Listen to Me

I’m a dolphin. I’m only four months old. I live in the waters surrounding a beautiful island called Bimini in the Bahamas. I have a couple of helpful hints for you that just may just give you enough courage to start living your lives like you would if you weren’t so afraid.

Look, I know it’s hard to be a child. I’m only four months old. A four month old dolphin is kind of like a six year old human child. I’m very smart and I’m also very stubborn. I have to swim by my mother’s side and sometimes that rule that makes me really mad

I have a twin sister named Fiona. She’s a very good sister. She does everything my mother asks her to do and she never complains. She never even complains about staying by our mother’s side!

I’ve got a bad temper. Even though I’m only four months old I think I should be able to live my life the way I want to. I sometimes feel like I’m in prison. I have to follow all the rules that my mother asks me to follow and I have to stay close to my pod. A pod, by the way, is a dolphin community.

I just wish all the adults in my pod would listen to me. I’ve got really good ideas. I really do know more than most four month old dolphins. I know more than Fiona. She really has a lot to learn.

At least Fiona loves me enough to listen to my ideas. Fiona and I have very long conversations about angels and what life would be like if all dolphins listened to their angels.

My friend Bly, who is a very wise adult dolphin, said many of you, who are reading this letter, have problems like I do with life. She said that many you have been called stubborn, angry and willful. Bly said some of you get in trouble with your teachers. She told me that often your parents have no idea how to raise you because you are so different from other children.

Bly said you are all very, very smart. She said most of you have every intention of being good but something goes on in your mind that makes you say things like “I don’t believe you! or “You’re wrong!” or “You don’t know what’s best for me!” You say those things when adults ask you to do things that don’t feel helpful. In other words you don’t believe that following their instructions is going to teach you anything new.

Bly said you are just like me. You always want to learn something different. She said your parents ask you to do things like eat your dinner, go to bed on time, do your homework, listen to your teachers, spell correctly, talk politely to people you don’t like, keep on studying for your test even when you know all the answers, sit up straight, make your bed, clean your room, and wear clean clothes. If you don’t do those things your parents ask you to do them until you do. It’s so boring isn’t it!!

But you know what else Bly told me? She said most of the time adults really do know what’s best for you. I, for example, really must swim by my mother’s side. She doesn’t make me swim by her side because she’s mean. She makes me swim by my side to keep me safe.

I’m very small. I don’t know much about keeping myself away from sharks. Sharks eat dolphins. I saw my friend get hurt by a shark. My friend was about twelve months old. A one year old dolphin is like an eight year old human child. My friend, whose name is Bu, is just like me. He’s very independent and he’s very smart. He goes off on adventures all by himself.

One day Bu’s mother said he could swim one mile away from the pod. She said he should never swim further than that because he could get into trouble with sharks. Instead of swimming one mile he swam five miles. He found a big school of fish so he began to catch them and eat them. Bu forgot that his mother had told him to swim one mile and immediately come back because the pod was about to swim to a different area of the ocean to hunt.

When Bu didn’t return on time his mother got very worried. She sent a search party out to find him. Five dolphins found Bu but it was almost too late. A big shark called a hammerhead shark bumped into Bu and bit him in the side. The five adult dolphins chased the shark away but the shark turned around and swam back towards them. They took charge and they really scared the shark. They didn’t fight the shark. They didn’t chase it and they didn’t get angry. The dolphins sent the shark a navy blue color I call Courage. They sent the navy blue color from their hearts.

The navy blue color is called a Ray of Joy. Joy is what you feel when you are so happy that you get up and laugh and play and run around. Joy is what you feel when you are getting along with your family and you’ve just been given permission to do something new.

There are about twenty Rays of Joy. Courage is one of my favorites. My friend Bly sends me the Ray of Courage when I’m afraid I’ve been badly behaved. Whenever she gives me Courage I become brave enough to do whatever it is I’ve been asked to do.

