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Things started to get confusing with all the blogs I was creating, each with semi-distinct themes, but with some overlap as well. So I've come up with some clear descriptions of each blog.
Hollyfrost Comics: This is the home of my weekly Hollyfrost comic strips as they come out, and will also be shared on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram. Squishy Speaks: Squishy Blueberry's blog will focus primarily on funny ideas and whimsical rhymes and move away from the more complex and/or mundane updates (and moving that content over here on the Th'inkling Aloud blog). Back to the basics really. See the next post "Squishy Speaks a lot" for the comprehensive list of Squishy's blog posts from 2014 - 2016. Th'inkling Aloud (this blog): will contain links to notable blog posts on the other sites, promotional updates on Squishy Blueberry books, and the philosophical, more adult musings that used to be on Squishy Speaks. Musings for the Masses: This is my personal blog that can get a bit abstract, sometimes melancholy, sometimes over analytical. It is not censored or geared to a specific audience, but purely my thoughts. It is my rawest form of self expression, an acquired taste perhaps. Hollyfrost Comics: This is the home of my weekly Hollyfrost comic strips as they come out, and will also be shared on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram.
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In effort to streamline the multiple blogs managed by D'inkling Publishing, instead of reposting entire blogs from Squishy Blueberry's blog, Squishy Speak, I'm just going to link to them. Below is a comprehensive list of all of Squishy's blogs from March 2014 - now. A few of them have been published as stand alone blog posts here, but for thoroughness I'm including them all here. Gratitude is the AttitudeGratitude really is the best attitude. You know why? Well, think of it this way. When you focus on the things you are thankful for - the things you like and love - you are uplifting yourself just by thinking about them and telling someone about them. And the goal is to feel good, right? Read more... Kindness Helps You GrowDid you know that treating yourself with kindness helps you grow more than treating yourself with criticism or harsh words? Think of kindness like the sun and rain that help flowers to gently grow to their fullest potential. Read more... Do You Know Why There is No Try?I'll bet a lot of you have seen Star Wars and remember a line from the movie, "There is no try," spoken by Yoda, Luke Skywalker's teacher. It's when he's communicating to Luke that you either DO or you DON'T, there's no in between. Anyways, I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and here's what I think he means. Because what about situations where you try to do something, but you fail? Or what if DO means succeed, and DON'T means fail so in life there's only success or failure? Read more... A Happy Song and DanceHave you noticed how when you are in a good mood everything happening around you seems to sing? And when you are in a bad mood, everything seems to work against you? You might be asking, "Well, which causes which? Does hearing happy singing cause the good mood or does the good mood cause us to open our ears to the singing?" Read more... Only Good Things Happen on Purpose You know when people accidentally hurt you? Say, when someone is running to catch a ball and he is so focused on the ball he accidentally bumps into you. Often the person will say, "Sorry. I didn't mean to. I didn't do it on purpose." And we will think, "Oh, I forgive you - you didn't mean to or do it on purpose."... I've been curious - why does doing it on purpose matter in this situation? I'm of the belief that no one ever hurts anyone "on purpose" - at least I've never known anyone to. It's usually when we are "spacing out" or not being aware of what's going on that we wind up tripping or having an accident that hurts ourself or someone else. Read more... Everything is a SuccessIt's the meaning of the word *try* that implies success or failure that doesn't make sense to me. Because every step forward is a learning experience, fun or not so fun, and is a success by the fact that it's a step in your growing. Read more... You Are Your Gift to the World 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? Read more... There's no Competition When You Are You 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. Read more... An Imaginary Theatre: Ode to a Flee(a)master[T]oday 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! Read more... Living in the MomentOne of the happiest songs ever! Listen to it here. Presence is a Gift You GiveToday, 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. Read more... Imagination Inspiration 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. Read More... Why do We Teach What we Most Need to LearnLet'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. Read More... Who/What Are Our Greatest Influences and Inspirations?Recently we were asked by a friend and mentor to write something about our inspirations for our writing, particularly those from childhood. So here is a list, not just of the childhood ones, but also of inspirational authors, movies and teachers that we found as we got older. Read more... Parent-Child: Who's Teaching Who?Although your children have your DNA and have been heavily influenced by you and carry the generational patterns