Why should I follow my Bliss?

It is often said that happy people live longer. They seam to have an inner glow about them that radiates out those around them.  They move with a purpose through life and seek out others with similar interest and similar goals.  They motivate others to find their own inner happiness.  Be that a job they love, a partner who is their equal or even just following a dream to accomplish something in this world that is bigger than themselves.

They don't wallow around in self pity and say woo is me and they don't wait for a diagnosis of dying in order to start living.  People who follow their bliss don't ask those questions like "why are we here", or "what does it all mean" because they already have those answers.  Why are we all here and what does it all mean is simple.  We were created to live a life well lived. If that means becoming the great artist that in our souls we already know we are, or if that means simply doing something you are really passionate about at every given opportunity.

I have read that you shouldn't follow your bliss, that it is a unrealistic dream set in place by those who want to lead you down the yellow brick road. That is it an unattainable state of mind that in reality only leaves you broken and destroyed because so few actually get to that place in their lives where they are doing what truly makes them happy and often times once they obtain it they learn it wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

I say that those who do not support your decision to be happy are so miserable in their own lives they are threatened by your determination to be happy.  Misery loves company and why should you be happy when they cannot or will not find a way to be happy themselves. Many people are content to merely exist instead of taking the bull by the horns and doing something to make their lives better.

If you are in the self examination phase of finding your bliss, or taking baby steps to make it a reality, or even just exploring options regarding things you have wanted to try but have never done so for a wide variety of reasons, there will always be haters.  There will be those folks who believe that life is about hard work and dedication. About following the rules and doing what you are told. Never bumping the system or even questioning the rules.  There are more haters than there are supporters of your dreams.

Sometimes haters can become supporters with time and patience on your part. Sometimes they cannot, they simply cannot put their own ideals aside long enough to see the forest for the trees.  They feel that although others have found their bliss and are living a life they truly enjoy that you will always be amongst the number of folks who don't.

When I decided about a decade ago to get my CDL's my loving father whom I adored and trusted had a running bet with my husband at the time that I would not finish school much less get my CDL's.  I spent 3 months 5 days a week going to school to learn to drive a tractor trailer.  I worked a full time job after school to support my family while attending school, and for every snide remark and every doubt they voiced it simply made me more determined to get license and more determined to do well.  My loving father lost his bet and in the end actually said he was proud of me for following my own path and doing what made me happy.  After that he learned if I wanted something bad enough it didn't matter what mountain I had to move to make it happen, even if I had to do it at a teaspoon every trip I would make it happen.  His doubt in me made me into a stronger person by letting me learn my own strengths and his sarcasm actually gave me the determination to make my dreams a reality.

I do not drive a truck anymore.  I have actually retired my commercial drivers license but it in no way was because of his thoughts regarding female truck drivers or his doubts in my ability to drive.  I drove a truck for 5 years, got myself out of debt and got out of a marriage that didn't make me happy.  I have always been a rebel of sorts, doing what was best for me and my family regardless of having or not having a support system in place regarding the decisions I make and the life choices I choose.

I know that not everyone is that headstrong or determined to live life by their own rules and to follow their own path.  I was simply because I had more at stake than just following my bliss.  I knew if I didn't take action I would never be able to provide my family with the things they needed in order to just survive must less thrive.

Every dream and every goal has a life span. Sometimes those lifespans reach across an entire lifetime, sometimes they are means to an end.  I know that at times you think you will always want something or that your situation will never change, but the only thing that is inevitable in this lifetime is death, taxes, and change.  Things change, people change, and what makes you happy can change.  Don't lock yourself into a dream if that isn't the dream or goal that is in your gut.  You may want something so bad you can taste it but at some time in the future that dream may change or that goal may alter into something else.  Go with the flow.

Many times I have pursued things that I thought would make me happy.  And in the end they didn't live up the reality I had created in my head, that is ok. That is the nature of the beast.  You change, your life changes, your dreams can change as well.  Now if you have always dreamed of painting and you start painting only to discover that you are not as talented as you thought you were, you may have to take a step back and do one of two things. You can either say OK tried that not for me and walk away from it. Or you can practice and practice and then practice some more until it is second nature to you and suddenly your creativity takes over and you find yourself getting better and better.

