READING THE TEA LEAVES:Rhythm of Life

HOLY TRINITY OF ICHNOLOGY: Intuiting the unknown using three principles: substrate, anatomy and behavior. (Collaborative Art by Hallelujah Truth and Chiboogamoo--part of a larger triptych that can be viewed at Fernbank Museum of Natural History)

Hallelujah Pilgrims! My blog, "Coffee with Hallelujah," is about freeing yourself everyday to experience YOUR JOURNEY--even if it is for only 15 minutes. This morning, I am writing you from a place of hurried frenzy. Chiboogamoo and I hang our 7 pieces of artwork today at Fernbank Museum of Natural History. As a result, I have been consumed by the demands of daily living--teaching English as a Second Language and being a working artist getting ready for a show. Today, I write to you my FELLOW SOJOURNERS to claim my 15 minutes of being a SPIRITUAL ART PILGRIM!


How charming and supportive is the universe when one is listening, participating, and commingling! This morning when I was preparing our morning beverages, a tea bag spoke to me. My Chiboogamoo likes to drink Yogi teas, and has been drinking Ginseng Vitality as an alternative to his usual Ginko, which he drinks to support his incredible mental processes. Yogi tea bags have messages. This morning I was greeted by this joyous thought:


THE RHYTHM OF LIFE IS WHEN YOU EXPERIENCE YOUR OWN MIND, BODY, AND SOUL.


Yippee! Permission to breathe, to journey to the center of my busy life into the refuge of my MIND, BODY, and SOUL! I danced with our cat Misha to swirling eastern music, I drew meditatively instead of grading papers, and now, I am here blogging with you my SOUL BLOGGERS.


What ACTION will you take today to EXPERIENCE THE RHYTHM OF YOUR LIFE! Soul blog with me at Coffee with Hallelujah. Be sure to harvest your 15 minutes of creativity now and every day! Hallelujah!

BERT AND MYRTLE REUNION. I am deep into to telling the story of "The Mis(Adventures of Maria the Hutia," a science outreach story for children written by Ron Shaklee. Here two sea turtles reunite after being separated for many years because Myrtle was imprisoned in the zoo. For me this image represents a union of the SOUL, a coming together of disparate parts of ourselves. Hallelujah!

YAH! WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE IN LIFE?

HALLELUJAH TRUTH'S YES IS YAH!

Greetings Fellow Pilgrims! What is your PURPOSE in LIFE? Can you reach into your SOUL and "capture" some of your SOUL in a 20-minute brainstorm writing session? How HONEST can you be with YOURSELF? Have you been practicing the WALK of AUTHENTICITY? What do you have to express about WHO you ARE and WHY you ARE HERE on this MAGNIFICENT JOURNEY?


Hallelujah Truth is examining her PURPOSE for BLOGGING. What is my MISSION here in the internet world? I absolutely adore SOUL BLOGGING and want to connect with my SPIRITUAL COMPANIONS. At the same time, I have reached a turning point in my PILGRIMAGE...I am seeking additional clarity for my CONNECTING WITH YOU....WHAT DO I WANT?


YAH?


YAH!


In my 20 minutes of brainstorm writing, I came up with the following list of YAH's! I WANT:


to create, to be, to have my own voice and express it, to lead the way for others, to heal, to grow, to have fun, to connect with others, to find an avenue for the passion that I have, to channel electricity....YAH


to love compassionately, to develop, to harness the powerfulness of my energy as if it were a refreshing rainstorm, to swim in the great mystery, to move into the unknown, to visualize the spirit, to see my spirit and to help others see their spirits....YAH


to make spirit manifest through drawing, painting, writing, movement, voice, to be liquid joy, to experience awe, to be free of pain, to love deeply and profoundly, to change, to reconfigure at the molecular level of being, always to journey deeper and wider....YAH


to keep dancing into the why, to connect across generations learning from the young and old, to treasure both knowledge and wisdom, to be respect everyone's spirit and journey, to be the pilgrim in awe of the spirit....YAH



I danced my WANTS, MY PURPOSES IN LIFE to find the ones that make me TREMBLE! I will be sharing my findings in future blogs as I CRAFT my MISSION OF BEING and BLOGGING. That's COFFEE WITH HALLELUJAH! Soul Blog with me after you have brainstormed about your purpose in life...I recommend dancing these purposes out....bring MEANING into your ENTIRE BODY and BEING!


YAH

JOYFUL WORK IN PROGRESS: ART MAKING IN THE REALM OF POSSIBILITY

INTRODUCING MYRTLE THE TURTLE, Art by Hallelujah Truth

Hallelujah for the MAGIC OF POSSIBILITY! Hallelujah for stories we tell about our beautiful MOTHER EARTH! Here you see my rendering of a sea turtle from Ron Shaklee's story,  "The (Mis)adventures of Maria the Hutia." Myrtle the Turtle is squealing with delight at reuniting with the ocean after years of captivity in the zoo. Myrtle is the wise woman of the sea, and with her years of experience, she is going to help poor lost Maria the Hutia find her pristine island where Bahamian hutias still exist.


