REVERB15 (Days 12 &13): Naming fear and practicing exformation with the new moon

NEW MOON POSSIBILITIES. As the new moon waxes, it is an alchemical opportunity to prepare for new life, new goals, new possibilities. (Art by Hallelujah Truth, aka Ruth Schowalter)

Hallelujah for reflections on topics that feel tabu! FEAR! And EXFORMATION! Halleujah for the invitation to explore and play with these topics as part of an ALCHEMICAL process. Let's transform ourselves and our lives by embracing what it is we FEAR and "shaking out" or "EXFORMING" that which needs to leave our bodyspirits!

SOMETHING DIES. SOMETHING IS BORN. (Art by HT)

Yesterday's and today's #REVERB15 PROMPTS offer this opportunity for reflection:

(Day 12) Can you think of an instance in the past year where you have been successful at making fear useful? What fears do you hold about the year ahead? And how could you use the energy of those fears in a different way?

(Day 13): What are you going to shake off with fierceness before you enter the new year?


FEAR
To rid oneself of FEAR, we are encouraged to jump into the middle of it, in action, fully acknowledging that we are, indeed, afraid. 2015 has been a year of jumping and then jumping again, and again, again. Failing to make a living wage and all the while succeeding because I stayed in MOTION, despite my FEAR. 

For those of you who know me, you are aware of my daring in 2013 to leave a successful 20-year career as an ESL instructor at the Georgia Tech Language Institute to pursue additional training, broaden the communities that I work with, and to deepen as a creative person.

Fluency Workshop for HCCA.

Experiencing discomfort is said to be a sign of "stretching," a positive expansion. As I said "YES" to creating a workshop for the Hispanic Corporate Council of Atlanta. This is was my first opportunity to offer my American English Fluency work using InterPlay methodology to an entity outside of Georgia Tech and Emory University. I was thrilled and frightened. I did it for free.  

Another project implementing InterPlay in collaboration with Lesly Fredman and her improvisation expertise at the Georgia Tech business school, took four months to bear fruit. Preparation took learning about the specific program, writing a proposal for three workshops and pitching it to the director and his assistant, teaching a model workshop, meeting for negotiations, and then actually conducting the workshops. All of these steps were novel and anxiety producing. Having taken these steps (wish they had felt more like dancing), I feel more confident and have credible experience under my belt for making a living wage in 2016 since these workshops paid well.

In addition to these workshops, I created a curriculum for teaching a "Creative Communication" course at the Clarkston Community Center using InterPlay as the structure to engage 17-year-old refugees who had self-elected to take free  courses to enhance their high school education. Stepping into ownership of my new InterPlay certification and incorporating it with my skills as an educator has triggered uncertainty, brought me up against roadblocks, and challenged me to find solutions that are not totally satisfying.

For the wider metro-Atlanta community, I struggled with the unknown of how to offer the improvisational system of InterPlay.  What did I bring to my community that the founder of InterPlay Atlanta wasn't already offering? I tried to get into the Decatur Recreation Center. A long story, but that was not successful. I tried the library system and was offered two unpaid opportunities to provide InterPlay to Seniors. I visited Emory University's Department of Play and provided a free class without any follow up from my contact. I went to Agnes Scott and facilitated a InterPlay session with the college's counseling staff. Fruit may be forthcoming from this campus that is a 15-minute walking distance from where I live in Decatur.

THAT'S ME! There I am at the center of REBIRTH. December 2015 is bringing to a close an arduous yet celebratory year of my stretching, growing, assimilating, striving, experiencing dis-ease, achieving, and fearing. (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

As this year concludes, I want to own the courage I exhibited for conducting classes and offering workshops using InterPlay. I succeeded in creating and teaching two 8-week InterPlay courses, "Alchemy"(see the testimonials here), and once-a-month Friday classes, "InterPlay Lift." However, a living wage was not earned. Participants pay what they can afford, which often means nothing is made after paying for the rental space.   
EXFORMATION
What would I like to "shake off" or "exform" with fierceness before the new year begins? FEAR! DOUBT! DISTRUST! One of InterPlay's tools is "exformation." We take in so much information both good and bad. And to maintain our bodyspirit, we need to move some of that information out--hence the term "exformation." 

The snake in my images and part of my "Cosmos of Hallelujah," represent shedding of old skin, old information and ways of being that are no longer serving me. "SHAKE OFF" that old skin! 

My Hallelujah snake is at my feet, symbolizing the foundation upon which I stand. Instead of the concept "Don't tread on me," is the loving acceptance of change. CHANGE is constant. I choose to experience it without fear, but to do that I have to embrace it! Oh! Hallelujah! Wish me courage.

That's Coffee with Hallelujah. SOUL BLOG with me and send me courage to live with the fear I have and to cultivate less of it.

CONTINUUM (Hallelujah Life Series). (Art by Hallelujah Truth)