SHIMMER MEETS OLLIE

The story of Shimmer the Glowworm Finds Her Glow has many layers and lessons. The main storyline is that Shimmer has a low glow and goes in search of it. What is interesting is that because of her innocent nature, she doesn’t even realize she has a low glow. She just feels like she’s missing something or that she’s not connecting with everyone else in her world. In her social circle she just feels rather glum, but it’s sort of her normal state, because she’s never really had an opportunity to express her special qualities. So she goes out in search of her glow and she has this curious nature.

She meets a unique new being and she’s absent all judgment because she’s never been exposed to that kind of thing. And so she asks Ollie these simple questions purely out of curiosity: “Well, why aren’t you flying around?” It makes common sense to anyone else. “Why are you just sitting in this tree by yourself?” And Ollie says, “I just don’t feel that excited.” And so I like that response. There’s no story or excuses cluttering his response. There’s no pretense. He’s not defensive. It’s just: “I don’t feel that excited.”

This is relate-able because I think that children sometimes aren’t even aware of what they’re feeling or why they’re feeling it, and how to express that. They, first of all, have to learn to identify what they’re feeling. So this story has so many layers of helping children understand what’s going on internally and that we all experience these things at some time or another. And so all he says is, “I don’t feel that excited.” I mean, we can all relate to that. He doesn’t put a lot of story around it – You know, well, I’m alone and my friends don’t call me or I’m sitting here and people are sleeping at night and I’m up by myself. These things may be true, but he just says, “I don’t feel that excited” and infers, I’m not really sure why.

I think like a lot of us, he’s just gotten stuck in his pattern. And so Shimmer relates to him. She says, “Well, I’m alone right now, too. I’ll climb up and sit with you.” So now she’s connecting with him on a common emotional level. And so then he becomes focused on her instead of himself, which helps pull him out of his state. When people are too self-focused, they can fall into some of these lower vibrations and these emotions within. Focusing on others and interests outside of yourself helps to stay engaged. And so now he’s got insight, also, because it’s easier to see what’s going on with others and not necessarily what's going on with yourself.

So he says to her, “I’m alone every night, thinking and thinking-“ so he’s gained a lot of insight and understanding. And this infers a level of self-reflecting or meditation which can bring much wisdom. And he asks her, “Do you want to know what I think?” He’s implying, I think all the time, and I have some insight here. And so what he does next is interesting. He compliments her. He says, “I think it was very brave of you to leave the cave.” That was a heartfelt observation, because Ollie didn’t feel that of himself.

Then he says, “I think maybe the answer is inside of you, which is the pivotal moment in this story. It is the truth in the purest sense. That statement embodies the lesson for both of them, and actually each of us. And what Shimmer does next is dynamic. She compliments Ollie. She doesn’t inquire more about herself. She doesn’t ask, Where is it in me? Or What is it? She goes right back to complimenting and praising Ollie.

Shimmer says, “You really do have a lot of wisdom. You are very wise.” Ollie immediately begins to see himself as his true self – special. So they impact each other in a meaningful and life-changing way. And what else can we learn from this? Yes, there’s more. One of Shimmer’s gifts is her true authentic interest in others and what they do, and more importantly what they’re FEELING. She truly has an amazement about others. Wouldn’t it be a an incredible world if we validated each other.

Imagine if you went to another planet and you saw creatures of all different species. You would be fascinated about them. You would want to know everything about them – what they do, how they live, what they like. What If we could bring that level of curiosity into our everyday awareness; being more interested in others, what they’re doing and feeling; what a great new perspective. We would go through our day and meet someone and instead of prejudging them and thinking that maybe we don’t connect or we’re so different, imagine thinking – You’re interesting. You’re different. What are your gifts? What can I learn from you? What can you teach me? The answers just might be as valuable to you as they were to Shimmer and Ollie… You never know

☺ Butterflies and rainbows –

shelby.