Blog Archives

Let's Come To Our Senses!

4/30/2014

This month at the Blueberry Planet we are taking a course about coming into our senses - literally - in order to engage more fully in our lives, which are always taking place in the present moment. When we say senses we mean all our five senses, and even our other senses like thinking and intuition.

There is much to share on this topic. Today we want to share the cool ideas we learned in the class for awakening the five basic senses. Now there are many ways to engage and awaken the senses. This exercise is focused on awakening them in a gentle grounding way.

So what stimuli are thought to awaken our senses and bring us to a feeling of grounding and open us to greater awareness of our selves? Here are the ones recommended in our class taught by Elegant Femme.

Sight: the Color Orange
Hearing: D Chord (such as Pachelbel Canon in D!)
Smell: Jasmine
Taste: Cinnamon and Vanilla
Touch: Water

We have been experimenting with this "recipe" for coming to our senses by putting cinnamon sticks in our coffee, snacking on vanilla wafers (in moderation), taking baths with orange candles and jasmine oil, and listening to Pachelbel's Canon in D. You don't have to take a bath, it could be shower, or just running water over your hands. For smells, you can pick jasmine flowers, and for sight you can wear orange clothes. There are lots of options to play around with. There are many songs written in D as well besides Pachelbel, though that's our favorite so far.

We are interested to hear how these sounds, smells, tastes, etc. inspire you! What other stimuli help to bring you into the present moment and make you feel like yourself, fully grounded and aware? Do you have any favorite songs in D that you would like to share?

An interesting version of Pachelbel Canon.

This one is interesting because it has trumpets and flutes, which is unusual. It is often played with just string instruments. This version is also shorter than most.

Another song in D - Vivaldi's Guitar Concerto in D

We just found another D chord song when we searched for the song that was played on Sesame Street to the visual of a flower. We were thinking it might be Pachelbel, but it turns out it's the Guitar Concerto in D, 2nd Movement by Vivaldi. Remember this one?

"We Teach What We Most Need to Learn?"

4/29/2014

A couple years ago we heard the phrase, "we teach what we most need to learn," in a class we took on finding our dreams and life purpose. It immediately resonated and we felt truth in this statement. After some time contemplating it, we think it would helpful to talk more about what it means, especially as it might be confusing if taken too literally.

What it Doesn't Mean

Let's start out with what it doesn't mean. It doesn't mean that we teach what we know the least about. Or that teachers of a topic know less about the topic than other people. What we believe it's saying is that our greatest challenges are the areas we wind up studying the most in life, and therefore on many levels become experts on.

Our Challenges Deepen our Understanding

A simple example would be someone with dyslexia learning to read. A good majority of people read naturally from left to right. But some people's brains are wired differently, and their brains intake information in a different order. When someone with dyslexia learns to train their brain to read left to right, they study the the process and "know" things - the details of the process - far more in depth than someone who has always read naturally left to right since they were a child.

In this sense the person who had great challenges in reading, and therefore had to spend years training their eye-brain coordination, becomes an expert on it. They acquire the tools to teach it to others who also have dyslexia (and may even shed light on things that are relevant to those that don't). Furthermore, it is often the case that those with a particular learning disability would rather be taught by someone who had it and overcame it, than someone who never had it (there are exceptions of course).

This idea of teaching what we most need to learn (i.e. have studied the most) applies to all kinds of things people learn and teach through out life. If you are overcoming a tendency towards OCD, for example, you have probably been trying out all kinds of tools to put yourself in the present moment and accept things are OK as they are - tools that others that more naturally live in the present perhaps use but not necessarily consciously, and so they are less apt to be able to articulate "how" they are doing it. Another common example is eating issues. Those who have been through it and overcome it are often considered more "credible" on the topic as a teacher than someone that hasn't.

Your Challenges are Also a Key to Your Gifts!

What we find particularly interesting and inspiring to consider, is that if you have a challenge in a particular area, and you are conscientiously working to overcome it, there is a good chance it has to do with one of your gifts, or life purpose(s) - whether it's a full or part-time job, a hobby, or something you share with friends and family.

