Bliss
Eat Pray Love, yeah I watched that movie. Not even all of it, just 10 minutes. That was enough to get it. What I remember from those 10 minutes was all I needed to get from that movie and I shut it off. I got the message, now, it’s the next step.
In the movie, a woman goes to Bali to write an article about a medicine man. She meets him. She’s leaving and on her way out, the medicine man runs after her with a picture. He tells her that she’ll lose all her money, get it back one day and that she’ll come back to Bali.
Prophetic? Well… it is a movie so anything they want to happen could happen. It just so happens though, that the script is based on a true story. And Julia Roberts is my favorite actress of all time. And her smile! It’s what I love most about her.
That is why she’s my favorite and always has been. Her smile is contagious. I smile every time I see her smile. That’s who I want to be. A person who gives smiles, like her, but me. Anyway…. I digress. Back to the message at hand.
The message? It’s so cute! It’s one of my favorite messages. I remembered it again. It’s the one thing I’m trying to remember all the time and live by. It’s what I experience in her smile and what the remembered in the first 10 minutes of the movie.
Listen to your heart, not your head. That was for me. It’s as if I went to Bali and got the message I give everyone. When I talk to other I always say this, but need to hear it myself. I don’t have anyone to tell me, at least not today.
People say… “I can’t imagine going through what you have.” I say, “Please don't try to imagine it.” They say, “I’m so sorry.” I say, “Its ok. They say, “You’re doing such a good job.” I say, “It’s what you would do too, nothing special.” They say, “How do you do it?”
My answer? I follow my heart. I repeat this all the time. They say, “How do you really do that?” I can understand the reason behind the question. For wanting to see how the practical application of such a platitude is possible. Is it even possible?
My heart says, YES! It’s a simple answer with a more complex commitment. A commitment to understanding and to action on it. I know it’s through emotions. They are my guide. I watch and observe how I feel. I acknowledge it.
I accept it and decide what I want next. If I will keep it? Change it? Do something with it. In this way my heart guides me. As I follow it, life is magical. When I don’t, it’s painful. The night Grant left, I felt in my heart, “I don’t want you to go flying tonight.”
Never even once before that night, but many times since have I felt that. But that night, that one night; the one where he left and never came back… that night I didn’t say it. Why? Because I betrayed myself.
Now, that’s not why he died, it was just a lesson tied to the one thing I do that leads me to a place I don’t want to go. His death had nothing to do with me. That’s the truth. Did I have influence? Yes, but that’s a different story for a different day.
Right now, for me, my choice is to focus on what I can do. So ever since then, I fiercely practice listening and responding to what is going on inside me. Then, I choose to follow and do what my heart is directing me to.
I’ll tell you, it’s a lot easier to not say “don’t go” than it is to say all of the things to do instead. My life is much better now. I feel more peace. I know how to follow that inner guidance. I live in acceptance without trying to out run my feelings anymore.
It’s a place that is what I would call serenity. Life isn’t perfect, but it’s perfect for me. I love every aspect of it now. I accept every facet of the brilliance of what the culmination of my life is now. I love who I am now. I love myself and my life.
I love all the experiences I am given, even when what I’m given is not my immediate preference. Ya know what? It is bliss, all of it is bliss. I don’t ask outside myself anymore, ‘Help me, tell me what to do, what do I do somebody out there?
I just tell me what to do and I do it. No, not exactly, rather now I feel. What do I feel? Why do I feel it? I ponder to this to myself. Then I ask my heart. I feel again and in feeling again, I hear the response. Then I know what to do and I courageously do it. I can do it. I will do it.
I am. Bliss. Now I’ll finish the movie and smile while I’m watching. Bliss.