NAME IT, OR SHAME IT

Dear Fellow Pilgrims,

It is Thanksgiving and I am thankful for sharing this occasion with you. I find it an occasion to be thankful for being authentic and going to the matters of the heart.

We all experience emotions of turmoil and frustration at one time or another, especially around holidays. Do you proclaim these feelings to yourself? Do you give them a NAME? Do you act them out in a conscious way?

I am fortunate because on my pilgrimage, I have met a GREAT TEACHER. She is an actress, director, and creativity coach. I call her affectionately, "LAM,"-- Lesly, Alien Mom! Together, we two aliens (yes I am "RAB"--Ruth Alien Baby) have crafted our own language and understanding of the universe! In this universe, I speak turmoil, frustration, and so many things more. In the process of speaking, I am transformed, and my dross emotions are fired, burnished and emboldened! My language of pain and confusion becomes GOLDEN I WANTS, JEWELED LAUGHTER, FUNNY DANCING, CARAMEL POPCORN, and PAINTINGS! Ha Ha Ho Ho Ho--Hallelujah!

I have learned to NAME my ugly feelings of failure, confusion, and limitation. So, "I FAILED!" So, "I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM!" SO "MY EFFORTS EXCEED MY ABILITIES." For me, it has become a matter of "NAME IT, OR SHAME IT." I have chosen to NAME my desires. To proclaim proudly, "I want to be special!" "I want help!" "I want attention!" "I want my curiosity answered!" "I want others to be curious!" "I want to leave my negative thoughts behind!"

Hallelujah! RuthTruth has named her DESIRES. I am an ancient linguist, speaking the form of flower, hearing in orange and purple, composing tongue dances along with the wind. I listen to the animals feeding upon one another in the forest proclaiming, "WE ALL EXIST TOGETHER."

Hallelujah encourages us all to free ourselves from shaming our feelings of our inner workings this Thanksgiving.

NAME IT OR SHAME IT.

In this first image, I introduce you to my "Imaginary" MOM. She has manifested from my need to "MOTHER" myself. I love her freedom--She always wears pink night dresses, and her hair is lit with light from the Milky Way. RuthTruth (aka Hallelujah) tends to be in the dark. Here the white tropic bird from the Bahamas has arrived as my spirit guide.

In the second image, "For Each Alien, There is Another Alien!," Hallelujah is a child discovering that the IMAGINATION creates reality! Hallelujah has retreated to her childhood closet for quietude and solace (What child does not do this at one time or another?). Her imaginary mom has known where to find her, and together they have donned alien masks and are PLAYING and SPEAKING their own special language! Instead of crying in the dark, WE ALIENS are eating popcorn, laughing, and trying on new possibilities. By BECOMING someone else in the theatre of the closet, we NAME the HURTS, WE then search for language of FUN. We eat more popcorn and giggle. Hallelujah for being present to our emotions--for being AUTHENTIC!

That's coffee with Hallelujah! Tell me your DESIRES, HURTS, and what you plan to do for transformation. ARE YOU AN ALIEN TO YOUR EMOTIONS? Name all your soul for you and me! What a bounty we have, when we are in touch with our souls. Thank you for giving your time and your hearts! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I'M NOT AFRAID TO GO THERE

I'm not afraid to go to places in myself that frighten me. I am a traveller; it is my make up to MOVE. 

MOVING spiritually is the best journey there can be. Will I fail? What if my enormous efforts come to absolutely nothing?

My international students who are learning English often use the word "effort" as a verb. "I efforted," they tell me. "I do too, "I tell them.

I EFFORT. I fail. I EFFORT again. EFFORTING allows me to fly and crash, run and fall...I am not afraid to go there. However, I must admit, I get tired of the FAILURES. I DO!

BUT THEN--Coffee With Hallelujah saves me. This creative time that I spend with MYSELF has no boundaries. Time is fluid and I find joy in most everything...ART SAVES ME, ELEVATES ME, and MOVES ME. Artmaking makes me gloriously happy.

The painting published here called, "This Way to the Bahamas," resulted from my readiness to JUMP into the unknown. I have committed to illustrating a children's story about an endangered animal in the Bahamas. Two years ago, I said, "YES" to the project. Little did I know that there would be no funding for this worthy conservation project, and that RuthTruth, Georgia Visionary Artist, would not be able to rely on her finger painting and whimsical color choices. Instead, I challenged myself to learn to draw! 

I started painting in 1988. As I was turning 30, this wonderful painting window opened. I saw in blocks of color and found no use for line. As I was turning 50, in 2008, after seeing one year pass without making progress on the illustrations of "The Misadventures of Maria the Hutia," I found myself with one completed painting that had been used on a t-shirt for a children's science camp and five pencil drawings. These drawings showed promise but were without pizzazz. They were not "free and spontaneous" like my paintings.

So, I was not afraid to go there to that place of ferocious line, perspective, delineation, and commitment to form. I decided to draw three random images a day in archival ink. The rules of the game were: 1) do not erase 2) work with the mistakes 3) do not throw anything away 4) keep going and making 3 images every day.

One year later, I have found my groove. I have EFFORTED and I EFFORT still. Yet, I am a HAPPY PILGRIM. I joyfully and soulfully travel to the Bahamas, to the realm of my artistic desire, to learn, to create,  and to inspire others to do the same. In this painting here, Hallelujah is following her white tropical bird and holding hands with Wandjina for comfort and strength. Perhaps, we are afraid to go there, but WE ARE GOING, just the same. It is our journey, our path, our way of growing.

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey! I am curious about you, your fears, failures, and journeying on. Please write and tell me about yourself. I would love for you to have Coffee with Hallelujah!