It seems to me that bliss is a state of peace where self-worth and love are like a protective force-shield around your soul, preventing the mistakes of the past from getting in and corrupting the moment.

Take yourself into memory lane and remember a time when you were in bliss – recall it and how good you felt about yourself and the world around you. It may have been a moment of exhilaration looking over the side of El Capitain into the beauty of the Yosemite valley. Or hanging five, riding a 15 foot wave on the southern beaches of Australia. Or looking over the Niagara Falls… (I took this picture using landscape mode on my new Nexus!) In these moments the nature of existance is now, and the past and future recede, taking guilt with it.  But if you can be in the current moment – especially in the act of giving rather than looking for someone to give to you, peace and contentment are usually present.

Guilt requires going back to the deed(s) that your ego convinces you are reasons for justified pain and punishment.   I have observed the effects of social imprinting on an individual, and typically we all have a lot of negative observations about who we are, and how we are doing, lying like a steel girder across our chest, preventing us from getting up and walking free.

As Jenny Lawson, also known as The Bloggess, said recently: “I have a hard time convincing myself I’m worthy of being happy.  There’s something about being happy that seems somewhat lazy to me.  Like I must be ignoring something terrible if I’m actually happy.  It’s something I’m working on.  Happiness shouldn’t be associated with guilt.”

Guilt manifests in many ways. It comes as anxiety, that we will somehow stuff up our lives, or have already. It masquerades as “conscience” which is a pity, because conscience is meant to help us change, not sit in the stew of our past and rot. Guilt also removes our confidence that we are loved, and loveable. None of these effects are useful, and all are barriers to being happy.

The question is, “How do you get happiness without guilt?”. Perhaps it is being present to the beauty around you, finding time to enjoy nature, a special kiss with a lover, being caught up in a song of joy – or just meditating on love’s gift to us of life. Last weekend i had the pleasure of going to the glorious Niagara Falls with my dear daughter. That was happiness in the moment.

You are loveable, and loved. Look for the space where you can accept that truth.

Usually it will be in the presence of nature and peace.