rachelle! I appreciate your comment, enthusiasm, and energy out here in the interwebs as well. When I need a session idea for older adults, I know exactly where to turn. Looking forward to seeing what 2012 has in store for you and your family =)