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The Blissful Moment - April 16 2012

Blissful Image of Beachy HeadDo you experience those moments in your life that are completely blissful? I don't just mean enjoyable, pleasurable, fun, or beautiful. I mean those moments when you are completely consumed by your experience. Your whole body, your whole self is involved - a moment when the boundaries of you and the experience blur into one.

I love Blissful Moments. I seek them out, however it doesn't really work. I notice that for me blissful moments cannot be planned, they cannot be orchestrated and I don't feel like I have much control over them.

However, I do think it's a combination of things that come together.

If we are to truly experience the moment then we must not be distracted by anything else, be thinking about what's for tea, or what time it is, or will the parking run out. We must allow ourselves to experience the moment undiluted and uncontaminated - to go with the flow of whatever we feel and experience and not to censor it. I often cry, for example.

Another feature for me is that often these moments are unexpected. I can plan to go and look at my tomato seeds growing, which I always love, and take pleasure in it.  But a blissful moment is much more likely to occur when I notice something unexpected - a new leaf, a seed I hadn't noticed or an early flower. There is something added to the bliss for me when I notice the detail that I was not expecting.

I think it is also very much about where I am internally. It is harder to experience a blissful moment if I have concerns, sadness or resentment. It's also most like, I won't quite allow myself to go to that level of bliss. That's not to say I don't take pleasure in things, I do, but just not in that blissful, all-consuming way. I guess it is to do with my first point - that I don't allow myself to fully engage - but some part of me remains in my past or future.

The gold star blissful moments for me are the ones that I share. Again this is rare because I think for two people to feel like that, at exactly the same moment, is a miracle of timing. Any pleasurable moment shared has more richness than a pleasurable moment on our own - but shared bliss is..... Blissful.

Last year I visited the Grand Canyon. As I walked to the edge for the first time I anticipated the awe and the bliss I was about to feel. It was amazing, stunning, awe inspiring but I did not feel the bliss. Sometime later as my partner and I walked hand in hand along the path around the rim of the canyon, away from the crowds, on the dappled sunlit path - I felt it. I saw the contrast of the green trees, the sun and the shade, and through the trees, the rocks jutting out into the canyon; the warmth of that touch of a hand, and the shared experience of being in this amazing place together was a Blissful Moment.

For me, the feeling starts at the very core of my being. It takes me over. It quickly spreads all over my body and feels like my energy is not contained within the boundary of my skin - but fills the space around me. I tingle with warmth and excitement. I allow myself to be free, to feel and fully engage in the experience - and as I said, I often cry, a cry of joy.

Other blissful moments for me are when my granddaughter snuggles her bottom onto my lap for a story, feeling the warmth of the sun on my skin, sharing beautiful views and experiences and many others. I think I am rich in blissful moments but there is always room for more.

I am not sure everyone has these blissful moments. In fact I know they don't. Although I believe they are illusive, I think we can increase or decrease the possibility of feeling them. We all have choices about how we live our lives - sometimes our choices are more limited but we know that we still have choices. We can choose to increase the possibility by what experiences we plan for ourselves, how freely we allow ourselves to live, whom we choose to spend time with,   as well as taking time to engage with what is around us. We have a choice about how often we stop and smell the roses.

Joseph Campbell (1904 - 1987), an American writer and lecturer, encourages us to 'follow our bliss'. For me those blissful moments are a guide about what I want more of, in my life. Joseph says 'When you follow your bliss... doors will open where you would not have thought there would be doors; and where there wouldn't be a door for anyone else'.

By Leilani Mitchel

These are my random ramblings of today; tomorrow I may change my mind