BLOGTOBERFEST12 (DAY #29) LISTENING AND FINDING THE "WORD" FOR 2013

UNFOLDING MYSTERY IN THE NOW AND 2013! (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

Hallelujah for DAILY BLOGGING about meaningful ideas that push along the road to self-discovery and deepens our experience of being here on this beautiful Earth! Hallelujah for Kat McNally, who has hosted Blogtoberfest12 on her blog, I Saw You Dancing! Hallelujah for looking ahead to next year and choosing a WORD that will inspire and inform my PILGRIMAGE in 2013.

TODAY's PROMPT IS TO FIND A WORD THAT WILL GUIDE ME THROUGH NEXT YEAR!

"By inviting a word to travel with you for a year -- and by going a step further and representing it visually -- I think that what you are really doing is giving yourself permission to explore something. It's a way of surrendering up to the universe something that you do not fully understand but intuitively know will yield something important and meaningful to you. It's a new lens through which to view your daily life, a private prayer, a fresh muscle to exercise, a secret reminder that there is so much more to you than meets the eye." (See Kat's blog entry on this.)

My SOUL has been calling me to its door asking me to come out and play! I want "tee-hee's" and "tingles." Perhaps I want TEE-HEE TINGLES for 2013. Pure surrender to child's play and laughter, the thrilling kind from running, jumping, dancing, and being open to the many pleasures that LIFE brings knocking at my front door!

KNOCK KNOCK! COME OUT AND PLAY! TEE HEE! 

In the past several years, I have put my nose to the grindstone and produced a large body of creative work and met two important deadlines. Now, even though I have numerous ideas for new projects, the SEED I want to plant most of all is the TEE-HEE TINGLE SEED!

PREPARING FOR 2013: PLANTING THE SEED. This image is a typical drawing that I make when I first awake in the morning. I always start with what I am familiar with. Instead of second guessing myself, I accept the image that appears on the page and enjoy the discovery process of seeing how my repeating characters will arrange themselves. I am the character in the center in the purple striped skirt. You can see that my cast of friends are summoning me to do something. Behind me is a foot with a green leaf. This character is moving me along into 2013, a year which is going to be filled with Tee-Hee Tingles! (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

Dear Soul Bloggers, tell me what one word or words are you choosing to support your growth in 2013! Happy New Year! That's Coffee With Hallelujah!

BLOGTOBERFEST12 (DAY #28) SUNDAY SNIPPETS: FIRST DAY OF FALL WEATHER

BLOGTOBERFEST12 (DAY #27) SAVOURY SATURDAY: EXPRESSING GRATITUDE FOR ALL THAT IS IN MY LIFE!

Hallelujah for LIFE and ALL of LIFE's ABUNDANCE. For Kat's 27th day of her Blogtoberfest #12 being hosted on her blog, "I Saw You Dancing," she asked us to write about the gratitude we experience in our lives. She calls her post "Savoury Saturday," and here is her post for today (You'll find a really delicious recipe for mango, avocado, and feta cheese salad there!).

ATLANTA BELTLINE ART, EASTSIDE TRAIL. I continue to be immensely grateful for the ART that Atlanta is providing now for the public in such a beautiful arena--a path that cuts right through the city's heart! In addition to being in the presence of city skyscrapers, cyclers, joggers, and pedestrians, we all get to pause to view explosive expressions from local Artists. (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

THE EXPRESSIVENESS OF GRAFFITI.  I am grateful for the spontaneous beauty that explodes randomly on the wall spaces along the Atlanta BeltLine's Eastside Trail. I am grateful for individuals who possess the boldness to express themselves in a way that we can all see what is in their hearts and on their minds. (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

HALLELUJAH FOR COMMUNITY AND COLLABORATION! I am thankful how each and everyone of us has a unique vision and ability to express that vision. How exciting it is when we join together, and our voices are heard as if  united in one symphony. Here along the Atlanta BeltLine, I see a song here created by the visual expression of several graffiti artists and nature. How about you? (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

SMART COMPANIONSHIP OF A GEOLOGICAL SPOUSE.  I am grateful the exquisite companionship of my brilliant geologist husband, Chiboogamoo. I appreciate his love for all things geological and for speaking the language of rocks! It was such a pleasure to walk along with him on the Eastside Trail of the Atlanta BeltLine and see him hear local rocks calling out to him. "Some of these are probably granodirorite from Stone Mountain. Some are also looking like gneiss and amphibolite!" Thank you honey! (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

LONGTERM FRIENDSHIP.  I am thankful for these women in my life. As an army brat who moved constantly and did not have the opportunity to establish longterm friendships when I was a child, this group of friends that formed around 1994 constitute some of the longest lasting relationships I have had in my life other than my family. I am in the front row, far right. (photo by Robert Glickman)

INSTRUCTOR TO ENTHUSIASTIC INTERNATIONALS.  I am so grateful to the Language Institute at Georgia Tech and the intense, ambitious, and friendly students that attend my classes. This is a photo of the very first Improvisation-ESL class that I taught in collaboration with Lesly Fredman in the Spring 2012. I am now teaching the course for the third time! Hallelujah! (photo by an LI student) 

FELINE FAMILY MEMBERS.  Hurray for cats! Our two cat children bring us endless hours of fun and love. I am especially grateful that Sapelo and Tao love each other and keep each other company while we are gone during the day. (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! What are you grateful for right now, right here, in your life? Soul Blog with me and tell me!

