Living Bliss: Part 2

      So the question at hand again is, "What is bliss?" and "How do I get there?" Just like anything in life we will only ever experience bliss in the moment, in the now. I also believe that real and lasting happiness comes from within and not from possessions or achievements in and of themselves. The fact is that all this reaching, grasping and getting to somewhere or something, makes life more and more complicated and hard to handle. Noticing all the things we take on out of never ending expectation and strict mindedness, because of feelings of emptiness or to prove our worth, we might discover a very heavy load we haul. We might realize we are chained to a heavy load of material possessions, activities, to do lists, a heavy load of "shoulds" and "musts" spring loaded with guilt and shame. That is not bliss.

    I think it is imperative that we lighten our loads, simplify our lives on many levels to make more room for the things that genuinely fill us up. This has serpent medicine in it, like a serpent we should take time every so often, maybe once a season, to see what needs to be shed away as we move forward. What was needed in life last season may have served its purpose and needs to be relinquished. This shedding might take the form of decluttering a space and giving away the things we don't need to make room for the new, or it might mean breaking a habit, or surrendering something in our emotional life or in relationships. Simplify for serenity.

  Simplify all the way down to breath itself. I say it so often, but it always bears repeating. Bliss is in the breath. When we fully attune to breath and let everything else go, even for just one cycle, it is like pushing a reset button. The breath is a luminous thread that when taken in with intention will always point us home, to the peace and light within, to our heart and spirit spaces. The more this is made a practice the more clear it becomes. Even better, get a yoga and meditation practice, but keep it simple too, or it can become just another place for criticism and stress.

The mess of life is what it is, it comes and it goes, it shifts beneath our feet, but when we are light on our feet and steady in our breath, we can more easily smile and breathe through it all. Life, messy as it may be, becomes more and more magnificent.