Disability Dialogue with Bill

Music in My Life and How It Reduces Stress

My Early Days of Music

Since I was young I have always enjoyed listening to music and the enjoyment and relaxation good music gives me. This could be because I was brought up with music around me since I was 5 or 6 years old. I would often  listen to music at my parents’ house, at my cousins or my aunts and uncles usually  with the volume turned up very loud on quality speakers. Sometimes if we stayed late at my relatives house while they were listening to music I would fall asleep to that music somewhere in their house.

Listening to albums in my bedroom on my plastic record player that  my parents gave me as a present  growing up also allowed me to spend many hours listening to music. After getting a job as soon as I was old enough I was then able to afford a better stereo system which enhanced my musical experiences listening to musicians perform their music with better sound quality. Also, enjoying music on my portable transistor battery powered AM/FM radio was a nice convenience in those days.

Growing up when visiting friends at their homes there was always music involved as we sat around and talked while listening to music in the background.  I would try to have quality audio systems in my vehicles growing up to allow me to enjoy my music while traveling.

My Early Days of Working

In one of my early jobs I worked at Gemco department store in many departments including the automotive department.  This job allowed me to continue my music enjoyment. After the store would close for the day we would turn up the best quality car stereo we had as loud as we could and played it through the best equalizer and speakers. This allowed the side of the store I worked in to enjoy the music while we all worked after hours.

How Music Can Reduce Stress and Possibly Heal

Like most people I am extremely busy with my professional career and my personal life and taking a break to listen to music dissolves the stress from my body. I can actually feel the stress leaving my body instantly as I am listening to music. When I am listening my eyes open wider and my perpetual darkness (black) from my blindness turns to a light shade of gray. My smile grows with joy as well. This occurs when I am listening to recorded or live music. When I am able to experience live music this stress reduction is amplified. However these days I do not get the chance to listen to live music much due to the traveling obstacles I have and my busy work schedule. Even though experiencing live music does not happen often I am grateful I was able to attend a few excellent free concerts with my wife that were relatively close to where we live. I was also happy to attend a concert with one of my friends. Attending live concerts while completely blind is as joyful as when when I could see, although it is nice to see the performers on stage. At one of the free concerts I attended the female singer from the band came out and was walking around the crowd with a wireless microphone and was directly in front of me singing to me. Since her voice was coming from the amplifiers on the stage in another location from where she was, I had no idea she was directly in front of me singing to me until after she went back to join the band on stage and my wife told me about her singing in front of me. When we got home from the concert that evening I felt bad and looked up the singer on the Internet. I then sent her  a message to explain why I had no reaction to her standing directly in front of me singing to me since I am completely blind and I could not see her.

Fortunately, before I went completely blind and lost my eyesight I was able to drive and had more time so I was able to attend  many live concerts by well-known bands at numerous venues in the Bay Area. To ensure I can take advantage of the positive effects of music in our home I have a few sources of music available so I can listen to music wherever I might be.

Music could even possibly have healing properties. For example, when I was in the hospital for seven months occasionally musicians would come in and play musical instruments for the patients or sing  to us which I always enjoyed. I longed with joy for the next chance to listen to their relaxing and healing music.

How Music Could possibly Help A Person’s Professional Career

I enjoy listening to a broad range of music, especially on the weekends and before starting work each weekday.

When I have time before critical meetings at my place of employment I listen to music to refocus and drain some stress from my body  so I can be more focused in the meetings. Depending on the type of energy I am looking for when going into a meeting, I would adjust my music style. For instance, if I need high energy, I would listen to loud high energy music. If I want to be more relaxed, I would  listen to music with lower level energy at a lower volume level.

If you have not already tried listening to music to reduce stress and add to your enjoyment I highly recommend it.

If you have any comments or feedback, can you please send an email to Bill Tipton since unfortunately the comments are closed to my blog site.

