OUT IN THE DARK SEA: When I call "SHARK," the shark is summoned--LEARNING the POWER of THOUGHT on REALITY

THE SHARK WAS SUMMONED. In my fear, I called out, "The shark is going to eat me." Upon hearing his name, the shark was summoned, and he answered my call. He arrived by my side! (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

Hallelujah dear pilgrims! Hallelujah for story tellers and for visual art that help us understand who we are! In recent months, I have been contemplating major changes in my life. At first, my Chiboogamoo and I were considering moving to a beautiful American city out west. After all, we are in our fifties now, perhaps it is time for significant readjustments before we settle into our senior years. 

However, it is May 10th, and our course has been reckoned for the next year. We will be staying in Atlanta. Our continued stay in this busy cosmopolitan city of 5 million left me with a challenging question, one that frightens me!

How do I continue growing into the person I want to be when I am confined by enduring structures of the past 20 years?

Even though packing up a household and moving to another city provides all kinds of challenges, the actions one must take are clearly defined, allowing one to move forward and complete tasks that advance change. You leave your job, pack up your possessions, kiss your friends, and wave good-bye.

But how about ripping the fabric of one's life while living in the same place? Changing things up harmoniously and productively? Taking that fabric and making a NEW garment. For me, this quest harkens me into the unknown, and that unknown frightens me. 

Rebecca Solnit, in her book, A Field Guide to Getting Lost (2005), addresses this question of going into the mystery (of being lost), especially for the tasks assigned artists:

“Certainly for artists of all stripes, the unknown, the idea or the form or the tale that has not yet arrived, is what must be found. It is the job of artists to open doors and invite in prophesies, the unknown, the unfamiliar; it’s where their work comes from, although its arrival signals the beginning of the long disciplined process of making it their own. Scientists too, as J. Robert Oppenheimer once remarked, “live always at the ‘edge of mystery’—the boundary of the unknown.” But they transform the unknown into the known, haul it in like fishermen; artists get you out into the dark sea.”

OUT IN THE DARK SEA. Over the years, I have gotten better and better about jumping into the unknown. It has become a practice! The vast open sea literally terrifies me, so it is an apt metaphor for my fears of the unknown! (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

"...Artists get you out into the dark sea." In order to do that, we artists must venture into the sea ourselves. In December 20ll, I literally went into the ocean at San Salvador, Bahamas, with my Chiboogamoo's Emory University class. For me, snorkeling was a challenge. To get in the water and swim around the coral reefs shook me viscerally. Even though I water skied as a child and got certified to dive when I was in college in California, I have been incredibly uncomfortable around large bodies of water for most of my adult life. Therefore, after almost 30 years of a sabbatical from water, I jumped, snorkled, examined coral reef life, and returned to the shores of San Salvador several times, released from some of my former fears. Not all of them.

However, this actual physical experience of going into the ocean, has provided me with a method for dealing with my psychological fears. JUMPING is a good thing when you know for a fact, you won't get harmed!

A STORY...BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU CALL OUT FOR. When we are fearful, we don't mean to, but perhaps, we create or enhance the existing fear. In this image that I have drawn, I am RABBIT, and I have called out all of my fears, one of them being SHARK. When he heard his name, he answered. This idea and visual image were influenced by a Native American story that Jamie Sams and David Carson tell about Rabbit, the fear caller, in Medicine Cards. (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

In a story told by Jamie Sams and David Carson in Medicine Cards, Rabbit is given a curse by Eye Walker:

Art by Angela C. Werneke, Medicine Cards

"From now on, you will call your fears and your fears will come to you."

The lesson learned from the medicine cards is that what you fear most, you become. That by resisting your fears, they continue. So what is a more desirable course of action?

Name the fears, write them down, feel them. "Breathe into them, and feel them running through your body into Mother Earth as a give away (page 158, Medicine Cards)." The Medicine Card authors advise us not to ask "what-ifs" about the future. And, not to imagine horrible things. 

Pilgrims, instead we can go about our lives, managing our thoughts. We have a choice about what we think. 

As I continue jumping into the unknown, this mysterious dark sea of life, I will re-imagine what I find there. It is time for TRANSFORMATION in my life, and I am summoning LIGHT, LAUGHTER, MEANING, LOVE, and FRIENDSHIP. Using ART is my mode of transportation. I remain here in Atlanta, but I will create a NEW LIFE for myself! And I will not be summoning sharks!

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me and tell me what fears you summon to your life and how you will learn to make choices for different outcomes.    

MEDICINE CARDS. New pick--Armadillo! Guess what story Armadillo tells? Get your own Medicine Cards and have fun discovering new ways of understanding yourself!

#REVERB11: COURAGE TO CHANGE RESULTS FROM CONFRONTING FEAR

EASEFUL COURAGE (art by Hallelujah Truth)

#REVERB11 (December 15) PROMPT: FEAR. The easiest way to overcome fear is to confront it. Rather than brainstorming reasons to avoid your “fear,” shift your attention to the reasons for confronting your fear. What fear would you like to overcome in 2012? (prompt from Carolyn Rubenstein, A Beautiful Ripple Effect)


COURAGEOUS CHANGE (CC) is the 2012 payoff for confronting my "fear of completion." I have written about courage before (here,and here). And as work on finishing "works in progress," I want even more than CC--I expect JOY!  In fact, my blog motto is COURAGEOUS and SOULFUL JOY!


I am filled with the CURIOSITY of a CAT about my future TRANSFORMATION once I experience the satisfaction of completing a significant project. What happens when one spiritual art pilgrim (me) walks, runs, hops, and skips through the FIRE SCREEN OF FEAR? 


I WOULD...


KICK THE GLUT OF...apprehensions, trepidations, and horrors that have accumulated around the status quo of my life. Finding new ways to "get things done" might occur.


CROSS THE FINISH LINE OF...the number one project in my life right now--the illustrations for the children's story about a small furry Bahamian animal called, The Misadventures of Maria the Hutia.


COUNT MY COUP...bravely assess all my works in progress and imagine how they might be brought into fruition.


JOURNEY INTO...a new project with my Chiboogamoo whether it be a children's book about the Georgia coast, a book about Paleontologist Barbie, or another collaborative artwork.

15 MINUTES OF CREATIVITY EVERY DAY.  By speaking from your heart each day, it is possible to learn the actions you need to take to bring about positive change in your life. Being present to my creativity with such persistence brings me the courage I need to transform the status quo in my life. 

In summation dear PILGRIMS, I anticipate that the act of facing my FEAR surrounding "project completion" will propel me into the next desired stage of my life's JOURNEY. By crossing the finish line, counting coup, and journeying into the unexplored outback with my Chiboogamoo, I will go DEEPER and WIDER in my PILGRIMAGE of BECOMING. To do so with the joyful ease of a cat napping is my heart's desire. 


Wishing all of you fellow SOJOURNERS the fulfillment of your heart's desire in the confrontation of the FEARS that keep you from your BECOMING. That's Coffee With Hallelujah! 

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!