Send us a textOn October 10, Blissful gave her first TEDx talk, “How do you find your bliss? Take the long trail!”Blissful shares the loss of her flute career due to a neurological disorder called dystonia. It was on trail that she began to heal – and her greatest teacher on learning to live with her loss and move forward into the unknown. Blissful's talk is about resilience in spite of life's inexplicable randomness.Watch the TEDx and see some jaw-dropping images as well!MUSIC: Int...

Send us a textWATCH TEDx On October 10, Blissful gave her first TEDx talk about Resilience as part of TEDX AmoskeagMillyard in Manchester, New Hampshire. What is a TED talk??TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design and was founded in 1984 to showcase the "most interesting people on earth and let them communicate their passion."The tagline is "ideas worth spreading."The talks are short (under 18 minutes) and all memorized, given on a red dot of a carpet in front of a live audi...

Send us a textTaking a class this weekend, Blissful learns about the key skills of a good teacher. This was especially important when she needed to face down an irrational fear of falling out of her kayak and being upside down in the water. Here are some of those skills:Positive Learning Environment. Encourage Risk Taking. Provide Feedback and GuidancePromote a Growth Mindset Just wanting to get better and do something out of our comfort zone isn't enough....

Send us a textOn the Teton Crest Trail in Wyoming, Blissful decides to go for an "SKT" (Slowest Known Time) and surprises abound. 1. John Muir (and Henry David Thoreau) hated the word "hike" and preferred to saunter, entering beautiful natural places with reverence.2. Physiologists tell us that walking at a turtle's pace releases endocannabinoids a kind of "persistence high" that elicits a state of euphoria. 3. But most important, going slow and leaving plenty of time allows us to simply exis...

Send us a textOn the Pyrenean Haute Route, an oafish American hiker questioned Blissful's ability to manage a route of this difficulty. “Even YOU?” he asked, his lip curling in disdain. “I haven’t seen many old people hiking this.”It shook her confidence, for sure, but here she was, backpacking while old. We don’t tend to bounce back the way we did when we were younger.That’s why we have to prioritize –1:46 Rest3:34 Nutrition5:46 Exercise– and in that order! Blissful will give her f...

Send us a textHave you been wanting to do something a little wild and out-of-your-comfort-zone but were afraid to take the first step? When it comes to dreams, don't let them become a broken record of something you'll do "someday." In this episode, Blissful shares three reasons why we fail to act and keep our dreams to ourselves –rulesfear shameTake your dreams for a spin, even if you fail spectacularly. Your future self will thank you because, afterall, we tend not to regret t...

Send us a textBlissful feels plenty of fear and anxiety before a thru-hike, but she manages her fears by asking, “If the worst happens, then what?” The answers to those questions helps us think more rationally rather than being paralyzed by anxiety, and thus live a more zesty and adventurous life.All of us feel fear at least some of the time that can hold us back from action.The trick is not to tame fear but to hear it out and hen get on with things anyway.We do this by asking far ...

Send us a textBlissful is given the "all clear" by her surgeon and gets ready to step into the rest of her life. Surgery for breast cancer has completely changed Blissful's body, but has given her a new power of bravery and knowing herself better. One friend calls her a "sur-thriver" facing down the situation directly, and trying to do what St. Paul said, to "rejoice always and not worry about anything."Time is running out but wouldn't it be cool to live fully, audaciously, without...

Send us a text Blissful takes her first hike on a trail after surgery for breast cancer and decides she prefers to be described as a "thriver" – or even "aliver" – rather than survivor. It's a hot, humid summer day at Lebanon Hills, a region carved by glaciers with kettles and eskers, plus the singing of numerous birds. Blissful's surgeon tells her it's time to put on a backpack and get back on trail, even though she's isn't completely healed. Illness humbles us and teaches us ...

Send us a textAs Blissful heals from a bilateral mastectomy due to breast cancer, she reflects on the person she wants to be going forward. Blissful is incredibly lucky in only having to undergo a radical surgery to rid her body of cancer. Step by step walking through her neighborhood, she slowly recovers back to her hiker self. The American writer Joyce Carol Oates speaks of the moment we realize that loss is part of our experience. “When that starts to happen to you, it is qu...

