REVERB13 ( DAY#13): Engaging in the alchemy of community begins with you, the individual self!

I MAY BE A PILGRIM BUT I NEED MY COMMUNITY! (Art by Hallelujah Truth from the 9/13 blog post: Sojourning doesn't mean solitude: We need each other on this creative journey.)

Hallelujah for community! We are not alone! Hallelujah for alchemical relationships, for those individuals and community bodies that transport us to fulfilled states of being!

CREATING SELF WITHIN A COMMUNITY. Where do we belong? What is our community? Doesn't it all begin with knowing who we are? What if you had to re-create yourself in another culture? How would you depict yourself? What traces from your past would you "mark" yourself? What new "marks" would you invent? Here a Bhutanese Senior (a refugee) at the CCC re-imagined herself with the existing materials for our Paperdoll Project. (from the Paperdoll Project I did with Seniors at the Clarkston Community Center (CCC), Georgia, 2010)

Today's prompt for Kat McNally's REVERB13 (DAY #13) prompt is this:

In 2014, how could you explore what community means to you? Where might the alchemy be?

WHERE MIGHT THE ALCHEMY BE? Where in ourselves do we find the elements that transform us and then our community? Or is it the other way around? Perhaps it is a reciprocal alchemy--flowing back-and-forth between the individual and community like ocean waves moving to and from the shore?  (from the Paperdoll Project, Clarkston Community Center, Georgia)

In 2014, I will definitely continue SEEKING COMMUNITY and am delighted to envision the ALCHEMICAL changes it will inevitably bring to me, the INDIVIDUAL, and then give back to my TRIBE!

"The group is within us," Cynthia Winton-Henry writes in her book, What the Body Wants. "The health of the tribe or group is a primal concern. Designed as communal creatures, we huddle, cluster, eat, sleep, and create together. We are one with the group, even when the group is broken or unsatisfying."

Yes! I agree with Cynthia! WE ARE ONE WITH THE GROUP. How can we insure that that ONENESS is ALCHEMICAL, not broken or unsatisfying? Each one of us must thrive individually for the group to thrive! Cynthia writes: 

"The more we can claim our individual physical style, energy, and truth, the more fullness and fun the group can have. Kinesthetic presence affects the whole. Consider your family. Each family member's body communicates deeper than words. A good parent knows that his or her greatest legacy is in actions that move directly to their children. Love, joy, beauty, and life leap directly from body to body.

The group body wants play, creative challenge, rest and communion. The body does not want to suffer."

I am particularly fond of thinking about my own KINESTHETIC presence, and how it impacts and is impacted by the COMMUNITY BODY. The ALCHEMY I am seeking in 2014 is joyful, playful physical well-being--ALONE and with my TRIBE! 

Below are communities I imagine being ALCHEMICAL with:

COMMUNITIES I WILL CONTINUE IN 2014
The Dancing Flowers for Peace (creative movement for women over 40)
The InterPlay community (living one's own body wisdom)
Decatur Dance Church (creative movement)
C4 Atlanta (business support for the Arts)
Five Rhythms (dancing life's waves)
Lesly Fredman's Improv classes (practice saying yes)

COMMUNITIES I MAY RETURN TO IN 2014
The Artist Conference Network (coaching network for artists)
The Clarkston Community Center, Clarkston, Georgia (fun projects)
The Language Institute at Georgia Tech (workshops, short courses)

BEING WITH COMMUNITY. I am excited about the possibility of returning to the Clarkston Community Center in 2014 to work and play with so many elements I love: art, internationals, growth, and communication. (from the Paperdoll Project,Clarkston Community Center, Georgia, 2010)

COMMUNITIES IN CONSTRUCTION (calling forth the alchemy in 2014)
A Year to Live Discussion Group (discerning what matters)

Hallelujah Truth Creativity Coaching Business (holding the space for others to make important changes in their lives)

Brain Health and Creativity Book Club (discussing books that direct our actions)

Environmental Stewardship Arts Projects (merging art and science to cultivate connection with nature)

Blogging About the Arts (blogging for a month on arts-related topics in conjunction with C4)

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me and tell me what alchemy in the community is brewing for you!

