Random Bliss Encounter of the Day

On my way to the Sundance Film Festival, I was picked up by a car service to take me to LAX. The driver, who we'll call George, was the chatty type. He asked me what I did. I told him that I wrote spiritual books.

He said, "What like about seances and ghosts?" Which I thought was pretty funny but explained that, no it's not that kind of "spirituality." Rather a more practical, everyday kind of spirituality focused on the here-and-now. I told him about my book, The Bliss Experiment. He asked me to explain what I meant by bliss so I gave him an example from the book.

He replied, "Yeah, I've had experiences exactly like that."

Which really isn't surprising since nearly 50% of all people have. George became very interested in how he could experience that more frequently. He told me that he's under a lot of stress right now, especially financial, as he's not getting enough work driving people. He likes to play golf on a public course when he has time as that's the only way of reducing stress that he's discovered, apart from his infrequent bliss experiences, which he enthusiastically endorsed as a great way to lessen his daily stress.

Needless to say, he was beyond intrigued when I told him that this book could show him how to live in a more regularly blissful state. I put it like this, "Accessing bliss directly can give you all the benefits and more from what you get by playing a round of golf--and you can get there right away, without a delay and without needing to find a golf course, and spend fours hours golfing."

He actually had a tablet computer with him in the car--which he uses as his ebook reader while waiting to pick people up--and he pre-ordered the book right then and there.

This small exchange really reinforces three key things:

Lots of people have these experiences--from all walks of life. George knew exactly what i meant. But he had no control over it and not much understanding of what was really happening. Second, he needed a way to control and have those experiences as part of regular daily experience. Third, that these aren't just mystical but practical. It was the best stress-reduction experience he had ever had.

It perfectly captures why I wrote this book....