REVERB15 (Day 7) True Word on Being Here Now

TA DAH! There I am in the center of this photo, being celebrated by this amazing group of InterPlayers this past summer in Racine, Wisconsin, at the national leaders' gathering. 2015 was the year that I became a Certified InterPlay Leader!

Hallelujah for Mondays and for my daily practice of creativity! Hallelujah for year end reflections and a community to share them with. Thank you for being here and allowing our sojourns to intertwine!

Here is the REVERB15 (Day 7) Prompt: 
In her seminal book Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott offers the observation: “The evidence is in, and you are the verdict.” Regardless of where you live in this crazy beautiful world, I'm sure you'll agree it's been a BIG year. Today, I want to acknowledge that you are here and I am here and we are here. We're just... HERE. That feels like a BIG DEAL.

And, that being said, I invite you to reflect on all that this evinces. What are you the verdict of?


I'm struggling slightly with this word--VERDICT--in relation to me and 2015! What does it mean exactly? VERDICT originates from the Medieval Latin (1250-1300) from the word "verdictum"--something said truly or "verum dictum"--true word.

Before the persona of Hallelujah Truth emerged, my handle for signing my artwork was RUTHTRUTH. And it was then I explored the possibility of opening the VERITAS Academy, a place where others could come to express their own truth by playing with their creativity. Yes, we must all find ways to speak our TRUTH, our VERITAS, our VERDICT. What is mine as the year 2015 concludes? 

Let me revisit this concept of self truth as I play around with the word VERDICT!

V is for VITALITY.
As the days of 2015 blossomed into months and now almost a complete year, I have cultivated a fulfilling lifestyle dancing, making art, connecting with other creatives and those who long for support of their own creativity (as a creativity coach and the moderator of the FB group, The Daily Creative Practice). Becoming a certified InterPlay leader has given me such a meaningful new way to engage in being a master teacher of English as a Second Language with internationals living here in Atlanta.

E is for ESSENTIAL. Instructing teenage refugees at the Clarkston Community Center, in a city called the Ellis Island of the South (see this blog and this one), and facilitating InterPlay for people challenged by chronic mental illness at the Holy Comforter Episcopal Church in Atlanta (see this blog), is such a privilege, filling me with a relevance that is profound. The more years I gather, the more essential I become through the skills and love I have to offer my community. 

INTERPLAY WARM UP at the CLARKSTON COMMUNITY CENTER. (photo by Andrea Waterstone)

R is for RELISHING.  
How fulfilling it is to appreciate my life with pleasure. In 2015, I grew much more present to the JOYS that each day brings. I am no longer waiting for IT to happen. I am succeeding in CREATING my life!

D is for DONE and DECLARATIVE. 
I am finished and DONE with longing for something better in my life or for retirement to bring me the moments of pleasure I am seeking. Instead, I am holding hands with ALL of YOU and dancing, drawing, and writing. I am teaching and being taught. I am collaborating and inventing. I DECLARE my life!

I is for being IDIOSYNCRATIC. 
Hurray for that which makes me UNIQUE. I celebrate my "uniquities" and your "uniquities." What is it that you have to offer the world? Let's BE that person--a celebrant doing our own thing while being in our communities and contributing to them. This is one of the TRUTHs that I have affirmed deeply this year! Thank you InterPlay! Thank you Cynthia Winton-Henry!

C is for CELEBRATION. 
Each day I am learning to find the big TA DAH! And I practice TA DAHing others. Hurray me! Hurray you! There is TRUTH in celebrating moments each day! BIBO (breathe in, breathe out)!

T is for THANKFUL. 
One complete year of listening to Karen Drucker's song, "Thank You for This Day," almost every day and moving/dancing to her words. Even my husband repeats some of the lyrics, "I'm so grateful, so grateful, oh grateful..." A gratitude practice is profound and I plan on keeping this TRUTH in my daily creative practice. Here is Karen's song with a slideshow of a performance of the Soulprint Players (InterPlay Atlanta's performance troupe) that we did one year ago in November 2014. Enjoy! And I am thankful you are here.

 
That's Coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me and tell me what your VERDICT or TRUTH is!