Now I will admit, there have been times in my life where awakening happens all the time, yet more often that not, it occurs very seldom. However, I do feel that when I feel grounded, on purpose and surrounded by souls who are also seeking for greater expansion, these moments tend to multiply.
So let me describe one of these moments that fully awakened my soul on my last traveling trip....
First, I begin by bringing your senses to the lush island world of Bali. This is an island with well over 150 different shades of lush beautiful green at every step of your day.
As you enter into the rice fields, you become surrounded with spirits and souls so sweet for your liking, that their vibration just pours out of them directly into you. Let me be clear by stating that these are not often money rich people, these are just spirits directly tapped into universal guidance and truth, yet there life is quite bare bones and basic. They connect daily to the divine and their life is honored and lived through the waking brilliance of God and spirit...
Ok, blah, blah, blah, I get it Aaron, they are exquisite beings living in a poverty stricken world.
Plainly, yes: more deeply; no, but that my friend is simply for you to feel and know through your own travel experience.
So, after spending a few weeks playing in the waters, fields and mountains of Bali, I decided to take my trip into the neighboring island of Lombok. With a motorbike, a small backpack, a sweet Nikon D90 and the courage and willingness to open my heart to the beauty of Lombok, I departed on a multi-day journey!
Upon arriving, I, being a prudent navigator, looked charmingly upon the map of the island and found the shortest route to our first destination, Kuta, Lombok. Kuta is a small quaint fishing village beach area, with a strong international surfing community and the taste of relaxation and bliss in the area. It makes the island of Bali look like NYC. For those of you who have been to Bali, but not Lombok; here is an opportunity to just get a light taste of what is possible.
My traveling friend, Pierette and I looked at the map, picked the shortest route and off we want along the far south western corner of Lombok, to find a culture and community of people just waiting to be discovered. As we ventured along the road, we noticed that these roads were far less cared for and developed than almost any road we were on in Bali. We noticed as the time got later in the day, the potholes on the road got larger and larger and then just almost impassable. Now, for those of you who have not traveled on the joy of a small motorbike, let me first just say, these are not exactly all terrain vehicles. (However, it was only about 4 years prior on the island of Sumatra, where I completely immersed my motorbike in a gigantean puddle, only to realize that after I let the glow plugs dry, it would start up again. It was a good thing as I was surrounded by complete jungle, about 4 hours away from any kind of civilization.)
Basically these are good transport bikes, but they always bring you some sort of engineering surprise while on the road. As my Estonian friend and I ventured through these villages we were happily greeted by not just local young boys and girls saying, “Hello Mr, How are you?” but also local elderly people with some of the largest grins of joy surrounding their faces. I had never been to a place in the world where the older people were just as friendly, kind and sweet as those of the spirit filled childlike souls. I recall vividly, one older woman, clearly well into her 70’s with the age of sun, earth and life surrounding her body, only holding one large tooth in her mouth, giving us one of the largest smiles of purity and authenticity that I had ever seen. It was through these eyes of self reflection and spirit, that joy just came pouring through her, as clearly she was overjoyed to had the opportunity to see these Westerners come strolling though her small little village. As we continued down the road, we began thinking to ourselves, this must be a very underdeveloped community, as it would take some serious time and nerve to be willing to pass along this road. However, this confused us, as we had been reading into that this area of Kuta was being developed as a huge resort area. Clearly, any “normal” tourists would have turned around along time ago on this road, so it simply did not make sense how people were getting out there. It was not until the following days, when we realized that taking the longer, yet paved road, that this was the way of “normal” travel for those going to Kuta...
After my experience and fun in Kuta, we met with two of Pierette’s Indonesian friends whom she knew from her work in Singapore. Our next journey would be to the Gili Islands for some of the world’s finest diving. We met with them, journeyed to the far north western portion of the island and took our ferry to the Gili’s. Now, this was all the while of tasting local cuisine, engaging in a negotiation battle with a ferry captain and just simply soaking in the sunshine of this enchanted place!
The Gili’s were fantastic, filled with rich culture,
a bit of a western party scene, (which we engaged in for one evening, and then had enough), and just a calmness and serenity that is unmatched almost anywhere in the world. On one of our evening’s on Gili Air, which is the middle sized island of the three, I had an experience, that as I indicated in the start of this entry, was an awakening point for me. A moment of absolute gratitude and soul recognition that poured slowly over every morsel of my body.
The evening was set right, we all settled into our beautiful bungalow, we caught some late afternoon-evening snorkeling and we picked out our prize fish for an evening of lush and overzealous feasting. The fish on these islands were incredible; I could dive with them during the day, and the locals picked out the “right” ones at night for the Westerner’s delight. I emphasize on right, as this practice could be contrived as a little strange to some, but when the fish is good, its just good all around, such is the flow of life on this planet!