You know how it goes. Sometimes you are a bit afraid to behave because if you do your parents or teachers and other adults won’t realize how very definitely you have another way of looking at life. You are afraid they won’t have any reason to listen to your opinion.

When Bly gives me Courage I feel very joyful and I say to myself “I’m very important and I’ve got very strong opinions. I’ll ask that adult to please sit down and talk to me later. Right now I’ll do as I’ve been told. I do know that even children as smart and full of great ideas as me have a lot to learn from adults.”

You know what! The more I behave and do what my mother and Bly ask me to do the more freedom they give me. So ask your parents to give you Courage if they notice you are upset about something they’ve asked you to do. If you feel really grumpy about being asked to do something, give yourself the Ray of Courage. Just imagine yourself being surrounded by navy blue.

You are probably wondering why the shark swam away when the five adults sent him Courage. Sharks don’t like to receive Rays of Joy from dolphins. The Ray of Courage really makes them anxious. Sharks want dolphins to be afraid of them. A fearful dolphin is a weak dolphin and sharks want dolphins to be weak.

Before adult dolphins send a shark the navy blue ray of Courage they give one another Courage. They become very calm and all their fear of the shark disappears. They became focused. They focus clearly on the shark’s behaviors. They also become centered. When you are centered you are very aware of your body and you move your body efficiently. No shark wants to mess with a calm, focused, centered dolphin.

Bly said some of you put up with mean children and sometimes mean adults called bullies. If a bully ever bothers you send the bully Courage but don’t forget surround yourself in Courage first. That bully might get worried and walk away.

I want to tell you another story. This is a story about my first attempt to leave my mother’s side. I was only one month old. I was only about three feet long. I was one of four new born dolphins in my pod. One, of course, was Fiona. The others were named Skip and Grip. Fiona, Skip, Grip and I loved to take turns swimming around in circles. Our mothers always supervised us when we played.

I love swimming in circles! One day I got a bit bored so I left my mother’s side and began swimming in circles around her. Everybody else in my pod was relaxing. I kept swimming faster and faster.

A terrible thing happened. I got dizzy and bumped into my mother. I really hurt myself. I hit my head so hard that I got what you call a headache and I began to cry.

My mother asked for help. She said very loudly “My son Bo just hit his head and he’s very upset. Will you please help me help him feel better.” Everybody in the pod surrounded me and sent me a beautiful forest green ray we call The Blessing.

I was really afraid I was going to die. I had never had a headache before and I thought my head was going to blow up. But the minute everyone gave me The Blessing I began to calm down. Then I began to notice how my head really felt. There was one spot over my right eye that hurt. I felt better when I realized that was the only painful spot.

I heard a very loud voice telling me to fill that spot above my eye with the forest green color of The Blessing. That voice was the voice of my friend Bim. Bim’s one of my angels.

Bim is a very big whale who lives in another place called Vu where dolphins and whales live. Dolphins and whales who live on Vu are different. They don’t really have bodies. They don’t eat and they don’t hunt. Dolphins and whales who live on Vu are never afraid.

Bim and his friends are what you call angels. Angels help dolphins and people learn to live happy lives.

Bim’s my best friend. I really think he knows me better than my mother. He doesn’t ever get angry with me even when I’m badly behaved. I really trust Bim. I know he loves me very much.

I filled that painful place above my right eye with the forest green color of The Blessing and the pain went away. I became very centered. When you are centered you are very aware of your body. You notice how your body feels.

I began to move my head back and forth and up and down. I felt nothing but happiness when I realized I wasn’t going to die.

I told everyone in my pod that I felt better. I thanked them very much for their help. I also thanked Bim for his help.

My mother gave me a big kiss and so did Bly. They said they were very proud of me. They said that I proved to every other young dolphin that even the very young can heal their own bodies and take care of their biggest problems.

All young dolphins and children really need to do is learn to listen to their angels. Bly said you all have angels and many of you are good at listening to your angels.

