%20(9).jpg)
Create Harmony
This is a podcast about setting an intentional rhythm, savoring life’s blessings and learning how to use our imagination as a way of listening to God. If you want to learn more about how to bring stillness and gratitude into your life you’ll probably find a lot here that you love. To find out more about what's going on in the Create Harmony world, check out www.mycreateharmony.com.
Create Harmony
Rekindling Wonder: How Children's Stories Create Harmony
Remember the special magic of sitting cross-legged on the carpet as your kindergarten teacher read aloud from a colorful picture book? That simple joy—that pure, unfiltered delight—is exactly what we're recapturing in this episode of the Create Harmony podcast.
As part of our summer "Play it Forward" series, we're diving into the beloved classic "Blueberries for Sal." This isn't just storytelling; it's an invitation to rediscover your childlike wonder and carry that playful spirit into every interaction. Unlike "paying it forward," when we "play it forward," we spread lightheartedness, curiosity, and joy to everyone we meet. The ripple effect can transform not only our personal experience but the collective atmosphere around us.
The charming tale of Little Sal and Little Bear accidentally swapping mothers while gathering blueberries serves as a perfect metaphor for the unexpected connections that enrich our lives. As you listen to the rhythmic "kuplank, kuplunk" of berries dropping into tin pails, you might find yourself transported back to summers of your own childhood—tasting sun-warmed berries, feeling tiny gifts of nature in your palm, and experiencing that perfect blend of adventure and security that defines our happiest memories.
Our intentional alternating between guided nature visualizations and storytime readings creates a beautiful rhythm for summer—balancing active imagination with receptive listening. Both practices invite us to slow down, notice details, and engage with life more fully. In a world that often prioritizes productivity over presence, these moments of playful pause become radical acts of self-care and spiritual nourishment.
Listen, remember, and reclaim that sense of wonder. Then carry it forward into your week, noticing how it changes your perspective and touches those around you. What stories brought you joy as a child? Perhaps it's time to revisit them with fresh eyes and an open heart.
To learn more, go to mycreateharmony.com
Welcome back to the Create Harmony podcast, and this is a place where we are all about setting an intentional rhythm. We're about savoring life's blessings and learning how to use our imagination as a way of listening to God. You can learn more about how to bring stillness and gratitude in your life right here, and if you like to be creative and fun, there's a place for you here as well. In this place, we'll take just a few minutes to celebrate everyday joys and remind ourselves how to notice goodness all around us. So this is episode 130, and I'm your host, sally Bur Burlington, and we are in the middle of what I call our Play it Forward series. So this it's summertime here. We're celebrating the summer season and we are doing a Play it Forward series in the summer Not Pay it Forward, but Play it Forward, and what that means is that we're really trying to embrace the spirit, the fun, loving spirit, the lighthearted spirit of summertime, and we are thinking more about play. We're trying to be more playful with all of the things that we do and hoping that the spirit of that play, that inner child, will ripple out to everybody you touch and everyone you see, and our whole world will be more playful and uplifted and lighthearted. So the rhythm we're using is every other week we're doing a guided visualization that has something to do with nature or summer or being outside and being restful, and the next week we're doing a story time, and it is literally a child story. It's like when you were on the carpet when you were in kindergarten and your teacher was reading a story aloud to you. So you're going to let me be the teacher today, on the carpet when you were in kindergarten and your teacher was reading a story aloud to you. So you're going to let me be the teacher today and I'm going to read a story aloud and you're going to. The only difference between that and when you were in kindergarten is that you are going to imagine the pictures in your head and you might even hear me turning the pages of the book, just as if you had come to story time, and you just celebrate that moment and play it forward. So today's story is called blueberries for Sal, and it was a favorite of mine when I was growing up, because my name's Sally and it's about a little girl named Sal. So we are going to share together blueberries for Sal.
Speaker 2:One day, little Sal went with her mother to Blueberry Hill to pick blueberries. Little Sal brought along her small tin pail and her mother brought her large tin pail to put berries in. We'll take our berries home and can them, said her mother, then we'll have food for the winter. Little Sal picked three berries and dropped them in her little tin pail Kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk. She picked three more berries and ate them. Then she picked more berries and dropped one in the pail kuplunk and she ate the rest. Then Little Sal ate all four blueberries out of her pail.
Speaker 2:Her mother walked slowly through the bushes, picking blueberries as she went and putting them in her pail. Little Sal struggled along behind, picking blueberries as she went and putting them in her pail. Little Sal struggled along behind, picking blueberries and eating every single one. Little Sal hurried ahead and dropped a blueberry in her mother's pail. It didn't sound like Kaplink, because the bottom of the pail was already covered with berries.
