I have arrived home. Marnie picked me up at the airport and I’ve been home long enough for a shower, to till up and turn on my espresso machine and to do a hot water infusion bath. I had a nose bleed on the airplane already so moisture is important. I left the hostel this morning before 6:00 Singapore time and it’s now 12:15 pm the following day by Singapore time. One thing that means is that I’ve spent roughly 28 hours in the artificial and extremely dry air of airplanes and airports. After immersion in the humid environment, it’s quite a shock for my system returning.
My sis turned up the heat in my house, filled the humidifiers and got them running and provided me a stash of milk for my morning latte. I’m home and now starts the process of my body adjusting back to this time and environment. Before going to bed, I wanted to capture a some strong ideas pushing themselves on me. They grabbed my attention and I feel like I won’t be able to sleep until I get them down in writing.
Energy and Spirit
Reflecting back on the six weeks of my journey, several messages leap to the forefront of my consciousness to remember, keep close and live diligently to express them in my life daily.
Healers and energy: I met Charlotte one day at the herb place. She is traveling around the world receiving training at Four Season’s SPA’s preparing for a full-time position with them. As we talked about Bali and the energy of Ubud, I shared that one prime reason I returned to Ubud was to spend time with the healers. She asked me questions about them and in the course of conversation she mentioned how hard it is for healers to maintain that level of energy all the time. In that moment, I realized that isn’t true for the healers I’ve met. They don’t hold energy, pull energy together, motivate themselves to work on clients or practice any other method of managing their energy. My experience of them is that they are constantly connected with energy, it is never lacking, always flowing and is an ever-present source to them. Because of that, they are always bright eyed and energized. Nyoman is that way, so is Eddy, the Holy Knife and even Gregorio (the healer from the Philippines I’ve met here).
If a rechargeable flashlight is unplugged and used without recharging, it will drain the battery, the light will dim and eventually fail. What if it wasn’t even unplugged? What if there was a constant flow of energy available to it? What if there was a constant flow of energy to us, we could tap into it, allow it to flow easily and effortlessly through us, and never block it or live in such a way as to shut it off.
Nyoman gets up early and drives to Denpasar to teach school around 6:30 in the morning. He gets back in the early afternoon when a few clients start showing up. The evenings are generally pretty busy for him and the work often continues to midnight. He never showed signs of being weary or exhausted, was always smiling and beaming me with those bright eyes. I’ve witnessed it, experienced it and now intend to express more of that in my life every day.
Gede is the silver smith I bought my birthday present from. I’ve been looking for an OM symbol after seeing several and feeling like I wanted one. Most shops had them but none felt right. Alyz gave me one which is lovely but didn’t feel quite right either. One afternoon, I walked by Koman Silver and something about it caught my attention but it was closed for a few days after NYEPI. A couple days later, I walked in to look around and spoke briefly with the silver smith. I didn’t see any OM symbols so left. On my way back, something grabbed me pulling me back into the shop. So I introduced myself and told him what I was looking for.
He smiled and told me me makes those but doesn’t ever put them on display. They are by order and only go to those people who seek them out. Then he told me his story. In 1989, he started working in the tour business. Until 1994, that’s what he did. Then, in 1994, his grandfather appeared to him in a dream and told him it was time to go back to the silver smithing and jewelry business. He’s fifth generation jeweler in his family. He pulled out a couple books and showed me an image of the proper Balinese OM symbol which includes parts missing on all the others I’d seen. I got goose bumps as he explained not only the way he makes them but that the next day was a very auspicious day in the Balinese calendar to make one. He’s make it the next day.
Two days later, I stopped by to pick it up. It’s really lovely and feels wonderful. Gede explained that he does everything in alignment with spirit. When he thought of opening his own jewelry store, he had a dream with Krishna appearing to him, a dream that occurred three times, telling him that he could do whatever he wanted. Whatever he does, his work and intention has to come from Spirit first. More goose bumps showed up as he explained this to me. He’s on a very quiet back street, does no advertising, and people constantly show up and find him. He has plenty of business. Why? How is that possible? Because he is so very aligned with Spirit in his work and his life.
He speaks with such certainty and trust when he explains that to me, a calm presence and bright eyes speaking to me once again. How can I capture more of that essence back here. When I’m tuned in and listening, when my intent is clear, the same thing has worked over and over for me. When traveling, it’s a normal and essential part of my traveling style. Back here in the normal world, it gets lost a little. Now, back home, I’m intent on working with that more clearly.
Listening, yes, listening is so crucial. This morning, I arrived in the lobby of the hostel before any of the staff was there and picked up the phone to call the number listed. I had a $10 key deposit to pick up. Without dialing, I put the phone back down. Looking up, the back door was opening and through it walked the man working the desk in the morning. He looked at me asking if I was leaving, got his keys out, handed me $10 in exchange for my room key and I was off. The MRT arrived moments after I did. I had one exchange on the way to the airport. I walked out the open door of one MRT, across the platform, and in to the open door of the next train heading directly to the airport.
Check-in, baggage check, immigration and customs went very smoothly. I sat in an area near the computers to write a quick note letting people know I was traveling. I had no signal so put my laptop away thinking I should just skip it. When I stood and looked around I noticed an information desk across the lobby so went and learned they had password codes for travelers. Looking for a place to sit there, all the chairs were full so I headed back where I started. Approaching the seats, I noticed something black laying on the floor where I had just been sitting? Drawing closer, I recognized it as my passport wallet with my extra money and credit card, it had apparently fallen out of my bag earlier. Since I listened, it was now back in my possession.
In Seoul, after a six hour flight, we had to leave the plane with all our things, go through security again, and then reboard the plane. I’ve had practice in doing this so it was one of the first to arrive at the new gate. Something nudged me to the agent so I approached asking if they had an exit row. Two people in Singapore had already told me there were none all the way to San Francisco. He found one available so I was in much more comfortable seating for the next 10 hours of flying.
At this moment, newly arrived in my Colorado home, those are experiences and reminders from my trip worthy of holding onto!
Ciao….