We invite you to think about the areas you have struggled with the most, and think about what you have learned about them. Now of course we all have unique perspectives on everything there is to experience in life - and we encourage people to share their insights on many different topics. But in this case, we are talking about those areas that you have had the most difficult time with.

Learning from Example

We also want to emphasize, that just because a person hasn't been through what you've been through doesn't mean they can't be a teacher. We have learned from many people by example, which is considered one of the most effective ways to teach/learn. For example, if you want to teach a child about sharing, the best way to do it is by being a good sharer yourself. Or if you want a child to learn about table manners, modeling them to your kids can be far more effective than simply correcting them at the table.

Lots and lots of things can be taught by example. As I've mentioned before, I had a friend who seemed to attract wonderful things into her life all the time, and so I modeled certain things after her, such as taking immaculate care of the space and things I DO have. But if I had asked her outright, "how do you have a fulfilling life?", odds are she wouldn't be able to articulate exactly how she does it. Because she never had to study it, it always just came naturally to her.

The main reminder here is that "anyone can be your friend or teacher" as Sir Pepe so wisely taught me in Refections. But there are different kinds of learning and teaching. And the good news is this counter-intuitive perspective that areas we have had the hardest struggles may actually be our expertise! Rest assured, your pain and suffering is not for naught!

Imagination Inspiration

4/28/2014

Today we listened to a beautiful relaxation CD and were particularly inspired by one of the tracks called "Fairy Ears." We learned from the artist that the sounds and music played are her imagination of what it would be like to hear as a fairies do. What an idea! What does the world sound like to a fairy? I don't think I've ever thought about that before.

We invite you to listen to Fairy Ears, and also to come up with your own ideas of what the world around you might sound like through the ears of something else, whether a fairy, an animal like a dolphin or dog, or even an object like the sun! If you play an instrument, you could experiment with sounds. If not, you can try singing or just imagining the sounds in your mind.

And what might the world look like through the eyes of another creature? That is something that would be fun to draw or paint. What about how it feels to be something else? And the smells and tastes - well, you know how powerful some animal's sense of smell is, right? It could be 100 times that of a human being! While we are on the topic, do you believe that animals can think? Do you believe that fairies can think? What are fairies anyways, to you?

There's no right or wrong in this exercise, because there's no way we can really know for sure (not yet anyways). It's all in our imagination until science comes up with a way to truly hear, see, feel, smell, taste or even think as other creatures do. We are trying out this imagination exercise today and will let you know what we find!

What happens When You Find Out Your Hero Isn't Perfect?

4/24/2014

Today we were all raring to go about our plans to run some important errands when we had a moment of disillusionment. You know the kind, like when you find out an actor who played "the perfect nice person" in a movie, did something in real life that doesn't seem nice and kind? I think sometimes these moments are glossed over, or written off, before they are really examined and understood. And as a result stay as a little thorn of disappointment inside our minds.

"Hero" is not about being perfect

The good news is that we can go back and examine these memories or moments, and release them through understanding. And today we did shake of the disillusionment with some reflection. It's up to you how deep you go. A simple understanding would be something like "you know, nobody's perfect." As we know only good things happen on purpose, and we all space out and make mistakes we didn't mean to do. If we don't let someone who was/is our hero off the hook (for not being perfect), how can we let ourselves? So long as we keep learning and growing, rest assured, we are all doing good!

A "Perfect" Hero Would be Hard to Learn From

There are a lot of interesting aspects of the hero motif. One thing I noticed in thinking about this, is that a lot of the creative inspiring people out there have some pretty diverse lives. For example, the rapper (or what we like to call beat-dropper) Eminem. Now, we don't advocate swearing here at the Blueberry Planet - that's not our vibe. But nor do we ignore the darker things in the world. We just choose to focus on the good as often as we can. We think his openness about his struggles to transcend his childhood is quite powerful. What he teaches would have little meanng if he had a perfect childhood. And given the childhood he did have, he is bound to have challenges in breaking the generational patterns. But he is working through it, and sharing it with others who may relate, which is what is so admirable.