of your ancestors like you, they are NOT YOU. Their DNA is a combination of you and your partner, and (most likely) then some! The simplest way to describe what we recently started to see is that your children are another "iteration" of you, your partner, and the magic that happens in the combination. There may be some things your child will always go to you for advice about, things they have a more difficult time integrating than you. But there are also things your child will be more advanced in than you. After all, they had the opportunity to learn from you from a very young age, including from your mistakes! Read more... My Leap of Faith Understanding that the same things holding me back while working for someone else in a career that I enjoyed but wasn't a full expression of me, would still be there (and then some!) as an entrepreneur in my field of true calling, was an important lesson for me. Read more... 21 Day Meditation Adventure It's getting yourself to sit down that is important, and doing it consistently... [Then] [t]he only thing we are going to do is sit down and breathe. Deep breaths. And then choose what we are going to focus on, and return our attention to when the mind wanders. The focus can be anything comforting - the breathe, a word, a phrase, a candle, the sound of birds or ocean waves. Don't worry where the mind wanders, just come back to your comforting image, sound, word, when you remember. Read more... What They Don't Teach in School[A]t the heart of the constant intellectual probing - wandering off into inquiry after inquiry about how the world works (which I also used as a distraction) - was the longing for self-worth. Read more... A Fledgling's Lessons Learned (and some musings on quantum chemistry)As with everything, nothing is right all the time, including being Squishy. To me, the actual adjective "squishy" metaphorically is a state of amorphousness, clay not yet molded, but full of potential. That is a big part of where Squishy Blueberry resides in my mind. The imagination where everything is possible. Which is awesome for the creative process. But to come into reality, actual things have to be done, actions to be taken, that are focused on specifics. It's similar to when a quantum wave becomes a particle. As a wave, it is a bunch of probabilities; it is not until it is focused into reality that it has actual (albeit temporary) "fixed" observable attributes. Read more... Why are Such Simple Things So Difficult?We ask ourselves, "isn't the goal of meditation to get in the flow and flow freely? And isn't it true that once in the flow things are easier, or at least feel easier? So why cannot I get this simple thing - like being present, like meditating and being in the flow - right?" Read more... Ground Zero: A Fledgling's Lessons Learned Part IIThe non-squishy strategy I've found is not what you might expect a non-squishy (i.e. more developed/concrete) strategy to be. But it is the basis of which all other types of strategy, such as planning, marketing and networking, will naturally evolve. It is the firm foundation out of which things can move forward more clearly and "in the flow." The strategy is actually one of the lessons that Squishy Blueberry is introduced to in the first book, Reflections of a Blueberry. Simply said: Follow Your Joy. Read more... It's Not About *Making* Your Dreams Come True"It's not about making our dreams come true! It's about removing the blocks and barriers that we've adopted over our lives, and creating the capacity to receive what was our unique destiny in the first place." ~ Chloe Rain The Most Important Job You'll Ever HaveBelieve in yourself. I'm sure you have all heard this phrase so many times that it almost seems cliche or trite. But the importance of it cannot be underestimated or said enough. The most important job you will ever have is becoming who you really are, which requires believing in yourself. Believing in yourself makes you more real and empowered to live the life you desire and do the other "jobs" you find important. The problem is that many of us, myself included for many years, have considered this kind of self-exploration almost a luxury, something to be done in the spare hours outside of the "real job" of day to day life, such as physical work. But we've got it all wrong! The very first thing we need to learn is how to hear our own inner voices, find out who we are and to love and care for that being as we would love a child. Read more... The Fate of the Universe: Spoiler Alert! There's a dramatic story that has been unfolding since the beginning of time, or at least the beginning of human-perceived time, which has captivated audiences around the world perhaps more than anything else. Some call it the battle between good and evil; others between love and fear. Those that reflect long enough on it realize that the battle is actually going on within one's self as much as it is outside, yet somehow that doesn't make it any easier. Well, I have some news to share. I found out the ending! As much as I like to see movies unfold without knowing the ending, this is an ending that's good to know ahead of time, because it can change the paradigm in which we live and be the beginning of a much much better movie. Read more... Breaking Up with Self-EsteemWhat? You may ask. Why on earth would I break up with self-esteem? I thought that was my primary goal - to increase self-esteem, self-worth, self-love and confidence... Yes, yes, yes. All those things are