Follow Your Bliss

Joseph Campbell once said,

"I don't believe that people are looking for the meaning of life, as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive."

As I've reflected on that quote, and looked back on my own life, I've come to realize just how true that statement is. 

Let me start with a story that comes from a documentary I'd seen recently:

Many, many years ago, there was a small village with a statue of a golden Buddha next to a monastery. There had been news that an army from a neighboring city was about to invade. So, the monks decided to cover the golden Buddha statue with mud and twigs so that the army would perceive no value in it. Sure enough, the army rolls through, see's the stone Buddha, and because it was just stone, they did not need to plunder the statue. Years went by until there was a time, in that village, where nobody remembered that the statue was actually gold that had been concealed. Until one day, a young monk was kneeling, meditating next to the stone Buddha and noticed that a piece of the stone had chipped off, and there was shimmering gold underneath the stone.  

He ran to his fellow monks yelling, "The Buddha's gold! the Buddha's gold!" They followed him to the Buddha, took their picks and hacked off all of the stone, revealing the golden statue in all of its glory. 

The reason I tell you this story is because it's a metaphor that each an every one of us is golden by nature. We're born golden, we're born high, we're born connected to our "bliss". Eventually we develop a casing of stone over our Buddha's. We grow up, we're told that this is how we should act, this is what we should study, this is how we should look, this is what you need to do to make a lot of money, etc. We eventually believe that we're really the stone Buddha, and not the golden one. 

Until one day, something comes along that cracks our casing. Whether that be a divorce, financial setback, a physical injury, something that really scares us and bugs us, and it knocks off a piece of our stone armor and reveals the gold underneath. Only then, when that piece of concrete get's chipped off, and you see that gold, you will never be satisfied with the stone again. At that point, you'll enter the true hero's adventure, and all you want to do for the rest of your life is pick away the stone...

The gold is so much more fun!

All of that being said...

A little bit of an intro: My name is Whitney White, and I'm a hard-working, easy-going, patience-lacking individual who lives in Atlanta, Georgia. I have two dog-children, and a loving boyfriend. I love my little family! I'm new to GA, as I am from UT. It's been an incredible transition.

I keep telling myself that there's more to my life than what I'm doing now. I have a huge urge to serve others, help others through their journeys, like I have been helped on so many occasions. I have often realized that my golden nature, or my golden Buddha, has been covered up with a concrete armor. And sure enough, like that story, bits will get chipped off, and I will find the gold. In this blog, I will talk about those events that have been helping to chip away at that thick armor that's been created, and my road to following my bliss.

Jason and I

What does "follow your bliss" mean? It means that you should do the things in life that you were born to do. Follow your dreams, listen to your inner self. Joseph Campbell coined the term "Follow your bliss", as he believes that everyone embarks on their own "hero's journey" and that we all have a path that we need to follow.

Well, this blog is a start to my bliss.

... I want to serve others and enrich lives.

-Whitney