While waiting for our fish to cook over the freshly prepared grill, I excused myself from the conversation and made my way to the toilet. Nothing was unusual here, until I made my way back to our table bungalow at the beach. I began to feel my body quiver inside and feel very “uneasy.” It was a feeling I had had before, when feeling or being sick, just a general nausea. This began to increase, as my friends food came first, and I realized that even after a day of diving, swimming and exploring, I was not feeling hungry. It was as though I was loosing my appetite as the evening went on. In addition, I began to feel dizzy, with a sense of headache and lightheadedness coming over me. When my plate of food finally arrived, I had absolutely no appetite and my body was really warming up. However, through every moment of warming up, I would get these chills running through my body. As the evening progressed, the chills were getting more intense and the fever was increasing. Soon enough, I excused myself from the table and tried to venture to get some sleep. Once I laid down, the real nightmares and fear began to take over my body. I knew something was happening inside of me, and as I began to run through the possibilities, it felt like the symptoms of Malaria.
I called my friend in Bali, who had told me about her boyfriend getting malaria one time, just to see if the symptoms I had were the same as his: and they were spot on, every single one of them was similar, if not the same as what was happening through my body. I was completely overwhelmed in this situation and was constantly seeking and asking for spirit’s guidance for this journey my humanness was struggling through. It was through this evening and challenge of my body breaking down, where I began to be floored with insight and guidance into a greater purpose and feel for this life I was leading.
Spirit decided to place three intelligent, witty and extremely charming women into my life, whom I would call my three guardian angels. Since Pierette’s friends were Indonesian, they could speak the language and help arrange for me an early morning transport to the ferry and to get off the island. One of them had great experience with message, relaxation and reiki treatment, so she assisted in calming my body.
I realized at about midnight of this fiasco, that with this parasite running amok through my system it was decreasing my life force energy and I was loosing stability through my whole system. I decided I needed to get to a hospital and get a blood sample taken by the morning. This decision however lead to an evening of being pampered by my angels while trying hard to fall asleep. I had an overwhelming fear of not waking up, running through every morsel of my being. My angels tried to calm my anxiety, but I knew something was going wrong with me. I was without the knowledge, doctors or the wisdom to know what was happening...
My temperature was extremely high,
Cold flashes were running through my system
I was lightheaded and dizzy beyond belief..
and I was on a third world island in Indonesia, far away from any kind of medical support..
So I turned my thoughts to pure gratitude.
I began to think about all those whom I love.
I began to have absolute and full appreciation for this play of spirit to put me in this situation, yet surround me with three beings who were nurturing me every step of the way.
I began to just simply surround my soul in the pure light of humanity, grace and love.
And simply, as crazy as it sounds, I let go into this perfect moment of soul awakening...
Now for some, I know this may sound kind of crazy, however, it simply worked. Through every thought of gratitude that poured through me, my heart began to slow down a beat, my body began to cool to a more sacred temperature and my overall well being just felt a bit more at peace. This was either meeting, matching or po
ssibly beating whatever virus was trying to have its way with me...
By sunrise, I had slept for maybe 30 minutes through the evening, my body was tired and I was exhausted. My temperature had slightly decreased, but I knew it was time to leave the island to get some extra help...
After an hour ferry and a three hour car ride, we arrived at Lombok hospital to the sight of a local woman being dragged into the hospital by a few other men, with dripping blood covering the not so clean hospita
l floor.
So my convictions of third world hospitals, were fairly accurate...
I had always heard stories of “these” kind of hospitals, but now the stories were live and in person, with my life at hands. My local friends helped me along the way, buying the needles I needed for my blood sample and finding me an almost clean area to wait while the tests came in...
After around two hours of waiting and hearing stories from them about the real hospitals and health system of Indonesia, I was ready to get out of this sickening place.
My body was weakening through every “sick” soul who walked through the door..
The tests had come in, it was not Malaria, but Dengue Fever was not ruled out. We escaped away from the hospital, found some half way nutritious food and began about the rest of the day.
Somehow by about 8 pm on this awakening day, I was feeling almost back to health. I had no idea, way or how, something that had overwhelmed every part of me, was now feeling like just a memory of my being.
Either way, I was grateful. This situation, may be a bit intense for some, others not so much, but what it gave me was this sense of respect, indignation, and purpose for the following days and years of my life. I realized from this situation, that this voice of intuition that guides me so clearly, is there for my use.
I realized that these situations are only and always for our own growth, and I truly felt through these moments the overwhelming power and resource of gratitude.
Let me share, that there were hundreds of other insights and wisdoms that occurred through these moments, but it was through this willingness to overcome and say yes to it all that got me through the fever, through the chills, through the pain, into a space of complete peace, gratitude and thankfulness.
I did not realize that this situation was simply prepping me for the journey and challenging experience I would endure at 16,000 feet in the Himalaya Mountains later on this traveling voyage, but thats more for another writing inspired day...
