Hello, you big heart! Today I want to tell you a story. It's about a Peruvian cocoa bean. Or even better: It tells you its story itself...

The rhythmic vibration of footsteps spreads through my mother tree. Four adults, two children and a dog. Over the months I spent at the tree, I was able to develop a pretty good sense of who is hanging around in our area.

What if they've come to get me? I get nervous, start to sweat. I try to nudge one of my siblings with my nonexistent elbow to ask for advice. No reaction!

What's happening here? Hello?!

The cocoa fruit, which until now had always been hanging at an angle from the trunk of my mother tree, is in free fall! As if in slow motion, I hear my siblings cheering. It may seem to be good for them, but don't they see the danger?

We hit the ground. Thanks to the thick shell and our compact seating arrangement, nothing happens to me or my fellow beans. I am just a little shocked. "The worst is over now!" I tell myself. My eye twitches nervously.

But things were about to get even more intense.

A warm hand reaches for my home and lifts us into the air. What is she up to? Is she friendly towards me?

CRACK!

My beloved fruit bowl takes a hit.

CRACK!

And another one. Suddenly I see light! Stop, I can see? Apparently so! Oh my God, and I thought I was born without sight. Fascinating! Woooooooow.....

It gets brighter and brighter around me. And suddenly I see it - the jungle! So incredibly green and lush.

Boy Boy!

Ah, and that's what people look like. Ha, I thought they would be bigger, with all the noise they always make here in the jungle. One of them is holding me and my pod family in his hand. In the other he has a knife - what does he want with it? Hopefully only good things! That was my last thought. Then I fainted.

That's quite a lot of change in a very short time for such a fine bean as I am. I belong to a very rare variety that doesn't exist anywhere else in the world. I am particularly distinguished by my light complexion and a very fine taste.

Experts say it's a wild dance of pecan, cherry and raspberry. And at the same time, I have so little acid that I also do well on the alkaline diet.

But back to my adventure!

I went through quite a journey in a faint state, or so I was told afterwards. It's a shame that I wasn't able to experience it fully consciously. First of all, the climate-friendly transport through the jungle. Then the fermentation and the trip across the Atlantic. The latter was probably rather boring, so it probably wasn't such a bad thing to sleep through it.

It is only in the port of Amsterdam that I come to again. Awakened by the calls of euphoric dock workers, I find myself in a gigantic, translucent sack. Surrounded by countless other sacks, full of organically grown cocoa beans, just like me.

Yippee!

I realize the purpose of this journey. The old, wise beans have always told of the prophecy that only the tastiest cocoa beans will be rewarded. Legend has it that those that shine the most beautifully and taste the richest find their way across the pond. Then, they said, these chosen beans are taken to a very special place: the factory.

I can still remember that this last word - The Manufactory - was always pronounced extremely dramatically by the old and wise. Almost reverently.

Nice fairy tale, I used to think... Is this my fate? Am I one of the chosen ones? But am I not just a normal, not so special bean? One of many! Do I even deserve this fame? And what if I disappoint someone? If I am underqualified?

A thousand thoughts are racing through my head. Each one worse than the last and none of them helpful at all.

At some point, after examining every doubt from all sides six times, I realized that my mental nonsense was not contributing to my situation in any way.

The fact was: I am on my way to a very special place. The Shangri-La of cocoa beans. Somewhere in the depths of Lower Franconia, so the legend goes. And what can I do about it?

Absolutely nothing. Nada. Niente.

So what should we do? Then exactly that: nothing .

So I'm going to spend the rest of my odyssey doing nothing professionally. The ancient Chinese called it Wu Wei . The Art of Non-Doing in English. Easier said than done, because anyone who has ever tried to do nothing for a long time quickly realises how unusual and impossible it is. How deeply the patterns of doing and making are ingrained in us. After all, there is always something to do. Always an expectation to live up to. If not your own, then at least someone else's.

After the first biological transformation through fermentation and drying, I am now experiencing my second transformation. That of my mind. The awareness of my inner world, my thoughts and feelings.

A world of its own, with mountains of movement and valleys of calm. Filled with lakes of tears and forests of love. Here and there a bird of ecstasy chirps and echoes down to the fields of hope, where each year the fruits of gratitude are harvested anew. Sown in trust for tomorrow and grown in devotion to the moment. On my journey through Holland and Germany I am overcome by a deep understanding. For myself, my fellow beans and the whole world in all its complexity. With the ultimate realization that it took this incredibly unlikely chain of circumstances to bring me to this unique point in the history of cocoa beans. This conclusion gave me the courage to accept my further adventure with my bowl held high and my heart open. To give the course of things the chance to turn this short bean life into a firework display of uniqueness. All signs point to letting go and it is with this feeling that I reach my destination - the factory .

What the old people forgot to tell us was this suspiciously good-natured guy who welcomed me and my bean family.

He has this look on his face that says, "Oh yeah, you're finally here!" It makes me feel uneasy and that's okay. I've learned to deal with my emotions.

Wow... We heard a few welcoming words and beautiful, rhythmic music. Now and then the mysterious stranger even performed a dance for us. It wasn't necessary for me, but it definitely didn't bother us either.

After a short time, I noticed that more and more of my siblings were being taken out of their lovely, warm jute sack. There was a rumor going around that they were being gently roasted, which I was soon able to experience for myself.

And how it smelled! It reminded me a little of the film Chocolat with Johnny Depp. Only a little less French. The roasting turns out to be just 20 minutes of hanging out in really hot air.

Sauna is probably more accurate!

Then the process of so-called homogenization began. It was time to become one. From the shell and from coarse to small. Until I found myself in a liquid, creamy and, above all, delicious mass. I like to call it the universe or cocoa consciousness. There was no form within this mass. No you and me, just being. Very calming and somehow cool. It was clear to me that I (= the universe) could not remain liquid forever. Everything is changing - including my form of existence. This is how I found my provisional figure at a cool 7°C. In the form of a sacred geometry.

Blessed with the talent to bring the consciousness that I now embody to people, I was ready.

Ready to taste.
Ready to act.
Ready to nourish.
Ready to merge.

I knew that it could take a maximum of one week until I reached exactly the person who needed me, appreciated me and needed help with their own personal transformation.

And that is exactly how it should be. But the story of human transformation is quite different. And not for today either.

There is only one thing I can say in advance - whether you are a bean or a human - there is no better time to be on this planet than now. And above all, there is no other time to understand this than NOW . Therefore, I, cocoa bean, invite you, humans, to feel this.

Maybe with a delicious and mind-boosting cocoa drink of your choice.

In chocolate love,

Your Peruvian cocoa bean