Thursday, May 16, 2013

AWAKENING: THE WORLD ENDING AS I KNOW IT IS A PROFOUND LESSON OF TRANSFORMATION


AWAKENING. When I move, I change. If I inhabit a room and it becomes too small, I leave. This is change too. It is also a form of awakening. I appreciate the vulnerability of my wallaby. His need to be comforted alerts me to my need. We are one in the same. (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

Hallelujah for CHANGE my dear fellow pilgrims! Hallelujah for that surprising flash, ZAP, that knocks you in the head--or you knock with your head--and you are transitioned into a NEW REALITY! It is possible that this CHANGE, this NEW REALITY, is an AWAKENING!
Yesterday, I crashed while riding my bicycle on the Atlanta Beltline. Don't worry--I am okay because I was wearing my helmet. I did suffer some scrapes and bruises, and my neck hurts from a sudden whacking of my head on the pavement. I will survive swimmingly. Therefore, I am allowing this literal "knock on my head" to represent the symbolic "whacking" and "cracking" I am experiencing currently in my humble life as an artist, teacher, and blogger.
WHEN THINGS GO WHACK! This image of my animus (Wandjina) reassures me and strengthens me in in times of change.(Art by Hallelujah Truth)
Related to this "cracking" or "whacking" of my head is a quote I recently posted on THE DAILY CREATIVE PRACTICE (my Facebook group)  from Mark Nepo:

When in the midst of great change, it is helpful to remember how a chick is born. From the view of the chick, it is a terrifying struggle. Confined and curled in a dark shell, half-formed, the chick eats all its food and stretches to the contours of its shell. It begins to feel hungry and cramped. Eventually, the chick begins to starve and feels suffocated by the ever-shrinking space of its world."
CRACKING THE SHELL. And the world as I know it, is coming to an end. Change is constant, and the one who listens to the change can learn from it. (Art by Hallelujah Truth)
“Finally, its own growth begins to crack the shell, and the world as the chick knows it is coming to an end….”  From “The Chick Being Born” in THE BOOK OF AWAKENING (2000), Mark Nepo
Hallelujah for Mark Nepo and his beautiful insights! In the entry "The Chick Being Born," Nepo goes on to discuss the profound lesson of transformation. When we grow, it is almost like experiencing a death because we must leave an old way of being behind in order to experience the new way of being. And this change can be frightening, triggering fear. Remember Chicken Little (Henny Penny) running around repeatedly proclaiming:
THE SKY IS FALLING!
Well, when one's world is changing, it might feel as though disaster is imminent! However, "the falling sky" or the "whack" on the head may be and most likely is an announcement of the call to CHANGE!
As you all must have guessed, I am going through an AWAKENING, a TRANSFORMATION, in my life that is requiring the courage to leave one room and go into another, leaving behind a broken shell the way a baby chick does. 
Up until now, the structure of my life has nurtured and sustained me. And now? This structure is too small. I am cracking the shell. My head hit the pavement yesterday in a resounding "whack." I am being summoned into another room. I am awakening to the call! 
HARKENING. I am being called forth on a new journey. The summons excites and alarms me. This CHANGE is essential if one is to go on living vibrantly. (Art by Hallelujah Truth)
That's Coffee With Hallelujah! I am changing! I am awakening to what is next, and I will be SOUL BLOGGING about it! Stay tuned. And SOUL BLOG with me! Tell me what is changing in your life and how you are awakening to the summons!

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