Pay attention to the moments of bliss

Sitting in the morning sun under an awning outside a pasticciera just outside the city walls of Bologna drinking a deliciously frothy cappuccino and nibbling on a slightly sweet and buttery brioche whilst capturing thoughts that come to mind in my journal…….a moment of bliss.

In fact, it turned into quite a few moments as I sat in this wonderful space feeling grateful, joyful and at peace. And it got me thinking about how often I can skip past moments of bliss, barely acknowledging their presence, or be so busy that I just don’t give myself the opportunity to have them. 

I wonder if you are the same? 

Like me, are you also someone who tends to plan moments of bliss rather than allow them to happen? 

Ridiculous as that may sound, I realise that when I am in my familiar environment doing familiar and routine activities I tend to plan for moments like the one I described above to happen sometime in the future, when all of the things I need to do have been done. I decide on a time when I will be free to have a carefully orchestrated experience of something I think will feel really good. It’s the classic “work first, play later” approach to life, which has been my modus operandi for many years. And, let me tell you, more often than not I either don’t get around to the moment of bliss or when I do all the things I thought would make me feel good, it is a bit of a damp squib!

But that has been shifting for some time now and I realise that being in a different environment and having no set routine seems to make it easier for me to open up to the possibility of experiencing moments of bliss at any time and without the preplanning.

Life is an experience with the potential to offer many moments of bliss, if we are willing to look in that direction.

The amazing thing that I am discovering is that the more I tune into these moments of bliss the more  of them I seem to discover. Even when I am doing something that one might say is “work” or is boring or difficult or monotonous I can see that it is possible to glimpse moments of bliss – moments when I feel at peace, joyful, grateful and creative.

Perhaps you would use different words to describe what bliss feels like for you and that is cool. What is more important is to become familiar with the feeling or the energy that bliss is for you. Tuning into the moments when all is well, when you feel light and happy, when you feel a connection with something deep inside yourself that you might call home….those are the moments to pay attention to and often you don’t need to make them happen. They are occurring all the time. Your practice is simply to notice and acknowledge them.

Sometimes it can be helpful to give yourself some time and space to really feel into what bliss is like for you so that you can more easily access it in everyday life. I have found one of the most helpful ways to do that is to create an extended period of time when I am out of my usual routine. What seems to happen is the mind quietens down and stops demanding I get through my to do list, the physical body slows down and starts to relax and from there I can hear the voice of joy and happiness just a little bit more clearly and it starts to show me the way towards more bliss.

You don’t have to leave the country (like I have done!) to experience that. Another way is to go on retreat. You can create your own retreat (message me if you’d like more info on how to do that) or you can join a retreat run by a trained guide/coach/facilitator. You might choose to go far from home to join a retreat or you could choose to stay more local but to have time in a space which feels different to your usual environment. 

If joining a small group of people who, like you, have the desire to be more connected to their experience of bliss, is something you’d like to experience, the weekend retreat I am running in November in stunning countryside of Perthshire could be the perfect opportunity for you. Find out more here or message me for more info.

Whatever you choose, you can’t get it wrong!

The bliss is there waiting for you to experience it.