Sama Sama ~ Mutual Gratitude

I woke up at dawn three stories high in a converted water tower to a crystal clear view of the massive volcano of Mount Agung and its sidekick Batur. I cried. Hello Bali, hello boss… I am back. You who have formed this island and your third respectable volcanic helper, Buyan-Bratan… I bow to you and this land. Thank you for your people. Thank you for creating with me. We have been on this journey together for 18 years now. A long-term creationship indeed. Thank you for this love child that has been navigated into existence with our sincerity, effort, trust and support. It has been a journey. And with all the goodness and beauty… it has taken some grit and determination… yet the threads always lead back to the heart... As I write this from the comfort of my bed, looking into your lush jungle, thank you for granting me this elemental view. I do not take it for granted. I know… you have many sides. That’s part of being past the honeymoon phase. As I navigate your dirty streets, your traffic, trash, pollution, your heat… I always look for you in unexpected places. Through the imperfections and the hardships that come along with life. I have seen the harshest, most decadent, and genuinely most beautiful as I traverse the spectrum of it all. 

Please guide me. Guide me through this time here to connect the dots so it may feed the good people in a good way with the generator of creativity that I am honored to host within the center of my chest. Yes, I have questioned this long-distance relationship along the way… as it may be more sustainable if it were more local… but damn… I am naturally loyal. I, too, am made from different lands that require me to travel to see part of my blood family in Germany. Bali is also my home and an undeniable parent to my love child, Leom Designs. 

I am now five weeks into my time here… with a little more to go. I toggle between the hemispheres, trusting the divine timing to access different departments of my brain. The logic and the magic, the doing and the being. Parts of it, exhaustingly, mental and parts of it creatively satisfying and blissful…. business meetings with the deeper flow in the pool, missions to the city to source fabrics, early rises to make sure I can receive and achieve all the information I need that day to make it all happen without feeling crunched or overwhelmed. And did I mention that it is hot? I can only be present with what’s right in front of me for a percentage of my ideas to come to fruition… so pardon my absence out there in the world. I love you and would never ghost you on purpose if you have somehow felt that way. I have a new word for how I do business and how I create and operate: It’s the marriage of creative flow and focus—the synergy of listening and engaging while balancing my capacities and limitations. I am just over here holding my flowcus. 

P.S. I’ll be honest… and not only because I am partially selfish… I don’t know if I recommend this place as a vacation destination. It feels so overrun… as everyone wants to taste the lap of luxury it can provide. Yet at which cost? If I didn’t know my way around here, weaving my motorbike through the wild insanity of things… I don’t know… it would entirely overwhelm me. But if you do choose to come… May you show up in kindness … Even when things get tough. The heart of things needs to be remembered through us, ready to reflect and amplify you if you show up with yours tuned to your unique, authentic key. 

In fact… do that anywhere. 

May you be an answer to someone’s prayer. And they, an answer to yours.