Roosters call out at dawn. The cicadas are blaring if its full sun. It’s easy to wake up with nature when you have a live alarm clock outside your door. You would never find that in the city, a rooster as your wake up call. As I sit on my personal porch the sweet man running the bungalow brings me a tea cup, tea bag, dried coffee, sugar and a thermos full of hot water. I as I rise with the morning morning, and sip my black tea while watching the woman place the daily offerings with intention. The smell of the sweet incense is forever with me. The offerings of smoke, food, fruit, rice, all placed on palm leaf sections, left at various times of day can be found in front of every shop, every temple, every place deemed sacred or simply a spot fit for devotion in the moment. The beauty here is deeply impressed in my heart. The simplicity and reverence resounds in my soul. The structures have left a permanent memory in my mind, palaces and carvings and statues galore. The people have shown me how to be a more dedicated, decent human being. Bali is now in my blood. It has entered me through every sense and cellular aspect of my being. I have absorbed Bali into my very essence. I will carry her with me. She and I are One.
I go about my busy business of returning the massage table I borrowed, finishing up some last minute shopping, having a few meetings for future retreats and promotional opportunities. Business as usual in BALI. I realize that I have achieved so much while being here. I actually do have business partners and meetings that are valuable and creating opportunities that are substantial. Bali has blessed me in ways far beyond exposing me to superior beauty. Bali has blessed me with life long connections, friendships, lifestyle changes, potential career paths, material for my novel, cultural depth, new dreams, bigger dreams, the accomplishment of previous dreams, a strengthened sense of self, this blog, a better relationship with my partner as distance has made us stronger and more deeply in love, and above and beyond all else an exponentially increased attitude of gratitude!!! It is so easy to wake up in thanks, walk the streets in thanks, shop in thanks, buy gifts with thanks, eat delicious meals with thanks, visit with friends in thanks, revel in all of this beauty with thanks and go to sleep with a full heart every night with the deepest, most profound thanks. I am truly, immensely grateful to have spent this time here, allowing this magic to unfold.
I bored a plane soon to fly away from this lovely island to another tropical paradise, Maui. I left from Maui and to Maui I shall return. My original plans before my best friend told me she was pregnant was to stay six months, and travel to Thailand, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet. I still have this grand goal. Next year and in the years to follow I will set foot in all of these beautiful lands and leave no spiritual stone unturned. I am not seeking. I know whats there. Inside me, that is. I not 'looking for myself'. I found my essence a good while back. I am here to observe as much beauty as possible on this planet while I can, and traveling to some of the most incredible lands on the planet seems to reveal beauty in ways I could not imagine. I am not seeking my self anymore. I am perfectly found. I only want to steep myself in the experiences that these magical lands have offered wanderers for eons. I am happy to be going to Maui...again. I find myself returning to this particular paradise over and over again since 2011. It was my first "Big Adventure". And now, The Biggest Adventure of all awaits....a child is to be born! I am ecstatic and feeling very happy about this upcoming blessing. Bali has been one beautiful and wild ride, through and through, and now I feel the real work will begin as I arrive to support my beloved Best Friend in the Universe, Omni Love, as she enters the final weeks of her pregnancy. She is going to be a mommy! And I an Auntie. This is a special time, and I feel very blessed that I could go to Bali and back and still arrive in time to be a part of it all. My Beloved partner Kellen will arrive also, just a week after I do. This is extremely exciting for two reasons: one, he has never been to Maui so I get show him my Hawaiian Homeland, and two, we have not seen each other for TWO WHOLE MONTHS! Eeek! Close the doors and don't come a knockin', that's all I have to say about that ;)
Packing. I pack all of the things and it doesn’t take me as long as I thought it would. I tape up the hula hoops and tuck and squish all the clothes. I make everything very small and I purposely leave a couple articles of clothing behind that I secretly hate and never wear. I check out and pay the lady for two nights and a bottle of water. 305,000 rupiah. That's a little under $30. She says I can hang in my room until my taxi comes. Good. I need a little more time. I drink a little more coffee and have a few more moments of sun by the pool. I shower. I rinse my body with the last bit of Balinese water that I will feel on my skin for a good long while. But, I know this is not goodbye. It doesn’t even feel remotely close to being goodbye. I know it is a “thank you for coming, see you again very soon” type of moment between her and I. We have an agreement. We like each other. Our first encounter has gone extremely well and can still be improved upon! Everything has room for improvement, and I would say my first trip over here was a phenomenal start.
From teaching at the most epic international hoop gathering of Sacred Circularities, to performing at Bali Spirit Fest, to giving body work, breath work and Human Design sessions, to stabbing my finger in the spiky tree, to communing deeply with the lotus pond, to being a Queen in a Water Palace, to hooping my heart out, to praying traditionally as the Balinese do at the Water and Mother temples, to the salty oceanic awesomeness, to the volcano, to the rice fields, to the best friends and new friends, to my first medicine drum, to the sunrises and sunsets, to the geckos and monkeys, to befriending amazing musicians and singing my story to my peers, to the love, the light and the letting go..........
To Bali.
To sweet, generous, beautiful, bountiful, brilliant, breathtaking Bali....I love you!
Blessings from the Heartland,
Shellie White Light
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