Even Nelson Mandela spent years in prison (granted, not for violence or real crime, but still). And think of the singers with the amazingly beautiful voices, singing of things that are so sad. The beautiful art created by painters when they are going through difficult times. Not all beautiful things are happy, not at first. But if you get the lesson and grow from it, that is happy indeed.

Flowers from Stone

A cool thing happens when you look even more deeply at the contrast in these inspirations and role models. You start to see that sometimes the most beautiful things grow out of the darkness, and we like to remember that here at the Blueberry Planet. In fact, we think that often it is because it came from darkness, and against all odds the person (or plant or animal) survives, breaks through to the light, and thrives, that makes it so beautiful.

We once wrote a song/poem about one of our dear friends, who has been through some very difficult things when he was young. Understanding the past is a huge key to reconciling the apparent contradictions in someone you hold in high regard.

But something changes in you forever
when love is born and takes you over
when you've seen the sweetest eyes
and the heartbreak of time
what cruelty can do to a child's mind
like those flowers that grow out of stone,
the miracles of nature
no one could have predicted or known.

Presence is a Gift you Give

4/22/2014

Here at the Blueberry Planet we have a lot of stories on the topic of being present, from childhood examples to fortune cookie quotes and a mysterious adventure with a stranger in the night that happened to be a golden retriever.

Today, we just want to share our awe of how giving someone attention is one of the greatest gifts you can give. Giving someone attention, when non-judgmental and curious, is basically the same thing as being present to someone - listening, understanding, seeing it through their eyes. And I don't have to tell you how good it feels to be listened to, to truly feel heard. And often it's just a single person listening, like a good friend, that is so helpful.

The same goes for being the listener, the giver of attention. This feels good too. We get to step outside ourselves, we get to hear stories that teach us or resonate with us and make us feel not so alone. We get to feel good the way it does when we give someone a present they really like! There can be purpose in it, though that can take some fine tuning (more on this later). We like the way the spelling of the words leads us to see attention and "presence" as gifts and "presents."

This is the fortune cookie story! It's a short one. When we were living in NYC we got this fortune and though we didn't understand it completely at the time, it stuck in our minds forever.
"The greatest gift you can give another human being is rapt attention to their existence."
Picture of Cookies and blank paper from www.moonfloweryoga.com

You Are Someone Too!

One thing it seems we forget in the process of give and take is the importance of giving attention to our own selves. Whether it be being aware of when you are hungry or tired. Or simply being aware of how you are feeling in general. And listening to and learning from it, rather than "ignoring" it. Ignoring is sort of the opposite of attention. In certain cases it can be a useful tool, but not when it comes to what you are feeling.

So if you are feeling sad, being present with yourself can cheer you up in the same way someone else's attention can cheer you up. In fact, we at the Blueberry Planet believe being present to yourself is one of (if not the) single most important thing you can do for yourself in your own growth and development. And you know how we feel about growth! Growth and change IS life.

You might ask, so how do you give yourself attention? This question warrants a separate post, and we are still learning about it ourselves. (It's simple, but sometimes it's hard to be simple!) For now, let's start with being aware of your five senses - how are you feeling inside and outside, what are you seeing, smelling, tasting and hearing ? Are you happy, sad, tired, hungry, excited, curious?

Try it out today and give yourself the gift of your own rapt attention and presence.

We Take Happy Birthday's Seriously!

4/21/2014

At the Blueberry Planet, one of the tunes we often find ourselves humming, whistling and writing new lyrics to is the Happy Birthday tune. And with it being Spring and all, and many people here celebrating spring holidays like Easter, its seems a fitting time to share with you a birthday card we found the other day. But just to let you know, we celebrate baby chickens and ducks and rabbits and eggs all year round here at the Blueberry Planet!

