Joy. 

Bliss.

Ecstasy.

What does it take to feel those.  They came naturally when I was younger, but not so much now.  Have I seen too much?  Done too much?  Am I jaded?

There are still some experiences guaranteed to bring it on. Bliss is found in the first warm day in the garden, muddy hands, muddy knees, crystalline blue skies, and the soft air of an Appalachian spring. 

Joy.  To be joyous may require a light heart.  Perhaps I have too many worries for joy.  But no, my grandson brought me joy.  Holding him, time stopped and it was just me and Julien.  Time stopped.  The moment.

And Ecstasy…the birth of my son.  Perhaps the only time of my life that I was truly ecstatic.  It’s a state of being that suffuses the whole body and the whole mind.  Nothing else in that moment but the sensation of unfettered happiness at the cellular level.  The moment stretching on and on.

But remember when something simple could provoke these states?  Perhaps they are side effects of youth – states of being easy to slide into before the world beat us down.

Am I beaten down?

Tom Robbins wrote Erleichda.  I don’t know if it’s a real word or if he made it up, but he said it means Lighten Up.

Lighten up.  Drop your worries, the baggage, the aggravations, the resentments, anticipation, disappointment, and all of those things that keeps us from the moment and wallow in the bliss. 

Eat a cupcake, a cookie, a Tootsie Roll….summon your inner child.  Revel in the sensations of the sugar high.  Get messy with it.  Big bites.  Smeared frosting.  Love in a paper wrapper.  It should be hard to not experience joy in such moments.  And ecstasy – seek ecstasy.

I’m convinced.  It’s because we’re not paying attention.

Slow down.  Slow way down.  Give those sensations room to flourish.  You can’t experience bliss, joy or ecstasy in a microsecond.  They require intense now.  A moment is as long as you can hold it. 

Hold them longer.  Breathe deep and let it happen.

Here.  This moment.  Now.