Of Maintenance and Bliss

Life is mostly maintenance. It’s a hard truth and there’s no way around it.

Bills always need paying. Everything seems to always need washing. The laundry is never done. In fact, nothing is ever done. The furniture is dusty again the hour after I polish it. Bodies need constant feeding and washing. Hair and fingernails begin their regrowth the moment they are trimmed. Relationships are often a long string of issues that need to be worked out. I, as well as my car, often seem to be running on about a quarter tank.

Life sometimes seems like an endless round of waking, washing, eating, pooping, washing, working, eating, peeing, washing, running, washing, eating, peeing, washing, washing, washing, sleeping… and waking to begin again.

But every once in awhile the monotony of maintenance is broken by a flash of joy. The baby’s smile washes away the afternoon’s stress. The scent of honeysuckle gives a moment’s heady pleasure during a walk to the mailbox on a spring evening. A vivid sunset stops me in my tracks.

These small moments of bliss break the chains of perpetual busy-ness long enough to remind me of why I am really here. They are little shots of spiritual adrenalin that renew and sustain me through another hour, another day, another year.

It is a challenge to hang on to these fleeting moments. They are like slippery, silver fish glinting in the sun, eluding my grasp as I wade through the life’s ocean. Much more satisfying and sustaining is to simply fill my life with these ecstatic bursts of momentary bliss. To develop a habit of recognizing the extraordinary in the ordinary, of finding something sublime in the mundane. Then life takes on a new perspective of joy amidst the constant pulls of upkeep.

This is a chronicle of my search for the hidden treasures beneath the surface of things, the gems of truth buried beneath the trash heap of trivia that clutters daily life. It is a celebration of those meaningful moments that make life worth living. These are my Confessions of Bliss.
Come! Blog of bliss with me!