still true. The title is a little misleading, and is based on an article called Why You Should Break up with Self Esteem that we read in November. It discusses common misconceptions about what self-esteem is, such as building yourself into a better person that is more worthy of your love... But this faulty concept of self-esteem is not the definition we use here in the blog - as most of you know by now. Read more... A Musing on RealityToday's Blog post is a rhyme! Reality is nonsense. It's just what exists today. I know it sounds weird, but hear what I say! Reality is fleeting, no more than what seems But tomorrow, yesterday can feel like a dream. Reality is just what people's thoughts have created The things they have thought, done or just stated. The mess that you see lying on the floor, is something you made the day before. But today you can clean it to be sparky and clean! And poof! Reality changed, do you see what I mean? Read more... Strange Breakthrough DayAnother rhyme for today's blog post: Today is the day a change comes your way In the form of a scream or a soft spoken "hey." A flash on your phone, a knock on the door. Keep your mind open to receive what's in store. If only you knew, my fine feathered friend how long we've been waiting for the old story to end. Read more Zen Speed "What is zen speed," you ask? "Is it fast or slow?" Well, I like to think of zen speed as the speed you travel on the path of least resistance. In a way it feels fast because there's no resistance or friction. In a way it feels slow, because there's no rush, no forcing, no pressure. You are just traveling at whatever speed the current of life is flowing...maybe it's a rushing river, a waterfall, or a slow moving creek. Some say that zen speed is not a speed at all. It actually transcends time because you are so in the moment you are hardly aware of time passing. Either way, it feels peaceful because instead of struggling to go faster or slower or in a different direction, you are letting yourself be carried by the current. Read more... Have You Ever Seen a Thought Bubble Rain?It happened one day in the middle of May Not particularly special, in fact a bit grey. I was sitting at my desk while racking my brain When suddenly my thought bubble started to rain. No warning, no thunder, no lightning bolt shocks Just the slow steady drizzle from the sound of my thoughts. Read more... Have You Ever Been Followed by the Moon?Have you ever been followed by the moon the moon? Cried out in the night like a loon a loon? Or sung a ridiculous tune a tune? While feeling a bit like a goon a goon? Read more... What Has the Ego Done for You Lately? If you are anything like me, when your ego is in the drivers seat, it probably sabotages your greatest joys - whether it's your love life or your job or social life. Pretty much, whenever it's around, it manages to destroy everything good in its wake. And it is actually when it's not present that the magic and beauty and joy happens! But wait! You say. Are you saying that my ego sabotages everything in my life, and that is all it does? Isn't the ego necessary? Don't I need a sense of self? Then what part of me does the good things? You're not making any sense! Read more... If a Tree Falls in a Forest...If a tree falls in a forest and there's no one around to hear it, does it make a sound? Well, the vibrating sound waves do travel through the air, but the concept of SOUND requires an ear to hear it. So no, there's no sound. The sound of a tree falling in forest with no one around is akin to a good idea forming with no one around or willing to hear and implement it. No one gets helped by ideas kept inside the mind, or told to people that aren't interested. That's why it's so important to be in the right environment in order to see one's potential realized. Read more... Squishy's Book of Rhymes"Introducing a collection of whimsical rhymes I wrote before the end of time, where it's up to you - the reader - to decide what's inane and what sheds light. Either way you are in for a ride for these poems are me opened wide. So, whether you love or hate it or don't really care they are inspired, so be aware!" Read more... Freedom!Over at D'inkling Publishing, we (myself and my imaginary friends) are super excited to share with you the progress I've made on the Hollyfrost TV Show Bible I've been working on for over two years. It came to me in a flash! Something I can do all by myself now to express the ideas and humor I envision in the show: create a comic strip!! Yes, it's ingenious and silly that I hadn't thought of it before. After all, Calvin and Hobbes is one of my great influences. But perhaps my intense devotion to South Park directed my focus to the TV world, which I still plan to do if I find the animation team and funding, but I cannot do on my own until then. I felt like a turtle on my back for so long! I felt like I was writing music but without the ability to play it myself and share it. What a relief!!! So far we've had great feedback. Below is a draft of the first comic strip I created. Future comic strips will be published on the Hollyfrost website blog (but I'll still link to it from here.)  Let me know what you think in the comments below!
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Author:Amanda I. Greene This is where I share thoughtful, and sometimes unpolished, musings in the form of philosophical explorations, inspirations, poems, and artwork.
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