Bliss eludes many because they have not discovered what backup singers know.
The 2013 documentary, 20 Feet from Stardom, tracks why backup singers are happier than ones in the spotlight.
At first, one may believe these folks didn’t “make it” even though their talent is amazing. That, somehow, work in the background is less than work in the limelight.
But, these marvelous singers show how “enough” is the liberating key for true bliss.
Eternal bliss is harmony with enough
Watching 20 Feet from Stardom reminds me why many folks are not happy.
They believe that singing lead is more notable than singing harmony.
But, passing on the limelight may be the shortest route to happiness.
After all, work should portray our real interests, our real personality and our real passions.
When it does we are happier than a weasel.
“The thing is to stalk your calling in a certain skilled and supple way, to locate the most tender and live spot and plug into that pulse . . . a weasel lives as he’s meant to, yielding at every moment to the perfect freedom of single necessity. I think it would be well, and proper, and obedient, and pure, to grasp your one necessity and not let it go, to dangle from it limp wherever it takes you. Then, even death, where you’re going no matter how you live, cannot you part. Seize it and let it seize you up aloft even, till your eyes burn out and drop; let your murky flesh fall off in shreds, and let your very bones unhinge and scatter, loosened over fields, over fields and woods, lightly, thoughtless, from any height at all, from as high as eagles.” Annie Dillard, “Living Like Weasels,” in Teaching a Stone to Talk
Weasels enjoy a stable life environment nurturing their families in preexisting holes.
They take what’s available and turn it into pure bliss while meeting their needs.
Fertilize the soil around you
Good dirt is not easy. It must be plowed, weeded, fertilized and watered appropriately each season.
Is my work contributing to the growth of everyone around me? Am I taking care to fertilize my mind, spirit and body so that my work is fruitful? And when I return to dirt will my memorial be satisfied clients, a loving family and a better community? Steve Blaising
Satisfaction in your work happens when you “. . . nourish the life of significant soil.” T. S. Elliot
Dirt isn’t isolated. It mixes with the broader landscape and either nourishes or chokes other plants and trees in the garden. In other words, our work in this world is not alone. It’s shared whether it’s good or bad. Productive or destructive.
Back-up singers, like weasels, are some of the happiest people because they are happy with enough.
Nonlinear bliss
Lots of folks follow a mapping strategy thinking that a projected chart of steps into the future is the way to great bliss.
Companies like Qooper offer mentoring and software to chart your course.
But, the direction for many isn’t an orderly step by step up the ladder. It’s more like a snake sliding and angling with twists and turns. I run into folks all the time who are stressed about their career or their life because it’s not developing as they expected.
They don’t see “forward progress.”
After 35 years in the financial planning field watching the lives of clients and their children, I believe patience inside the messy journey pays off when folks see trials as turns in the road.
Turns are not the finish line.
Isn’t enough and simplicity the highest bliss?
“Isn’t enough and simplicity the highest bliss?”
My goal each year, but so, so hard to get there….!!
It’s taken me 60 years to “drop the rope” on stuff I thought was a big deal. Let’s start a “drop the rope” club.