EcoBliss: As Local as You Can Get

Baby grapes in our own back yard!

Listening to: Marchio Bossa singing about Montmartre.

Today's Bliss Formula: Riding my bike to the library to work in children's, which is pleasantly busy this time of year. I love working in a space from which I can see the lake; at lunch, I will go outside and sit at water's edge.

As you know, we've been eating strawberries for some time now out of our back yard. And they just keep coming...These particular strawberries are an heirloom variety, making them extra hardy and disease resistant.

We are also growing an heirloom, hardy kiwi out front. Yes, a kiwi along the Great Lakes. When they are ready to eat, they will be the size of grapes and we'll eat the skin. We've been told they taste like kiwis times ten. Here's a picture of one taken today:


And the grapes at the top of this post are Cabernet Franc, which make a red that is the "father" of Cabernet Sauvignon. With only two vines, we should eventually have a yield that will easily make 30 bottles of wine. With only two more vines... ahh... dreams of bottles stacked up in the basement. From our wine making last summer:


Growing ultra-local food -- otherwise known as food from your own yard -- does not take a lot of space. We only have a small city plot, which is, I think, one-tenth of an acre.

All the greens you could eat can easily be grown in pots. You can also grow tomatoes and strawberries and blueberries in pots. There are some miniature fruit trees that can be pot grown. This is one of my favorite tree and heirloom sites.

Growing food is a relatively new thing to me. I've always been a big flower gardener and so food growing can feel a little perplexing. But mostly it's about sun and water and weeding.

Eventually, we want to rip out our front yard, surround it with English cottage garden flowers, and then grow food in the center -- since that is where our best sun is.

For now, the back yard is a decent food producer.

Growing food for yourself teaches you about seasons. As a city girl, I had no idea what fruit was available when. It was always in the grocery store!

Growing food for yourself teaches you about the delicate balance it takes to feed yourself. The sun and the rain are so easily the "enemy." A little too much rain and the tomatoes are awful but not enough rain and things just don't grow.

When I am "cheating" and watering with my garden hose, I think of the farmer who doesn't have that option.

Growing your own food also, I think, makes you a better cook. I take more time with our foods when we've grown them; I think of ways to eat them that emphasize their individual tastes.

Growing your own food brings home the organic issue once and for all. When you pick that lettuce from your non-poisoned bed, you're thankful for how clean it already is. I love that I can pick a strawberry from our yard and pop it right into my mouth.

And remember, as I've said before, the flowers are still just as important -- they attract the bees and the butterflies and the birds, all necessary to a healthy garden and a healthy planet.

BlissQuest: Are Your Own Rules Holding You Back?

Another photo from a walk this past weekend.

Listening to: A musical rule-breaker, a jazz genius, still kicking at 88 years old!

Today's Bliss Formula: I've already taken a walk this morning, something I have not been doing enough of, and it was good to get outside first thing, instead of looking at news and blogs.

One of the things that I have recently been working on is becoming more aware of the rules that I use to govern my life and how they affect me. My goal is to evaluate those sometimes deeply embedded rules in light of this question: Is this rule serving me or am I serving this rule?

The larger goal is to become more spontaneous in my reaction to daily life. To learn that each day is brand new and filled with possibilities that did not exist the day before. To live from my instincts and to experience being born anew each morning. I want to let go of all the "shoulds."

Otherwise, I want to live without limiting myself, without putting myself into some sort of box. In Buddhism, we hear a lot about the concept of "no self." I understand this to mean (after much reading) not that "I" do not exist, but that a solid and unchanging "I" does not. I am always changing and always being changed. I am fluid.

Thinking like this allows me to, for example, accept my moods as temporary. This is important. Instead of seeing a melancholy moment as a precursor to a larger depression, I see it as a melancholy moment -- a passing feeling. Passing. Fleeting.

Thinking like this also allows me to challenge myself.

I could have stopped my "professional" life with teaching creative writing. It was comfortable; I was good at it. Furthermore, it made other people comfortable, because when they asked me what it was I "did," I had that easy answer everyone wants -- "I teach."