BLOGTOBERFEST12 (DAY #26): HOW CAN YOU INFUSE YOUR BLOG WITH MORE OF YOUR MAGNIFICENT SELF?

MY MAGNIFICENT SELF!

Hallelujah for the CHALLENGE of DAILY BLOGGING! Thanks to Kat McNally for PLAYFULNESS and hosting the Blogtoberfest12! Today's prompt is this:

How can you infuse your blog with more your magnificent self?

MORE MAGNIFICENT SELF? As an artist, I feel that when I post an image of mine, that I have delivered to the Internet world as much of my magnificent self as I know how to do. However, readers of my blog have asked me to write more about my images. They want to know how I get an image down on a piece of paper--and before that, they want to know where my ideas for the image come from! Therefore, it is possible that in response to Kat's prompt for today, "How can I infuse my blog with more of my magnificent self?" that is a possible direction! I can write more specifically about how I make ART! (All Art by Hallelujah Truth, altered in photoshop!)

Pilgrims! This is an important question!: How can you infuse your blog with more of your magnificent self? I have just finished the first three days of an eight-week course, "Blogging for a World Audience," at the Georgia Tech Language Institute, and I am encouraging and supporting my 15 students (13 Chinese, 1 Taiwanese, and 1 Japanese) to create blogs that they will want to sustain for weeks, months, and years to come. 

THIS IS THE ESL BLOGGING-TEACHER SPEAKING TO HER STUDENTS: 
In order to love and care for your blog as you build its foundation, develop its theme, write its content, and respond to your readers, you must look inside yourselves, find what is UNIQUELY YOURS, and use that understanding to write about any content you are going to blog about. The topic may be food, basketball, technology music, or mathematics. Whatever the topic is, your perspective on that topic is what is VITAL and what makes your blog ALIVE and INTERESTING!

THIS IS THE ESL BLOGGING-TEACHER SPEAKING TO HERSELF: 

LOOKING DEEPER

I do the above, and...I continue looking deeper, writing when I am without answers. I write inventively because I know that what I write has "seeds" of new ideas. 

SEEDS OF IDEAS. In the beginning, I drew Wandjina because he stayed in my memory from the time I spent in west Australia. Then he became something more, something meaningful to me. As I continued to draw him, he started to represent my animus, the masculine energy in my psyche. 

I draw because it makes me happy. I draw because I discover things about myself I didn't know before the image appeared on the page in front of me!

That's Coffee with Hallelujah for today's Blogtoberfest12! I'm finishing late in the day, but I have succeeded in completion! 

BLOGTOBERFEST12 (DAY #25): INVITING MORE ART, CREATIVITY AND PLAY INTO MY LIFE!

Hallelujah for PLAY! Thanks to Kat McNally for PLAYFULNESS and hosting the Blogtoberfest12! Read the guest blog entry on her blog, "I Saw You Dancing,"written by Monica, blogger of "The Creative Beast." Today's prompt is this:

How could you invite more art, creativity and -- perhaps most importantly -- play into your life?

THANK YOU! A great way to access fun and playfulness is to express gratitude for being here right now. Say thank you loud. Say thank you quietly. Thank the person sitting next to you. Take a deep breath and thank the universe! 

THANK YOU FRIENDS! In the Sycamore Place Gallery Studio, 2010, getting ready for Sally Wylde's memorial parade.

WONDER. Certainly, playfulness can be invited into our lives by entertaining wonder! Open your eyes! See the world around you like a child! ( all ART here is a collaboration with Sally Wylde and friends of Hallelujah! )

FEAR NOT. To play, we must jump in, take risks, be willing to make mistakes, explore, and discover! Playfulness is full of WONDER, not fear!

ALL WILL BE WELL. We can make a choice in our lives to take leaps and jumps. We can make somersaults. We can dance our own private dance when no one is watching. We can dance for the world. Whatever you do, decide it is not good. It is not bad. It just IS! Lose the CENSOR and all will be well.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:  Thank you to Sally Wylde for your artmaking and leaving behind these amazing block prints for your friends to use once you left this Earth. Thank you to all my artmaking friends and soul bloggers! Thank you to my Chiboogamoo for his documenting my life in photos!