We liked this card so much, we decided to give it as a birthday card for our baby friend's zeroth birthday, and also as a birthday card to read every year thereafter. And we got to thinking, everyone should read this card for their birthday every year! Here's to a happy spring, birthdays and shedding old layers to live new life!

To a Happy Spring and New Life!

What are some things you would like to "give birth" to this year?

What ideas, goals would you like to see grow and bloom into fruition?

Living in the Moment

4/19/2014

Today at the Blueberry Planet we are take a little break from writing. However, we have a song that we love and have been meaning to share for awhile now. Today seems like as a good a day as any! Enjoy!

An Imaginary Theatre!

4/15/2014

Today, I'm going to share one of my favorite things, making up imaginary worlds. My friend has a theatre company with an amazing name which inspired me to make up a name for a theatre in my world. It's super fun! In the process I thought about the movies the theatre will create or put on and created names for the producer, director, actors, creator…It's fun - you can be any role you like, or more than one! From writer to actor to director - you can even be a sun in the sky in one of the scenes :o)

So today I made a picture of a theatre/movie advertisement just for fun - it is the first of many many versions and I will enlist the help of my amazing design friend Unscribbled to make more fun ones! This movie I am imagining is based on one of my stories and I am going to be acting as my self, Squishy Blueberry! It could be 5 minutes to an hour - the options are endless. I made a funny name for the director and the production company is called "Unthinking Overproductions.™" Hehe. That sounds funny. I love to pretend!

There's No Competition When You are YOU!

4/14/2014

You know how people sometimes say, "the best you can do is be you!" Well, I really think this is true. And that when you focus your attention on you and who you are, a lot of the stressful things we worry about fall away, including worrying about being "the best" at something. Because you already are the best at being you. And YOU really are unique. Even twins with "identical" DNA have different lives. No one has the experiences that you have, or the painful growing lessons (which often turn into our gifts!) that teach you throughout life.

Learn From Others AND Learn to Consult Yourself

As you probably know, I am big supporter of learning from others. Remember in Reflections of a Blueberry when Pepe told me that "anything you see at all could be your friend or teacher"? Well, it seems you can learn from anything - even a dog or a flower! We also sometimes learn from other's mistakes and sometimes from their successes.

One thing I noticed is that when someone is often doing things I like, and they seem to be happy, they become a "role model." Role models are great! The teacher-student dynamic can occur through out one's entire life in different ways - sometimes you are the teacher too! But there needs to be a balance. You must know that only YOU know what is best for YOU. And this becomes easier as you learn to better hear your own voice.

For example, my friend always takes naps in the afternoon. I liked the way she takes care of herself and her needs, and therefore has more to give others, so I wanted to learn from her. In the beginning I would try out the things she does, say taking naps in the afternoon. What I sometimes forgot to think about is "is this working for me?" Sometimes I would even consult her on what she thought was right for me. And while she may know me better than many, she couldn't possibly know my intricate needs, at least not in the way I can know them. After all, I'm living in my body, not someone else! Maybe I need naps in the evening, or in the morning. Or maybe just every-other day. You gotta check in with your self, on a regular basis, to fine tune the lessons you learn from others and avoid getting stuck for too long in a pattern that isn't helping you.

You are the Expert on You

So while you can learn so much from others, like those who know about things you don't, keep in mind that YOU are authority on the details of you and your needs. Remember that YOU are the expert on YOU. Not to mention that the amount of effort it takes to "try" to be like someone else is much more tiring than just "being" you - being the best version of YOU that you can imagine at the moment.

Keep in mind that it takes time to hear your self and your own heart's desires, so remember to be patient like my turtle friend Norba the Great!

It Takes the "Try" out of "Trying"

A fun way to think about being you, versus trying to be like someone else, is that it's SO MUCH EASIER. You don't have to "try" to be you. You just are. Does a rose try to be like a violet? Or a horse like an elephant? No. Does the rose need help to grow, from the sun and rain and wind? Yes! Just like we need input (food, knowledge, fun) from the outside world to grow. Is the process for a rose to grow complex? Yes! Even parts of the rose bush must fall away for the rose to fully blossom. Something that can be painful for humans to imagine - letting something die for something new to be born - seems to be more effortless in nature, like when we see flowers bloom. But who knows exactly how a rose feels, right? Except for the rose.

