Bliss

Smoothies

Painting

Running

Yoga

Walking Nyla

Dreaming Up Art Lessons

Wrecking My Journal

Taking Naps

Stephen Cope

Carrying My Camera Everywhere I Go

Blogs

Hansel Love

You would probably be happy too if you had a 10 week paid vacation every year. Huh? That’s what you’re about to dribble from your mouth when I start to even utter how at ease with the world I feel–how deliciously blissful my days are—how much I feel what I do EVERY day is a complete extension from the truth of who I am. I know that’s what you’re about to say–because I hear it all the time.

It’s ok, you can say that. It doesn’t hurt my feelings or take away the fact that I was a smart cookie (in some ways) when I decided to get that little paper saying I am certified to teach art. Nope. I knew then that paid summer vacations and all holidays off was part of the deal. It was a minor, but very real, influence in burying myself further in debt with school loans.

Though the million dollar question (for myself–and possibly you too) is why can’t I have this wedge of bliss last with me all year long? What’s really the common denominator in factoring out bliss? Is it the NOT having to go to work everyday and deal with the masses, the messes, and the negative moods? Is it that now I work from a place of truth that is directed completely by my whole being instead of following a schedule and rules imposed upon me? Does the environment you work in impact the bliss factor? Or is it simply a state of being?

I’m extremely comfortable right now. Extremely. Got everything I need, feeling good, world is not giving me any crap. Just doing what makes me happy and wasting time writing about it. So then, come August, I turn in my freedom and start back at teaching. Meetings, paperwork, unhappy individuals, stressful situations all start to fill in the place where painting, Yoga, afternoon naps and slurping smoothies once filled. Can I still hang on to this feeling of bliss, or do I drop that at the door too with my flip flops?

Then, this morning I read these words: What’s In the Way, Is the Way.

Ding, ding, ding!!! That’s the sound of the bell going off in my head!!

To me, I have always considered life to be a journey.

A Dirty Footprints kind of journey. Going bare feet (metaphorically)–with the support of the earth beneath me and my soul open for what life has to teach me. Yeah!

Life is not about chasing a feeling of bliss like a hamster in a wheel. Life is about showing up and doing your LIFE’s WORK…whatever that may be, and however it may display itself in the world at THAT moment. There has to be masses, messes, and negative moods for us to learn, sure. But that doesn’t mean those three M’s have to chip away at that feeling of bliss we carry. Those are just the learning tools for us to become the best blissful beings we can be. Problem is many of us think that bliss is fleeting or altogether unattainable. Once we feel it we want to squeeze the heck out of it, or hide it, or run away in a different direction chained to it like a prisoner. How about taking that bliss and blowing it up with your soul so that it becomes a balloon–one that you can either hold onto and soar high into the sky of possibilities or strap it to you as a life jacket when you dive into the depths of life’s hardships.

I think sometimes bliss means weeks of doing exactly what makes you happy and comfortable ALL the time. I think sometimes bliss is the soft spot of yourself that makes you a great person to work with in a not-so-great-place. I think bliss can be a pair of glasses that we wear to view the world. I think bliss can be baked up out of nothing if we are willing to let go of expectations and just be purely grateful for this opportunity to live life.

Peace & Love.