Bill

Bill Tipton

Contributing Author,

Global Dialogue Center

http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39

Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton 

Leverage Collective Intelligence, Accessible Digital Technology and Music: Creates Happiness and a Beautiful World

After listening to Gustavo Dudamel, who is a conductor of orchestras interview “Harmony In Times Of Crisis” on a local radio station, caused me to think about how his ideas could also positively assist with leveraging collective intelligence, accessibility and inclusion. Gustavo talked about how a person needs to utilize everybody’s unique skills and talents to get the best results. If you left any section or person out of the orchestra or anything you do it would result in a poor performance which would show up in the quality of  the work and more than likely the customer may not be happy.

When listening to the interview it reminded me of my blog post I wrote “Collective Intelligence: Include The Disabled for Success” that talks about digital technology (which is anything accessed by a computer or mobile device). If a person does not utilize and leverage everybody’s unique skills and differences the result will be a poor performance in any project they are doing. This is because the people you are working with do not truly represent your customers in the world that are a diverse population including people with disabilities. The result of your work would be as if an essential section was left out of an orchestra such as the violin, flute, piccolo, English horn, clarinet, bass clarinet, trumpet, French horn, Trombone, keyboard and others. Therefore, it would result in an orchestra that would not sound pleasant and the concert would be a failure instead of a widely diverse group of people working gracefully together to create astonishing results.

If you are a designer or developer of digital technology you could be preventing  some people from being able to participate in the orchestra of life if you do not incorporate accessibility and usability into the digital technology you are developing like I describe in my Collective Intelligence blog post.

During these times in our world we have plenty of things to be discouraged about therefor let us all be happy and make a beautiful world for all people as we harmonize and combine all peoples unique and different skills to create a loving orchestra of people with fewer barriers to inclusion.

Do you have any stories or examples to share regarding the benefits of allowing all people to equitably participate without accessibility barriers? Does anyone have any suggestions regarding how to educate people on the benefits of utilizing collective intelligence of people to resolve complicated issues or how to work better as a team?  Our world is an orchestra of diverse people including those with disabilities who participate in the orchestra to deliver beautiful music and create a  happy  and  a beautiful world. Do not place false barriers such as inaccessible digital technology in the way of creating joy and causing sadness and exclusions.

I look forward to hearing your comments to help us increase happiness in the world and not leave any instruments (people) out of the orchestra of life.

Bill Tipton

Contributing Author,

Global Dialogue Center

http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.tipton.39

Twitter: http://intercoms/wdtipton

Fresh Ocean Air, Quality Time with Family & Friends Heals & Revitalizes

In late June I was blessed to be able to participate in a family vacation in Aptos California with 18 members of my wife Kathy’s side of the family. What made this experience extra special besides the obvious of sharing exceptional memories with others one cares for, I had not been back to the ocean for a family vacation since 2012 which I describe in Family Vacation: Creating Memories, Enjoying Companionship and Nature.

Although I had an enormous amount of work to complete (which realistically for all never ends) I am grateful I allowed myself to take this needed vacation and had faith I would be able to catch up on my work when I returned.

As soon as we arrived at our destination I immediately sensed the stress melting away from my body as I felt the sun against my skin, listened to the ocean waves and breathed in the fresh ocean air. I had no idea such a vacation would positively and immediately affect my mental and physical health (beside one mishap I will explain later). Being completely blind I utilize other senses to interpret my environmental surroundings and mood of the occasion since I can’t see facial expressions. As I listened to the excitement of the others around me my senses instantly confirmed that we were about to experience a fun-filled vacation.

Just a Few of the Enjoyable Activities I Experienced:

