The Push and Pull of Life’s Beautiful Bliss
Last weekend, my wife and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary with a simple dinner at a small local place we love. The Bayside Restaurant is nestled in-between the shoreline and some of the most beautiful New England farmland you can imagine.
We enjoyed our quiet dinner of local food and tasty beer that’s made right up the road at a local brewery. We smiled and reflected on all that the past ten years has brought us. A slight breeze blew bringing the faint smells of the shoreline by. It was a wee bit chilly as the sun ducked in and out of the clouds on its way to the horizon.
After dinner, we skipped across the street and went for a walk at Allens Pond, a small, beautiful nature preserve maintained by the Massachusetts Audubon Society. The trail looped through the marsh area, across the rocky shoreline and back through the wild grasses that are home to amazing array of birds.
As we walked, I turned back to the west and witnessed one of the most beautiful sunsets ever. (I only had my cell phone with me so the picture doesn’t do the scene justice.) The brilliance of the light, intermingled with the cloud cover was mesmerizing. The back-lit tree line helped create sparkle.
Off my shoulder a crane was circling around riding the breeze. As it angled up and down the sun’s rays hit its spread wings, flashing a blinding white light. Behind me, waves crashed along the shore.
I stood there for a long time. Or maybe it just seemed that way. Time was lost. My immediate thought was simple: Everything I could ever need is right here.
I often get lost in the simple and profound beauty of sunsets. Sounds cheeky, but it’s true. Sky, sun, clouds, earth. A bridge to the cosmos; to that which is so much greater than you or I.
But here in the moment of this sunset, rambling along the well-worn path with the most beautiful person in my life, I was overcome with a deep sense of peace. Of contentment. Of gratitude. Of not wanting anything more.
Looking skyward I felt my spirit being pushed up and out. Looking in the other direction towards the ocean I felt my body being pulled down in a grounding way. In-between was the moment — the perfect yet changing moment. It was a complex yet comforting feeling.
We finished our walk as twilight took over and the last bits of sunlight kept the day alive. This was perfection. I could not have asked for another way to celebrate the life and love that my wife and I have shared.
The take-away from all this?
Find your peace and contentment in that which is already here right in front of you. Dwell in Love’s moment. Seek the simple and immaterial pleasures in life. Don’t over-complicate and over-extend. Celebrate and feed the spirit. Practice mindful consumption in all that you do. Be a caretaker of this precious and fragile world. Live deeply, deliberately and with amazing intent each and every day.
Be well,
Bill
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Hi Bill
Now it’s my turn to need one of your posts. What a beautiful experience you had, sounds so magical, spiritual but earthly. i feel so happy for you that you had this.
I’m taking a trip down to a nice green town soon… I plan to spend a lot of time wandering as such… letting the Earth and the Sky clean me up a bit.
Do you subscribe to the idea of the earth as a being? I’m not sure but sometimes there is this feeling of being loved from somewhere. At moments of exquisite natural beauty I’ve also had completely unexpected and uncalled for moments where I couldn’t understand how any human being including myself could ever feel anything but happy.
Thanks for the beautiful post, Bill. Moments like this are profound, magical, and precious. Like a first kiss … There was a before, and then there was an after.
Very happy anniversary to you both!
Take special good care,
Jane
Thanks, Ali. The moment was just too special not to share.
To answer your question, I do believe in the Earth as a being. Both as a singular entity and a collective entity made up of all other beings that call it home. For me, it really boils down to the concept of inter-being or the deep interconnectedness of all living things — both here on Earth and within the Universe. At the elemental level, we’re all made up of the same bits and pieces. These things came from the cosmos and will return to the cosmos at some point. When something “dies” it really does not die, it just changes form. The simple act of composting is a relevant example of this. We are all a continuation of everything that has and will ever be.
Opening ourselves to this deep connection with what ever you call it — Life, Love, the Divine, the One, Energy, Gaia, Universal Consciousness, etc. — is so critical to making the deep changes that so many long for. When we do this, we no longer see our supposed differences, we see our simple and profound commonality. We are Life; that tree outside your window is Life; that river is Life; that person who believes something different that you is Life; the sun, moon and stars are Life.
I think we are all naturally “enlightened” in this way. We have just lost sight of it amidst the backdrop of modern society and culture and all that comes along with it. Re-awakening to it is so simple. It doesn’t require money or power or material wealth. It just requires us to step back, challenge the “norms” of society a bit and open up the beauty that such a change in perspective can bring. Go for a walk outside; help a “stranger”; plant a garden; curb the desire that mindless consumption fosters.
Sorry. This was probably more than you were looking for as an answer. But it’s so important to me; I want to yell it from the mountaintops. Dwell in that happiness, Ali. It’s all you really need.
Thanks so much, Jane. I do remember that first kiss. It still has the spark. Be well!
Thanks Bill. No, that’s just about right – not more than I hoped for.
As our bodies are made of stuff from earth, we feel that physical love from being harmoniously connected… if our minds allow it. For that, we need a love for earth.
And there must be times when we can all connect with the Spirit at different levels too…
I think both are getting easier as humanity is humbled and becomes open to change. I challenge myself to get out of my headspace and into reality for as much time as I possibly can. It’s not easy in the life I’ve created for myself, and I sometimes pray for more love in my heart.
Bill,
In the busy-ness of life reading this post brought me back to my Self. I noticed my breath slowing down as I read and then, felt it catch in my throat as I read “Dwell in Love’s Moment”.
Like Ali said, I find myself too often caught up in my headspace. Day by day, moment by moment, I’m making small shifts to more consistently feed my spirit.
Thanks for such a beautiful reminder.
Hi Bill,
Beautiful post. It got me all misty by reminding me some of my own magical moments and profound connections. And it seems that so many of them occurred in those quiet, reflective moments when I was outdoors and one with nature, or with someone that I love. Thanks for helping me to reconnect with some precious memories.
And I will carry this forward as well, I am celebrating my 35th anniversary in a few weeks! I will be still and let the experience and the love wash over me.
Anne // Thanks for stopping by and sharing. WOW! 35 years. That is just wonderful! Congrats!! Any words of wisdom to pass along?
Hi Sandi // Thanks so much for stopping through. Isn’t it weird how so many times we all tend to forget to nourish that deepest part of ourselves — that part that (unknowingly?) drives so much of who we are and what we do? I do it all the time. But just when I seem to need it most, it almost happens by itself — like that “feeding” moment comes and finds me on its own. I don’t question it; rather, just let it do its thing… Be well!
“Celebrate and feed the spirit.” – I love that! Reading this post was blissful in and of itself. So beautifully written and inspiring Bill. I am happy for your happiness. May it be never ending!
Thanks, Sandra. Have no plans for quitting any time soon.
Hi Bill. Such a pleasure to visit your blog and share this post. Sometimes you hear on the ether of this world a steady moan that says life is hard and then you die and… that’s about it.
There is a need, isn’t there, for that tribe which no matter what may occur upholds and affirms in the simplest of ways the true goodness that is always present to be expressed by us and shared by us in the moment. Ultimately, the guarantee of that goodness it seems to me is the simple proposition that at the core of our being is something beautiful and true that no external event can undermine.
You evoked your anniversary experience so accurately and sensitively that it is a joy indeed to share it. Thanks.
Hi Christopher // Thanks so much for stopping by and taking time to comment. It is indeed that “tribe” that I believe is forming all across the globe. Pockets here and pockets there; people brought together by a variety of ways, finding solace in each other and that message of change that seems to bind us together. It’s beautiful.
I have enjoyed reading through your blog, The Happy Seeker. So glad I came upon it. I look forward to more conversations. Be well.