Living Every Day – A Creative Journey The unique power of creative expression as a force for personal recovery from brain injury. Proposed Plenary Rob Guttenberg, a singer/ who's been performing since he was a student at Brown University in the 1970s, has made music a guiding force in his recovery and life as a brain injury survivor. Rob proposes to play a series of his songs for a unique plenary session, weaving the distinct messages of each into a rich narrative about his recovery and everything he's learned about what people can accomplish.

It's an inspiring keynote that will resonate with survivors, family members and the professionals who work with them. A story, not just about brain injury, but about the human spirit and the creative drive that can lift any of us to our highest achievements. And a performance that promises to be "moving and energizing," in the words of Jim Dickson, vice president of organizing and civic engagement for the American Association of People with Disabilities.

Rob was just 29 when he suffered a brain hemorrhage in 1983 from an arteriovenous malformation (AVM). The doctors were able to save him with surgery, but the AVM rupture left him with severe physical and cognitive impairments and he had to relearn the most basic functions of daily life. But by 1985, Rob had made enough progress that he was able to go to work using his master's degree in counseling psychology. He took a job at YMCA Youth Services in Montgomery County, where he continues to work today.

Throughout his recovery, Rob turned again and again to songwriting as a positive vehicle for rehabilitation. His brain injury brought new challenges, including memory problems that often caused him to lose the thread of a song as he was writing. But his experiences also provided creative fodder for some poignant songs, including "Living Every Day," a song that serves as the overarching theme of this keynote with the down-to-earth refrain, "I go slow now, as I go now. Living every day." Rob found a voice for the humor in his experiences as well, with the song, "I Spent Three Years Looking for My Watch Today."

Rob has continued to develop as an artist, sharing his music and using it to accomplish a widening set of goals. In 1987 and 1988, he got the opportunity to travel to Lithuania and Belarus, where he presented concerts and workshops to students, teachers and hospice workers. A decade later, in 1998, he developed and taught a two-week course on Music Therapy in Lithuania and performed for hospice staff in Belarus. These encounters brought new challenges in cross-cultural communication.

Over time, Rob has become a passionate advocate for people with disabilities as well, holding workshops and performances to raise awareness. Having worked through his own recovery with a "silent disability," he chose in 1996 to collaborate with the National Organization on Disability to compose the song, ˜FDR in a Wheelchair," which he performed for a demonstration at the U.S. Capitol focused on the new FDR Memorial. “FDR led from his chair, so let his statue show him there,” he sang.

The memorial was dedicated in 1997 and it concealed Roosevelt's use of a wheelchair, just as FDR himself had gone to great lengths to conceal his disability in life. But Rob and other disability advocates ultimately succeeded in 2001 in their quest to get an additional statue added to the Memorial, one portraying the former president in a wheelchair.

Rob continues to do motivational speaking, workshops and concerts to share the benefits of music and songwriting as a way of coping with adversity. He offers a plenary session that will spotlight the potent – and positive – influence of any form of creative expression on brain injury recovery, whether it's songwriting or journaling, playing the guitar or painting a room, quilting or woodwork.

Rob's message goes beyond his music. It is through creative expression that we develop and communicate our individuality. Creativity goes beyond artistic expression. It's what makes us human, enabling us to grow intellectually and spiritually. And any creative endeavor can stimulate and free the mind. It's restorative, and should always be a fundamental part of brain injury recovery.

The Plenary Format "Living Every Day – A Creative Journey" will showcase Rob playing his songs and discussing them in an interactive format. The songs for discussion will proceed as follows:

"Living Every Day." Rob opens up with this song, one of the first that he wrote after his brain injury. It conveys the point at which a survivor discovers the need to reset – but not to downgrade – his or her expectations about life. Here’s a sampling of the lyrics, from the third verse:

It used to be That I could see The reason and the rhyme Now I stop, and think about it And boy, it takes some time My life has changed It’s rearranged I guess that’s O.K. I go slow now As I go now Living every day

“I Spent Three Years Looking for My Watch Today.”

This song reflects the humor Rob was able to see in the classic brain injury survivor’s experience of constantly forgetting and losing things, and the general chaos that flows from routines being routinely turned inside out. Again, a sampling of the lyrics:

I spent three years looking for my watch today Found it in the same place Where I left it yesterday Oh my. Oh why…did it go away?

Always losing, always losing; everything I own So confusing, so confusing; my dog can't find his bone.

It took me five miles to drive around the block last night Guess I turned left When I should have turned right. Alas, no gas, what an ugly sight.

Turning left and turning right I just can't find my way. If I keep driving round the block I might find my home some day.

“FDR in a Wheelchair.”

This song, written as part of a collaborative effort to get officials to acknowledge Roosevelt's disability as part of the Memorial dedicated to him in 1997, reflects Rob’s involvement in disability awareness and advocacy. The lyrics include:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt I have seen your message felt In the eyes of those who cannot see In the minds of those who cannot talk And the ‘souls’ of those who cannot walk You’ve given us your strength And courage to succeed

Chorus: We all need a vision to succeed And this great man inspired us to believe We all need a vision to succeed And this great man inspired us to believe

“I Carry On.”

This song serves to wrap up the plenary with the intended take-away message, that brain injury survivors have much to gain from creative expression. That they can face adversity and carry on; that "life has meaning."

In the middle of my life I was wakened from a dream All the bridges on the path I walked had crumbled

Left without a solid plan This new life for me began Filled with struggles I had never known before

Chorus: I am able I am strong And I know That I belong

As I stumble through each day My life has meaning

I have the good I take the bad My life is happy, and it’s sad

In the face of all I face I carry on

I choose, to face all my tomorrows Till the day I die No time, to drown in all my sorrows To watch life pass me by

Taking twice as long to plan Makes me no less of a man Do you blame a blind man Because he cannot see

Some people go to such great lengths To notice everything but strengths I guess this might be their disability

Every day I pay a cost For the things that I have lost And with every loss There’s something to be found

As we mourn what is no more We prepare for what’s in store As this cycle in our life Goes round and round

I choose, to face all my tomorrows Till the day I die No time, to drown in all my sorrows To watch life pass me by

I am able I am strong And I know that I belong As I stumble through each day My life has meaning

I have the good I take the bad My life is happy and it’s sad In the face of all I face I carry on In the face of all I face… I carry on

Listen to Rob Guttenberg's Songs For more information and to hear some of Rob's music, please visit you-tube and type in key words: [robguttenberg+livingeveryday] Also visit: [U.S. Department of Labor+Rob Guttenberg] to see Rob Guttenberg ‘Bio’