Follow Your Bliss!!

I recently read a book, ‘The Money Is The Gravy’, whose theme reads the same as the title of this post.

A lot of people are working in places or industries where they reap rich rewards and have a lot of achievements in their careers, not to mention a lot of incentives such as free accommodation, a company car, paid leave and stuff like that. But most of them are unhappy.

If you look closely, they represent a picture of sadness, of anguish, and of a restless spirit that lurks deep within – a spirit that wants to do something different, something that would bring total bliss or happiness.

Let me give you an example: Two friends, Tom and Jim, worked together in a firm. Tom worked day and night, putting in long hours, doing the same job repeatedly. His reputation was respected and many promotions came his way. On the other hand, after a few years of working, Jim quit. He then joined a marketing agency, followed by a law firm and then a software company. In due time, he started his own firm and is now doing pretty well. Both Tom and Jim are in respectable positions now, but Jim has a lot of experience as compared to his friend. He knows how to impose marketing strategies, take care of legal matters and manage a firm. His rise in income was much slower than that of Tom’s but the valuable experience he’s gained with it will stand him good in life. Moral: Jim followed his bliss.

A lot of people who’re rich are not exactly happy. They have trouble doing simple stuff because they have too much to worry about. They’re a respectable lot, both in society and at their workplaces. But a sense of insecurity shrouds them.

This situation can be related with almost all students who’re faced with a task of choosing their future plans after high school. The more traditional of the lot will opt for a career in medicine or engineering. Most of the others follow their intellectual friends into unknown vistas. They may not be happy with what they’ve chosen and by the time they decide to quit, it would be too late. A lot of people decide to chart unexplored domains simply because they enjoy it. And at some point in their lives, they’d feel that they’d made the right decision. They followed their bliss.

Every person has a calling for a certain profession, which will lead to his or her finding bliss. Every person. Either you’re on the path to your calling, or you’ve already been called but you’ve been too busy doing other things. A calling is much like those that nuns have before they decide to serve the Lord. A calling is what leads you to find bliss.

‘I compose because I am made for that and cannot do otherwise’- a famous quote by Igor Stravinsky. Imagine if he’d been a kindergarten teacher or a businessman. It’s hard to think of him in those positions. It’s like asking why grass is green and some smart Alec answers saying that grass would look stupid if it were yellow, or purple, or pink or black - that’s why it’s green. And then he’d ask if you wanted to know why the sky was blue.

Many people argue that their careers give them bliss and happiness. A career is not a career if you look forward to going to work and being at your workplace. That is bliss. Imagine this scenario: Da Vinci gets up in the morning to the sound of chirping birds and takes a deep breath. Still lying in bed, he grumbles about having to prepare a canvas, get paints, mix them and then apply his talent. Minutes later, he shuffles despondently off to the bathroom and then gets ready for work. Doesn’t ring true, does it?
What we would have is: and then he stepped back from the canvas he’d been working on and took a deep breath. He was pleased with the way the piece of art had turned out, the paint mixing was impressive and the outcome was simply exhilarating. He placed the palette on the worktable, took off his paint-ridden shirt and headed off for a bath. A short while later, he returned, picked up an easel and inscribed on the painting: Mona Lisa.

People who follow their bliss are generally those who choose to remain unknown but are thrown into the limelight because of their work.

Perhaps the hardest of all things is to enjoy your work. With having to meet deadlines and create reports, a person’s life would be a monotonous exercise. To enjoy your career, you have to be in one where you have your priorities set right, and your workplace respects you.

A person following their bliss does not look for material rewards immediately; if at all.

A person may choose to be a tightrope walker or a florist; someone may even want to study paleontology - to you all that may sound like boiled cabbage. To them, it’s bliss.