But teaching has never been enough for me. I like to do it once in a while. If I thought of myself strictly as a teacher, this would limit my experience of myself as a creative person who needs a variety of stimuli in my life. I am a "snorkeler" and not a "deep sea diver." I need to be learning something new all the time.

"Jack of all trades and master of none" was used as an insult in my family. To be focused on one goal was the ideal and so I set that up as a rule for myself and used it for many years of my life to beat myself up. This was a case where a rule was creating depression and anxiety and deep sadness.

More of my rules:

I am 5'5" and I am only a good person when I weigh no more than 125 pounds. I still fight with this one, but I am learning, especially though yoga, that my body is strong and flexible and beautiful as it is and that I love to eat and food is a pleasure not to be eschewed. During my life, when I have managed to follow this weight rule, it is because I am following all sorts of unhealthy food and exercise rules.

If the house is not spotless, I must be lazy. How many of us believe this? That there are some sort of dirty house police out there, just waiting to come and take pictures of the piles of books and papers and dirty dishes? I have better things to do with my time than worry about imaginary cleanliness enforcers.

The most moral people are vegetarians. I was a vegetarian for ten years, but during that ten years, meat never ceased to be enticing. My partner is a very natural and happy vegetarian. I was a tired and hungry one. Finally, I came to see this as a destructive rule. I still have rules about organic, but organic tastes better, is better for me, and is better for the planet. That is what I would call a good rule.

And there are good rules. But I prefer to call these commitments.

I am committed to my partner. I am committed to clean and healthy food. I am committed to my yoga practice but not to the point of feeling badly if I don't do it. I am committed most of all to being happy.

And so my number one rule at this point in my life is to have fun. If a rule makes me grouchy, I show it the door.

So here's an assignment:

Start watching your most repetitive behaviors and ask yourself if they are based on some rule.

Then try to discern where you got that rule. Did it come from you or someone else?

Next, investigate the "why" of the rule. Why do you have the rule and what does this rule do for you?

And finally, is the rule making you a happier, healthier, more productive person, or is the rule holding you back?

If the rule is holding you back, can you let go of it?

Rules usually originate in fear and constriction. So this exercise is really about opening your heart and your mind -- two places that need to be opened if you are ever going to live a blissful life.

InnerBliss: 8 Physical Changes for A Brighter Outlook

Our feet did a lot of walking in the woods this weekend.

Listening to: I loved to dance to this at clubs in college. (Yes, it ages me.)

Today's Bliss Formula: Being at home. Being with our cats and the rabbit. Frog has most of today and all of tomorrow off. The lily buds are starting to color. There are strawberries to pick. The yard is getting that overgrown, wild look that I love.

This weekend, as I mentioned before, we were out of town. We went here, so Frog could get level 1 and 2 Reiki training. It's a quiet and woodsy place so we got in a lot of walking.

But being away from home always means that I eat incorrectly, I don't do yoga, and I am just generally off my routine. And I am a major routine cat. But for very good reason.

Though I no longer suffer from bouts of depression, for most of my life, I have suffered from frequent and intense bouts. I have worked really hard to find health, and my mental health, it turns out, depends heavily on my physical health.

We often talk about how our mental attitude affects our physical bodies, but we forget, I think, that it goes the other way. When I talk to friends who are still suffering from depression and anxiety, I emphasize the need for exercise and healthy eating. Of course, when you're depressed you don't want to hear that a walk will make you feel better but it will, and you don't have the energy to walk but a walk would give you energy.

It's all very catch-22.

How we eat and the water we put into our bodies also matters. Good, whole, clean foods. Plenty of vegetables. In my case, good, organic meat is important for my outlook. And no gluten.

I advise these friends (who are asking, by the way) that perhaps the best place to start is with the concrete, the physical, baby step type stuff. And then from there, you work inward. It seems counter-intuitive but how will you ever have the strength to work through your baggage if you can't even sit up?

So for those of you who are still looking for that bliss, still trying to figure out your best life, your most authentic life, why not start with getting physically healthy? It will clear your mind, allow you to see what you need to do, and then when you know, you'll have the energy to do it. You'll also be increasing your will power and your determination.