I often try new things just to challenge myself.  I may not have a burning desire in my gut to make something a reality but a mild curiosity to see where it will lead me.  I am always trying to learn new skills and learn new things. I enjoy the whole learning process. Going from the have no clue to I have heard of that and it didn't work for me phase.  I felt that way about school and probably why my major has changed 3 times during my academic career.  But the truth of the matter is I am a better person for trying on all three hats until I found one that fit and that I enjoyed wearing.

I began my educational goal of being management so my associates is in administration.  Upon finishing that degree I decided that management wasn't the right path for me so during my bachelors degree I concentrated on electronic communications, which I thoroughly enjoy but the idea of sitting in a room typing out memos or even dealing with the whole communications aspect wasn't a great fit for me.  I finally decided on accounting because I met taxes and fell in love with that field.  I love advising others as to how save money. How to fill out their initial tax forms with their employer to ensure they aren't paying taxes at the end of the year but also to ensure that Uncle Sam isn't getting to play with their money.  I just enjoy helping others. I also adore the financial aspect of it. Numbers to me always make sense, be that a spread sheet, a balance sheet or just keeping books for a company or private individual. 

I find myself in my spare time creating excel graphics to help my darling husband understand where we need to trim our household budget or why we cannot afford to buy that expensive toy he has been drooling over.  I like numbers, I also enjoy writing and creating art with my camera.  I am a very multi dimensional person.  I doubt I will ever make a living at taking pictures, but it is something that brings me joy.  I enjoy writing and so I blog, to exercise those muscles. Once upon a time I had a dream of writing books, preferably fiction because I could create the world in which I wanted my characters to live. But I also know that my writing is not good enough to make a living doing that either. Now I might make some extra cash on the side with my camera or even make a check as a freelance writer but I lack the dedication and the passion to make those my career of choice.  Who knows my path may change and I might end up as a photographer or a writer before my journey reaches its end but if not I will still enjoy taxes and bookkeeping.

Life is to short to lock yourself into a role that doesn't fit, and at times we all find ourselves living a life we never envisioned for ourselves. But finding your bliss is about so much more than just loving the job you do or finding your version of paradise on earth.  It is about being happy with the life you live and learning to have that happy place to escape to when the rest of your life gets out of control.  It is about loving yourself enough to make your own happiness a priority and not just working so hard to make others happy in your life.

Finding your bliss is important because when you find your bliss and it changes you are more able to make the adjustments in your life and do what makes you happy instead of staying on a path that no longer works for you.  It is about caring enough about yourself to do what is important to you and for you and to survive the hard times by having those positive memories and positive thoughts already firmly in place and the ability to adapt and survive the tough times.

We all need something that gives us comfort. Some find that comfort in a the bottom of a bottle which down the line causes more issues than it cures.  Some of us find it in a loyal friend (either two or four legged) but those things are fleeting and won't be around always.  Some of us find in our gardens, or in our paintings, or in our photography or even in the love of our significant others.  But many things in life are fleeting whether we realize it or not.  Friends may come and go, partners may change or leave, and things that you once found happiness in may longer bring you the happiness they once did.

Life changes and in order to stay happy you have to learn to change with it.  You have to learn to roll with the punches that life throws and as someone who has followed their bliss it is much easier to adapt and change and follow a path that may be unfamiliar or even foreign to you.  Change isn't easy, and many people cannot adapt.  Did you know that men often die shortly after retiring because suddenly their self value plummets when they are no longer active within the economy.  Many men actually identify their value as human beings with their ability to provide for their families. If they do not cultivate activities and interest to follow after retirement many simply feel that there is no reason to continue on.

Women often go through a mourning period when their last child grows up and moves out. They refer to that as the empty nest syndrome. Suddenly for the first time they have nothing pressing in their lives.  They have spend the majority of their adult lives caring for others and have no clue how to care for themselves.  Change is not easy regardless of your gender, age, ethnic background or cultural differences.  It affects everyone in different ways. Some people it makes mad, others it may make depressed, some it may put you off your food or make you take a long hard look at your life. But the one constant is bliss.

