Finding Bliss in the Now

This is a story of finding bliss in an ordinary place. May it inspire you to follow your own bliss, and connect with the truth and oneness within.

This weekend I turned my front porch into a temple.

I brought out most of my crystals and many luxurious fabrics; I created a sanctuary and proceeded to spend the better part of two days there.

I played my guitar, drummed and sang with my djembe. I painted sacred words on stones (more on that later).

I spent a lot of time in meditation and mantra. Sometimes I’d pick up a crystal and just sit, tuning into its vibrations and listening to the message of the moment. Sometimes I would work with energy and intention.

Sometimes I just sat and watched my breath.

One of my companions was the ever present book of poetry by Rumi which lives on the table on my porch. I love to pick it up and open to a random page to see what gift awaits me there.

In one of the poems he spoke of staying up all night to make a deep connection. Though I didn’t stay up the whole night through, I rested on the couch in between mediation and working with crystals.

I was awoken, just before 4am, by a few inebriated boys talking very loudly in the next yard over. Their words were examples of not being conscious or living deliberately, but I was able to stay centered in myself and not judge them for their choices.

Since I was awake anyway, I took the advice of Rumi:

“The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.

Don’t go back to sleep.

You must ask for what you really want.

Don’t go back to sleep.

People are going back and forth across the doorsill

where the two worlds touch.

The door is round and open.

Don’t go back to sleep.“

Heeding these words I did a beautiful yoga practice, then watched the sun rise over the mountain.

The whole time I allowed myself to simply do what my heart was drawn to. I still ‘got things done’, in that I created art and cultivated my musical expression, did lots of yoga and meditation – these are things I have put off in the past…

But it was the practice of simply BEing that shifted me profoundly. And here I am, Monday, still in this remembered pattern of practicing being happy in the moment, doing other things that you might call work…

What did I learn? Nothing I haven’t known before.

Be Here Now. Just do what is being done in the moment. Don’t worry about what comes next or what has come before.

This is one of the oldest teachings, but somehow we struggle with it in the structure of our busy lives.

Anxiety and worry come from reaching into the future and grasping for something that isn’t there – trying to control what is not right here and now.

Just be. Do whatever you are doing fully. Set your intention and TRUST that the efforts you make are enough.

Live your life to the fullest, in the moment, and it will always be enough. It always has been.

So many of us are hard on ourselves. There is no need, no purpose for this.

Let that pattern be replaced with a new one that honors who you are in each moment, making conscious choices.

Make your home a temple. Make your life a meditation. Make your every action an offering.

And feel the fullness of your heart!