Bly said that sometimes there are problems between you and your parents because your parents have forgotten how to listen to their own angels. You have to realize that parents have a lot of responsibility. The biggest job in the whole wide world is taking care of young children and young dolphins. Parents must work very hard to provide us with food. They also must keep us safe. All that hard work can make a parent tired. Sometimes when you are tired you are so grumpy that you don’t have enough patience to listen to your angels.

I’m listening to Bim more carefully. Bim helps me remember to be kind to others. Sometimes I get so self-centered that I forget about everyone else in my pod. I even forget about Fiona. When you are self-centered all you care about is yourself.

Sometimes all I feel like doing is swimming in circles and leaping out of the water. Bim says that playing hard is very good for me but there are times when playing isn’t a good idea. I was being self-centered when I swam in circles and hurt my head so badly. Everyone in the pod was relaxing. Dolphins need to relax. They love to relax and breathe very deeply.

I learned from that very bad experience of hurting my head. I learned that being self-centered and playing when I was supposed to be relaxing was very hard on not only me but everyone in my pod. I did something very grown up when I realized how my self-centered behavior of playing during the time for relaxation upset everyone else. Nobody complained about my behavior but I knew I disturbed their rest. Dolphins need to rest so they have enough energy to catch fish.

I said I was sorry to everyone in my pod. I gathered them all around me and said “I’m very sorry I disturbed your rest. I was very self-centered.” Every single pod member came up to me and gave me a big kiss. I began to cry and told them I felt loved.

Then everybody began to cry. We weren’t crying because we were sad. We were crying because we felt so much love for one another.

I noticed that everyone had beautiful love - light coming from their hearts. There are many kinds of love - light. This love - light was a warm red color. We were surrounded in this red love - light that was very similar to the red of a big red delicious apple.

Bim started to talk to all of us and we all listened very carefully. We all breathed deeply and kept very still.

Bim said “You’ve taken a big step. You’ve learned that being still and breathing deeply helps you listen to one another. When you listen you learn a great deal about love.”

Then Bim told the grownups that they had learned a great deal about helping the very young learn to love. Bim said that by giving me nothing but love, when I hurt my head, the adults helped me learn how my self-centered behavior affected them.

Bim said that I felt so much better after being given The Blessing that I was able to listen to Bim more carefully. As a result I helped myself feel even better. I also realized that I wasn’t being kind to everyone else by playing when I wasn’t supposed to.

Bly said that you have the same ability that I do to give yourself and others the lovely navy blue Ray of Courage and the soothing Ray of The Blessing. She said that you can quietly breathe deeply and listen to your angels. She said that you can also learn to be kind and considerate to everyone in your world.

Bly said you are very smart, gifted children. She said you are going to be special leaders when you grow up. She said some of you will be very great parents who lead your own children the way my mother and Bly have led me. She said some of you will become community leaders and even political leaders. Some of you will be wonderful teachers. Bly said you are going to change the world!!

I’m very happy to have you as my new friends. I’d love you to write me a letter. I can’t wait to hear how well you are doing with the Rays of Courage and The Blessing. I’m so excited to know that you too will begin to sit quietly, breathe and listen to your angels.

My friend Kathryn, who talks to me all the time, said she’d publish your letters in various places. She said she’d also publish my answers to your letters. I’m so happy! I’m going to making so many new friends!!

You can reach me through my friend Kathryn. You can send her an email. Her email address is Kathy@BlueDolphinEssences.com.

You can of course just sit and say “Bo, I’ve got something to tell you.” I promise I’ll listen. Bim, Bly and my mother will tell me when I need to calm down and listen to you. If you sit quietly, breathe and listen you just might hear me say something back to you.

I’ve got to go now children. I’m supposed to learn how to help Fiona be still and breathe. I’m learning to be a teacher.

Bo’s co author is Kathryn Jensen
Kathy@BlueDolphinEssences.com
www.BlueDolphinEssences.com
303 752 8726

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