Gypsies, Tramps, and Bliss – Moxie On Monday

“Bliss isn’t a destination. Bliss is a state of mind.” – Catherine Grace O’Connell

When I was a young girl, I would pack my little bag and carefully plan my escape.

I would succeed in running away from home many times. Of course, I never got very far, always returning home, albeit sheepishly and reluctantly, as reality would soon set in and I would understand that I had nowhere else to go.

As a married woman, I simply endured. I didn’t have the heart to leave as I stayed to protect my children. My ex husband used to delight in calling me a “Gypsy,” clearly meant to wound in a derogatory way. Little did he know, I used to secretly delight in the thought of being a Gypsy!

I suppose I’ve always been a runaway at heart – a bit of a Gypsy vagabond with a rebellious spirit and a soul teeming with wanderlust.

Over five decades have come and gone and that rebellious spirit and gypsy soul remain very much alive.

I often feel the tug of the Universe calling to honor the free spirit inside of me.

Also alive is the continuing urge to run away, the intense desire to escape to a faraway land – a magical place where bliss is the order of the day.

The desire to run away has only intensified during quarantine – a prolonged quarantine with no end in sight.

I’ll admit I’ve packed my bags a few times, but just like my younger self, I’m finding I have nowhere else to go.

You may be feeling a bit like me – trapped, wanting to escape the confinement of quarantine and social distancing or to run away from the political madness and polarizing environment we find ourselves in today.

11 years ago, I finally did run … across the country, escaping a brutal marriage, on a personal vision quest – to LaLa land in search of a new life while hoping to leave behind the pain of the old one.

It wasn’t an immediate panacea. My “Bliss” didn’t dance into my life wearing bells and whistles.

It took me awhile to understand that “wherever you go, there you are” as the very wise Jon Kabat Zinn taught us.

We may be able to escape our environment. However, escaping ourselves remains far more elusive. Heck, even Houdini couldn’t escape himself!

So, if we can’t escape, what can we do?

Unplug.

Unplug from what? – you may be wondering.

Unplug from the collective.

Bliss – or internal peace and harmony – will never be found in the collective.

Bliss … is found from within.

We are individuals living in a colossal, energetic cosmic soup. Amped up emotions like anger, fear, righteousness and hatred are the main ingredients in our current batch of cosmic soup that’s perpetually changing. Many of those are socially justified yet still deeply disturbing. The more empathic or sensitive you are, the more you’re drinking the cosmic soup – ingesting all that frenetic, chaotic energy – energy and emotion that’s been swirling out there is now, swirling inside of you!

To find bliss, we don’t need to travel to a faraway magical land. All we need to do is to find that space inside of us.

Bliss isn’t a destination – it isn’t out there. It isn’t somewhere in the future.

Bliss exists right here, right now.

Bliss exists inside of you.

It’s virtually impossible to find our bliss – a peaceful state of mind, if we’re too busy being buffeted about by the external world and crazy cosmic chaos of current events.

The best way to find it is to intentionally unplug from the collective – to create a bubble, an energetic  bubble, a bliss bubble – inside of you and around you.

The ultimate irony? When I’m in my Bliss Bubble, my desire to escape “escapes me.”

You feel the madness right now. I feel it too.

How would you like to join me on my “escape?”

I am taking the month of August off to unplug and to spend time in my Bliss Bubble – 30 days to recharge, 30 days to escape from “without” to “within.”

I’ll be back. Perhaps, a new me will surface. Perhaps, the same me only far more refreshed and rejuvenated.

One thing that hasn’t changed … my inner Gypsy will continue to tug at my heartstrings nudging me to travel to somewhere beautiful and peaceful to revel in nature and in Self – when it’s safe, Beauties, you can count on that!

Cheers Beauties! In the meantime, here’s to unplugging and spending some time in our Bliss Bubbles.

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