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| THE POWER OF LOVE! I am a SPIRITUAL ART PILGRIM in search of MYSELF, the NOW, and PEACE. My dear friend, Lisa Graye, lovingly insisted that I visit The Sacred Space, during a visit with her in Santa Barbara, California. This photo was taken there by me. |
Hallelujah for an opportunity to revel in EXCUSES! As a spiritual art pilgrim journeying joyfully, I primarily focus on the practice of positive imaginative thinking. Yet there is an important place in our lives for acknowledging and naming the EXCUSES that anchor us to OLD WAYS OF BEING.
In this vast universe, I am searching for ME, the NOW of EXISTENCE, and PEACE. What are my stories or excuses that keep me from achieving this SACRED SPACE? Let's look at three of them...
EXCUSE #1: I am attached to BEING in CONTROL. I am afraid to let go and see what happens. My life with Chiboogamoo is organized with weighty work rituals to ensure that I draw every day for 15 minutes of creativity. The 15 minutes represents the SPIRAL of SELF, in which I become lost in meditation for as long as it takes. HOURS. I have a day job too. While this CREATIVE or SACRED space is maintained, I often feel anxious about everything else (exercising, cleaning, socializing, networking, public servicing, teachering, and Chiboogamooing) that is not getting done. I AM NOT in THE NOW.
EXCUSE #2: FEAR plays a big role in my life. I am AFRAID of taking concrete steps to help me realize my dream of becoming a CREATIVITY COACH. I tell myself that I can't afford the training classes, that I don't have time to take classes if I could afford them, and that I would never be as good a CREATIVITY COACH as the one I work with. There is little PEACE in all of this FEAR.
EXCUSE #3: DOUBT is my middle name. Hallelujah DOUBT Truth! I travel a pilgrimage waging war with DOUBT. I question the validity of allocating time to make my art, of longing to mentor, of wanting to be suspended in the earthiness of endless time. The mantra, "Not Good. Not Bad. Just Is," results from my desire to experience PEACE from this DOUBT.
Who am I in all of these EXCUSES? Where is the ME, the PEACE, or BEING HERE NOW? What steps can I take in 2013 to BE?
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POSSIBLE ANSWERS:
I could follow my DESIRE to dance, move, and use my voice in new and exciting ways.
Feeling the FEAR, I could jump into the expense and time of getting creativity coach training.
LAUGH MORE. I am a certified laughing yoga leader. It is possible that I lead myself and others into laughing more by establishing a weekly time to laugh and develop a flock of laughter friends.
Create PLAYFUL ways to share my artwork. I hunger for more pleasure surrounding my Hallelujah Truth drawings and paintings, but know that I need to design the format in which my viewers will interact and engage with me and my art.
Finally, I will BE the POWER OF LOVE. I want to bathe in LOVE, breathe LOVE, dance upon and around LOVE. I will speak LOVE. Lines of LOVE will radiate from my pen and paintbrush. Laughing LOVE will be the soundtrack of my life in 2013.
That's Coffee with Hallelujah. SOUL BLOG with me and tell me what your excuses are that are holding you back from achieving what you want. Give me words of encouragement to achieve mine!
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| CONTINUITY OF FRIENDSHIP. Seeing each other after almost 30 years! Wonderful to see Lisa Graye (left) and see that our friendship has survived the years inbetween college at Pepperdine University and now (2012). (photo by Chiboogamoo) |
Yes yes YES!
ReplyDeletexxx
I'd say you charged through control, fear and doubt right here by identifying and declaring these blocks. How brave, how freeing, how surrendering to not-knowing!
ReplyDeleteFor me duty would be high on the list of my roadblocks...fear too and self-induced time-based production goals.
1. I love to nest and think and cuddle up with books, art-making in quiet settings like home. But then I feel I should be out socializing or attending an event I've been invited to. I really want to move to Vermont for 6 months of the year...but I feel I should stay here in GA to be near my grandkids. Duty.
2. Fear plays into all that duty stuff too, and mental doomsday scenarios. What if, what if, what if?
3. I'm working on production goals. I used to wake up feeling time was already slipping in the day, and rush around to accomplish stuff that I had mentally listed needed to be done. Now I slice off a project in daily bits, but i don't chastise myself if i miss a day or a week. I spent yesterday mostly in bed
reading "The Boy Kings of Texas" just because I wanted to and I've been harvesting and making Ikebana flower arrangements that have nothing to do with furthering my art career except giving me luscious lost hours of pleasure. Having the courage to finally see that my particular brand of Catholic upbringing was chock full of fear, duty and production orientated achievement. I have been saying "Fuck That" the last few years of my life, with still more mountains to climb, or holes to dig in becoming free. Free is defined as taking pleasure, doing what needs to be done even when it's not fun, helping others, speaking my truth even though there may be reprisals and taking time to listen.