Being happy and content is a wonderful goal, one I may believe I can easily achieve. Bliss, however, may feel further away from the everyday. Rather than considering it an elusive state of supreme joy, the poet Emily Dickinson saw it practically when she wrote, “Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.” Or, as Dr. Christiane Northrup reminds us, “Wake up all the desire and pleasure that your body is capable of experiencing, let your past go, and follow your bliss just for the health of it.”

What a gift to be alive in this time and space. I loosen my grip on my stories of past pain, I consciously choose the gift of release, and I claim my bliss!