For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to doGREAT THINGS.
Because of that, I have had a lifelong passion for the study of personal transformation. For decades now, I have practiced a daily program of personal discipline and loving service.
And yet, when it came to implementing my own Big Dream,I was a complete failure.I would start working toward my dream. Something would happen and I would stop for a while, promising myself to get back to it.
If you are reading this post, you are probably a lot like me — a seeker.
You are deeply committed to personal growth and desire to understand yourself and others better. You want to learn how to live a joyful, fulfilled, and purposeful life.
And maybe, like me, you’ve tried it all over the years.
You’ve read hundreds of self-help books, taken courses, explored metaphysical or alternative options, practiced the “law of attraction,” and followed the guaranteed-for-success formula of the newest self-help guru du jour.
I’m not putting this down at all — we need to explore, experiment, and separate the personal growth wheat from the chaff.
We each must experience our own journey of self-discovery to discern what is truly life-changing and what is merely fluff and magical thinking.
Your true inner growth and development as a person occurs whether or not you actively seek it. Life often forces it upon us.
But by being intentional about growing and life-long learning, you’ll reach your potential much more quickly — and without as much strife.
Personal growth involves a wide array of actions and internal changes, including:
Ever since I received myKindlelast year for Mother’s Day, I’ve doubled the number of books I read.
I never, ever thought I would find reading on a Kindle more enjoyable than holding a real book, but (gasp) I’m finding it to be true. It’s easier to hold, the type is easier to read, and I can access new books so quickly. I have been won over.
I feel a little guilty about it. Like I’m betraying books and the art of bookmaking and my life-long love affair with books. But it is what it is.
“Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go.” ~Hermann Hesse
Over the past few months, something bad has been happening here atLive Bold and Bloom.
Some kind of virus infected my site. (Don’t worry. All is well now.) A message in Portuguese would pop up when you’d click on a post directing you to a nasty download, and it wouldn’t allow you to read the post or navigate away.
It was just annoying at first, as it happened occasionally and required a quick fix from my tech support person. But then it started happening more and more regularly.
“Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears.” ~Edgar Allen Poe
As long as I can remember, myhyper-sensitivityhas been a running theme in my life.
When I was a child, I could easily pick up on the subtle undercurrents going on in my house. When the mood shifted from normal to tense, I was quick to notice it and quick to try to set things right. My mom called me “the little peacemaker.”
“A healthy democracy requires a decent society; it requires that we are honorable, generous, tolerant and respectful.” ~Charles W. Pickering
The other day I was talking politics with my friend.
We agree on most political things, but even so, I could feel myself getting agitated. Talking politics is like sitting in traffic. Nothing terrible is happening, but it brings out the worst in people.
During the conversation, she said something that should be obvious, but it was an “ah-ha” moment for me.
The word “bliss” is such a soothing word.
It feels both soothing and joyful, like a soak in a warm tub.
I think it’s an onomatopoeia — the sound of the word echos its meaning.
The dictionary defines it as “supreme happiness; utter joy and contentment.” There is also a spiritual meaning to the word. To reach spiritual bliss would be dwelling in paradise or attaining nirvana — a place free from pain, worry, and suffering.
Is it possible to attain spiritual bliss right now?
Can you live a life of supreme contentment, free from suffering?
也许这是不可能的体验,在电动汽车ery moment of every day. But I think it is quite possible to configure your life in such a way that you can be on the path to spiritual bliss.
And while you are on the path, you can encounter ever-expanding pools of bliss as you learn what constitutes a life of joy and contentment, free from worry and suffering.