You know
that old saying… Ignorance is bliss? Never understood it. I mean theoretically
I get the concept, but it never made sense to me how people could really think this was bliss. The
dictionary defines bliss as “perfect happiness.” Maybe it is because my parents
have always put a strong emphasis on education, but I just cannot fathom how
perfect happiness could ever equate to being uninformed and/or misinformed. I
prefer my bliss to be deeply immersed in knowing.
Don’t get me
wrong, I’m not saying I know everything about anything. But what I’m trying to
get at is that bliss-to me, at least-can be found in the quest for knowledge.
And this knowledge is not limited to formal education. In fact, I believe that
some of the most blissful times are when you are searching for knowledge of
self rather than knowledge of scholars. To me, bliss is finding new adventures
to embark on, but also falling back in love with the familiar. Bliss is diving
head first into a new book and also reading one of your favorites so many times
that you can nearly recite the entire thing.
My Granny has
always told me growing up “Ya learn something new every day.” THIS is bliss.
Perfect happiness can be achieved by learning.
And you thought school was useless… ;)
But learning
isn’t the only way to bliss. Although it is true that it usually sparks some
blissful situations, learning is only half the battle. Appreciation is another
puzzle piece. After all, you can embark on a new adventure, but get so caught
up over planning and making sure you stay on schedule that you forget to do
what you went there to do… Enjoy it! Or you can delve into a new and exciting
novel, but have so much white noise occurring in your mind that you can’t even
concentrate enough to let it bring you happiness. With knowledge, there must be
an appreciation for that knowledge in order to be blissful.
So what’s
bliss to me? I’ll tell you. My husband and I had been wanting to check out this
place in our city that was on the show “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” on The
Food Network. The episode featured what looked like the best fish tacos we had
ever seen and we love trying new places… especially little hole-in-the-walls.
So one day when Delano was off and I was done with class, we finally went,
after months and months of talking about it. You would think we were
anticipating the best seats in the dining room of a five-star restaurant with
the Queen of England as our host, as excited as we were. It is almost
completely the opposite. It is a little shack on a busy street in Tampa.
Everything is to go, but they have tables and chairs set up outside if you want
to hang out. There is fake grass on the sidewalk in front of the window where
you order and an enthusiastic man hanging out of said window ready to help you
make your decision on which tasty treat you want from the menu. The décor is
old and worn, desperately in need of an update. There is an eclectic, but chill
mix-tape of music playing featuring the likes of Jimmy Buffet and Bob Marley.
The baby fell asleep on the way and since we were five feet away from the car,
we decided to let him sleep while we hung out and enjoyed our dinner. The fish
tacos were $3.49 a piece, but they were the most delicious ones that I’ve ever
had in my entire life. Fresh, local grouper fried to order, with fresh cabbage,
tomato, cheese, sour cream all on a tortilla that was still warm.
In my eyes, that moment in time was pure
bliss! It was me and my husband having a moment to ourselves, which since Kai
has been born have been few and far between. It was us exploring something new
together, savoring every single bite, hanging onto every word that the other
person was saying. It was a time for him to reminisce about his Jamaican roots
because our food had some similar flavors and the breeze was perfectly
Caribbean that day, all tied up with the tunes playing over the out-of-date
speaker system. It would seem to others to be such an ordinary moment. Isn’t it
funny how circumstances and perception can define one’s experience? Ordinary to
some, but absolute BLISS for us! It makes me wonder… are there other seemingly
ordinary moments that I could be finding more bliss in? What about you? What
are some of your most blissful moments? Do they stem from knowing,
appreciation, and presence too, or do you have a different experience? Have a
blissful week, everyone!
XX,
Kayleigh
