Welcome to my blog, "Coffee With Hallelujah." Will you join me in a discussion of my pilgrimage and yours? Are we artists only when we engage in our art making? Or can we create lives that are filled with surprise and imagination? Can we keep discovering ourselves and those around us as we grow old?
The idea for this blog originated last week. As an artist who sets quarterly goals, I was wrapping up my goal of "Joyful Catnapping." Instead of striving to achieve a numerical goal, such as 10 paintings, 1 website, or completed illustrations for a children's book, I had decided to experience joy each morning as I sat down to create "art." I had decided to "see" what would happen.
It was with great delight that I expanded my vision of the world, and from it emerged another self: I introduce you to HALLELUJAH! This is my more fluid self, one who truly is ready to go into the unknown.
I enjoyed 12 weeks of drawing with Hallelujah, and I felt disheartened when our time ran out last week. At that moment, I found myself at the center of a "Little Five Points." Here in Atlanta, where I live and work, there are junctures where five roads come together in one place, and they are called "five points."
Well, this image came to my mind of ME, serious dogmatic visionary RuthTruth, standing in the center of "five points," a beautifully configured star. Each arm of the star represented an artistic job or duty I was feeling I needed to do. I envisioned a locomotive expressing me away from my center place with Hallelujah. I felt my joyful catnapping fade and anxiety simmer. There is just too much to do! Where do I start?
Then I had an epiphany! A shooting star, Hallelujah! I would arise from my bed, and I would know that FIRST--before anything else--I would have Coffee With Hallelujah. I would honor myself and the joy I experience when I ask: What can I discover today? Only then, would I EXPRESS myself to the task at hand, and I would bring Hallelujah with me.
We would do our work together joyfully and integrated. I would find a new way to accomplish my work, like a cat napping!
Join me. Join Hallelujah. Where are you in your life? What is your journey? Call forth your art.