A few suggestions:

1. Walking. I've written about this before in terms of impact on the environment, and it's a perfect example of how the microcosm and the macrocosm are intricately and intimately bound together. You walk to save some resources, and the planet, as well as you, gets healthier. Walking, too, is a great way to slow your mind. To clear your head. If I go on a walk with a problem in mind, it will inevitably be solved by the end of the walk. There was a famous author (can anyone remember who?) who would walk around twenty miles every single day. He was English, of course!

2. Yoga. Obviously, I'm an official yoga pusher! But I am not exaggerating when I say that I don't know how I would be where I am without yoga. I always tell people that you don't have to "believe" in it -- it will work on you regardless. It brings an equilibrium to your body that no other form of physical movement does. It teaches you to more fully inhabit your body. It brings you back into your body if you have been absent for any period of time. For a really wonderful and exhaustive yoga blog, check this out.

3. Get good sleeps. Which I wrote about here.

4. Play. We forget to have fun with our physical bodies. My bike really brought fun movement back into my life. And it's gentle and good for my hips -- which are wrought with problems from some congenital issues and some abuse (dancing, tennis, being too flexible for my own good). But do you remember what it's like to go down a hill, smiling and giggling the whole way? Depression is no challenge for joy like that!

5. Good food. Have you gone organic yet? If not, why not? Yes, it can be expensive but ill-health is more so. If it's truly a strain on your budget, pick out the most important things -- produce, by far, is where you and the planet will reap the most benefit. A great overview of the whole food puzzle is this book.

6. Food allergies. I think a lot of us suffer unnecessarily. It has taken me many years, but I now know I am highly allergic to soy -- especially soy lecithin. For a whole year, I felt like someone was strangling me. I had all sorts of tests done, and my partner, frog, kept saying "stop eating soy." I wouldn't listen. Then I finally did. The throat thing was completely gone within a week and now I can detect if I have eaten even trace amounts of soy because I start to cough. I have also recently discovered that when I don't have gluten in my diet, my brain fog -- which I just thought was something I had, period -- my brain fog just up and left the premises. I feel AWAKE. It is nothing short of a miracle in my eyes. I still cheat and then I pay. Eventually I will stop cheating. But it can take me a long time to learn. For a great gluten free site, go here. Her book is also awesome.

7. Supplements. I'm not a big one for supplements -- I try to get everything I need from my foods, but sometimes they are necessary. Just try to get good ones.

8. No more pain. If you have any pain at all in your body, get it taken care of. Pain changes who you are. I know from years of low back pain. Now whenever I am grumpy, I do a body check and usually my back is aching.

That's really the big point -- being aware. We are physical (and spiritual) beings having physical and sensual experiences. Your body is the conduit through which your life experiences flow. If anything at all is blocked in that conduit, you are pushed out of the experience.

What could you do to, literally, feel better?

BlissQuest: 7 Suggestions for the Solstice

Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright!

Listening to: A good song for the Solstice.

Today's Bliss Formula: Being outside, of course!

Today is the Summer Solstice or Midsummer in the Northern Hemisphere, the longest day of the year. From here on out, they just keep getting shorter, which is why I'm a bit partial to the Winter Solstice, from which the days just keep getting longer. Besides, I'm Nordic genetically speaking and the heat makes me cranky!

Today, my partner, Frog, and I are headed to Lily Dale in New York State. On this Solstice evening, she will begin her level one and two Reiki training. Neither of us have ever done anything like this and we are both giddy and excited. It seems an auspicious day to begin a new venture, much less to begin an energy-based training.

And the sun is energy, which I think we sometimes forget in our attempts to get away from it.

Over our lifetimes (that of Generation X), the sun has been given a bad rap. When I was little, my mother would slather on baby oil -- not UV protection! -- and lay on a silver, shiny blanket, courting the sun in a way that would get her some serious crazy looks now.

But we need a certain amount of sun exposure every day so our bodies can produce the vitamin D that is necessary to good health. No need to be out in the middle of the day; you still want to avoid a burn. And sun is not just for summer. Winter sun is my favorite; it's weaker, which is good, and so you can be out longer, which is also good.

