Living on Bali Time

The time I'm spending in Bali has turned out to be a time of deep reflection, growth, understanding and change.

I'm doing yoga every day, meditating, reading, writing and eating good food. I meet new an amazing people each day and enjoy them fully and intensely, knowing that they will be leaving my life soon, like the tide of the ocean.

I've been spending a lot of time with a group of women from my yoga class and feel a great kinship with them. Women from Holland, Japan, Spain, Africa and Germany. It's so wonderful to come from such different backgrounds and be in a common place in our lives. We all deal with the same issues of joy and happiness, pain and sorrow.

John is from Australia by way of England. He has become a dear friend and someone who makes me laugh. I mean really laugh from deep in my belly. He has a Monty Python-eque sense of humor that is hilarious. He likes to go out at night and get "pissed as a newt". We have shared good yoga classes, lots of bintang beer and have been on the search for a good glass of red wine. He leaves tomorrow and I'll miss his friendship and presence.

Jerry was here for a few days from a small town in Ireland. He had never done yoga before and is quite shy. But he jumped in full force and gave it his all. Very nice, kind man. He left yesterday to go surfing in the Gili Islands before going home.

Wendy is a beautiful woman from Australia and is so inspiring to me. She is 62 and is an artist, does yoga every day, has 5 grandchildren and is gorgeous. We shared many coffees and cold beers in cafes together talking about life.

Anna Marie is a German woman who lives here in Bali and does the most beautiful beaded wall hangings I have ever seen. She's in her 70's and drives a jeep all over the island yelling at people to get out of her way. I just have to close my eyes and hang on tight. She has a beautiful home in a small village with her art studio and gorgeous paintings all around. She has several birds and a few cats who live with her. We sit on her balcony overlooking the rice fields and drink rice wine and smoke cigars and tell of our lives. I feel very close to her already.

I feel like I am on a slow moving freeway where people weave in and out of each other lives, smiling and waving and sometimes stopping at the side to share some experiences together. I wonder how I am so fortunate to be living this life.

How did my life become so open and so full of adventure and joy? I get stuck asking myself this question and feeling some sense of responsibility about it. But then I remember to just relax and enjoy everything as it comes.

I am so grateful for every day and want to savor each moment like it is the perfect morsel that I put in my mouth.