• Lounging and relaxing while sitting by the pool feeling the warmth of the sun on my bodyRelaxing at the beach lying on my beach towel on the comfortable sand as the gentle sea breeze cooled me slightly from the heat of the sun
• Lounging and sitting out on the patio at the condo we were staying in listening to the ocean waves, breathing in fresh air and feeling the warmth of the sun on my body
• Sharing many meals with my family members including the ones we prepared ourselves and the ones we went out to restaurants for
• Listening to my cousin play his guitar as we sang along under the stars with the ocean waves glistening from the star light as our backdrop
• Listening to the happy laughter from my family as they played fun games together
• Going on nature walks with my wife Kathy as she described the beautiful scenery to me which was filled with the ocean, bushes, trees, hills and ravines which we crossed on footbridges
• Experienced the excitement of the others as they described to me the many dolphins jumping completely out of the bright blue clear ocean water which they could see from our condo’s patio and balcony
• In the mornings and the evenings I would picture in my mind’s eye as the others described to me such as the many fawns (baby deer) with their parents close by eating right outside the windows of our patio
• Engaged in many conversations in which I seldom have the opportunity to experience the sustained quality time together
• Experienced the joy of partnering with many as we shared living quarters
• Going to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk with my wife Kathy, two of my great nieces and one friend we each drove the bumper cars, played arcade games, went on other rides, ate corn dogs, hamburgers and deep fried artichoke hearts
• Not letting a nasty fall the first day of our vacation slow me down in which I bruised and scraped up my left knee badly and slightly sprained my left ankle and foot (I found out about the sprain when I returned home and was examined by my doctor)

 Observations and Reinforcements of Experiences:

• Life passes us by very quickly therefore we should make time and cherish time with loved ones instead of focusing on non-critical activities or inanimate objects
• In our very hectic and fast paced world most of us live in today we can always justify not taking time out of life to spend with loved ones because we feel we are too busy
• Taking time for rest and rejuvenation actually enhances our productivity and creativity when we return to our career or other important personal or professional commitments
• If you are fortunate enough to receive invites to be with others do not selfishly decline thinking only of yourself because possibly others might benefit from your presence
• If you happen to fall and receive injuries like I did (which I am almost completely healed), it is best to have such good fortune of having an emergency room doctor see me fall, causing them to stop their car and get out to help my wife Kathy deliver first aid to me
• Lastly, you never know what will happen in life and the opportunity you pass up to share with others may be your last chance

Does anyone have examples of vacation experiences that benefited you? Do you have any other  experiences I did not list that reinforces the fact that we need to take time out of life’s busy schedule to spend it with others rather than spending our spare time focusing on non-critical activities or inanimate objects? Do you happen to have a disability like I do or have any temporary challenges that you were able to overcome in order to participate in family vacations?

I look forward to hearing your valuable comments to help us continue this important discussion.

Bill Tipton

Contributing Author,

Global Dialogue Center

http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton

Facebook: http://profile.to/wdtipton

Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton 

Year End: Celebrating the Way We Were Emphasizing Gratitude in the Present

As each year closes and a new one arises I take time out of my busy schedule to reflect on past activities, accomplishments, obstacles and develop new goals for the upcoming year. This year is no different although a reoccurring thought is how my life has changed dramatically since losing my eyesight without warning. Because of this I now require one long white cane and one support cane to walk which tests my creativity to find methods to carry objects with no free hands among other challenges that comes with living life with no eyesight. The busy holiday season and year end causes me to reflect on the way Kathy and I had planned to live our life achieving our dreams and goals prior to this life altering event. We anticipated and expected the need to overcome standard challenges most people experience, although we never thought our love and devotion would be tested so dramatically including gratefully surviving a three month coma and a seven month hospitalization stay when I lost my eyesight.

Although this obstacle of living life only seeing blackness does have its daily challenges it is not too difficult to do well in my profession. After getting out of the hospital I immediately prepared by completing training to obtain the standard blindness related skills including assistive technology as I relentlessly re-skilled myself to successfully perform my daily work for my employer. I also am continuously increasing my   education by completing many professional and technical courses each year.

My greatest sense of loss is for my loving wife Kathy since we live alone and I can no longer assist her like I used to when I could see and walk with no limitations. My parents and other family members are also affected by my obstacles. Like others who are fortunate to be devoted to their career and providing for their family I am also working many hours a week. The main burden is all on Kathy to run the household including all home and car maintenance, driving, finances, all chores, taking care of our pets among many other tasks that keeps her extremely busy from sunrise to far beyond sunset. To assist in completing some non work related tasks I can’t complete without eyesight that Kathy usually helps me with I occasionally receive help from a caring volunteer from a local nonprofit agency which frees up some time in Kathy’s busy schedule. As I perform my job I can listen to Kathy (when I am not in conference calls) relentlessly keeping on top of all tasks, including squeezing in time to decorate for the holidays late into the evenings.

