Following Your Bliss
It was the great Mythologist, Joseph Campbell who made the saying “follow your bliss” popular. He talked about the life we live when we align with our own soul’s calling and follow our deeper intuition. When we “tune in” and follow our “IGS” or Internal Guidance System, we live a much more authentic life and the rewards are much richer.
However, sometimes when we “follow our bliss,” we go against the grain of mainstream and find ourselves a bit of an outcast in society. Instead of doing what we “should” we do what we “feel.” We don’t conform to the norm. We live a life true to ourselves and that brings “stuff” up for people.
Mainstream society is built of boxes and the majority do what is necessary to “fit into” those boxes. When you break out of the box and live true to yourself, the people who are trapped inside those boxes can easily find fault with you, because “why should you be free?”
Relationships can be the biggest box of all. We have these ideas of what a relationship should look like, how we should act, and what hoops we need to jump through to keep the status quo. Relationships can be our greatest mirrors, showing us where we need to grow and expand, or they can be our greatest prisons, keeping us trapped in a paradigm that stifles the spirit.
When our spirit is stifled, our life force energy is trapped and we are anything but free. The trick is to learn how to be in relationships where we can be our “authentic selves” and be embraced for who we are, rather then what someone else thinks we should be, or even who we think we should be.
I am writing my “Flying Solo” blog as an answer to my own spirits calling. For decades I’ve had people ask me “Kaleah, you seem to always follow your bliss. How do you do it?” The short answer is; I can’t “not” follow the call of my spirit. It has never worked for me. I have trapped myself many times in my life and I was always unsatisfied with the places I found myself. Breaking out of the box became a lifestyle for me. Whenever I find myself in a box, I find a way to break free. Sometimes it can be a bit lonely, but when we foster that relationship with SELF and with the Divine, it moves in and takes up those empty spaces.
We so often use relationships and addictions to fill those empty spaces, instead of truly fostering a deeper relationship with self/spirit. I’ve had to face many of my own addictions and distractions on the road of life. I’ve confronted addictions to food, substances, Internet and unhealthy relationships. Now I embrace a super clean, healthy, vegan lifestyle.
Following your bliss will take you to a healthier way of living, because it is difficult to be truly healthy and happy when we are bogged down by unhealthy habits and toxic relationships. When we listen to our “Inner Guidance System,” we know what we need to do and if we truly want to be healthy and happy in our lives, we answer the call.
It takes great courage and strength to “follow your bliss” but it is well worth the effort. One must truly face his/her greatest fears and put one’s faith in a power so much greater then our small selves. We, of our own small self, can do very little, but when we listen and follow the voice of the spirit within, we can move mountains.