BEING PART OF THE COMMUNITY BODY. Here I am with Seniors from a session I did with them on making "wholeness circles" or mandalas. Each time I spent with this community, I was enlivened and filled with joy. (from the Making Mandala Art Class, Clarkston Community Center, Georgia, 2010)

REVERB13 ( DAY #12): Saying good-bye to muddied relationships and being an engineer

HALLELUJAH FOR SAYING GOOD-BYE TO MUDDIED RELATIONSHIPS. I'm celebrating the transformation that comes from letting go of relationships no longer functioning! (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

Hallelujah for the muddied and unclear experiences in our lives. Yes! Why? Read on...

Today's writing prompt from Kat McNally's REVERB13 (Day 12) is this: 
Identify something muddy that kept recurring for you throughout 2013, and then ask yourself this: What's the clear truth underneath this mud if I finally wash myself clean?

Yes, dear Pilgrims, there is the messiness of some thing, relationship, act, or hope that is degrading, disassembling, and falling to pieces. Yet, in this "muddied" state, there is the heating up, the composting at the center. If we allow ourselves, we can WITNESS a TRANSFORMATION, like a burst of flames.

BURST OF FLAMES

The MUD I found myself composting in 2013 was a heap of relationships that lacked GRACE. No matter what action I took or words I said inside of these friendships made any difference. The relationships were MUD, and I believe this perception of MUDDINESS was mutually shared by all of us. 

In the past, I would I would have lingered longer with these friends trying to engineer a solution to "clean" things up, bring us good cheer, and ensure future well-being to us all. At least that's what I BELIEVED I could do.

In 2013, I practiced SAYING GOOD-BYE to MUDDIED relationships, walking away from them, leaving them rich in scraps from the good times, heaped in the leftovers from the garden at the end of a good growing season. No more wrestling with making something grow that needs to be left on its own--to compost and become something else for another time.

I feel sad about the loss of these friendships as I write this but resolved. Our lives can be filled with the magic of TRANSFORMATION if we allow them to be. Perhaps the clarity I have after being MUDDIED in these relationships is this: 

I'm giving up being an engineer, artificially structuring and restructuring muddied relationships. I'm becoming something more like an organic gardener in relationships--a big believer in seasonality, weeding, resting, and composting.

LOOKING FOR TRANSFORMATION, GROWTH

Who knows what will grow relationship-wise from this new resolve?

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me and tell me about the muddiness you've gone through in 2013 to reach some new clarity.

REVERB13 (DAY #11): Meeting 2014 challenges boldy with daring do, courage, ecstasy!

MEETING 2014 CHALLENGES WITH HOPE.  (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

Hallelujah for DARING DO! Hallelujah for meeting challenges in our lives boldly and with joyous courage! Today's REVERB13 (Day #11) prompt from Kat McNally is this:

What challenges lie ahead in 2014? How might you meet them boldly?

A YEAR TO LIVE
The very first 2014 challenge I am taking on with immense curiosity is having an amazing conversation with Cecelia Kane. We are meeting weekly to discuss our lives in the context of ONE YEAR TO LIVE. We have set the end date for our lives: DECEMBER 9, 2014. One of the books that we are consulting to structure our discussion is Stephen Levine's book, A Year to Live.
 

LARGER WORK WITH NEW MEDIA. This pad of paper represent a larger size for me! (Art by Hallelujah Truth, assisted by feline Sapelo)

THE CREATION OF LARGER MORE INVENTIVE WORK
Another direction I have been longing to go is the SIZE of my art work. For several years now, I have been working small on paper, using pen and ink, water colors, watercolor pencils and crayons and acrylics. I have been wanting to go big and try new media. I have never really worked with collage nor textured surfaces and building layers. I think it is TIME to GO BIG and EXPAND MEDIA.

MEETING 2014 CHALLENGES WITH HOPE. This image contains the image of "HOPE" from my American oystercatcher illustrations in my work with Jen Hilburn. The two women represent GREAT MYSTERY to me. These symbols united represent the hope I have in great mystery! (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

DEVELOPING A SUSTAINABLE AND MEANINGFUL WORK LIFE
As 2014 opens and unfolds, I plan on developing and sustaining a coaching business, working to help others achieve their dreams and challenges. At the same time, I will deepen in my understanding of InterPlay through the Life Practice Program, learning incrementally my own Body Wisdom. I will be meeting this particular challenge through PLAY!


