Connecting with the Bliss of Life Book Review from Oracle 20-20

Connecting with the Bliss of Life:
Powerful Lessons for Living a Peaceful and Happy Life
by Former Navy SEAL David Michael Ferruolo
Book Review by Marie-Claire Wilson

The author, a former Navy SEAL, gives us a spiritual guide that is very simple yet very compelling. David M. Ferruolo elaborates on the most important theme of all times by naming the four spiritual objectives which we all strive for:
* There is a way to live in peace and harmony every day and every moment.
* You could be in a peaceful, serene state of mind, regardless of circumstances.
* Connecting with the bliss of life is a choice you can make right now.
* There really is a better way to live.
Doesn’t this sound great? But how can we do this in our everyday, real-world lives? Don’t those four objectives essentially boil down to the age-old questions - indeed, the age old QUESTS - for wisdom sought by philosophers down through the ages right on up to present day, ordinary people seeking to live in harmony and with less stress in our modern times?
Wouldn’t we all like to know how to accomplish those four objectives listed above? Well, we can. Ferruolo takes us by the hand with his book and covers every angle in a direct manner. He covers those objectives in 22 chapters with mantra-like titles that alone are almost enough to steer us where we want to go: Some of the chapter’s titles are introduced below;
Many of these concepts sound familiar to us and most make perfect sense. Of course, love and family matter, meditation reduces stress, and we should all strive to be the best that we can be. What is different about this book is the author’s style and the way that he validates what we already know, along with giving practical advice about how to stay on that blissful path.
The author calls his chapters “lessons,” but I did not sense a scolding tone that is too often familiar with this subject. He gives us the information, the tools, and he guides us in such a positive way that I immediately want to follow his advice. His whole tone is positive, and his goal is to give us these tools to turn our own powers into positive and productive directions for our own lives. With such tools, elegantly simple yet complex, we can take back our personal freedom, which we feel has been compromised by situations and events beyond our control. We can take back control of our own lives. The central tool is to diminish, little by little, our selfish ego.
The author uses the terms centripetal and centrifugal for an example of selfishness versus bliss. Our selfishness traps us in a centripetal whirl. Centripetal is defined as moving toward the center, and in this sense, as centering ourselves more and more on our selfish ego, blinding us to the possibilities of life, and imprisoning us. We move more and more into a smaller and tighter “universe” that is only of our own making, of our own perceptions. This imprisons us and makes us feels powerless.
Yet when we use the tools the author gives us, we CAN break free. We can turn ourselves around and begin to act, not react. We can reclaim our power. We can take back our freedom. We can become strong on the inside and act in concert with the outside forces. We can move in an increasingly centrifugal direction - an outward progression from a central axis and toward the Divine and bliss.
Progressing toward the Divine also involves our thinking processes. Our thoughts are energy! Energy from our thoughts directs all parts of our lives, including our actions, our reactions, our bodily functions - and it infuses our very soul. So by redirecting our thinking and getting our mental plane pointed in the positive direction, we can begin to change our attitudes, our ideas, and our feelings toward the positive.
Our thoughts as actions, directed toward the positive and therefore, toward the Divine, are really the key to clearing the space so that we can allow those feelings of joy, happiness, and a love of life. We will automatically begin to change our lives for the better as we change our attitudes. In turn, this will have a positive effect on the circumstances around us and the events that affect us. All of those things seemed out of our control before we began to work on our thinking and our attitude.
Even though we have free will, we are to some degree, subject to destiny, to the greater forces of the Universe and of this Earth. Until we get our selfish ego in the true perspective, we will always feel inferior. But as we progress spiritually toward the positive, we will feel more and more part of this greater power, and more and more joyful about life. And we all have the capacity to channel nature and the forces of the Universe toward our positive spiritual evolution.

There is no cause without effect. So why not contribute to the most positive causes, and so to contribute to the most positive effects? We can apply this cosmic law directly to our own personal lives. What we make of our lives does not come from an exterior source; it comes from within us. Here is a positive application of our free will: to dig deeply enough inside of ourselves and go to our own source, that inner Divine spark that is in all of us. This book gives us a good plan to accomplish this.
Here are some of my favorite excerpts from the book. From the chapter, “Clean Up Your Life,” the author writes: “Being blissful does not mean ignoring or becoming unaware of the circumstances and situations around you. It means being more in touch with yourself and active in your decisions when you respond to your surroundings. To walk the path of bliss is to adopt an attitude of taking care of the little things, which need to be done as they arise. It also means knowing when not to do something when your plate is already full. Your list of things to do will never be complete, so concentrate on the things at hand that you can have an effect on.”
Another excerpt that I liked is in the chapter, “Be Yourself,” where the author writes: “You are incredibly powerful when you choose to be yourself and let your uniqueness show. Within each of us is a powerful and creative individual, with much to offer the world. We are all different. We all have different ideas and concepts of the Universe and the world around us. That is part of the beauty of the self, its separateness and differences from others. Just imagine how the world would be if everyone were the same - dressed the same, thought the same, liked the same things, had the same desires and goals. What a boring world we would live in [in that case].”
Thus, perception is everything. It begins with how we perceive ourselves. Did you realize that changing your self-perceptions, and putting aside selfish ego, can change so much in our lives and all around us? This is the victory that is within reach of each one of us!
No one has to live life blindly or carelessly. No one has to live life always dominated by an indifferent and cold-hearted destiny. Ferruolo has laid out the path to happiness for us. All we have to do is grab onto our courage and to work on ourselves, to develop ourselves, to make progress within ourselves. Then we can joyfully stride into our considerable personal power, intellectual and moral, having learned to apply our mighty spiritual forces in more positive and productive ways.
“Connecting with the Bliss of Life” is a book that leaves me with a distinct message: NOW is the time to begin loving our lives. It is up to US to make our lives blissful so that we can love living. It is well within our capacity to do so, RIGHT NOW. And finally, prolonging the bliss in our lives is what makes our passage in this physical body and through this physical world one that evolves us all the more on a spiritual level.

This spiritual guide book is straightforward and accessible even to the beginner. I highly recommend it and I believe that when you read it, you will get as much pleasure and wisdom out of it as I did. Enjoy!

marie claire wilson

Marie-Claire Wilson, author of the Spiritual Tarot: The Keys to the Divine Temple, is a bilingual writer and poet. She has been a practicing medium for 28 years using direct clairvoyance, the Tarot, numerology and palmistry. For an appointment face-to-face or phone readings call: 404.847.7330
www.Marie-Claire.tv