B.Y.O.Bliss, LLC is the offspring of another idea and so, in order to understand how the company came to be, I must first tell you how Wedded Bliss, The First Ten was conceived.
THE IDEA:
My husband and I were planning a romantic trip to celebrate our first wedding anniversary, and I was looking for a very special gift that he would remember and treasure forever. As I tried to come up with a creative twist on the traditional first year wedding gift of "paper," the idea for Wedded Bliss was born. I realized that what I really wanted to capture through my gift was the priceless memory of our first year together as husband and wife: the joys, the not-so-joyous, the lessons learned, and ultimately, our growth as a couple. Subsequently, each year the book would serve not only to record the events of our life, but as a tool to keep our marriage in check.
GRATITUDE:
I learned early on in my marriage that there are two ways of looking at things...and at life: A positive way and a negative way. Choosing the positive path, although not always the easier of the two directions, is undoubtedly the most rewarding. Instead of focusing on the things [about the other person, about my job, about my health, about my financial situation, etc] that are less than adequate, if we learn to shift our attention towards the things [about...] that we are grateful for, our attitude towards these will also change. As with everything else, maintaining an attitude of gratitude gets easier with practice. For this reason, I decided to make gratitude an integral theme in Wedded Bliss. As the concept for the book developed, I began to realize that this notion could and should be applied to many other areas of life. Thus, the birth of B.Y.O.Bliss: A company that, through its products and services, would help others become aware of the good things in their lives, and ultimately find their own BLISS!
BRING YOUR OWN BLISS:
If you look up the word Bliss in the dictionary, it is defined as "supreme happiness; utter joy or contentment." To me, this beautiful word means so much more than that. Bliss describes my life's purpose.
My own definition is not limited to extreme happiness because that seems too overwhelming; instead, it describes a sense of fulfillment that I am able to achieve when my life is in balance. A balanced life is not to be mistaken with a perfect life, but rather one in which we, as individuals, strive to constantly improve on the things that matter to us most such as, health, love, faith, family, charity, friends, work, and finances. These pieces of our puzzle co-exist and although sometimes special circumstances call for us to focus more attention on one aspect over another, for the most part, all areas are equally significant and none should be neither overlooked nor overprotected. Maintaining this balance is a daily challenge and a life-long goal, but the satisfaction that comes from just knowing that you are positively contributing to the improvement of your own existence is for me, pure bliss.
Along this journey, it is important to always remember that no person or no thing can make you happy or unhappy, for that matter. We alone hold the power to control our own thoughts, emotions, and actions. I encourage all of you to seek that balance, that sense of purpose, and find the bliss that resides within you.
Gabriela Cardenal
B.Y.O.BLISS LLC
B.Y.O.Bliss was established in 2008, by Gabriela Cardenal. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Georgetown University and an MBA in Marketing and Management from the University of Miami, Cardenal opened Gemelli Designs, a Miami-based jewelry design company. Her designs were featured in newspapers, magazines and television shows on CBS, Univision, and Telemiami. Six years later, Gabriela was ready for a change from the manually intensive production process, when she was struck by the inspiration for Wedded Bliss, The First Ten. From this idea and the desire to make a difference in people's lives, stemmed the concept behind B.Y.O.Bliss LLC, and thus was born the tag line which would guide the development of a unique and inspirational line of products:
Life is a celebration! Bring Your Own BLISS!