If you can find something that sparks your passion that no matter what is going to be there regardless if for 5 years or 50 it gives you something to channel that energy into, to lose yourself in and to escape to during those changes. It gives you something to focus on so that you aren't sitting around going woo is me.  It will give you a distraction while the dust settles and life continues you.  It will give you a firm foundation that you can build the next chapter of your life on.

You may never "find" your bliss, but finding your bliss isn't about living the perfect life. It is about living a life well lived.  It is about finding purpose and something that motivates you to lead you where you were born to go.  It is about being happy no matter what may changes in your life and learning to accept change as part of life.

With a dream or goal in the works you have that stability to help absorb the pain of change and give you a focus for the life you want to create. It gives you something to fall back on and a sense of peace you wouldn't have without it.  It gives you something to say ok this has gone to hell in a handbasket but it is ok because I still have this.  Be that losing your job, losing your spouse, losing your home, losing a parent, or losing your dog.  It gives you something to be happy about, even when you don't want to be happy at all.

I hope my blog today gives you hope. I hope it helps others realize how important it is to follow your bliss.  That regardless if others feel your dreams or goals are silly or a waste of your time or resources this is something you need to do for yourself.  That without it you will be lost in a sea of despair when those life altering things happen.  Will you ever make a living doing what you love, who knows.  But you will never know if you do not follow your bliss and create a life worth living.

Until tomorrow blog buddies, be safe, be sane and be happy.

Winter is the season when the whole world seems to go to sleep. The weather is cold, the ground is hard, and the trees and plants seem to be dead. Since there is little else to do, it is a time that is conducive to working hard. There isn't much else to do, and the weather else seems to suggest that we must buckle down and do the things that we have been avoiding. This is not a bad thing. It can very satisfying to work hard and be creative. Creativity is part of our makeup. Without a purpose in our lives, depression would quickly set in.

Winter poems

These are not my words but this is my photo taken with my point and shoot camera, taking baby steps towards my goals and dreams make my life worth living.  I am still saving for my dream camera and although some medical and financial issues have taken their toil on my fund I am still hopeful and confidant that when the time is right this too shall be a reality.

You are what you Eat

I have heard it said that you are what you eat, this means if you only put junk food in your body all you are going to get out of is junk.  I am not a health freak by any stretch of the wildest imaginations but I have been doing some changes in my eating habits since losing my dad in 2011 to a very rare form of Cancer. When pressed as to why he got this awful disease since he wasn't an alcoholic and he didn't smoke or do any of the "red flag" behaviors that doctors often see in their Cancer patients, I was told his food killed him.

Now a little personal family history here. My dad was raised on a dairy farm. They drank milk straight from the cow.  It was not pasteurized and homogenized and filled with extra nutrients and vitamins.  If his family ate it they raised it.  These eating habits continued on into his adult years but he was known for sitting down with a carton of ice cream and a gallon of milk. He loved his dairy. And when he was cremated they told me he had the densest bone mass they had ever seen.  But my dad also loved food.

Deep friend, farm raised, fast food, whatever was readily available. He loved to eat, he also loved to cook and a score for him was actually finding something that was locally raised or fresh from a friends garden, but this was not the norm.  He grew up in a time that you ate what was put in front of you and you never complained.  I was raised on old south cooking. Homemade biscuits, real milk, blackberries and dumplings every Christmas made with a ton of sugar and boiled until almost syrup in its consistency.

I was also raised with ice cream, and sour creme and real butter.  As an adult I have fought a weight problem but that is simply from my love of food, honestly inherited from the man who raised me.  I have many happy memories of sitting around a table heaped with fresh food and having good times with friends and family.  Unfortunately now most of our foods are genetically modified or come from overseas in boxes or cans.

Last year my husband and I did our own garden and to be completely honest I had forgotten how incredible a "real" strawberry tasted.  Or how juicy a fresh tomato off the vine felt on your tongue.  Or how awesome it is to make a meal with things grown in your own yard.  After losing my Dad we decided as a family to make some alterations to our eating habits. I began actually reading the ingredients list on the boxes of food I purchased and learned that many of the ingredients in things I cannot pronounce and had to google to discover what exactly they are.