For many years now, the Canadian government has been running a health campaign whereby they encourage people to get out in the sun to prevent cancer -- and yes, you read that right, to prevent it. And now our mainstream medical community is catching up and seeing that those wacky Canadians might have been onto something. Vitamin D pills may become the new aspirin.

But why take a pill when you could just take a walk?

And today of all days, make sure to get outside. There are so many ways to celebrate!

1. You could get up with the sunrise and go outside and do sun salutations. When you do this yoga set outside, you can really feel the meaning behind the poses. I love stretching my arms to the rising sun and opening my heart to the sky and listening to the waking birds rather than any other music.

2. Check out what's going on in New Mexico. The video on this site is fun and informative. The Kundalini yoga community takes the Summer Solstice time to gather and chant and do yoga in large groups. They see the Solstices as very powerful and take full advantage.

3. The Neo-Pagan community has a multitude of ways to celebrate. From group to group, you would find a wide variety of ritual and approaches. Go here for a great explanation and don't hesitate to explore further.

4. Go here for a pretty good list of customs from different countries all over the world. Something will catch your eye, I'm sure.

5. The Goddess community likes to emphasize the aspect of Litha, for whom the celebrations were, mythologically speaking, devised to begin with.

6. If you've grown a garden, eat foods that are truly local and in season. Right now, we have enough in our yard to make dinner and dessert!

7. When the sun sets, light a fire. I love fire rituals, and one of my favorite is to light the fire, write down on a piece of paper something that you, perhaps, want to change or let go of in your life, and then throw it in the fire and watch it turn to ash.

The point is that there's no wrong way. But try something. If you are on a quest for a more blissful and meaningful life, trying new things is the only way to learn about yourself and what feels right for you.

I know something doesn't work for me when it makes me feel too silly. I'm a traditional sort of girl and I like things to feel quiet and private.

Then again, we are going to Lily Dale!

RandomBliss: 9 Steps to Better Sleep Besides Drinking Herbal Tea

I just wish Miss Emily
could relax...

Listening to: For years, this band helped me to fall asleep. And how does this voice come out of anyone from this planet?! (Listen through to the end; it just keeps building)

Today's Bliss Formula: The clouds today are sitting on my head and making it ache but I am grateful that I no longer get migraines. (I got rid of them about twelve years ago -- I'd had them since I was twelve.) So a "normal" headache is a wonderful thing. I can function.

When you don't sleep well, you know exactly how important sleep is to your mental, physical, and spiritual well-being.

Sleeping well, for me, has been something relatively new. I have probably only been sleeping -- truly resting -- for a few years now.

When I was younger, chaos in the middle of the night was not a rare thing. And so the pattern started where I did not allow myself deep sleep but rather dozed while on high alert.

I don't know how I finished high school, much less college or graduate school. As I get older and heal myself more and more, I realize how strong my willpower has been -- because, I think, willpower is all I have functioned on for a long time. And yet I thought I was lazy (due to always feeling tired).

No more.

As I have learned from a wonderful chiropractor/healer, you have to have enough energy to begin with in order to fall into deep sleep. That may seem counter-intuitive -- that you need energy to sleep -- but without energy you can't do the cellular level repair work that sleep is really all about.

Think about that: every night when you are sleeping, your body is repairing itself. It makes me wonder how much of modern disease stems from the fact that we sleep less and less, and that we sleep less well.

If you consider the importance of this aspect of sleep, you'll take the quality of your sleep more seriously.

And good sleep is the first step toward a healthy, pain free body, which is the first step toward a healthy mind which is a step toward a healthy spirit.

Over these years of chasing good sleep, I have found many things helpful, but there is one thing that is most important of all...

1. The number one way to increase the quality of your sleep (drum roll...) is...to live the life you want to live. If you have not found your bliss -- or more accurately, if you are still denying your bliss or not living your bliss, your deeper mind will know. Upon laying down, your mind will take this opportunity to spin fantasy or to castigate you with negative self talk. If you are living the life of your dreams, if you are following your bliss or at least working on following it, you will get to bed and feel as if your day were well spent. Contentment within yourself leads to good sleep.