Some might wonder why Kathy goes to the trouble to decorate for the holidays and keeps the house we rent very clean and organized throughout the year since I can’t see anything but blackness. I sense she does all of her work beyond the tasks that are critical because it brings her pleasure and satisfaction. Kathy like myself also enjoys bringing joy into others lives’ and decorating assists with this mutual goal. Even though I cannot see the decorations with my physical eyes I see the beauty in my mind’s eye and can feel the joy of the holiday spirit. I can also sense the joy in others when we are blessed with the occasional company and our guests admire the home my wife and I have created with love and caring despite my inability to help Kathy with many tasks. The sound of joy and happiness is very gratifying and far better than any pharmaceutical medicine in my opinion to help overcome some ailments and attitudes. The atmosphere Kathy and I have created helps to ease the difficulties and obstacles we attempt to overcome daily. Although we seldom have time to relax since we are incredibly busy keeping up on all of the tasks we need to accomplish together I would not trade in my life with Kathy for anything. Holding gratitude in one’s heart and believing that one can overcome most any difficulty keeps my faith that Kathy and I will endure. Our mutual goal is to also leave time to help our family, friends, neighbors and others that are less fortunate.

If I was given the choice between if I want to see and walk with no assistive devices again or have Kathy as my wife, I will always choose Kathy to celebrate my life with!

Although I try not to allow my new obstacles to discourage me one song that always makes me consider what could have been and how much easier life would have been if I never experienced my challenges is the song “The Way We Were”.

For those of you who are hard of hearing or deaf and could not listen to the audio in the above hyperlink you can read “The Way We Were” lyrics.

Does anyone have stories to encourage others that may be experiencing challenges or have had life altering events that caused you to change your path in life? Do you have any messages of joy and gratitude you want to share? Lastly I want to wish everyone a happy, safe, healthy and blessed holiday season and a very enjoyable new year.

I look forward to hearing your valuable thoughts and comments to propel us into the new year with happiness and gratitude.

Bill Tipton

Contributing Author,

Global Dialogue Center

http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton

Facebook: http://profile.to/wdtipton

Twitter: http://twitter.com/wdtipton

Reflecting on Positivity at Year End

Hello everyone,

As we experience joy, blessings and demonstrate positivity and celebrate the year's passing, we should take time out of our busy schedules to reflect on our positive experiences and not let negativity diminish our positive outlook on life.

Too often, in our busy world, filled with fears and uncertainty, it is far too easy to dwell on the negativity and difficulties we all experience, instead of reflecting on our positive experiences. I have noticed from listening to communications (news and peoples’ conversations), it seems to be far easier to talk about problems or challenges, than sharing positive news, and talking kindly of others.

As we reflect on our years experiences, let’s all end our year on kind words, caring and thoughtful actions. I have witnessed how holding a positive attitude in our hearts and being courteous to others is contagious.

Example of How a Positive Attitude is Contagious

I experienced a wonderful gift of positivity and gratitude at our Silicon Valley Council of the Blind (SVCB) holiday party that demonstrates how a positive attitude is contagious.

We had 125 people at our wonderful holiday celebration this year. Approximately 75 percent of the people in attendance were legally blind. We all had a wonderful time eating a lunch prepared by our SVCB members and volunteers. Everyone sang Christmas carols with smiles on their faces and joy in their hearts. A few members of SVCB sang songs and played musical instruments.

We also listened to the Sweet Adelines sing a truly heartwarming set of Christmas carols in perfect harmony.

In addition to having the ability to participate in such a joy filled event, I always come away from our holiday parties with a gift of gratitude.

Among this group of visually impaired people, two words I never hear are "I Can’t". I never hear any negativity about others or complaining about their challenges. Everyone at the holiday lunch did not let any challenges they might have prevent them from having an enjoyable time, participating and enjoying life. So many other people with far less challenges might take this opportunity to talk about their problems, or negativity about other people. I think this is a great example of how positivity is contagious.

