Today I’ll talk about bliss and how to find it. My wife, Darlene and I were reminiscing last night. We were talking all about our amazing trip to Colombia we enjoyed back in 2017. There were so many vivid memories about people we met, things we did, and places we went. It was blissful thinking about those incredible memories. Then today, we did it again with our son, Ben. He was about to turn 17 at the time, and it was interesting to hear his version of the same memories. One of the things we did was climb to the top of the La Piedra.La Piedra is listed in an article called The 10 Most Stunning Staircases in the World. The La Piedra Del Peñol in Colombia is a monolithic formation located at the town of Guatapé in Antioquia, rising from the bottom of the hydroelectric dam of Peñol-Guatapé. Also known as the El Peñol Stone, or simply as La Piedra, the huge and heavy stone, made of quartz, feldspar and mica, has some rock breaks, used for constructing 650 stairs that lead to the top. A viewing spot on top of the rock, which offers the view of the surrounding area, can be reached by climbing 740 steps. We laughed and reminisced about our many memories and it felt so blissful to be sharing these memories. Listen & Subscribe on: iTunes / Stitcher / Podbean / Overcast / Spotify Discover Bliss I think bliss is fleeting and comes at unexpected times and sometimes in places you’d never expect. The dictionary defines bliss as “perfect happiness”. Great joy. Typically to be oblivious of everything else. Here are some ways I believe you can achieve bliss in your life. 1/ Celebrate & Be Grateful Last night our son, Ben, finished a lab report he’d been working on. Darlene and I asked him to tell us when he was finished and when he did, we cheered, had a group hug and just talked about how great it was that he was finished and had this work handed in. He looked a little puzzled, and said, it’s only a lab I’ve handed in. I said, yeah, but it’s one more thing checked off on your journey to earn a physics degree. I think it’s important to celebrate the small things on the journey. He smiled and we had one more group, family hug.Bliss is spending time with family that you relate to and you can celebrate with. Bliss is reaching a point where you don’t feel judged by others and you don’t judge them. In other words, I feel like learning to be non-judgmental is not only an important aspect of mindfulness, I think it’s important in life because becoming less judgmental ultimately has made me a happier and a more blissful person. This is monumental aspect of bliss and happiness in general. 2/ Quiet Time Bliss is making sure your life includes quiet time. Some will call it meditation and some will call it prayer. It might be the solitude you find when you run, swim, or walk. Quiet time can be a daily time spent in nature or just in a quiet space with some incense, essential oils, or a candle. Without quiet time, your life becomes chaotic, hectic, and you lose your sense of being grounded and centered. A lot of lives have become harried and dramatic. For me, losing the drama and making sure I have quiet time every single day is a big part of finding bliss. 3/ Quality Company To make sure my life is blissful, I find it’s important to choose the people I spend time with very carefully. I notice how I feel when they’re around. I notice what they say and how they react to what I say. If we have similar goals and ideals, that is important to me. I also love being around people who have loftier goals, who think bigger than I do and who raise me up. Some of my most blissful moments have been around people that fit this description. 4/ Be Active One of the ways I find bliss is by making sure I am active every day. I take a one hour run every morning. For the last three months or so, I’ve been running 6.6 kilometers or 4 miles. It feels good to be outside, no matter what the weather. I love the cold, frosty mornings, but I’ve learned to apprec