2. The number two way to get better sleep then is to finish your day before you go to bed. Even if you still have to have a "fake job" in order to finance your dreams and your bliss, every day you should do at least one thing to build your bliss life. When you go to bed, you will rest easy knowing you are on your path.

3. Further, if you go to bed with lists in your head of "shoulds", you will not sleep. So take a moment -- but not in your bed, perhaps at a small desk -- take a moment and write short term and long term goal lists. Get it all out.

4. Really get it all out. Journal before bed. Write out all the things that are on your mind or nudging you in your heart. The idea here is to empty yourself of day time thought.

5. Have a pen and paper by your bed. If you're like me, no matter what, as soon as you lay down, an idea will pop into your head. Sometimes, for me, it's an idea for this blog or for some teaching that I'm doing or the first sentence of a new novel. Whatever. If I lay there thinking that I can keep it in my head until morning, my creative mind won't let me sleep out of fear of losing the idea. So as soon as it pops into your head, grab that pen and paper and write it down. Just a small note will do. A reminder.

6. Sleep aids like music are helpful. But it needs to be soothing music. Or you could listen to someone reading a spiritual text. I love hearing Deepak Chopra's voice -- that accent! -- and I love, in particular, a recording he has done of the Bhagavad Gita. Play it very low because the more still you get, the better your hearing will be.

7. A lot of us, when we were little, were taught to say our prayers at bedtime. This can still be a great ritual. You could just do some deep breathing and visualizations. Or you could use mala beads and make up your own prayer-like ritual. Whatever focuses and calms your mind. Repetition is great for this and why prayers like the Rosary are still used to this day.

8. Pre-bed is also great for yoga -- but of a specific kind. In Kundalini yoga, there are many breath techniques and mantras as well as physical exercises designed specifically for "restful sleeps" as Ana Brett says. Kundalini bridge pose with long, deep breathing is said to "shut down" the nervous system for a good night's sleep.

9. The right kind of reading. Do not -- I repeat -- do not read about "issues" before bed. Do not read books about the oil crisis or about dying polar bears. You may laugh, but I know plenty of people who do this. If you must read, and I myself like to read at bedtime, try poetry or spiritual reading. Thich Nhat Hanh is great before bed. The voice in his writing is so soothing.

And sure there are all sorts of other "rules" and remedies for good sleep: Alcohol in small amounts and only many hours before bed (studies show it interrupts the deepest levels of sleep); turn off the TV; no violent movies; herbal tea; warm milk; a warm, sea salt bath with lavender; lavender on your pillow. And there are lots of homeopathics if you are really desperate; my favorite that doesn't leave me feeling drugged is Calms Forte. Valerian makes me walk around in a stupor the next day.

But I've not had to rely on anything external for quite a while now, because during the day, I take care of my body, my intellect, and my spirit.

Preparation for good sleep starts upon waking.

EcoBliss: 15 Bits of Earth Bliss

An American Tulip Poplar who
lives a block away from us.

Listening to: I couldn't find the exact song I wanted, but this will do just fine! (Live in concert they are even more amazing.)

Today's Bliss Formula: Paying attention and sitting still more often. I am "running" too much and that is a not a place from which I am able to be creative. My inner hermit is screaming from the activity, yelling "too much information!"

Are you paying attention?

Yesterday, about halfway through my day, I realized I wasn't. So I stopped all the computer work and went outside and really sat ... still. That sitting still, first of all, completely rejuvenated me. But it also helped me to see my imbalance a bit more clearly and come up with a solution. And finally, it helped me to write in my journal more deeply than I have in weeks.

All from sitting still. For a half hour.

My point being that it doesn't take that long. Though the longer the better. If we don't have time to sit still and notice our worlds, what kinds of lives are we living and are they worth it?

If we don't take time to sit still and notice our worlds, how will we ever be better stewards of this magical place?

And there is magic afoot, let me tell you. A few examples of everyday magic and bliss:

1. Feeding our indoor rabbit her afternoon salad completely from our own garden beds. Our variety of greens -- the colors and the textures -- makes her tail shake.

