I recently had the honour of spending time in Bali and while the familial experience was one we will remember forever, for me, there was something much more intimate and personal in this journey as well. This personal experience was defined more by the Balinese than of the landscape itself.
The wonderful people of Bali encapsulate what ceremony is in such a remarkable yet ordinary way, that I was humbled right out of my ceremony bowls and altar adornments. I put down the "importance of ceremony" and sat in gratitude for the way ceremony was truly the centre of life.
How everyday items were scattered over ceremony beds, while at the same time offerings were laid down at every threshold. The honking in some of the craziest traffic seemed to be proactive heads up and hello's rather than anger and road rage. It was this sense of chaotic calmness that caught me seriously checking my anxiety and my privilege. I walked a little slower, I was able to drown out the honking and focus on the wide smiles and beautiful landscapes.
I see traffic, they see flow.
I see poverty, they see richness
I see harshness, they see gratefulness
I see extraordinary, they see life
Part of me wonders if it's because so many of them are financially poor and that this has brought them spiritual richness. Or perhaps it's the other way around, they are spiritually rich and therefore don't need to chase the american so called dream. Part of me wonders if its why we don't see many Indonesians immigrating to North America. I mean, why would they?!?!
I spoke with one of our tour guides about travel and I asked "if you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?" he said "my wife's mothers house - she makes the best babi guling but don't tell my auntie, it will hurt her heart."
There was something in the way they moved through life that made me reconnect to the truth of what my experience on this earth could be.
That every step I take is ceremony.
Every conversation I have is ceremony.
Every moment in this beautiful world is ceremony.
That I am ceremony.
Imagine what that would look like for you? What would it look like if you woke up tomorrow morning and took to honouring yourself in ceremony while going about your day?
would you spend more time in meditation?
would you honour your ability to experience pleasure?
would you spend more time preparing your mind for the day ahead?
would you break from your desk at lunch and eat a nutritious lunch?
would you sink into a cuppa with your mom?
maybe just put the social media aside for a while and be present?
There is something quite profound when we think of ceremony as something we are rather than something we do.