HEALTH THROUGH AUTHENTIC MOVEMENT
I am dedicated to listening to my body in 2014 and to experiment playfully with movement to address its needs. I look forward to ongoing movement with the Dancing Flowers, Decatur Dance Church, Five Rhythms and InterPlay. I would also like to work with a body trainer to learn how to use the weights at the gym my husband and I go to in our neighborhood.

ENJOYING AND RELISHING MY RELATIONSHIPS WITH PEOPLE
SOCIAL MEDIA. I commit to relishing the exchanges I have with everyone in my social media realms: the Facebook Group, The Daily Creative Practice; my blog, Coffee with Hallelujah; and through the creation of my website temporarily named RUTH TRUTH ART. 

FACE TO FACE. I will say "YES" often and regularly to BEING with those people that bring me GRACE! Cultivating these relationships will be a priority.

NEW RELATIONSHIPS. I will also welcome NEW people into my life who bring me GRACE. And I will support those who seek my mentorship through my coaching business.
 
SPACIOUSNESS OF BEING AN ESTATIC
FINALLY, I will live my life BIG in the SPACIOUSNESS that I am! I am an ESTATIC and will joyously dance my dance as one. Hallelujah for soulful creativity that enlarges my life! The challenge is to EMBRACE this spaciousness lovingly!

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me and tell me what challenges you are meeting in 2014! How will you do your work?

MEETING 2014 CHALLENGES WITH HOPE AND FELINE COMPANIONSHIP.  (Photo by Chiboogamoo)

REVERB13 (DAY #10): Cultivating a life worth living--truth divining and honoring the finds

SEEKING TRUTH FOR A LIFE WORTH LIVING (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

Hallelujah for SEEKING THE TRUTH and HONORING the TREASURES you find! 

For Kat McNally's Reverb13 (Day #10) prompt, I was asked the following:

How did you cultivate a life worth loving during 2013?

Since I started this blog, Coffee With Hallelujah in 2009, I have been a PILGRIM cultivating meaning from journeying into the GREAT MYSTERY OF LIFE. As a SOJOURNER, I brandish courageous and soulful joy seeing what TRUTHS I can find. 

I strive to be authentic, to lean into my heart, and to listen to what I hear. In 2013, my curiosity and yearning for a tremendous change spilled splendidly into the GREAT MYSTERY! I made many big changes in my life (Visit my blog entries from the past year to find out more about them!).

How have these changes assisted in making my LIFE one WORTH LIVING in 2013?  

1. I've continued mapping the countries of my own heart, mind, and body through my art making and blogging! As I map my BODY WISDOM in these ways, I have been increasing the GRACE I experience in my life. I am no longer waiting to live my life--I AM LIVING IT!

2. As GRACE has become more present in my LIFE WORTH LIVING, I have increased the compassion I have for myself. As I have learned to be more gentle with myself, magically, I have become more compassionate with others in my community. 

3. I have experienced TRUTH in new ways. The biggest new TRUTH for me has been learning from my BODY! Thank you InterPlay!

SEEKING TRUTH FOR A LIFE WORTH LIVING. Hallelujah for a life spent divining the truth. This morning, I took a 6" x  8" piece of paper and this is the TRUTH that asked to appear! My regular cast of characters danced onto the sheet before me. A new character on the right hand corner appeared.  (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

What is my TRUTH for today as delivered to me through my drawing?

We are at the ALTAR of a LIFE WORTH LIVING. Let's celebrate! Let's honor what we find!

SOMETHING NEW IN A LIFE WORTH LIVING (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

That's Coffee With Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me! Tell me how you cultivated a life worth living during 2013.

REVERB13 (Day #9): Hallelujah for numerous sources of inspiration for me in 2013

SOURCE OF INSPIRATION. Thank you to all the people in my life who have inspired me this past year (2013) and given me loving support--Hallelujah Truth drawn here with Wandjina and Great Mystery. (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

Hallelujah for INSPIRATION! Hallelujah for those PEOPLE that fill me with admiration and give me COURAGE to be MORE than I already am!

The prompt for Kat McNally's REVERB13 (Day #9) is this:

Who inspired you in 2013? And why? What gifts did they give you? And how will you carry these forward in to 2014?