2. The cardinal who flew almost into me while I sat in the yard. Cardinal totems remind us to be ourselves, nurture ourselves, and add color and play to our lives. Their voices are loud and clear, so Cardinal medicine is about walking your talk.

3. The very small, baby squirrel who let me kneel and watch him eat from a mere 18 inches away. I was taking my walk in the park and noticed him. I could see each of his fingers, that's how close!

4. The good things that are coming from the rise in gas prices: more people buying and riding bicycles, taking public transportation, or just thinking about how they use their cars. My partner has heard people talking at the library about consolidating trips and errands. Something they wouldn't have thought about a year ago.

5. The strawberries! How could I not mention the strawberries? Last night, I cut up a big bowl of them and we ate them atop Julie's organic vanilla ice cream. Julie's rocks! Mmmmm, creamy happiness.

6. The yellow flowers on the early girl tomato plant on our porch.

7. The fattening lily buds -- pictures to come, I'm sure.

8. The cat bird who has decided our crab apple tree is the coolest spot in the city. Last night, he sat and sang and preened and showed himself off. It was quite a display and I am hoping he got a girlfriend out of it!

9. The rain we have gotten -- I have learned to be grateful for the precipitation.

10. My healthy begonias. I plant these for a great aunt who was very special to me and passed away when I was fifteen. Last summer, the species I planted did not like where I put them and I kept having to move them. They flowered but they weren't as happy as I like them to be. None of that this year.

11. The sound of the wind in the trees.

12. The fact that so many people -- people who wouldn't think of themselves as "environmentalists" -- are talking and thinking about plastic water bottles and trying to avoid them. One thing leads to another... (Did I just put a song in your head? If I did, I know approximately how old you are!)

13. The Robin nest in our front tree. I'll try to get pictures. (This is the beauty of digital cameras -- no need to be right at your subject.)

14. The Great Blue Heron who has decided to fly over our house every day like he did last year.

15. Oh, the sky out the window in which I am sitting. The big puffy clouds against a deep blue that we normally only see in the fall.

I'm sure after I post this I'll think of another fifteen things I could have added to the list.

Lists like this can dispel feelings of anger or sadness or despair. Noticing details reminds you that things aren't ever that bad. How could they be when the sun rises and beauty blossoms and the sun sets ablaze with pink and orange?

So, help me out...when you are still, what do you notice?

MysticBliss: Merton's Serene Carelessnes

Our very first apple on our two year
old dwarf heirloom tree.

Listening to: Reminiscent of a Rumi type poem, this is some of my Frog's favorite music.

Today's Bliss Formula: A most perfect weather day. Not too hot. Blue. And the neighborhood is Sunday-quiet. A weeding and reading day.

I am reading A Book of Hours edited by Kathleen Deignan. She has scoured the writings of Thomas Merton and collected poetry and prose to create a beautiful daily prayer book. Her writing in the introduction is a treat in and of itself -- poetic and alliterative, betraying her background as a musician.

And many things in the introduction seem to speak to what I have been thinking and writing about this week. The whole idea of being centered and true to your own priorities no matter the state of the external world, no matter the demands that say your choices are not "fitting," no matter momentary circumstances.

From Kathleen Deignan:

In Merton's teaching, contemplation is the practice of supreme mindfulness and care. Yet, paradoxically, its fruit is a serene carelessness, as we are progressively freed from self-preoccupation and neurotic concern; we are allowed to live without the paralyzing anxiety that would extend its rule to our souls. There is no need for harried, hurried vexation. God is hidden within, and all things that are not a means of bringing the heart to this tranquility in the diving will are useless. This is the fruit of contemplative praise that arises from the hidden ground of love: the discovery of God in the discovery of our true self, and in that love which is the reality of both God and self, to embrace the world.

How many of us do not believe this to be true, that we are allowed to live without the paralyzing anxiety that would extend its rule to our souls? How many of us believe that life truly is suffering (rather than freedom from suffering)? How many of us believe that to be "crazy busy" is to be important, valuable, worthy?

