| Meditating in August by Lynn Woodland Meditation conjures images of daily practices and spiritual disciplines but, personally, I have never been very disciplined and have trouble keeping to any kind of daily practice beyond eating, sleeping, bathing and the various other necessities of being a functional human. Rather than following a particular discipline of spiritual practice, I've taken to letting the seasons inspire my spiritual work. It keeps an organic rhythm to my inner life that is ever-changing, always interesting and gives me a sense of connection to a greater mystery through the macrocosm of nature. The cycle of spiritual work inspired by the long summer days of August is one of my favorites. It's when I give attention to the spiritual state of Bliss. Why bliss? A heat-phobic friend of mine found the connection between August and "bliss" to be particularly incomprehensible. But there is one -- really. To explain how I get to bliss in August, I have to go all the way back to winter. Winter, the time of greatest darkness and dormancy, provides the perfect opportunity to hibernate, take stock of our lives (as can be seen in the wide spread ritual of New Year's resolutions) and to dream. It's a better time to reflect than to act. It's the time of year we pour through seed catalogues and imagine the gardens of summer but planting time is still far away. Spring is the time for action and it's in this season, from the spring equinox through early summer, that I lead the most workshops on manifesting -- the art of using focused attention to speed growth toward goals and specific outcomes. Spring into summer is the perfect time for planting seeds, literally and metaphorically, and taking advantage of the rapid growth that comes at this time of greatest light. If winter is when we dream our gardens, and spring is when we work the soil and plant, summer, especially later in the season, is the prime time for enjoying our gardens. Flowers are blooming and vegetables are ready to pick. It's the time of year we kick back, have cook outs, take vacations and reward ourselves for past efforts. It's when it's hard to reach anyone in their office because so many of us are at the beach or the lake. Watch a Country Time Lemonade commercial some time. These ads campaigns have, for years, taken advantage of this natural understanding we all have of the connection between late summer and the experience of bliss. The state of bliss is all about being rather than doing. It's not about resting or dreaming or dormancy, as in winter. It's not even about inactivity. "Being" in winter may look like a comfortable sit by the fire while "being" in August is more apt to be a brisk hike in nature. Bliss is all about pleasure, receiving and peak experience. It's different from passion, which is an emotional state that can powerfully move us toward something. Bliss strives toward nothing because it is already there. And here lies the challenge of bliss. In our culture of fast-paced achievement, bliss doesn't get much of our attention. Maybe the artificially induced kind: alcohol, food, sex, to name just a few. But true bliss isn't created by external circumstances and can't be supplied by them. We can be on the perfect vacation, or in the presence of great beauty, or experiencing a wonderful meal or sex with the right person and not be in a state of bliss. Bliss requires that we open, relax, be inwardly still, and let go of control. In a goal-oriented society, bliss doesn't seem powerful, or even essential. It doesn't seem to fit in except as a time out from the important work of life. However, there's more and more evidence coming from medical and scientific research demonstrating the tremendous power consciousness has, in and of itself, to heal and to affect, not just our attitude, but the physical world as well. As we're willing to recognize the connection between our state of being and our life experience, we begin to see how powerfully moments of bliss transform us. They heal our physical bodies, open our minds to new realizations, even enhance our ability to attract fortunate, synchronistic coincidences that look like luck yet are really the result of a highly creative state of being. Paradoxically, the state of bliss, with all its lack of goal orientation, can propel us toward our goals with startling speed. You wouldn't think bliss would need selling -- it's blissful, right? But while few of us are consciously shunning bliss, few are willing to do what it takes to have it. So what does bliss require (and why would we resist it)? For one thing, bliss tends to be a choice we make when life is already OK. Choosing bliss isn't about surviving, or even thriving. It's not about having enough or having an abundance, and it's not the relief that comes when pain ends. When we're in survival mode, we care more about the crisis at hand than about bliss. Most of us are highly motivated to move from "crisis" to "OK" but the step from OK to bliss is much harder. We may have worked so hard to get to OK we feel out of steam. Where we are is "OK." Why mess with it? Bliss isn't necessary. Sadly, this is a bit like climbing almost all the way to the top of Mt Everest and stopping when the hardest part is behind us and what lies ahead is the peak. Bliss requires that we not settle for "OK." In fact, if we aim for bliss instead of OK, if we're willing to disconnect from the linear, tunnel vision that crisis can trigger, choosing bliss in times of pain and scarcity can reveal the most direct path out of crisis -- and with less struggle than the torturous path to OK. Another reason we may unconsciously avoid bliss is because it can feel as out of control as crisis. And in many ways it is. From a spiritual perspective crisis can be seen as what happens when the choices we've made from our ego-based control become so out of alignment with our highest good that a shake-up is needed to loosen the ego's grip on our life. Similarly, bliss happens when we surrender ego's death-grip control to allow something higher, wiser and unfathomable to the ego to flow through us. From the ego's perspective -- that part of us that believes we are separate, limited, and running our own show -- this can feel as terrifying as death. Letting go of things we believe we "should" be doing can be a terrifying move, yet a crucial one to the cultivation of bliss. Bliss needs space to grow. Finally, bliss requires us to receive, not just from other people, but from life itself. We can create, achieve and manifest but if we aren't very good at receiving, we'll miss the joy and pleasure of our efforts. As an August meditation on bliss, consider letting go of your spiritual disciplines and practices (and notice if there is any fear this letting go of control triggers). This month, let your spiritual commitment be to become conscious of pleasure and joy. Next time you're walking, biking, gardening or doing whatever you do in your outdoor time (and if you don't spend much time outdoors, consider it), consciously relax your inner dialogue and just give yourself entirely to the sensations of temperature, breeze, smells, colors. Breathe deeply and let yourself fully experience the pleasure of breath and the movement of your body. If your mind needs to chew on something, simply repeat over and over a phase of peace such as, "I am completely content" or, "I am at peace" or, "All is well in my world" or, "Thank you, God/Creator/Spirit." It's hard not to relax and let go at least a little while repeating any of these phrases over and over. If you've been too busy to stop and smell the flowers, stop and smell the flowers! It's Minnesota -- they won't be around long! And it's not just about the flowers. Making time to pause and enjoy may very well help you recognize other quality of life experiences you've been missing in your quest for quantity of life. This August, don't let bliss pass you by! Lynn Woodland is a Ministerial Guide at Lake Harriet Spiritual Community in Minneapolis, Minn. This month she'll lead a special summer session of her 5-day POWER! Intensive on the theme of "Bliss." Visit www.lynnwoodland.com. Copyright © 2004 Lynn Woodland |
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Aug 2004 |
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