Send us a textWhen Blissful is diagnosed with breast cancer, she undergoes a bilateral mastectomy to save her life and secure her future.A friend tells Blissful she has it easy because she has a partner in her husband Richard. Indeed, she is incredibly grateful to be part of a team because it's helped her navigate some very tough times in her life. Blissful's view of life is that it can be full of abundance and grace, but sometimes bad things just happen at no fault of our own. ...

Send us a textBlissful begins her cancer journey looking back at her life as a woman. Blissful spends the days before a bilateral mastectomy gathering together a team of supportive women who have been through the procedure.She also walks, hikes, bikes, swims, kayaks all in an effort to calm herself – or running away from panic. In looking forward to being flat-chested and "ultra-light", Blissful reminisces on becoming a woman from "sprouts" to a "mean girl" to a middle-aged woman sa...

Send us a textBlissful wraps up her hike of the Appalachian Trail in Maine to head home for cancer treatment. The two days between Monson and Caratunk are rain-free and magical with a winter wren, hermit thrush, northern parula plus warty frogs and a curious snake. It's two big mountains with views including Moxie Bald and Pleasant Pond with glorious views of humpy green forested peaks like emerging leviathan in an even more expansive sea of green.Camping is near a pond circled by s...

Send us a textBlissful makes it out of the 100 Mile Wilderness and receives a call from her doctor calling her home to have a bilateral mastectomy.It's wet and muddy but mostly road out to Monson, Maine, the first town in ten days.She has to go home, but not immediately, and can head back on trail for at least a few more days. And it's perfect timing in sunny weather at last and a long reroute around flooded rivers. But it's a gorgeous hike through forest loud with birds and frogs.&...

Send us a textThe trail is hard in rain, mud and cold, but Blissful gets the boost she needs from hiker and creature. It's mountainous now in the 100-mile Wilderness, revealing only misty views of distant lakes enveloped in thick forest. The "Sibs", two thru-hikers also from Minnesota, plus "Shoes," a barefoot hiker, meet her and offer encouragement.As does Fourth Mountain Bog, a stunning ecosystem crossed by boardwalk where a White Throated Sparrow greets her as well as giant. mar...

Send us a textBlissful crosses a high, exposed peak in fog and rain then discovers she needs to go further than she thought. Hiking south on the Appalachian Trail, it's the first high mountains since Katahdin, but the weather is manageable. And there are small surprises like twisted and stunted "krumholz" trees, wildly fluorescent fungus and wildflowers heavily laden with damp. Even high up, the birds are loud including a new bird t Magnolia Warbler.When Blissful discov...

Send us a textBlissful creates an audio narrative as an Artist-in-Residence at Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in Upper Peninsula, Michigan. During her artistic residency, she immersed herself in the vividly sonorous landscape , collecting sound as she hiked. Birds, falls and the wind spoke to her about spring’s message – a message of renewal and rebirth.It's such a fleeting moment, one so transitory, we could almost miss if we’re not listening carefully. MUSIC...

Send us a textBlissful makes her first dangerous ford over a swollen and dangerous river in flood from the non-stop rain. For a SOBO – or southbounder – on the Appalachian Trail, it's often wise to pay for delivery of a cache of food to break up the 10-day hike of the 100 Mile Wilderness. Right after the cache, the trail gets harder, steeply uphill into real mountains, plus river fords. With an unusual amount of rain, the rivers are in spate and dangerous.Bli...

Send us a textWhen seeing two Pileated Woodpecker parents up close, Blissful learns that she is only passing through and to savor the moment while it lasts. It's an easy enough day on the Appalachian Trail (AT) though rainy without any views.Blissful stops at a lovely campground on the banks of Lower Jo-Mary Lake surrounded by pink Lady Slippers, as delicate as crepe. These first days walking south through Maine have been hard and Blissful feels like an amateur muddling through.&nbs...

Send us a textIn constant rain and cold, Blissful learns the power in facing her negative feelings and using them to spur her to action rather than resignation. The trail has yet to get hard on the Appalachian Trail (AT) but the rain is drenching.Blissful can't stop in the cold and swarms of mosquitos even to eat, and is full of frustration but fellow hiker Ingrid catches up and gives her courage, suggesting they sleep inside the next shelter to stay dry. It's not far or difficult t...