Speaker 2:She reached down inside to get her berry back, though she really didn't mean to. She pulled out a large handful because there were so many blueberries right up close to the one she had put in. Her mother stopped picking and said now, sal, you run along and pick your own berries. Mother wants to take her berries home and can them for next winter, stopped picking and said now, sal, you run along and pick your own berries. Mother wants to take her berries home and can them for next winter. Her mother went back to her picking, but little Sal, because her feet were tired of standing and walking, sat down in the middle of a large clump of bushes and ate blueberries On the other side of Blueberry Hill little.
Speaker 1:Bear came with his mother to eat of bushes and ate blueberries.
Speaker 2:On the other side of Blueberry Hill, little Bear came with his mother to eat blueberries. Little Bear, she said, eat lots of berries and grow big and fat. We must store up food for the long, cold winter. Little Bear followed behind his mother as she walked slowly through the bushes eating berries. Little Bear stopped now and then to eat berries and then he had to struggle and hustle along to catch up Because his feet were tired of hustling. He picked out a large clump of bushes and sat down right in the middle and ate blueberries. Over on the other side of the hill, little Sal ate all of the berries she could reach from where she was sitting. Then she started out to find her mother.
Speaker 2:She heard a noise from around a rock and thought that is my mother walking along. But it was a mother crow and her children, and they stopped eating berries and flew away saying Goal, goal.
Speaker 2:Goal. Then she heard another noise in the bushes and thought that is surely my mother. I will go that way. But it was Little Bear's mother instead. She was trampling along eating berries and thinking about storing up food for the winter. Little Sal tramped right along behind. By this time Little Bear had eaten all the berries he could reach without moving from his clump of bushes. Then he hustled off to catch up with his mother. He hunted and hunted, but his mother was nowhere to be seen. Then he heard a noise from over a stump and thought that is my mother walking along. But it was a mother, partridge and her children. They stopped eating berries and hurried away. Then he heard another noise in the bushes and thought that is surely my mother. I will hustle that way. But it was little Sal's mother. Instead she was walking along picking berries and thinking about canning them for next winter. Little Bear hustled right along behind Little Bear and Little Sal's mother, and Little Sal and Little Bear's mother were all mixed up with each other among the blueberries on Blueberry Hill.
Speaker 2:Little bear's mother heard Sal walking along behind and thought it was a little bear and she said little bear, munch, munch, eat all you gulp can possibly hold. Little Sal said nothing. She picked three berries and dropped them. Kuplink, kuank, ku-plunk in her small tin pail. Little Bear's mother turned around to see what on earth could make a noise like ku-plunk Grump. She cried, choking on a mouthful of berries. This is not my child. Where is Little Bear? She took one good look and backed away. She was old enough to be shy of people, even a very small person like little Sal. Then she turned around and walked off very fast to hunt for little bear.
Speaker 2:Little Sal's mother heard little bear tramping along behind and thought it was little Sal. She kept right on picking and thinking about canning blueberries for next winter. Little Bear padded up and peeked into her pail. Of course he only wanted to taste a few of what was inside, but there were so many and they were so close together that he tasted a tremendous mouthful by mistake. Now Sal said Little Sal's mother, without turning around you run along and pick your own berries. Mother wants to can these for next winter. Little Bear tasted another tremendous mouthful and almost spilled the entire pail of berries, and almost spilled the entire pail of berries. Little Sal's mother turned around and gasped my goodness, you are not my little Sal. Where, oh, where is my child? Little Bear just sat and munched and munched and swallowed and licked his lips.
Speaker 2:Little Sal's mother slowly backed away. She was old enough to be shy of bears, even very small bears like Little Bear. Then she turned and walked away quickly to look for Little Sal. She hadn't gotten very far before she heard a complete kuplank kuplunk. She knew just what made that kind of noise. Little Bear's mother had not hunted very long before she heard a hustling sound that stopped now and then to munch and swallow, and she knew just what made that kind of noise.
Speaker 2:Little Bear and his mother went home down on one side of Blueberry Hill eating blueberries all the way and full of food stored up for next winter. And little Sal and her mother went down the other side of Blueberry Hill picking blueberries all the way and drove home with food to can for next winter A whole pail of blueberries and three more besides. Thanks so much for joining us for our Play it forward series, for our story time today, and hopefully that brought you a bright and lively energy that you can take out into the world around you and hope you'll come back next week as we continue our series. And until next time, peace, thank you.
