REVERB15 (Day 8) Efforting versus Serendipty

MORE THAN TWO MILLION VIEWS! In the few years I've had my Google Account (which I rarely attend to), I have acquired more than 2.5 million views! That is serendipitous! Meanwhile, my blog, "Coffee with Hallelujah," which has been a labor of love for six years has accrued just over 200,000 hits. Who or what can explain for this kind of chance occurrence?

Hallelujah for the MAGIC that we encounter on our LIFE JOURNEYS! What is the result of active effort and what happens serendipitously? This question arises from the REVERB15 (Day 8) Prompt:  

While alchemy is the active process of creating something of value, serendipity is the passive path to finding an unexpected treasure. Looking back through 2015, what did you diligently try to create?  What great thing did you just happen to find?


ALCHEMY (EFFORTING) versus SERENDIPTY (SURPRISE)

EFFORTING
"I've been efforting," said the Korean student sitting in my office at the Language Institute at Georgia Tech. I was his English teacher, and he, indeed, had been "efforting" to improve his English fluency. I have kept this form of "effort" in my expressive vocabulary, for I, too, do a lot of "efforting" this past year to establish a new career for myself as a facilitator of the life enriching improvisational system of InterPlay.


In 2015, I actively worked on CREATING my InterPlay reality in the following ways:

1. Received my InterPlay Leader certification.
2. Created the "InterPlay Alchemy" class and facilitated it for 16 weeks.
3. Created "InterPlay Lift," a Friday InterPlay offering, and met once a month for five months.
4. Offered a "free taste" of InterPlay with Jennifer Denning at the Clarkston Community Market one Saturday a month from May to November.
5. Created and developed "Creative Communication," using the forms and principles of InterPlay for a nine-week course for teenage refugees at the Clarkston Community Center. 
6. Facilitated InterPlay with Jennifer Denning at the Friendship Center for five Thursdays at the Holy Comforter Episcopal Church, engaging with people living with the challenge of chronic mental illness and poverty. 
7. Attended 4 InterPlay untensives, two in North Carolina, one in Wisconsin, and one here in Georgia with CathyAnn Beaty.
8. Created, collaborated, and conducted an InterPlay Atlanta untensive with Jennifer Denning and Christine Gautreaux in October.
9. Served as a creative director with Jennifer Denning to celebrate International InterPlay day in Atlanta.
10. Participated in the InterPlay Entrepreneurs class offered by Phil Porter and Cynthia Winton-Henry May through August. 
11. Created, collaborated, and conducted 3 InterPlay/Improv workshops with Lesly Fredman for a business program at Georgia Tech.
12. Offered and conducted 4 free InterPlay classes, (two at local universities) one at Agnes Scott and the other at Emory.
13. Wrote 20 blog posts for our InterPlay Atlanta blog. 
14. Made 6 slideshow InterPlay videos on my Hallelujah Truth youtube channel.
15. Created, collaborated, applied and got accepted an InterPlay workshop on Evolution at the University of Alabama Tuscaloosa.
16. Created my business, InterPlay Art & Soul Creativity Coaching, started a page on Facebook, offered free 30-minute sessions, and worked with several paying clients.
17. During 2015, I also attended every Second Saturday play session I could, was a substitute facilitator for Jennifer's Friday Spirit Play 2 times, and attended a story telling workshop with Masankho Banda.  

MANIFESTING MONDAYS (Coffee with Hallelujah). Effort or Serendipty? At the suggestion of Christine Gautreaux, I posted on Facebook my desire to begin a manifesting group. These 3 folks responded. Random? We've been meeting since August. The joy of calling people together and seeing what you might discover seems serendipitous! I love it that the word PROOF is behind us! Proof of manifesting what we name?

OTHER EFFORTINGS
In other areas that I "efforted include, drawing or painting every day for a minimum of 15 minutes; moderating my Facebook group, "The Daily Creative Practice" (please join us, here), during which I led three quarterly creativity challenges and am getting ready to offer the fourth for this year beginning December 21st; wrote 39 blog posts for this blog, "Coffee with Hallelujah;" and created Manifesting Mondays (Coffee with Hallelujah) in August and have met every Monday since its origin. I also "efforted" to lose 25 pounds to ensure I don't go on highblood pressure medication and to maintain and deepen my existing relationships by fostering love and forgiveness.

SERENDIPTY? SURPRISE?
Was it serendipitous that the Valentine card my 85-year-old mother gave me in 2015 filled a deep yearning of what I longed to hear her say to me? How about the love I feel for myself when I dance and the fullness of connecting with others? There is that surge in my heart, which is so satisfying and always catches me by surprise.  There is also the awe I feel when looking up at the sky and the clouds as they pass me by (especially after being in a windowless office for 20 years).  

And then there is the dynamic moment of true knowing that electrifies me. 

I will continue to examine this complex question and see what else I might discover about the SERENDIPTY in my life. And I would like to transform for the "efforting" into something more easeful and lighthearted. 

That's Coffee with Hallelujah Truth! SOUL BLOG with me about the alchemy and serendipty in your life.