This is a basic fallacy, a basic illusion, underlying many of our other illusions. But if we dig beyond these illusions, we find that deep within ourselves, we know the truth: that we are perfect as we are, that life is meant to be slow, sweet, and savored, that nothing matters but the tranquility of the moment, no matter (as I have said) what that moment holds for us on the outside.

I think of the calm space in which I resided while I held our dying cat, Jobie, and how safe and secure the world felt to me, even at his last breath. This cat, who taught me about unconditional love, will always be with me, and his passing left me knowing that serenity is only found in being who we were born to be.

No more fighting, no more trying. Just being.

What will it take for us to learn to just be? What will it take for you?

BlissQuest: 8 Triggers for Centering Yourself

We like to mix vegetables right in with flowers.

Listening to: This piano never ceases to thrill me.

Today's Bliss Formula: Espresso outside in our pink Adirondacks. Today I'll be trying some new yoga (new for me).

I started this week writing about becoming imbalanced over the weekend (which happened for a variety of reasons). I have spent the whole week getting back to myself, doing all the things I know I have to do to be in my center, to feel good and to be productive.

And this got me to thinking about reminders. Remembering to be centered. Remembering what is important. Remembering what we value and where we want to put our energy. A good thing, of course, is to practice the whole bliss station concept by Joseph Campbell that I wrote about yesterday.

But I think most of us need more than that. We need reminders that pop up constantly.

A few years ago, a Catholic church nearby started playing their bells everyday at 6 PM for quite a long stretch of time. This annoyed me. I felt like they were disturbing my precious quiet. But now I have decided to use this. Instead of feeling angry about noise pollution, I give into the bells and slow down or stop whatever it is I am doing.

Thich Nhat Hanh talks about this a lot in his books. At his monastery in France, they have bells that go off every hour and the people who live there stop and breathe and smile.

This is the first step: deciding what it is you will do or think when you hear the sounds that you have designated as triggers.

You could stop and do deep breathing.

You could create a personal mantra or visualization. This could be specific to a current problem or life situation or it could be a general wish for peace and happiness for yourself and all sentient beings.

Two that I use regularly:

May all beings find and live their bliss.

All shall be well, all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well. (St. Julian of Norwich)

What of the triggers, you ask? Here are some suggestions:

1. Beads: Mala beads and rosaries or story beads or any piece of jewelry that you designate as sacred have long been in use for this trigger effect. Every time you touch the beads or become aware of the jewelry, the feel of it is what I like to call your "note to yourself."

2. Statuary: Placing sacred statues around your house (or building actual altars) is also helpful. Whenever you lay your eyes upon them, perhaps whisper a prayer or a wish or an intention.

3. Art: This is exactly the role, I think, that prayer cards are supposed to play. And there are all sorts of beautiful meditation cards out there for whatever tradition or path with which you are comfortable. The key here is to pay attention to what attracts you. When you find something, get a few and hide them in bags or drawers -- places where you will come upon them spontaneously.

4. Natural Sounds: Do you live near water? Or perhaps a park? Wherever you are, designate one of the natural sounds as a trigger. For example, I love the song of the Cardinal and will automatically look for him when I hear it. This would be a good time for me to just be.

5. Unnatural Sounds, otherwise known as All That Annoying, Anger Inducing Noise Pollution: Rather than lamenting not living in the woods away from all humans, why not see these sounds as opportunities to put your practice into play. Car alarms (or "horn birds" as we jokingly call them), ambulance, police and fire sirens, the thumping bass of a tin can car, a dog barking...all of it can be used rather than resisted.

6. Music & Language: If you listen to the radio at all, pick a song or two that is popular at the moment and use that. If you only listen to your own music, you can still do the same or you can pick a word as the trigger, and every time someone speaks it, you decide you will relax no matter what situation you find yourself in.

7. Weather: A lot of people see any kind of weather beyond warm and sunny as a personal affront, like noise pollution in a way. Wind used to really get to me -- who knows why? But now I use the wind. I think about how it is blowing out the old and blowing in the new or cleansing me. Choose some weather and think about it metaphorically. Rain is great for cleansing thoughts.