I was reading a study done this has shown links to depression and sodas.  Now we all indulge in sodas from time to time. That sweet heavenly fluid that is sweet with just a hint of salty.  The cold bubbly goodness beckoning us from every fast food, convenience store, and grocery store shelf. It comes in a wide variety of flavors as well as "diet" and it is readily available. But growing up on a farm I also know what sodas are used for in a non dietary use.  They remove rust.  You can do this little experiment yourself.

Take a rusty tool, we used to use it for horse bits.  Drop it down in a some dark soda, can be the cheap kind 84 cents last time I checked at Walmart for a 2 liter bottle of the stuff.  And leave it alone for about 2 weeks.  When you come back the rust is gone. Was a miracle worker for tools left out in the yard to long, or a bit that had been put away without being cleaned. Now if it can do that to a metal object think what it can do to your stomach.

Since losing my Dad we have been eliminating foods from our diet that have ingredients I cannot pronounce or have to do research to identify.  Some people refer to this as natural eating. Meaning if it don't grow that way don't eat it.  I still eat cheese which is not naturally in that form, but I have learned how to make our own.  I still drink coffee which does not start out as that beautiful black ground powder that gets me moving in the morning, but I am more selective in the foods I include in our diet.

I try hard to either raise it ourselves or purchase it from local gardeners who often sell their surplus.  I have been told by some that doing this is more expensive than eating fast food.  But I look at the long term.  I love my family and friends and want to spend as much time with them as possible for as long as possible and if I have to find a creative way to eat healthier in order to do that then so be it.  I don't want to die at 62 with the best years of my life ahead of me.  I want to stick around long enough to be a burden to my girls.  I want to be that crazy old lady down the street that everyone goes she hasn't died yet?  I plan on doing whatever it takes to ensure I am the healthiest me for the longest period of time I can.

I know that we all have our guilty indulgences, be that a big mac or chocolate. For me its coffee, never could have guessed that could you.  But what I am saying is if you truly want to be happy you first have to look at what you are doing in your present every day life. What is making you sick and tired to the point you don't have the energy you need to pursue your dreams and goals.  What is a crutch leaping from one glass to the next. I feel anything in moderation is ok but when 90% of your meals are filled with chemicals it might be time to take a long hard look at your eating habits and decide if they truly work for you.

Thanks to modern technology we have choices.  We can make meals ahead of time and control the ingredients and the quality of the those ingredients and stick them in a freezer. It takes less money to do all of your prep work at once and freeze your homemade ready to heat and eat meals than it does to actually buy those same meals that someone else put together for you.  It is healthier to eat "whole" or natural foods than to rely upon premade meals that are coming out of places like Korea or Japan.  And don't even get me started on Corn Syrup.  It is in over 85% of the products you find on the grocery shelves these days.

Use that wonderful brain you have been blessed with to start questioning the things around you.  Do you really want to continue on for the rest of your life asleep at the wheel.  You don't have to immediately throw away everything in your cabinet that is store bought. We did it gradually replacing old stand by foods with healthy alternatives a little bit at a time.  I am to the point now I indulge in a meal out with my family once a week sometimes twice depending on the week and depending on our schedule but over 90% of our meals are made at home.  When I do order out I take that into consideration and try hard to look at the big picture.  What will eating this cost me in calories and in content.

Eating out can be expensive, far more so than you may realize.  Eating those prepared meals can be as well.  Eating healthy is not only better for you but if done right can actually be cheaper.  It is definitely better than dying young and losing the best years of your life to Cancer or some other dreaded disease that has been linked to our dietary practices.

What you eat affects your moods, it can elevate it and help your body function on an all time high. Or can be weigh us down and create more bad things in our life.  If you are following your bliss you have to look at the entire picture.  You cannot pick and choose what is wrong with your life. You have to see the relationship between it all in order to change what doesn't work and what does.

In the new year I have decided to also begin trying to get healthier physically.  I will never run a marathon or a be a slim run way model and I am good with that. But I am taking better care of myself in order to be able to do the things I have dreamed of doing my entire life.  I want to be in the kind of shape that I can enjoy my outings and my new experiences with being exhausted or sore the next day.  Ok some of them am still going to be sore but you know what it will be worth it.  Because sometimes you just gotta push those boundaries.

