What Does It Mean to Create Bliss?
Bliss has a reputation problem. It sounds like something reserved for retreats, mountaintops and people with more time than you have. In practice it is far more ordinary, and far more available.
Learning how to create bliss is not about arranging perfect circumstances. It is about removing what blocks the natural ease that is already there. Most of us are not short of joy. We are carrying so much mental weight that none of it can reach us.
That distinction matters, because it changes the work. You are not chasing something external. You are clearing space.
Estimated reading time: 3 1/2 minutes
Bliss came to me spontaneously as an energetic experience 15 years ago, which changed my life forever. All I could feel was the divine perfection in myself and everything else. I felt totally alive with energy, joyful and complete, flowing effortlessly with life. Later I discovered I had experienced an awakening—what the yogis refer to as ‘Ananda,’ meaning limitless, full, and complete. This state is one of deep peace, beyond the instability that thoughts and emotions can create. Since then I share philosophies to help others create a blissful life.
We feel blissful when our energy system is open and expanded, flowing from our heart space connecting us to our natural state of love, kindness, and compassion. The more conscious we are of our inner world, the abler we are to make choices that allow us to experience bliss. Our inner world consists of thoughts; that create our feelings when unobserved can unconsciously drive our behaviour. However, when we learn to observe our thoughts and feelings, we can consciously choose our behaviour; responding to life in an empowered way.
No one consciously creates a life of pain and suffering, this type of life is created unconsciously. Developing awareness of our inner world makes it possible to consciously create a life that we love.
What Gets in the Way
If bliss feels a long way off, it is usually one of these, not a lack of effort.
- Constant low-grade rumination. A mind rehearsing yesterday and forecasting tomorrow has no room left for now.
- Treating rest as something you earn. Waiting until everything is finished means waiting forever.
- Comparison. Very little survives contact with someone else’s highlight reel, least of all contentment.
- Numbing rather than feeling. Scrolling, over-scheduling and background noise all dull the difficult feelings, and dull the good ones with them.
- Believing bliss is a personality type. It is a practice. People who seem to have it are usually doing something, not being something.
3 Steps to Bliss
- Have the courage to look at your inner world: Looking at our inner world can require courage (meaning heart, or innermost feelings) as we may find emotions, such as sadness, anger, and fear that we may prefer not to face.It may seem easier to deny them or push back down within (known as repression). We may even want to blame others for our feelings. Both these approaches keep us stuck in our pain, as holding onto emotions, blocks our energy system. When we push against things we create pain: all pain is resistance to what is.Observing and validating all our feelings with love (even the uncomfortable ones) allows emotions to flow through our energetic system and us to return to our natural loving state.
Consistently held negative thoughts create limiting beliefs which are responsible for uncomfortable feelings. While we are observing our feelings, we may become aware of the accompanying limiting beliefs as we make the shift from unconscious to conscious. This new awareness gives us the opportunity to create positive beliefs that support us in creating the life we desire.
- Find the stillness within: We find this when we go beyond the instability that thoughts and emotions can create. When our mind is still and calm, we are free of stress and worry.
There are lots of wonderful ways to train our mind to be free such as meditating, yoga, qi gong, gardening, sports, hobbies, being in nature, and doing things we love. Consciously deciding to calm your thoughts can, in fact, be done anytime, anywhere—even while walking or driving, for example. I call this, “meditation on the go!”When we are empty of restless thoughts and emotions, there is space for us to receive the wisdom of The Universal intelligence, allowing us to create a life far more magical than we could alone.
When we connect to this wise, loving energy, we can co-create our life consciously in a way that allows us to feel happy and blissful.To a mind that is still, the whole Universe surrenders. ~ Lao Tzu
- Connect to the love: Love is all around us all the time when we tap into it.
In fact, we are love. Love is our essential nature, a way of being, who we truly are. When we are still and calm, we connect to our natural loving state. This the home of our intuition (the universal intelligence speaking to us); our wise, loving voice that guides us safely on our path through life.
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- Using our gifts and talents to make the world a better place.
- Doing kind deeds for others.
- Unconditional kindness and compassion towards ourselves.
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Unconditional love is when we love others, and ourselves regardless of the things we find challenging, such as difficult emotions or behaviours. When we treat ourselves in an unconditionally loving way, this energy radiates from us and connects us to others.
Transcending the egoic state of selfish thinking and entering the blissful state of selfless being engaged us with life, in a loving way.
The more conscious we are, the more we can transcend unconscious patterns of behaviour, creating life from love rather than fear. This loving energy is the energy that creates worlds which are unlimited, full, and complete—allowing us to experience Bliss Every Day.
Discover more about feeling calm and resilient, here.
A Simple Daily Practice
You do not need an hour. Three or four minutes, done consistently, will do more than an occasional long session.
- Morning: before reaching for your phone, take six slow breaths and notice one thing you can hear.
- Midday: pause once and name what you are feeling, without trying to change it.
- Evening: name one specific thing from the day that was good. Specific, not general.
That is the whole practice. If you would like to go further, meditation deepens the same capacity, and our guide to mental clarity and a calm mind covers the mental side in detail. If bliss feels out of reach because life is genuinely heavy at the moment, our complete guide to wellbeing is a better place to begin.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you create bliss when life is difficult?
You do not manufacture it on top of hardship. You make small openings — a few conscious breaths, a moment of genuine rest — and let ease return in the gaps. Bliss and difficulty can coexist.
Is bliss the same as happiness?
No. Happiness responds to circumstances. Bliss is closer to an underlying openness that remains available whatever is happening around it.
How long before I notice a difference?
Most people feel something within two weeks of a consistent daily practice. The deeper shifts take longer and arrive quietly.
Do I need to meditate?
No, though it helps. Any practice that interrupts automatic thinking and returns you to the present will do the same work.