8. Waiting: We certainly all do our share of waiting, and again, this is something we perceive as a personal affront. We are important people; we don't have time to wait! My partner and I were in an art gallery and the woman in front of us in line was very rude; she gave us that look -- you know, where she thinks we will look back and with our eyes have this whole conversation about how stupid the clerk is. Of course, we didn't reciprocate. When it was our turn, the clerk kept apologizing, until I told her "It's okay. Waiting is one of those things you learn to do as an adult." She was so relieved. See waiting as a message to slow down. If you radiate patience, other people will feel it.

All of these triggers come down to mindfulness.

The mind is its own place, and in itself,
can make heaven of Hell, and a hell of Heaven.

--John Milton

It's your choice. You live in heaven or hell, and it is all of your own making, no matter what is going on in your life.

I choose heaven, regardless of the car alarms.

What triggers could you develop?

RandomBliss: Where is your Bliss Station?

Where I work in the mornings.

Listening to: I went looking for B-52's (it seemed right with the summer weather) and found this combination.

Today's Bliss Formula: Today I get to meet, for coffee, the owner of this lovely looking place -- someone I have met because of this blog. Cool. And then I have hours at the library reference desk, about which I am a little too excited. Geek.

I picked up the most recent copy of Yoga + Joyful Living yesterday at the Whole Foods Co-op, and later in the day, sitting on a plaid blanket in our yard, I opened it and came across some Joseph Campbell.

As you may or may not know, this blog is heavily influenced by Joseph Campbell, as I wrote about in my very first post. (Which had no picture!!? Or differently colored words?!?!)

Yoga Plus quotes Campbell from his famous interview with Bill Moyers in 1988 (watch it. really you should).

As you get older, the claims of the environment upon you are so great that you hardly know where the hell you are. What is it you intended? You're always doing something that is required of you this minute, that minute, another minute. Where is your bliss station?

I love that question: What is it you intended?

I think this is a question we could ask ourselves every evening, to check in and see if we are living our priorities or if we are living other people's expectations of us. We could ask it at the end of the week, the end of the month, and the end of every year. Good stuff.

He goes on to explain the concept of the bliss station:

You must have a room or a certain hour a day or so where you do not know what was in the newspapers that morning. You don't know who your friends are. You don't know what you owe anybody. You don't know what anybody owes to you. But a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. This is the place of creative incubation. First you may find that nothing's happening there. But if you have a sacred place and use it and take advantage of it, something will happen.

If these were the only instructions you ever received for living, they'd be enough.

The room in the picture at the top of this post is one of my bliss stations. When thinking about this concept, I realized that we have created a house that is all bliss station in one form or another.

The room in this picture is where I work in the mornings, where I imagine my creative life into being, but it is also where I do yoga. And for me, yoga is my most important bliss station. The very act of yoga brings forth my true nature.

If I am anxious, I remember during yoga that my true self is free of anxiety, that my true self is free. Period. If I can't figure out what my next step is in some project, during yoga it comes to me.

It makes sense to me that my writing room and my yoga room are one and the same. Doing yoga gets me out of my head and into my body where all the inspiration and ideas actually live. I love that this room is on the second floor with a dormer through which I can observe the world but not be seen. And it is orange -- the color of creativity and energy and fire.

Another of my bliss stations, the back yard, is where we sit at night and watch the sunset and look at the stars and sit at a fire with friends. In this back yard, in this pink chair, I can look up at the big sky and remember that my mind is also like that -- expansive.

Do you have a bliss station? Or more than one? If you don't, make one. Find a space. Fill it with things that have meaning for you. Or empty it of everything. Whichever helps most.

Then sit there and listen for the silence. Deep within the silence you will begin to hear your true, honest, real voice. The voice that will tell you all your dreams and how to achieve them.

Or go to this bliss station with a specific question in mind. No matter how heavy the question, hold it lightly.

This is a good place to ask the big ones: who am I? Why am I here? What should I do? What is my bliss? What is it that I intended? Where the hell am I?

Remember, Joseph Campbell says you must do this daily. You must be committed, above all, to yourself and your dreams. You're here for a reason and you must be loyal to that reason.

Joseph Campbell's writings provide an excellent map, but you must explore the territory.

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