This Creative Connection comes by way of the crazily talented photographer, Chris Sneddon. Chris is one of the many wonderful photographers who posts her work regularly on Shutter Sisters, a fantastic community that brings together women photographers. There are many things I love about this photograph: the colors, the scrolly design on the tile, the way it fill the frame. But what resonates most strongly for me, and probably for most who happen upon this image, is its simple, but powerful, message: YOU create your own bliss, joy, happiness, positive state of being. I think this is worth pausing over because we often look to other experiences or standards to define the parameters of our happiness. There is the pervasive sense in our current culture that bliss, joy, happiness, or pleasure comes in capital letters, with a jaw dropping price tag, and only truly validated if you and your 800 Facebook friends “like” it.
Bliss comes in all shapes and sizes, but most importantly, it comes, as Sneddon’s photo illustrates, held gently, lovingly in our own two hands. Sometimes bliss spills over those hands, sometimes a room is not enough to contain bliss, and at other times bliss can be found in the nooks and crannies, too small to see. Bliss is where your heart meets a sense of perfect harmony and its positive, generative effects are immeasurable. That is why it is important for people, especially those devoting themselves to caring for others, to recognize, embrace, and make an effort to cultivate those blissful moments. The imperative to “create your bliss” is not just a helpful slogan or a lovely thought; it’s a call to be the architect of your joy. Just thinking about it in those terms gives me a sense of bliss, how about you?
