"If you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be."
"Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors
for you where there were only walls."
-- Joseph Campbell
The hard questions that I've always had about this until recently was this: 'How does this happen? How do I get lucky enough to do what I love for a living? What will I do?' Here's some things I've learned about that.
First and foremost is, that if I ask questions that I cannot answer, frustration is a result and fear is right behind it, and these will kill all enthusiasm. So, when I ask things like how, when, where, and who, these are questions that I will not normally have the answer for and I will strain to figure them out and it will end in disappointment. The only two questions I can answer for sure and for certain are these: What and why. If I know what I want and why I want it, that is really all I need to know. I then focus on those and build them and expand them and think of them often and speak of them often and give no energy or thought to how or when.
I know we were taught that we should plan and we should know how to do a thing and we should develop the plan and all that stuff. There won't be any bliss in that. Yet, if the focus remains on the bliss--the what and the why--all the rest will come and it will come in interesting ways. As Joseph Campbell said, 'the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.' It's true. The more I let go of how, when and where, while I focus and expand what and why, the more doors open. When I get in there being nervous and impatient and start messing with the how's and their friends, the doors remain closed. It is interesting to say the least.
Following my bliss is really an act of faith. It is releasing need and accepting help from outside (or really, it's inside. . .); letting go of the desire to control and expecting the things I want to be. Part of doing that is focusing on feeling good and experiencing joy. Almost nothing upsets me anymore. I find something good in every situation and I am coming to expect more good things to happen daily.
I'm making this sound easy. It hasn't been, but yet it has. I am yet a practicing bliss follower. The hard part for me was focusing on what I want instead of what is currently happening, such as focusing on how I want to feel and look rather than what I see in the mirror today. It is only hard in that I have to keep bringing my mind back to what I want when my mind wants to go and think about what currently is. I have to forget about the current and past. There really isn't anything I can do about them anyway. What I can change is my thoughts. At the same time, I need to be thankful for where I am, who I am and what I have become. I cannot be unhappy with myself and bring joy. It reminds me of Eric Berne's "I'm okay, you're okay." I have to be okay, let everyone else be okay and then focus on what I want next. That's where it all starts. Here is the beginning of my bliss and it all expands from there.
There has been nothing more joyous in my life than realizing these ideas. Realizing them has changed everything about me for the better in that I know that I have the power to change whatever I want to by learning how to feel good about myself and my situation and focusing on what I want, not how I'm going to get it. And, it has only just begun. Indeed, I feel like a kindergartner in this--totally excited and ready to learn and grow. Awesome.
What I Want Is What I Get When I'm Ignoring How, When, Where and Who.
Spread Some Joy Today--Following your bliss is more a matter of letting go of things than it is accepting or reaching for things. There is the speedy, easy way. Let go, and let it be. Reminds me of a Beatles song. . .
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