I hope my blog today has given you some food for thought. I also hope that you are taking care of yourself the way you take care of others. You cannot truly love another until you first learn to love yourself.  I am unsure who wrote those words but I do know they are very true.

Until Tomorrow blog buddies. Be safe, be sane, and be happy.

These are real foods, just encase you have forgotten what natural foods look like.

So yourself and your body a favor, when warmer weather arrives in your area check 

out the local farmers market. If you are afraid to try something new or different buy one item.  I would recommend something sweet like a peach or a box of strawberries. Take a bite and just live in that moment. Allow it to dissolve on your tongue.  Enjoy every single bite of it and remember what it

was like to eat real food. At some point in our lives most of us lived on the stuff.

If you think you cannot afford to eat a healthy diet on a budget I am including a link with how to do just that.  Making meals at home instead of relying so heavily on the inside ring of a grocery store.  Most real foods are located on the outside ring but many people rarely if ever see those departments for very long. Things like real fruits and vegetables especially if they are in season.

Milk and meat as well as the green stuff, although many veggies come in a wide variety of colors.

I hope you all take this for what it is advise from someone who lived most of the adult lives eating commercially prepared meals but after being on "real" foods for a little over 12 months now has noticed a marked difference in how I feel.  I have energy, I look younger, and to be honest I am happier. Explore the wonderful things around you and enjoy the freshest foods you can find. 

It will make a major difference in your attitude and in your life.

Heatlhy Eating on a Budget

A brand new Year a brand new You

One week into the New Year I wonder how many have already given up on those New Year's resolutions they made figuring the new year would automatically bring a new you just because the calendar changed.  With the New Year new beginnings have begun in my life.  I am discovering things about myself I never would have thought possible.

I have discovered that I can be many things that I never thought viable.  I had my first brewing class over the weekend. I am learning to make homemade beer. Now I don't care for beer, but I figured that was about as far out of my comfort zone that I could get without going completely off the grid.  I discovered I loved learning about brewing.  The smell of the wheat as it seeped, the smell of the malts boiling.  The feel of that golden liquid as it poured into a holding tank for fermenting.

As I carefully drove home trying hard not to spill all my hard work I discovered that by stepping outside my normal boundaries and taking a walk on the wild side I felt very alive.  I had tried something new and I had succeeded.  I won't be able to sample my first batch for 30 days but it was fun. I cannot wait to do it again.  I also discovered that Beer comes in all kinds of flavors and that the amount of cook time can actually create a beer that has a chocolate flavor. Who knew?

I also discovered that I am far more capable than I ever would have imagined with a little guidance from a pro.  I got to meet some new people who I never would have met had I stuck to my normal boring routine.  I got to do something I never would have tried if I had not taken my own advice.

Sometimes it takes stepping outside those very high walls we create around our lives to find something we truly enjoy.  Sometimes it takes taking a walk on the wild side to bring out our inner Goddess and allow our creativity to bloom.  Doing something that we never would have considered or thought we would enjoy in order to learn something new about ourselves.

I hope that everyone enjoyed their weekend and hopefully others learned something about themselves this weekend. If you didn't then you need to do something out of your comfort zone. Do something you never would have considered before. You never know if you will or won't enjoy it unless you try it at least once.  I used to have a saying "I try everything once, twice if I was to drunk to remember it or I liked it".

I did my first brew class on 3 hours sleep because I was so excited I couldn't sleep the night before.  I did the brewing in a garage where it was COLD.  And I am not a huge fan of the cold, but to be honest it was exhilarating.  My teacher went into detail about the different kinds of beers and how they are created.  He explained it from both a historical point as well as a chemistry class.  I got to play with a centrifuge that was used to mix up the yeast.  I felt like I was back in chemistry class in high school only this time I enjoyed it.

I met a wonderful lady who it turned out I had a lot in common with. We found ourselves talking every free moment we had and learning from each other. This was her second brew and my first.  I plan on returning and eventually making the investment in my own equipment to be able to do it at home.  But in the meantime I will enjoy the comradary I found in the brewing class.