KAT MCNALLY! Thank you for your Internet presence and making social media a warm place to inhabit through all of your blogathons! Through your prompts, blog buttons, linky tools, tribe members, and thoughtful comments, I have thrived. (source of photo)

Dear HEARTS, dear ones who create, recreate, adventure, and co-conspire with me I LOVE  and APPRECIATE you! 

TONY MARTIN.

HUSBAND INSPIRATION.
First, I long to acknowledge my beloved Chiboogamoo (aka Tony Martin), life companion, co-cat-caretaker, meaning seeker, and fun maker! You make my life joyous continuously and your loving mischievous spirit uplifts me and carries me away in a rapturous life! Thank you Honey for your brilliance and unconditional love. I am incredibly lucky to have met you! The dedication you have to your own creative work caresses me, enlivens me, and puts me in awe of you! I have learned so much from sharing my life with you. 2013 was awesome (See here, here, and here for only a fraction of what my honey has done this past year!)

DAILY CREATIVE PRACTICE INSPIRATION.
Then I long to acknowledge the inspiration I have gained from the participants in THE DAILY CREATIVE PRACTICE on my Facebook group (dear readers join here if you are interested). 

I especially want to thank Darlene Sperber for her kind and generous remarks supporting all who enter their unique creative work on this site. Her own artistic personality, along with her breadth of experience and kind vision have warmed my heart deeply (see her work here and here). I feel so fortunate for having met her on Facebook. Social media rocks and so does Darlene and her art and artful living. Thank you Darlene!

CHRISTINE NICHOLS GAUTREAUX.

AND...Christine Nichols Gautreaux! You inspired me with your warm love, on-the-spot intuition, strong presence, courage, and all-around-BEINGNESS! I am so thankful to meet a younger friend like you who has so much wisdom, energy, spirit of organization, wonderful husband and children. My you are making my life RICH with love! Thank you!

...AND Melissa Dickson Jackson, poet extraordinnaire, who has shared her poetry, ideas, and blog. On one special occasion, she inspired many of us to write an ode!!!

...AND Ty Butler, photographer, whose photos captured in his invention Tylight are luminous and dreamy and profound!

AND...all the other BRAVE SOULS who ventured to share their DAILY PRACTICES of CREATIVITY! Thank you for inspiring me to continuing wrestling with my inner critic so that I can experience JOY in sharing my own imaginative work! 

ARTIST FRIEND INSPIRATION.

CALLAHAN AND ME.

As a blogger, I have the immense privilege of choosing those ARTISTS whose work speak to me and interviewing them. In 2013, I got the opportunity to interview two wonderful women: Callahan Pope McDonough (see my blog interview here) and Jes Belkov Gordon (see my blog interview here). I connected with both of these women's passion, energy, and vision! And meaningful friendships are developing. Wow!

CREATIVITY COACH INSPIRATION.
It is with love that I write about Lesly Fredman and the way her intuitive wisdom and guidance  inspired me to grow and take risks.

INTERPLAY INSPIRATION

JENNIFER DENNING

In 2013, I had the good fortune to meet Jennifer Denning, an InterPlay leader living in Atlanta. She has been the foundation for me learning about InterPlay and getting more deeply involved in this wonderful art form. She is kind, gentle, funny, talented, and deep--a perfect person for establishing InterPlay in the Atlanta area and developing a warm InterPlay community, of which I very much want to be a part. Through InterPlay, I have met InterPlay co-founder, Cynthia Winton-Henry and Pittsburgh InterPlayer, Sheila K. Collins. All of these InterPlayers have impacted me profoundly. I now know that I am a RECOVERING SERIOUS PERSON!

MANY OTHERS WHO HAVE INSPIRED ME THIS YEAR! 

MY SISTER-IN-LAW and NIECE

My sister-in-law, who is living in Abu Dhabi, UAE, teaching math and science. Denise Drake, who lives in London and works for equality for all. Jenifer Hilburn, an ornithologist living on the Georgia coast, who is using her hope, creativity, and knowledge to perpetuate life. Cecelia Kane, whose art, ideas, and friendship wows me. My mother who continues to work out at the gym even though she is in her mid-80s because she values her good health. Judy Barber whose spirit is light and joyful and resourceful!

I HAVE BEEN TRANSFORMED IN 2013

 (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me and tell me who inspired you in 2013.

