After a talk with a friend I even decided to abandon this website and move on to another, focusing on happiness, as that is more accessible than bliss.

Then I met resistance in myself. First realizing that my message IS about attaining bliss. Then came this thought: why would I want to change my message to one less authentic to me? Why would I not allow others to attain bliss? Why would I not show it IS possible to live a simply blissful, engaged life?

I talked with my husband about this earlier this week and he said: keep this site, it's your message!

That was liberating, but just now something happened that was even more so.

For months my body rejected yoga. I felt stiff, old and clumsy. Just now I woke up with one single thought: do a sun salutation. I got up, half preparing for failure. In stead I found grace and bliss. I managed two perfectly flowing sun salutations.

And I had my answer. I sat down to write this blog post :)

I will keep up this blog, but some things will change.

1. I will get more practical, by focusing more on 3 simple steps and other small, quick changes you can make to attain more bliss.

2. I will stop writing rambling posts on why bliss is important. In stead I will offer short and to the point posts on how YOU can infuse life with bliss

3. I will publish some free and non free e-books with all sorts of life changing topics

4. I will use Simply Blissful as more than a blog, but also as a publishing company for the e-books and my poetry :)

To do all this and more I will need to make some changes. The first: write a post on what MY definition of bliss is. That will come next week :)

Until then, keep smiling!
Sylvia

The past couple days I have been thinking about this website,
pondering a blog post.

Then, just as I started to think I wouldn't post this week, I ran into
these at a store.

Bliss can be found anywhere :)

For years I dreamed of being the kind of person carrying around notebooks everywhere. Sitting on a park bench staring at a tree, taking my time writing a poem, or lingering in beautful cafe's and writing something profoundly while sipping a cup of tea. 

To sustain that dream I wrecked my back carrying notebooks with me. And quite frankly I hardly use them. Because I am a geek. I love my iPhone, and when I am on the road I write mostly on it. Or on my eeepc, which is equally adored. 

I can spend hours waxing poetic about an app I found or the cool thing I discovered that makes my life so much easier, or how I use software. I can go to stores and drool over the newest hardware. 

That image I sketched in the start of the chapter, that is an ideal that doesn't fit me. If I have something that needs jotted down, I write it down on my iPhone, and it gets synchronised with Dropbox so it is available on all my computers. If I do sit in a cafe, I write my poetry on my iPhone, not in the fancy notebook that makes my shoulder hurt. 

So I am letting that image of me go. From now on I no longer carry my big notebook with me, just a tiny one just in case my iPhone doesn't work, or I need to jot something down when on the phone. 

Liberating myself from that image stuck in my head is making me truly happy with who I am.

What image is stuck in your head? What ideal have you set for yourself that completely doesn't fit with the real you?

This past week I have read from several people that they don't want to remember their childhood, because it was bad. It still influences them today, the anger, the pain, the sheer helplessness. They still feel all of that on a level of their being and it hinders them.

If you only get bad memories and sad recollections, it is hard to think of good aspects in yourself, and a lot of people even hide them away, because it forces them to think of their childhood. Aspects like playfulness and joy, as something from your inner child. When you think of your inner child then, only ugliness prevails, and you don't feel moved to reconnect with that part of you. 

Realize that you are an adult now, and no longer a helpless child. In a way you get to play the adult you needed back then for your inner self. You can teach her to come out of the shadows, and come play with you. There is so much you can do to help yourself release your fears and inhibitions. Just allow letting go. 

Declare: enough is enough

For a long time the fact that I have been bullied for four years in a row ruled my images of my childhood. Every time I started ot think back to my childhood, those images pushed themselves to the forefront of my mind. 

One day I decided that enough was enough, I had so many good things happen to me, why did those bad things rule over the good? I sat myself down and wrote down a memory I had as a child, one that I will post here one day soon. 

I began to remember the magickal times, the times where I felt so connected to nature I felt one with it. I started to remember the laughter, the amazing laughter that made our whole being shiver with excitement and sheer, unadulterated joy. I sat at a table with my family a little while later and we laughed to tears about all the antics we experienced. 

And gradually I forgot the childhood that ruled me, the anger, the hatred, the pain, and now when I think back I think of the girl that stood in the park and dreamily stared up at the roses. The girl that skipped ahead of her mom and dad, ready to see what waited for her around the corner. Letting go gave me a strength I hadn't realized I had before. 

I don't say that bad things didn't happen, or that bad injustice hasn't been done onto you, I do say that you can choose to let go and remember something good, in stead of letting all the negativity weigh you down. 

The added benefit

You will notice that as you let go, your automatic responses change. For instance I used to have this insane hatred towards people who bullied me. I saw one of them years ago and it didn't even phase me. I felt calm and realized that letting go of all that hatred liberated me on levels that I couldn't even imagine. I was blissful. 

You deserve that too. 

In a rush I realized why. I have been sabotaging myself again with food. For the past couple months I have been sticking to a diet I love. Soups in the afternoon, fruit shakes in the morning, with added fibers. Healthy dinners in the evening and for the rest no extra's other than the occasional cheese crackers in the afternoon.

The pants made me realize that in past couple weeks I ate cookies, candy, bread with chocolate, and I snacked on some very unhealthy dinners.

Why? Emotional overload, and as per usual when I get that, I go on cookie and Junk food binges.

When I stood there in my "not yet too tight but getting there" pants I realized I need to get back to eating healthy like that again. Not for the pants, but for me.

I deserve that. I deserve eating healthy and feeling energetic.

How does self sabotage sneak up on you?