If we review our past year's experiences, I believe we can find many reasons to demonstrate a positive attitude, rejoice and be grateful.

Do you have any examples of people demonstrating gratitude? Any advice to help us maintain a positive attitude in our heart and be courteous to others? Let’s all rejoice in having the ability to receive the gift of another year's experiences, and start next year with a positive state-of-mind in our actions and the words we choose.

Since positivity is contagious, let’s start an epidemic of positivity!!

We look forward to hearing your comments.

Bill Tipton

Contributing Author

Global Dialogue Center

http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/wdtipton

Facebook: http://profile.to/wdtipton

　

 

Importance of Special Songs in Your Life

Does anyone have any special songs that when you hear them it brings back special memories and reinforces some goals you have in your life? I might guess we all have such songs. Diana Ross & Lionel Ritchie - Endless Love and Lee Ann Womack - I Hope You Dance are two songs that have special meanings to me. The song Endless Love was the song my wife Kathy and I danced our first dance to at our wedding reception after getting married over 21 years ago. I can still remember that dance as I looked into my wife’s eyes as she looked back into my eyes as she wore her very beautiful wedding gown. Even though I can no longer see anything but complete darkness, now being blind, that dance and the look in my wife Kathy’s eyes are ingrained in my minds eyes; I am lucky to say. We have had very difficult challenges to overcome to test our love. We also have experienced much joy and happiness over the 21 years. I wrote Anniversaries - What They Mean to You to celebrate our 20th anniversary. You can read about our obstacles to test our marriage and why we had to create a new life for ourselves with trust and love in Anniversaries - What They Mean to You. I Hope You Dance reminds me of two things. After getting out of the hospital, reinventing myself and returning to work I went to a very special dinner to celebrate with my wife Kathy and four of my special friends. The evening was full of joy and laughter. We all enjoyed each other’s company very much as the evening went by before we realized it. As soon as I got home I turned on my radio and heard the song I Hope You Dance. I listened to the words intently with amazement and wonder. The song brought tears to my eyes and made the hair on my arms stand on end when I listened to the words. That song still gives me the same reaction today. This is because I am so grateful I did not die while in the hospital, endured exhaustive rehabilitation in many areas and rapidly learned many new assistive technologies so I could successfully return to work and join in the dance, instead of sitting out the dance. I am very grateful I had the faith in myself to take the chance and join in the dance instead of settling on the path of least resistance and sitting out the dance and staying on long term disability. Many people had doubt in my faith and ability to retrain myself to join in the dance. I think the timing of the song playing and my being able to listen was amazing. Just after a perfect evening with my wife and four other good friends. When you get the chance to dance I hope you take it! I hope you never loose your sense of wonder to explore your own possibilities. When you have the opportunity for endless love do not pass it up, or take it for granted. Endless love can be between married couples, partners or friends in my opinion. Does anyone else have special songs with special meanings? Do any of these special meanings help you in your professional or personal life? What makes a song special to you? We all look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments. Bill Tipton Contributing Author Global Dialogue Center http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/

She without arm, he without leg - Dancing Beyond Disability

Hello everyone,

Below is a video I believe you will enjoy and find inspiring.

Ma Li was a beautiful promising professional ballerina when she lost her right arm in a car accident in 1996. She was only 19. Five years later in 2001, she was invited to compete at the 5th national special performing art competition for handicaps and won the gold medal. That success gave her the hope to return to her beloved stage. In September 2005, she ran into a 21-year-old young man, Zhai Xiaowei. He had lost one leg in an accident when he was four. He was being trained to be a cyclist for the national special Olympics. He had never danced before, but she invited him to become her dance partner. The rest is history. Last April they won the Silver medal in China's national dance competition - second out of 7000 competitors. This video showcases their winning performance.

Watch or listen to this video:YouTube - She without arm, he without leg – ballet - Hand in Hand.

I hope you enjoyed watching the two inspiring and talented dancers. Do you have any thoughts after watching, or listening to the video? Being blind myself; I had my wife describe the dancers to me. My wife and I enjoyed the dancers, their talents and the ballet. We look forward to your thoughts.

Bill Tipton
Contributing Author
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/