by Dr. Linda Berry
Through my life experience, education, clinical practice, and Eastern transformative techniques I've reversed a lifetime of sadness to enjoy a present with glimmers of bliss. This article reveals an outline of my path to bliss that came to me one night as I sat writing on my bedside. It's a simple path that can help anyone achieve moments of connection to the divine. That's always good for building happiness.
Eliminate Irritants: Irritants come in many forms: chemical, emotional, physical, sexual, environmental, mental, and spiritual. Irritants jeopardize your health and well being. To achieve bliss states, it's essential to identify what's irritating you and eliminate it. Sometimes it's not so easy. Sometimes you need to accept what is and come to peace with its presence in your life to feel peace.
Nourish Yourself: What's nourishing to one person may irritate another. Nourishment comes to you on many levels. Food, drink, art, beauty, and nature, are all forms of nourishment. The company that you keep can benefit you or can drag you down. The way that you feed your senses, your spirit, and your mind also contribute to or detract from owning ecstasy.
Get Comfortable in Your Body: Growing up Catholic, I read about the lives of saints. Some suffered great pain yet still experienced religious ecstasy. Not many reach their level. To get comfortable in your body, you need to do more than get out of pain though. Society is jammed with messages that you're not OK unless you look a certain way. Getting comfortable in your body means feeling you're OK however you are.
Use Your Natural Resources: There are three power-generating plants in your body: your heart, your smile, and your sexuality. Remember how you feel when something makes you happy. Aren't you charged up when you feel love? Throughout the ages religions have tried to control sexual expression in their followers because of its power. And systems of enlightenment use the power of sexuality to grow the spiritual self.
Love, Admire, and Respect Yourself and Others: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you is the Golden Rule. But what about all the times you've done good but didn't recognize your success? You deserve admiration for all you've overcome and accomplished. Would you continue to act the way you do if you treated yourself with respect? Give love, admiration, and respect to yourself and others to expand into moments of bliss.
To build your experience of happiness and bliss, you don't need to do all 5 steps at once or all the time. If you're thinking, "Where do I start" try this. Write down what you like about yourself. Then write down all the obstacles you've overcome to be where you are today. And think about people you've helped over the years. Doesn't just thinking about that make you want to smile?
Once you've recharged your energy by recognizing your goodness think about something small that irritates you. Maybe it's a messy drawer. Maybe it's an article of clothing in your closet. Maybe it's the fact that you're not getting enough sleep. Then make a commitment to clean out that drawer, pass on that piece of clothing to someone who'll enjoy it, or go to bed early tonight.
Imagine how good you'll feel giving yourself a pat on the back for what you've accomplished. And for getting rid of something that's been irritating you. You've just taken a giant step towards feeling your bliss.
Memorize the feeling in your body when you take action to improve your sense of well-being. When you're stressed out muscles tighten especially around your chest and/or abdomen. Your breathing becomes shallow. You tend to frown, don't you?
But when you feel even an inkling of bliss your muscles lengthen and relax. Your breathing becomes deeper. Your belly and chest expand with your breath. Your face softens ... and you may even smile.
The more you practice each of these 5 steps the more abundant will become your joy, happiness, peace, and well-being. Can I tell you a secret?
Right in your belly is a refuse recycling center and the home of your treasure chest. What's bad goes into refuse recycling to be ground up for compost to grow your bliss - - - or if it's too much - - - dump the excess right out your legs into the earth.
And when you're feeling the good stuff watch it grow and flow to all parts of your body, mind, and emotions until it's so abundant that it fills up your treasure chest to overflowing. Then your bliss will spill over and nourish the community that surrounds you. Good work building your happiness and bliss!
For more information visit www.drlindaberry.com.
Posted: 07/13/2010
