Gratitude and Bliss was born when I sat down and contemplated what truly changed my life for good: both permanently and positively. I view Gratitude as a practice or way of living life. And the heart of it is love. Bliss is the feeling of love from a life lived with - and from - gratitude. These came into play for me in 2019, when I was so stressed and burned out from pushing too hard as an entrepreneur that I sought professional help. Instead of a traditional mental health therapist, I found an acute trauma specialist who helps people in periods of extreme and unexpected natural disasters, like hurricanes or fires. Within two sessions she had educated me on how fear works in the brain, and that the opposite of fear is gratitude (also hope/faith). Whenever I felt fear, I was to think about something (or things) that I was grateful for. Then I needed to say it out loud, ideally looking at myself in the mirror to reinforce the sentiment. The third session introduced a practice of becoming aware of moments of bliss: when all felt good or right in my life. It could be the rays of the sun coming through trees or a family dinner with lots of laughter and peace. I was to allow myself to sit in those feeling for a while. I learned how to notice the effect on my breath, body sensations, mood, thoughts, etc.
The beautiful thing about both concepts is that they are freely available to all of us, whenever and however we need them. The hardest part is building the habits of living from gratitude and appreciating the moments of bliss. However, once they are integrated into daily life, they make even the most challenging circumstances far more manageable. And now I am often grateful for those tough times because there is a way to learn or grow from them. I also don't react as strongly or negatively as I used to when these moments of suffering occur. I accept them as part of the cycle of life and that in order to appreciate the "good" we must also experience the "bad". How we react to things is always a choice.