So cheer up and stop worrying about where you are in life. You are already the best at something - being YOU. And the best thing you can do for the world is to keep making a better and better version of YOU by continuing to learn and grow and see where your interests and passions take you.

Imagine that! Exercise

What unique flower(s) do you turn into as you grow? Try drawing a picture of a flower you like, you can start with something simple. And then add to it other things that you like - colors, shapes, etc. Be creative! There's no right or wrong. You can start with a rock if you want (I did this one time!), or an animal. It's a fun process and good practice!

I've shared this picture before in a Happy Song and Dance. It's one that Nilbert took of me "sweeping aside all doubt and fear" and inspired the poem he wrote, "Ode to a Blueberry,"

See how the stone is turning into flowers and other things? Let your imagination flow!

You are Your Gift to the World

4/7/2014

Did you know that pursuing your dreams and receiving your heart's desires are inherent rights you have as a human being on this planet, by virtue of being born? And as a human, you are always growing and learning and so your interests and desires are changing as well?

So why is that so many of us don't DO what we want to do or go after what we WANT? Or continue to do something we used to love but no longer? Why do we slack off on the things that support our true heart's goals, and focus so much on careers or jobs that don't fulfill us?

I agree with people when they say that the main reason for not pursuing our dreams is fear of failure, which we have already discussed does not really exist, but still feel real to us in our minds and emotions. But the thing is, if you work towards your goals, doing something you enjoy, YOU WILL GET WHAT YOU WANT, or some version of it, maybe even better than you imagined.

What if we don't know what we want?

Is it really just fear though, or do we also have some misunderstanding about what we are taught in school about the options we have in life and what we "should" do? And as a result of getting bogged down with so many "shoulds", many of us don't get a chance to find out what WE really want!

The first step to living your dream is to figure out what you are good at, what comes naturally to you, what do you enjoy doing. And then imagine the wonderful things you want in your life. Maybe you simply want to do what you love? Or maybe you want to do something you are good at to get something that you really love (e.g. a new toy, a vacation).

This process can take time if you don't already know what it is you love or want to do. How do you figure out what you want to do? Well, here's a little poem I have written that may help you.

When you quiet your mind and be
you have the space to let go of the "me."
The "me" that's incessantly always seeking closure
to something that inherently goes on forever.
Forever changing what it means to be you
and what it is you are meant to do.
‘Cause what it is you are meant to do
changes with the rhythm of your heart's tune.
Yes, a tune you can hear when the mind is silent
will lead you to your heart's fulfillment.
Fulfillment of your potential inside
that gets released when you calm your mind.

The Shoulds….

The "Shoulds" are a powerful thing. We have learned a lot about what we "should" do because we are exposed to so many other people's ideas. What may be right for them to do, may not be the same thing that is right for us.

In addition, some of us may feel "guilty" for pursuing our own dreams, because we think we "should" be doing something "responsible" or that we are being selfish by following our hearts. Well, let me tell you something. The greatest gift you can give you world is to find your purpose and live you dreams.

You are your Gift to the World

The best thing you can do for the world
is to find your life's purpose and live it.
Your purpose is where you naturally apply
the talents and gifts you’ve been given.

Your purpose is really just living your dreams
And doing what you love and desire -
those dreams that come from inside your heart,
give life meaning, and fuel your fire.

Your purpose is also your gift to the world
that grows as it’s shared with others.
As you follow your dreams you create something new
that has not yet been discovered.

But first you must deeply believe in yourself,
discard thoughts that keep you from shining.
Those thoughts that have faithfully tried to protect you,
but now just keep you from flying.

Every single person in this great big world
Has a dream that is meant to come true.
So first find out what your dreams are and then,
Instead of worrying just be YOU through and through!