#REVERB12 (Day 16): Who inspired you in 2012? Why?

INSPIRED. Meet my Chiboogamoo, who infinitely inspires me. BIG LOVE and GREAT APPRECIATION.(this photo was taken by me, Hallelujah Truth, along our beloved Georgia coast.)

#REVERB12 (Day 16) PROMPT: Who inspired you in 2012? And why? What gifts did they give you? And how will you carry these forward in to 2013?

Hallelujah for INSPIRIATIONAL others who live their lives with AUTHENTICITY and COURAGE! Fortunately for me, I can list many who have inspired me in 2012 with the choices they made and the actions they took that were GENUINE and BRAVE. Here they are:

ELIZABETH SCHOWALTER
(photo by Hallelujah Truth)

I am inspired by ELIZABETH SCHOWALTER, my sister-in-law, who traveled this past fall to the United Arab Emirates to teach fifth grade boys math and science. She ventured to Abu Dhabi, not knowing anyone but was prepared to manage a new culture, different school system, and being away from her longtime home in Hawaii. Her CURIOSITY supported by her BRAVE disposition knocks my socks off!

LESLY FREDMAN
(photo by Hallelujah Truth)

Then there is LESLY FREDMAN, creativity coach extraordinaire, who continues to be JOYOUS, PATIENT, and CURIOUS in all her CREATIVE endeavors. During our coaching sessions, Lesly’s high emotional IQ sifts through my soul and assists me in mining the treasures of my own being. At the same time, I witness her celebrating her own life with LAUGHTER and JOYOUS action planning workshops, teaching improv, and managing Theatre on the Prowl! This past year we successfully collaborated on the development of an English as a Second Language Improvisation course at the Georgia Tech Language Institute. As a collaborator Lesly’s intensity, clarity, and respect were inspirational beyond words!

MY HUSBAND
(photo by Hallelujah Truth)

Daily life with my CHIBOOGAMOO (aka Tony Martin), husband, author, professor, paleontologist, and big cat daddy is magnificently inspirational. He wakes up HAPPY, is always ready for an adventure whether it be trying a new cuisine, traveling, or meeting any of my fellow artists or international students. Chiboogamoo loves to LEARN and enthusiastically reads, listens, and shares all the riches that he gathers each day. This past year his ADVENTURESOME nature supported by DILIGENCE and CREATIVITY brought him a literary agent and a contract for a new book due to be completed by September 2013. His book, Life Traces of the Georgia Coast, is due to be published by Indiana University Press in these waning days of 2013. My dear Chiboogamoo arises every day between the hours of 5:00 and 6:00 AM to write for several hours before his day job of teaching! WOW! He inspires me by his dedication and profound love of writing creatively about science.

Oh dear readers, I could go on acknowledging many others in my life who inspire me…

KAREN TUCKER
(photo by Hallelujah Truth)

Karen Tucker, director of the GT Language Institute, who listens to her instructors (including me) and continues to help us cultivate and deepen as teachers. Her LISTENING inspires me to be a better listener.

ANDY RINDSBERG
(photo by Hallelujah Truth)

Andy Rindsberg, colleague of my Chiboogamoo, but friend of both of us, who continues to do his paleontological investigations and writing while expanding his instructional skills as a professor at the University of West Alabama in Livingston. Seeing him CREATE and ESTABLISH the life-style he desires, inspires me to keep strive for the one I crave.

SEE SEE
(photo by Hallelujah Truth)

I am inspired by fellow SPIRITUAL ART PILGRIM Cecelia Kane, who succeeded in “digging her hole” this past summer in Vermon (see her blog The Interwoven Heart to read about this project). The dedication she exhibited in fulfilling her vision has become forever emblazoned in my heart, mind, and creative soul. Thank you SEE SEE!

MATT'S ACID ANGEL
(photo by Hallelujah Truth)

Matt Huffman has inspired me in 2012 in many ways. I got to know him better by helping him establish his blog, Cold News: Putting the Real in Really. Formally a pencil to paper writer, he entered the ethersphere and became a “netizen” this year—a giant leap! Then through an explosion of his collage art, which I scanned and embellished on photoshop, I was pulled into the power of Matt’s creative vision and to visualizing the world in a new way. Thanks Matmal!

Liam Herringshaw, who I met in St. Johns, Newfoundland, and became acquainted with on a fieldtrip into the Ediacaran. He knows how to write about complex paleontological things so non-paleontological people can understand. See his blog, Old Lost Sea. I continue to aspire to writing for the public about the experiences I have with my paleontologist husband, Chiboogamoo.

In the past year, I had the great good fortune to meet Marlene Creates and go on a “boreal walk” with her (see my blog). I am inspired by her VAST CREATIVITY and love of the ENIVRONMENT. See her website; it is dazzling. I wish we could all manifest our love for MOTHER EARTH as expressively as Marlene.

Thanks to Elise Helfer for her SINCERITY while searching for the ANSWERS; to Judith Barber for the JOY she exhibits in all that she does; to Jesse Merle Harris for knowing what she needs and being the GREAT CONNECTOR. And many others! Hallelujah for inspiration! Your actions and the way you live your lives will carry me into 2013 with the COURAGE and AUTHENTICITY I am dedicated to living my life with!

That’s Coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me and tell me who has inspired you in 2012. Why? Big love to you all!

TRANSFORMATION.  I am closing this blog entry on people who have inspired me with a toast to a former student. Hurray for Varadraj Vernekar and the transformational changes he is making in his life as he adapts to life beyond graduate school. Thanks for becoming a friend and sharing your heart, soul, and mind with me. I am INSPIRED! (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: As always, thanks to Kat at "I Saw You Dancing," for managing #REVERB12.