In the "(Mis)adventures of Maria the Hutia," Maria is cast into the vast ocean and swept away from her home. She is alone in an open sea of POSSIBILITIES! Her story is one of discovery and friendship as she JOURNEYS forth in her life. 
Like Maria, Ron Shaklee and I (Ruth Schowalter) are dwelling in POSSIBILITY! We are looking for a way to publish this story in order to "teach" about Bahamian hutias and endangered species. We want to wake people up and get their creative juices flowing about what each one of us can to do to nurture MOTHER EARTH. 


If any of you PILGRIMS know of available funding to help us publish this story, please SOUL BLOG with me. Our current plan is to publish the story with the Gerace Research Centre on the island of San Salvador in the Bahamas. "The (Mis)adventures of Maria the Hutia" will be made available to researchers and university students for purchase. Our primary goal is to give a book to each child on the island of San Salvador. To do that, we need funding!


JOYFULLY I make may way on this EARTH. I am a PILGRIM looking for FELLOW TRAVELERS. Our JOURNEYS are works in progress. I live in the REALM OF POSSIBILITIES. Hallelujah! That's Coffee with Hallelujah! Write me and share your stories about caring for MOTHER EARTH and ideas for getting "The (Mis)adventures of Maria the Hutia" out into the sea of life!

HAPPY TALK or MISERABLE WHINES?: WHAT KIND OF INNER DIALOGUE WILL YOU CHOOSE?

Hallelujah for the Creative Dialogue! Here I am with Maria the Hutia, the Long-Tailed Tropic Bird, Amber, and my magical companion, Wandjina! Art by Hallelujah Truth

Greetings PILGRIMS!  Welcome to my CREATIVE JOURNEY! OR NOT!  Today, you find me in a maelstrom of my own mind chatter--a noisy storm blowing me back and forth between two opposing mental states: FAILURE and SUCCESS. I am SOUL BLOGGING right now to summon COURAGE to WALK MY PATH in accordance with my beliefs about CREATIVITY. I believe that process is more important than product and that the lessons we learn along the WAY are invaluable. My current CREATIVE maelstrom involves a Bahamian hutia, a story written about this endangered animal by a geographer, and my process of illustrating that geographer's story.



In 2008,  I agreed to illustrate "The (Mis)Adventures of Maria the Hutia" even though I couldn't draw. I said YES because I believe in the power of ART to engage people in important matters, like science education. We can all make a difference by teaching others what we know about this AMAZING BEAUTIFUL WORLD. I did think I was going to paint my way through this story until it became apparent that the project's zero-funding meant color images were out. Instead, I would draw easy to produce black-and-white images of Maria Hutia. I would do this so that Bahamian children would be introduced to a young lost animal in search of her pristine island in hopes that they would learn more about their surrounding environment, including iguanas, sea turtles, crayfish, and coral.  


Fast forward 3 years, and I have have learned to draw! I tell Maria the Hutia's story visually in 27 illustrations. I have TRAVELED through numerous doubts about my ARTISTIC skills and vision while making these pencil drawings of Maria's adventures.  Currently, I have "finished" 15 images using micron pens and india ink. Have I experienced SUCCESS in this CREATIVE endeavor? 


Maybe...Maybe Not...I can explain my inner struggle by sharing lyrics from old musicals that I was listening to last night and today. First, are the lyrics from Show Boat that express my feelings of "hard work" and "agony" I have encountered in the process. I recommend you click on the link and listen to Paul Robeson sing it.

You an'me, we sweat an' strain,

Body all achin' an' racket wid pain,

Tote dat barge!

Lif' dat bale!

From the musical Show Boat, Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein


I totally immersed myself in "toting that barge" and "lifting that bale" while I worked with a size 8 micron pen outlining the story's characters escaping from the zoo. I felt miserable. I whined all kinds of things: 

HALLELUJAH IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST, Art by Hallelujah Truth

I can't draw.
My drawing takes me too long.
My illustrations are boring.
My illustrations aren't skillful enough.
I'm not ever going to finish.
No one will like these images.
What a waste of time.
My neck and back hurt.


Then when my CD of Show Boat finished, I changed to the show tune, South Pacific. I always love listening to the song, "Some Enchanted Evening"! As the songs continued and I heard the song, "Happy Talk,"  I started laughing! Here was the attitude I CELEBRATE and strive for as HALLELUJAH TRUTH! Do listen to this sweet song! I have linked it below for you!


Happy talk, keep talking happy talk
Talk about things you like to do
You got to have a dream, if you don't have a dream
how you gonna have a dream come true?


From the musical South Pacific, Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein

HALLELUJAH TO JOYFUL JOURNEY AND TO YESes!

Shifting to the magical space called POSSIBILITY made me laugh! I have a dream of making a difference through my ART. I believe in the power of ART to HEAL, ART to TEACH. I dream that we can HEAL the EARTH by learning more about it. 


I believe our inner dialogues matter! What will you do today? I suggest HAPPY TALK! Listen to the song, Living Jewels of the Land, The Sky and Sea , that the geographer Ronald Shaklee wrote about Maria the Hutia. What a beautiful song about some of the life in the Bahamas!

Introducing Launa the Iguana. Launa thought of the family she had left behind. A tear came to her eye. In the story,  The (Mis)Adventures of Maria the Hutia, she is responsible for leading the other animals out of the zoo and to their journeys to find home. Art by Hallelujah Truth