REVERB13 (Day #8): Life itself unfolded as thought, feeling, evolution--that's what went right in 2013!

2013 UNFOLDED AS THOUGHT, FEELING, EVOLUTION.  This image that I created in 2010 summoned me today, reaching back three years for an image that for me represented "red hot magma forming its own continents." At this moment, it is symbolizing something very different for me--THAT WHICH WENT RIGHT IN 2013. (Art by Hallelujah Truth from this blog entry)

What went right in 2013?

This is Kat McNally's REVERB13 (Day 8) prompt! And I will respond with a "HALLELUJAH" and put on my positive thinking cap. After all, I created my Hallelujah Truth persona to be exuberant so that I might savor my LIFE in great exaggeration--that is, to live and write from the perspective of this blog's motto:  

COURAGEOUS AND SOULFUL JOY.

2013 has been an outrageously life-altering year for me, one that has me teetering on the brink of chaos whilst dancing in delight because of the BIG CHANGE--EVOLUTION!

NEW LANDSCAPES. WHAT WENT RIGHT IN 2013? Change was my destination and I dwelled physically in new landscapes. This is Cappadocia, Turkey. How exciting to be in a location shaped by volcanic eruptions! These rock formations were formed by volcanic ash! Here I am RED HOT MAGMA associating with geologic wonders resulting from eruption! (Photo by Tony Martin)

WHAT WENT RIGHT IN 2013? I took the plunge in the name of thought and feeling as a commitment to myself and my life. I desired to journey deeper into meaning and to reawaken my childlike nature. I wanted to be more playful.

I left my job. I left my art groups. I left the familiar. I pretended as if I had moved from Atlanta to Albuquerque so that I could experience being in a new environment. I do not have children, and therefore will not have grandchildren. My life is not evolving biologically, so I do not have a linear narrative to follow. Instead, I am traveling the metaphysical route--one involving creativity, art making and the development of the soul. I proclaim that I am a RECOVERING SERIOUS PERSON.

With regard to my LIFE's  EVOLUTION--what went right in 2013?

I have found immeasurable support from my husband and friends. I am so fortunate to have my own cheering squad as I unfolded in new thoughts and feelings. Stay tuned for EVOLUTIONARY RESULTS in 2014!

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me and tell me: WHAT WENT RIGHT IN 2013 for you?

REVERB13 (Day 7): Infinity and the Selfie--that-in-us-which-never-dies, drawing and photography

INFINITE SELFIE (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

Hallelujah for the infinite SELFIE--that-in-us-which-never-dies! Hallelujah for deep thinking and the SYMBOLS that help us contemplate INFINITY.

Kat McNally's Reverb13 (Day 7) prompt is this:

Please post your favourite picture of yourself from 2013, self-portrait or otherwise!

This past year, I had wonderful photos taken of me by my Chiboogamoo (Thank you honey!) that I treasure and have made excellent use of in this blog, Coffee with Hallelujah. What was amazingly special for me was when a fellow artist asked--no persisted--in having me pose for her at the Oakland Cemetery here in Atlanta. And, the results, well were stunningly successful (see this blog)!

Thank you Lisa Alexander Streib for capturing INFINITY in the portraits you created from my profile! Then having the brilliance to merge a piece of my art with the portrait! Below is the image Lisa took that succeeded in creating the SELFIE that is INFINITE that is HALLELUJAH TRUTH!

STUDY OF INFINITY THROUGH AUSTRALIAN ART. I studied this particular piece of Australian indigenous art after my 2009 trip to northwestern Australia. It engaged me because it was the first female Wandjina I had seen. Wandjina is a CREATION GOD. The "halo array" symbolizes lightening bolts. We don't see a mouth because it is concealed by elemental clouds. What can one make of the breasts with eyes?  (Art copy done by Hallelujah Truth)

SELFIE, INFINITY, HALLELUJAH TRUTH. Lisa Streib succeeded in merging me and beloved profile with my work! The halo array of lightening bolts crowning my Hallelujah head! Now that is awesome when a photographer can succeed in creating a timeless portrait of a human, capturing "that-in-us-which-never-dies."  (Portrait by Lisa Alexander Streib)

That's Coffee with Hallelujah. SOUL BLOG with me and tell me about your infinite SELFIE--that-in-us-which-never-dies!