Laughing Alligator: Dancing on the Heart

DANCING ON THE HEART

Yes! Yes to LAUGHTER! And why not in the form of an alligator? The imagination is free from rules! 

The night renews me. And in my daily creative practice, I am greeted by this alligator dancing on my heart. Hallelujah for the imagination! Hurray for creativity! And an affirmative to the dance of life.

LAUGHING ALLIGATOR DANCING ON MY HEART. (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

THREE THINGS TO REMEMBER

As long as you're dancing, you can
break the rules.
Sometimes breaking the rules is just
extending the rules.
Sometimes there are no rules.

-Mary Oliver

LISTENING TO THE STUFF OF DREAMS AND PRAYERS

I remain open to the stuff of dreams. At predawn, I dance my prayers not knowing where they go or what they do. My musings, my pencil lines, my cats, all colliding with the coffee and my husband eating cereal with almond milk.

This I do know, the practice of GRATITUDE - reflecting on the good in my life - waters me like I'm a flower. Hope drizzles on me like this morning's precipitation. Tao, our cat has refused to stay outside on such a wet dark morning.  My husband has kissed me good-bye before the sunlight touches our front door. 

Yet, I am here dancing with my Laughing Alligator and the Mother of Mystery. I am savoring the pizza dinner we had with Dottie last night and the workshop for the Atlanta Science Festival we are creating through our collaboration. I am remembering the text I received from a Korean graduate student in London after she gave her presentation. I am thankful for connection with my soul, with all of the people in my life, and with you if you have taken the time to read my blog and look at my images.

Thank you for joining me in this dance of creating grace from the mundane to the mysterious. Have a beautiful day!

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! Soul blog with me. Let me know what you are dancing!

LET YOUR MIND DANCE WITH YOUR BODY: BELIEVING MOVEMENT CHANGES THOUGHT

DANCING FROM THE CEMETERY TO JOY. (art by Hallelujah Truth)

Hallelujah Pilgrims! Have you ever given it much thought that you can elevate your MIND and SOUL through MOVEMENT? On my JOURNEY, I have discovered that LAUGHTER, DANCE, CLAPPING, HEAD BOBS, or whatever gentle physical moves I make alter my MENTAL state. I laugh now remembering that whenever I was feeling glooming or sickly my mother would tell me, "Go run around the block! Go ride  your bike!" Mothers often know BEST!

HALLELUJAH TRUTH MIND

Today in my morning ritual of preparing tea and coffee for Chiboogamoo and me, I delighted in the message on the Yogi tea bag of his Gingko tea! "Let your mind dance with your body." Yippee! Permission to be an integrated SOUL--uniting body and mind! Chiboogamoo and I danced our two new kitties, Tao and Sapelo; we spun each other around, and we sipped our tea laughing! Then I worked on my "fifteen minutes of creativity." Was my state altered by movement! A cheerful, joyful YES!

The image you see here with my box of watercolor pencils in the background began in my response to watching Beacon Dance in Decatur, Georgia, perform "Fire" in the Decatur Cemetery (See my blog on this performance.) and grew into a version of Hallelujah Truth (me) letting her mind dance with her body!

REFLECTING ON DANCE WITHOUT DANCING.  This was the image completed the morning after I watched Beacon Dance perform in the Decatur Cemetery. I discovered that  a reflection of movement(dance) in my art is different from when I have experienced moving (dancing) immediately before drawing! Hallelujah!

So PILGRIMS...what PHYSICAL ACTION or DANCE can you make this MOMENT to ENLIVEN your BODY, MIND, and SOUL? Tell me what you do to WAKE UP to the MOMENT? 


That's Coffee with Hallelujah! Thanks for JOURNEYING with me! Make SOUP of the SOUL and let me know how it tastes!

CAPTURED IN A JOYFUL DANCING MOMENT! Photographer and friend Dana Kemp photographed us all dancing. She was generous enough to capture us in cameo shots that she then distributed to us individually! I treasure this photo both because it was taken by Dana and that she helped me see myself in a different way!