I also got to see a blacksmith class, I want to try that too. It looked fun heating the metal in a furnace then beating it with a hammer until it yields to your ideas and becomes a thing of art.  The girl who was doing that class was making a bottle opener. Who knew you could create art with such a simple appliance.

I have been telling others they needed to try new things in order to discover where their passions lie.  I will never open a micro brewery but the idea of making something for myself to share with friends and to master excites me on a whole new level.

I chose a simple recipe that was inexpensive to create in hopes if I messed it up I wouldn't be laying out a lot of money in supplies.  But I am already dreaming of the other brews I can try to create.  Brewing is a combination of math, chemistry and cooking.  It is following a recipe but using your own creativity to create something to enjoy.

Now I know that brewing isn't for everyone and many people who don't enjoy beer or have someone in their life who enjoys beer are probably going what exactly is the point of this blog.  The answer is easy, never assume you won't enjoy something simply because you might not personally enjoy the end product.  You can always give away the end product, but the experience itself may teach you something about yourself.

I found that succeeding on brewing my first batch gave me a sense of accomplishment and pride I didn't anticipate.  I found that having an end product to take home with me filled me with pride for a job well done.  If you aren't into beer how about a pottery class or a knitting class?  Something that is outside your normal boring boundaries.  Just take a walk on the wild side and do something completely unexpected.

You never know what the end result may be.  You might discover something about yourself that you never knew.  You might discover you hate it and never want to try it again.  But in the end you will be one step closer to finding the real you. The one that got lost in the shuffle of life.

So with the beginning of the second week of this new year I want everyone to promise themselves they will do something new. Something exciting and different that they would never have tried before.  It doesn't have to be drastic or expensive, there are to entirely many free classes offered you can check into.  I don't care if it is cooking, knitting, brewing, or even stained glass. Do something different.

Step outside your comfort zone and find the real you just waiting to be discovered.  How can you say you would never enjoy it if you don't take a chance and try it first.  When we were kids we often turned our noses up on foods that we never wanted to try but our parents kept at us until we finally took a taste and many times we discovered they weren't near as nasty or disgusting as we thought.

Life is a lot like that.  As children those around us encouraged us to try new things.  Our parents, our teachers, our friends. Where would we all be if we had never tried something new. We would all be still eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or worst fish sticks.

Life is a buffet but if all you are eating is the salad you missing out on a smorgasbord of taste.  There are so many things just waiting to be explored. There are new tastes, and smells, and textures just waiting to be experienced.  Never rule something out until you have taken the time to at least give it a shot.

I hope my blog today gave you something to consider and something to think about. I hope everyone takes that challenge to takes a walk on the wild side and do something so completely out of character that those around you begin to wonder if you have lost your mind.  Make life interesting and it can be fun.  Never settle for hum drum when you can have the entire orchestra playing for you.

Until Tomorrow my blogging buddies, be safe, be sane, and be happy.

Bliss what is it and why do we need it?

I have had many people ask since I began this blog what exactly is the point in finding your bliss?  Why spend so much time and energy on something that you may never find or keep?  My answer is a simple one. Life is to short to be miserable and if you can do something to change that why wouldn't you?  Bliss is that happy state when everything around you just feels right. It is those moments in your life that even during troubled times you find yourself revisiting in your mind.  It is the happiness that every living being deserves.

For some that might be baking, for others that might be sewing, or painting, or even writing. It is a creative outlet that you are born to do. Sometimes we can turn our passions into paycheck other times it is something we do in order to make ourselves happy when no other person can achieve that mental state in us.  It is the one constant that you have that you can always count on to lighten your mood and restore you mental and emotional charge.

Where do you find your bliss well that is a harder question to answer. For each person it is different.  Just like some people adore strawberry ice cream and other others prefer butter pecan. Everyone's own personal bliss is something of their own choosing and creation.  There is no hard and fast method for finding your bliss. It takes a willingness to step outside our of normal boundaries and explore the world at large.  It is revisiting past experiences and taking a long hard look at how we felt in that moment. Did those experiences excite you?  Did they make our hearts race and minds feel free?  Is it something you would like to do again just to see if it is your bliss or do you truly believe it was a one time something new experience?