BLOGTOBERFEST12 (DAY#24)WORTHINESS WEDNESDAY: ASKING FOR AND GETTING ASSISTANCE

Hallelujah for Kat McNally's WORTHINESS WEDNESDAYS! And hallelujahs for the way Blogtoberfest12 is increasing the frequency with which I blog! Read Kat's #77 Worthiness Wednesday post here. The prompt that she has given for today is the following: 

This week, I invite you to think about the help you have been asking for. See if you can reframe it, so that it's clear exactly why you need that help and why it is so important that you receive it. And before you pick up that phone or press send on the email/SMS/tweet/blog post, take a deep breath and remind yourself: you are worthy of assistance.

I WANT YOU TO INVITE ME ON A SECRET ADVENTURE, ONE THAT WILL BE FUN!

UNFOLDING IN THE TRUTH OF THE MOMENT.  I am here in my fullness, l a ripe moon, a glowing orb twirling in the night sky. Come BE with ME so we can dance together, spinning and discovering the JOY in WHATEVER it IS WE DO! (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

That's COFFEE WITH HALLELUJAH! Soul Blog with me. Invite me on a secret adventure!

BLOGTOBERFEST12 (DAY #21): SUNDAY SNIPPETS, A WALK WITH JESSE

For the month of October, Kat, writer of the blog, "I Saw You Dancing" is hosting Blogtoberfest12. Today, Sunday, October 21st, she participates in "Sunday Snippets," hosted by {tinniegirl}. It's all images and no words! 

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! Soul Blog with me. What images are you photographing today? Happy Sunday!

BLOGTOBERFEST #12 (DAY 19): FINDING THE SACRED IN THE VISION OF OTHERS

Hallelujah for KINDRED SPIRITS leading the way! Thanks to Kat on her blog, "I Saw You Dancing," for hosting Blogtoberfest #12. Today her guest blogger is vintage jewelry maker Jennifer Valentine, whose blog is Sacred Cake. The prompt for October 19th is this: "Where is the sacred nestled in amongst your every day, just waiting for you to notice?"

WEDDING WITH THE SELF. Finding the sacred in every day is finding the TRUTH in YOURSELF and the TRUTH of  others. It is the WHOLENESS that comes from listening closely to the underneathlings of physical existence. It is the UNITY of outer self with inner self and that serving as a VIADUCT to others in your community. (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

What is SACRED in every day? The HEART that beats with passion for the TRUTH! I find the SACRED in myself and others who are TRUTH SEEKERS. The name I use to claim my ARTWORK and on this blog, "Hallelujah Truth," signposts the joy I experience in my JOURNEY to discover that which is AUTHENTIC! 

The TRUTH of Sally Wylde, a fellow SPIRITUAL ART PILGRIM, now deceased two years, is symbolized in this drawing, WEDDING WITH THE SELF. Anyone who knew Sally well, knows that for exploration of her own TRUTH she was working with a wedding dress in her last years and a rabbit mask too. This was a woman in her mid-sixties and a cancer survivor to boot!

WEDDING WITH THE SELF #2. On the left, is Spiritual Art Pilgrim Sally Wylde. When asked to be the Grand Marshall of the Oakhurst Community parade (Sally had made significant contributions to the community, one of them being the creation of the Oakhurst Community Garden ((now called The Wylde Center)), Sally showed up for the parade in this "costume" or statement of her TRUTH. To her friends, including me, this was no surprise. How extraordinary is the gift of BEING TRUE TO ONESELF! You can see some of Sally mirrored in the young child's response to her clad in rabbit mask and wedding dress! Hallelujah! (Photo by Chiboogamoo and photoshopped by Hallelujah Truth)

It was only two days ago, that I pulled the partially drawn image, "WEDDING WITH THE SELF" out of the cupboard (where I keep all of my watercolor pads) and completed it in order to submit to a WCAGA exhibit taking place in December. When Kat's Blogtoberfest asked-- "Where is the sacred nestled in amongst your every day, just waiting for you to notice?," I knew this was the image to answer with. For I believe the SACRED in every day exists in the integrated minds and hearts of myself and my friends. The SACRED is in MY OWN HEART, which is full with its own VISION and gifts from others' AUTHENTICITY.

That's Coffee With Hallelujah! How do you my dear Fellow Soul Bloggers answer that question? Soul Blog with me!

WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE? The image above is another one inspired by my friend Sally Wylde. Notice that the hands of the "woman/rabbit" are in the position of Whirling Dervishes. One hand reaches toward the HEAVENS for inspiration while the other hand anchors the dancer to the foundation of the EARTH. (Art by Hallelujah Truth)