Follow Your Bliss

Back in 1982 someone introduced me to Joseph Campbell with his book The Power of Myth.  Campbell is not really the author of the book. The book, which became a popular coffee table book, is the result of an interview with Campbell by Bill Moyers. This interview was done not too long before Joseph Campbell died.  The book would have a dramatic impact on me and I would go on to read many if not most of the books written by Campbell. In one of his books he said, “If there is an author you like, read everything he’s written.”  So I started with him.

In the Power of Myth and in many of his books he says, “Follow your bliss.”  This was difficult for me in 1982 because I was horribly discouraged at the time. If you knew I not only had a loving wife, but a beautiful one year old son, you might wonder “What’s the problem?”  I understand now that vocation, i.e. how you make a living, is not nearly as important as home and family, but at the time nothing else mattered except I was extremely unhappy with my work. I took my work very personally and I felt like a complete failure.

Because of the circumstances at the time, it would be later that I embarked on my journey of “following my bliss.”  The first thing I had to do was figure out what my bliss was.  In my case, since I felt like “bliss” was out of reach, I simply changed the adage to “Do what you enjoy.”  With that change, the journey toward “bliss” became manageable.

If any of us learns to do what we enjoy, we first have to enjoy doing something.  There has to be something that provides personal satisfaction.  It’s so easy to fall into a lifestyle of doing what’s necessary, doing what’s expected that we push enjoyment further and further into the corner. Once we learn or remember things we enjoy, the next step is to do them.  Maybe you have to go all the way back to childhood. So go to the arts and craft store and buy some paints and paper and start painting. Or get one of those boxes of 64 crayons with the built-in  sharpener. You know, the box all the other kids had.  Or go to Walmart and buy an inexpensive bicycle and a helmet.  You don’t need expensive clothes and guys you don’t have to shave your legs, just go outside, put on your helmet and ride your new bicycle down the street. Besides enjoying it, it's good exercise as well. You don’t want to paint or ride a bike? Then find something else you enjoy. Read a book. Call a friend. The point is to carve out time in the day for yourself.

Something else that can propel you toward enjoyment and bliss is to stop doing things that you don’t enjoy.  I realize there are some practical reasons this is not always possible.  The block to bliss might be a significant relationship that needs to end. As much as you don’t like your job, for example, there are house payments and mouths to feed. You can’t just walk away from your job. But you can start the process.  On the other hand, back in 1983 after a year of self-imposed torment,  I did in fact just walk away from my church job. I just quit. I didn’t just quit my job, I quit my career. I quit a lifetime of being a full-time minister.  After seven years of college in church music and only four years as a full-time minister, I would serve several churches on a part-time basis, but I would never be a full-time vocational minister again. 

Once you start routinely doing things that you enjoy, an amazing thing happens.  You start enjoying the things you do. Your enjoyment expands into your lifestyle. This is not to say that you’ll reach a state of perpetual bliss, but you can learn to enjoy your life. I now enjoy doing a lot of things. I spend time with my wife. I travel to see my family. I read. I write. I enjoy my camera. I listen to music with my Sony noise-cancelling headphones. I listen to Sirius/XM radio in my car.  I compose music on my synthesizer. I often share dinner out  with my wife and friends. And yes, I enjoy my job.  When I put it like that, I enjoy everything!

If I was willing to sit under a Bodhi tree for several days and contemplate my navel, I guess I could achieve perpetual bliss. For now I'm willing to forgo that and make do with enjoyment by sitting under my roof with my noise-cancelling headphones. Besides, if they had been available, I bet the Buddha would have tried them on.