I just came back from an epic six week adventure in Bali, also known as the island of the gods. It is, without a doubt, one of the most magical places on the planet.

I am still integrating the experience I had, and most definitely have not returned the same person I was when I left. The following is an attempt to start to put some of my experience into words…

I had heard amazing things about Bali from friends (and, of course, from reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert years ago), but nothing could have prepared me for the experience I had myself.

The magic started when my computer simply stopped working without warning. It just stopped booting up. The local Apple repair experts said they didn’t know what was wrong and couldn’t help me…

Then I dropped my iphone and cracked the front glass. The phone still worked, but I had to do everything through a spider web of cracks (not that enjoyable or conducive to “productivity”)…

The totally-modern-in-every-other-way villa I stayed in had spotty wifi at best, which did not make it easy or fast to be online, and almost impossible to make skype calls…

Several of my clients, for their own independent reasons, asked if we could take a pause in our coaching sessions so they could attend to things that needed their attention…

You’re getting the picture here, right? Absolutely everything was telling me to UNPLUG. Big time.

When I told people who live in Bali, or who visit often and know it well, what had been happening, they just smiled knowingly and told me things like ‘Mama Bali is like holding a magnifying glass up to a mirror…whatever you need most will happen here…clearly you need to stop…’

So stop I did. And it was challenging at first. I had plans to create a new coaching program while I was there, and also to blog about my experience and lessons learned like I did about my trip to New York.

I felt like I should be ‘doing more’ than just be on this gorgeous island enjoying the incredible blessings it was offering me. Did I deserve it? What about my business? What about my newsletter? What about _______ (blah, blah, blah)??

Yet, the answer was clear. I really did just need to stop and let all that go. And when I did, the far more important work began.

My daily ‘work’ started to look more like this…

• Go to sleep early and wake up early, sleeping like a total baby in between

• Go out and stand on the grass in the morning sun in my bare feet and connect with the Earth (just google the benefits of this practice on your health, you’ll be amazed)

• Meditate for at least 30 minutes, bringing peace and balance to my mind and body

• Ask myself which incredible place I felt like going for breakfast (at one of the many place I could find something fresh, organic and delicious for just a few dollars)

• Walk in the sunshine to wherever I was inspired to go, admiring the beauty and the smiling faces of the Balinese people all around me

• Check my email, responding to only what truly needed my attention

• Read a fiction book (I read the 50 Shades trilogy while there…not rocket science or great literature, but entertaining)

• Jot new ideas down in my journal about my biggest vision and highest purpose

• Meet someone amazing for lunch at another delicious, nutritious, totally inexpensive place

• Go for a massage ($10/hr) and encourage my body to fully and completely relax and be nurtured

• Journal more ideas over a ginger tea and fresh fruit (compliments of the spa after the massage)

• Explore a part of town that I’d not been to yet at a leisurely pace

• Plan an outing for the next day, like go to see The High Priestess of Bali for a water purification ceremony, or take a cycling tour of the Balinese countryside and culture, or visit a renowned 84 year old Balinese healer (who also happens to be the grandson of the last king of Bali)

• Meet friends for a salsa lesson from the local Cuban salsa wonderboy, followed by dinner

• Walk home in the lovely evening air and take an evening swim under the stars in the salt water pool at my villa

• Meditate on all I’m grateful for, and write in my journal before bed

This was a typical day for me, every day, for the better part of six weeks. And it changed me. For the better.

How did it change me? Wasn’t it just basically a self-indulgent vacation?

Well, perhaps it was on one level. But on another, much deeper and more important level, it was a feeding of my Soul. A chance to hit ‘reset.’ An opportunity to ‘download’ what was wanting to come through to me next about my life and my business. An invaluable chance to hear my own Truth and create powerful new habits.

An opportunity to shift my entire consciousness.

Because there was actually time, space, intent, self-care and the right environment for it.

Given the very clear message I received to stop doing what I routinely considered ‘important,’ I had the chance to actually make the deeper work my #1 priority.

My consciousness and the quality of energy I put out in the world is the most valuable thing I have to offer to others, and that’s ultimately what flows through all the things I do and offer to others. I radically shifted that quality of energy through my very rich experience in Bali.

There was still plenty of chatter in my head telling me I should be doing more to generate business and income while there, etc. Yet I used the opportunity to transmute those more fear-based thoughts and feelings and replaced them with greater peace and trust that all is exactly as it should be.

I took a step back and looked at it: my home in Canada was sublet, my expenses were much lower in Bali, and enough money flowed in to take care of what I needed with almost no effort. My active clients were well-served with my cracked iphone in another location with stronger wifi.

By having the time and space to powerfully shift my own consciousness, align more deeply with my Soul, and cultivate better daily habits that keep my vibration and perspective elevated, I know in every fiber of my Being that my ‘self-indulgent’ time in Bali up-levelled my own contribution to this planet that will pay immeasurable dividends over time – to me, and, in turn, to the people I serve directly and indirectly.

What’s interesting to me, and hopefully helpful to you, is to notice how challenging it was to stop, and how the faint feeling of guilt had to be exorcised before I could fully embrace and enjoy my time in Bali to the fullest. I was still feeling conditioned to be ‘productive,’ with my output tied to my feeling of value to the world, and to put the needs of others in front of the needs of my own body and Soul.

What comes to mind for you as you read my tale? Take note of any part of you that is in judgment, or finds my experience in Bali excessively self-indulgent. It could potentially be a chance for you to unravel an aspect of the taskmaster within that measures ‘value’ by the quantity of output rather than the quality of your Beingess that is the foundation of all you do.

October 2013 Issue