Plucking a juicy, vibrant ripe blueberry from its tree is a blissful moment for Alanda Greene. Drinking in the aroma of the fruit as she harvests the bright blue bunches, she feels moments of timelessness, completely absorbed in her work. It’s not however, always ‘smooth picking’. She admits to feeling a sense of urgency when contemplating the sheer amount of picking to be done — the mind rushes, and presence is lost. The shift from urgency to mindfulness in her blueberry harvesting is a reminder that in our full, fast-paced lives, it can be all too easy to get so swept up in what needs to get done, that we aren’t present with what we are doing. Everything changes when we bring our entire being to where we are; our awareness deepens, our experience becomes richer and we open the door to greater insight and peace.
