Bali: Eat Pray Loving Me – All that I Seek
“All that I seek is already within me.”
As I’ve stated, my intention on this journey is to have an expanse of time to be with myself, to go within, to observe my mind, and see where I go, what I do – in essence, to see what I’m made of, physically, spiritually, and emotionally.
The universe is operating in divine perfection as my third day in Ubud provided me with several opportunities to go within – into the heart and into the brain to deal with a few misadventures which came my way!
It’s the morning of day 3. I’ve had two days to settle in. I rise early, don my tight-fitting yoga gear and do a morning practice feeling all relaxed and strong in mind. I stand in the kitchenette to start my morning breakfast routine and think about what I might like to do this coming day. My toes feel a bit of wetness on the floor near the sink. Perplexed, I bend down and open the cupboard searching for the mysterious source of puddle when suddenly the water intake hose for the kitchen sink pops off the wall and a fountainous stream spews onto the tile floor with gusto. Holy f*ck! What to do? This requires some quick thinking.
All the answers I seek are already within. Breathe. Inhale. Exhale.
In a bit of unthinking, I grab a tea/dish towel and hold it to my chest covering my décolletage and run through the family compound to the amused eyes of some local male workers and find one of the female kitchen staff and attempt to explain my predicament. Looking perplexed but somehow getting that I needed help, she flags down a young male staff person who comes back to the studio with me. By now 5 to 7 minutes had passed and water covered the entire floor. He turns off the water, and as I stood barefooted in my new footbath, he shrugs his shoulders indicating ‘not my problem’ and promptly leaves.
All the answers I seek are already within. Breathe. Inhale, exhale.
Hmmm. Nyoman, my house manager, does not live on site and is not due here for another few hours. Thankfully we exchanged WhatsApp numbers so I message her to come asap. Meanwhile, I grab a towel and start sopping up water and wringing it out in the garden doing a dozen or so of these before deciding that this is a thankless endeavour without a proper mop. Nyoman arrives within the hour, assesses the situation, rings the plumber and a few hours later with a sparkly new hose installed, all was sorted.
All the answers I seek are already within. Breathe. Inhale, exhale.
After the morning misadventure I decide it’s time for some me-loving. In my first few days I’d been told about and kept coming across brochures for a sound/gong healing session which takes place in a pyramid built to 1/16 size of the Giza Egyptian pyramids. Called Pyramids of Chi and located about 5 km from my abode, it’s a bit too far to walk round trip so Nyoman shuttles me there on her scooter.
I’m exhilarated to be on the back of a scooter weaving through the bustling traffic feeling the wind rushing across my skin (I totally get why people like motorcycle riding!) I delight and totally surrender into my mattress for the hour-long beautiful gong bath. I am happy.
Feeling chillaxed and grounded again, I amble my way home on the hour long walk through the rice fields, soaking up the sights and sounds, making my way along a narrow walking/scooter path sporadically dotted with accommodation, warungs (eateries), art & trinket shops, and little food stalls. I like the expansive feeling of the rice fields quite a bit and am already thinking about when to return.
Back at the abode, I settle in for an evening of computer work, planning to pay bills and start in on a long-overdue Birdsong website improvement project – one of my goals for the trip is to dedicate time to this multiple-week long activity. I cannot log into the website. I cannot log into my bank account. I try several times with no luck. I feel my heart start to race, the panic start to rise in my body. Under other circumstances (ie: if I was home), I might start cussing and running to Bruce to help figure it out. But I’m not home. I have to do this on my own.
I shoot an email to my webhost provider. I try a few more different things. There is nothing more to be done so I shut off the computer and I turn to a book and to an evening meditation practice.
All the answers I seek are already within. Breathe. Inhale, exhale.
It takes me another few days to sort out each computer problem. My webhost provider cannot replicate my problem – they say they can log in just fine. I am perplexed and almost defeated. I walk away each day to head out and explore and each evening I sit back down and put my IT project manager/analyst hat back on. And finally, grace flows through me and I come up with an idea and it works. I have solved both my problems!
All the answers I seek are already within. Breathe. Inhale, exhale.
Tidbit:
The Indonesian government has blocked Netflix from the country. I’ve been told that even with a VPN, one cannot access it. Oh pooh, cuz I was all excited to get my Netflix on and bone up on a couple of series! I guess I’ll do some breathing instead
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