March Musings & Monthly Newsletter

This month I finally started to feel the effects of being gone for over a year. Nostalgia started to tug at me.

Like craving a mug of my dad’s perfectly crafted decaf Nespresso while I do my morning sudoku.

Or hugging my sister in the Trader Joe’s checkout line while everyone stares.

Or feeling deeply connected to my close friends’ lives instead of hearing short snippets after the fact.

It feels like my old life is a light year away yet at the tip of my fingertips at the exact same time. Although nostalgia ran its course, a peculiar sense of comfort balanced it out as I settle into my unconventional life here in Bali and continue to embark on this ever shifting journey.

Immersed in Indonesian Culture

I’m a culture lover.

Wherever I go, I want the full-on experience.

When I studied in Spain, I learned Flamenco dancing.

When I was in Israel, I participated in Shabbat and ate all the hummus I could possibly muster.

Now, being in Indonesia, it fills me up to learn the language and see the true un-westernized version of this country.

Yes, there are Western restaurants and bars all around town where a local wouldn’t dare to step foot in. Even though I find myself in these restaurants all the time, I always crave an authentic experience.

I’ve made Indonesian friends who take me to the local warungs and Indonesian barbecues to eat authentic Indonesian food.

They also help me learn the language to the point where I can now hold a very basic conversation.

It feels good to know bits of the language so I can connect to more native people.

Saya suka belajar bahasa Indonesia karena saya bisa berbicara dengan lebih banyak orang! (I love learning Indonesian because I can talk to more people!) <---and I only used Google Translate to check if I was correct. :)

Also, it’s helpful that the Indonesian people are very excited to hear you speak their language. They are never annoyed that you don’t know the language well. Rather, they are encouraging and more than happy to teach you a few words.

Surf's Up

Bali is known to be one of the greatest surf spots on this planet.

People from all over make this a must-see destination to catch some waves.

I've been talking about surfing for about a year, yet I was hesitant to pull the trigger.

Maybe because as a midwesterner with no oceans in sight and my one traumatizing experience being pummeled by a tsunami-like wave in Hawaii, I was subconsciously terrified.

Yet, this month, we are facing fears people! 

Luckily, I had some friends who were more adamant than me about surfing, so I tagged along.

I was shocked.

It was way less terrifying than I made it out in my head. As it normally goes.

We went to one of the easiest spots in Bali and caught some baby waves, but nonetheless, I was able to get up and ride them!

Trying to make a commitment to surf once a week, so who knows. Next time you see me, it might be while I'm hanging ten. :) 

My Spiritual Gifts Reading

Ever since I was young, I always knew there was something a little different about me.

I could read energies absurdly well.

Always knowing what people were feeling in any circumstance, I became a social shifter.

I would navigate conversations and situations in order to appease people’s moods and ensure their feelings weren’t hurt.

My favorite compliments became “you are a ray of sunshine” “your energy is contagious” and “I love being around your happy positivity.”

Besides reading people’s energies, I would always joke how I had a six sense.

I would sense that I was going to see a specific person later in the day out of nowhere, and then right on cue, that person would show up at the restaurant or store I was at.

I thought it was just coincidence at first, but then peculiar things like this kept happening too many times for it to only be by chance.

Coming to Bali only heightened these senses. This is a magical place after all.

For the past year, I’ve been seeing things, hearing things, and watching situations fall into place for me beyond my wildest expectations.

When I started to learn more about spiritual gifts here in Bali, naturally I was curious if I legitimately had any or if all of this was my plain imagination.

Turns out we all have unique spiritual gifts we can tap into, and I was eager to affirm mine.

I had heard from a few natural healers here that I too had healing energy. Yet, I wanted to know more.

What did this mean? How can I hone these skills?

After getting a recommendation to see this unique spiritual healer, I made an impromptu appointment to go see her. I was in the area, and she had free time to see me. Already divinely timed.

She can read your auric field within each of the prominent 11 chakras in your body to tell you what your spiritual gifts are.

Without getting too deep into the details, trust me there are a lot of details, she validated that I am indeed a healer.

I have profusely strong white light in the auric field of all of my chakras. White is the healing energy.

In conjunction to this white light, I have a powerful black light to balance it out. Black is infinite spacious energy. The two of these together make the perfect balance of harmony. Yin and yang.

If you don’t already know, I have been obsessed and drawn to the yin and yang symbol since I was in middle school. I didn’t know why I liked it so much, but now it all makes sense.

Besides the white and black, I have yellow and orange light in some of my chakras, which relates to joy and creativity--two things I have always known I possess.

Basically, I can creatively heal people with my words and with my energy. I can ignite joy, creativity and light in other beings.

This is something I have already seen firsthand, but she simply confirmed it and gave me more details on how to use it.

Now, I am dying to take these healing energies further.

So, I want to try something out of the ordinary. Well, what about this journey has been conventional? Out of the ordinary is quite on brand for me.

No, I am not a therapist, yet with a support system of healers and counselors, I am confident in the power of my healing.

I want to try a new approach of using conversation, meditation, movement, and a splice of humor and fun to connect to people who feel stuck, dissatisfied and blocked from their highest potential of themselves.

I will be going back to this healer to learn more from her privately as she trains me to see different auric fields and how to beam my white light to others.