I did a lot of web searching today for help in discovering a way to help others find their bliss.  I have had several private emails and private messages from those who would like to find their bliss but have no clue where to begin the search. Mine began with taking a long hard look at my life and beginning to evaluate my life experiences and which ones brought me the most joy but everyone has a different method for finding their own bliss. I will share with you what I found while surfing as well as the link I found it on.

12 Steps to Finding Your Bliss

1) Begin to tell the truth to yourself about what heals you and what hurts you.
2) Take action steps to build self-nurturing activities into your schedule.
3) Consider ways to minimize the activities that disempower you. Do you really need to work on that committee? What would it take to release the person you feel you have to save?
4) Make a list of the talents or activities for which you are most acknowledged and rewarded. For what do your friends praise you the most?
5) Make choices on the basis of the peace they bring. If something is for you, it will feel like it fits. You will be able to breathe with your choice and sleep peacefully at night.
6) What would you do even if you weren't getting paid for it?
7) Follow your intuition. Aliveness and success follow imaginative impulses. Joy does not pander to rational processes.
8) Can you not do it? The voice for joy will keep knocking at your door until you heed its call.
9) When in doubt, don't. Practice acting from the strength of your heart rather than your calculating mind or fear.
10) Let it be easy. Struggle is a sure sign that you have lost sight of the joy path. Struggle is a red flag that you need to retrace your steps and choose the path with heart.
11) Watch for signs.
12) Launch out on faith -- take a risk. The greatest successes begin with a leap of faith.

Found at:
http://www.earthalchemy.com/12steps.html

Everyone's bliss comes in a wide variety of places. You might find you bliss in helping others, you might find your bliss in helping or taking time for yourself.  You might find your bliss in creating something that no one but yourself will ever see or read. But find your bliss you must because life is filled with hardships. It is filled with the mundane details that make life what it is, life.  But as my Dad always told me. What is the point of living if you are merely existing?  If you entire life is nothing more than having a job you report to , or having a family you care for, or even just muddling through each day and surviving it.  What exactly is the point?

Finding your bliss isn't the act of a selfish person. It isn't taking anything away from those in your care or those you care about. Finding your bliss will make you into a better person, a happier person, someone who has tapped that invisible energy that exist in our world and harnessing it into a happier existence for all those who come in contact with it.

Have you ever noticed how hanging out with people who are sad or upset all the time saps your energy, but walk into a room with someone who is happy, truly happy, not pretending to be happy because they don't want the world to see their true self. But someone who has discovered that one or two or half a dozen things that truly make them happy and make time in their schedule to do just that. Their presence will energize you, it will inspire you, it can at times lift your spirits no matter how bad your day has been. Those people who look at the bright side of life instead of dwelling in that dark place that lingers in the corners of all of our minds.

Those people have found their bliss, it may be as simple as taking time for themselves once a day or once a week or even once a month to mentally and emotionally recharge their life batteries. Those are the people who change the world for the better. Those are the people who know life is rough but so what the alternative is much worse.  Those are the kind of people you want to surround yourself with and learn from.  If you discover yourself and your own personal bliss perhaps you may motivate someone else to do the same and in the process spread the happiness and joy that can be found within.

No one can make you happy or make you sad without your permission.  Many people think if they find the perfect mate, the perfect job, or the perfect life. That the rest will fall into place. It helps yes, but when you have a bad day with that perfect mate, or your boss is being a real ass hat on that perfect job, or some rain falls into that perfect life you find yourself back at square one.  However if you find your bliss you can go there any time those dark shadows threaten.  Even if it is only in your mind.  You can recapture that essence of happiness and suddenly those dark days are near as dark.

This is the journey I am on.  This is why I am blogging this life experience.  Some days I am no closer to finding my bliss than the day I started this journey, other days I make amazing strides towards my end goal of not only finding it but also of living my bliss.  I am keeping this online journal for those who would like to watch this step by step or perhaps join me in this journey.

If anyone would like to share their own personal stories or perhaps have a sounding board for finding their own personal bliss you are welcome to post comments. I look forward to hearing from you all.

I hope today you all had a productive and blessed day, and I hope that tomorrow is even better than today.  Until tomorrow my friends I am outta here.