“If she likes you, she’ll keep you here… But if she doesn’t she’ll push you out and you won’t want to come back.” one of my hosts told me as we drove to town one morning. He wasn’t speaking about the hosting etiquette of his family, but rather of his island.

People refer to Bali as a person, a land brimming with spirits and simmering with lushness. If you’ve spent time here, you’ve probably felt the electric energy that pulses through the body and seen the gentle and delicate offerings to quell that current on every door step and down every cobbled street.

Like a wave, this energy has enveloped me and pulled me out into waters I didn’t know existed. I’ve felt I was drowning at times, subsumed and confronted by old feelings that I had forgotten, only to be brought to clear new shores. I’ve felt like I was flying at others, zipping on the tides and afraid to fall. (I thought it was just Balinese coffee, but apparently it’s the taksu.) I’ve been opened and nurtured, whether it’s by the land itself, new friends, healers or strangers.

Which is all to say, I think Bali and I are enjoying our time together. The past two weeks have been one of internal and intangible adventure, which has put a damper on my blogging. It’s been a haze of healing, from holy springs and the “strangest” practitioners I can find (thanks to a challenge from a fellow in a coffee shop) to conversations with fellow seekers and sessions of sitting and watching and working through this new energy.

More will come in the next week or so, as the sands settle. My challenge to you all for your Sunday: Throw away your plans and decisions today. Let your city, town or country be your guide. Feel its energy and let the people you meet be your sherpas. Be open to what the place and people have to offer you, and just go with it… And see what happens!