There can hardly be a more apt Theme for our Online ISM Retreat month! :) Of course, I will be able to live it only as much as I have already practiced it, still I feel inspired! :)

The other day I was just wide awake while basically just staring across the room, when my son unexpectedly initiated a very deep conversation. During it my heart was more and more open and it was a poignant experience. So, I am looking forward to living wide awake and fully aware! :)

Please enjoy Lady Elizabeth's warm sharing!

With all my love,
(BH)
Milen

~~~

My dear friends,

Happy month! Happy May! Happy full moon! Happy Labour Day!

I have been on add ventures this past month and returned to Cape Town last week after a very rich trip to Bali, one I very nearly did not make. In the end my body agreed to the trip as long as it was a healing trip.

Weeelll, the month of March went by at a rapid pace and the time for any physical healing seemed to be fading into the ether. 🙁

Then my friend went to have coffee with his friend, and this friend had done an international home swap, part of which included attending a healing center founded by his host. He had clearly had a good experience because my friend made contact with me soon after to share there may be a healing opportunity for me after all!

I hopped online straightaway and was immediately inspired! However, I was already committed to a further two weeks (and not cheap) stay in my AirBnB, so conflicting thoughts and emotions.

"If all our personal power is being consumed by our habits then obviously we must cut out all unnecessary acts. We must also dismantle our view of the world, because it is this rigid view which perpetuates habit and therefore keeps the assemblage point fixed. To begin with, the only way in which we can really do this is by being wide awake, that is, fully alert at all times. Only by being more aware of everything in our lives can we begin to differentiate between what is important, and what can rightfully be classified as unnecessary."

Up came the doubts and the cost implications and…and…and how crazy is this impulsive decision?!

I took a deep breath, checked my feelings, dispelled the doubts – and booked for not one but TWO weeks at this jungle healing centre!

I arrived a few days later, launching myself completely into the unknown – and what unfolded in the next few days has changed my life profoundly. I now view this “new body” of mine in a far more empathetic light and I have life changing guidance to tackle imbalances going forward.

Oh, and on arrival the healing centre gave me a discount that balanced out my forfeited AirBnB accommodation 🙂 A cherry on the top!

Oh oh, lol, and on my first night I got caught in one almighty storm just as I was trying to climb flights of deep steep stairs with a full-length sarong I had just been gifted and my very wobbly legs!!

My first healing crisis! I was so happy! Lol!

"The only way of ensuring that we do not generate negative intensity, is to break free from the trap of selective perception, and strive for that clarity which comes from being wide awake, in the sense of being fully aware at all times, as a result of having a thoroughly objective perception. Once we strive to gain an objective perception, then the emotions generated by the act of perception are also objective and, as a result, there is no longer a problem containing these emotions and in using them with skill. Intensity will, of course, still be generated, but instead of being a potentially explosive and volatile mess that causes one to lose control, this sane type of intensity is used by the warrior to spur him on in his battle."

The next morning when I met the physician who was to become my anchor for the next two weeks, I expected him to think me a bit cuckoo for celebrating a healing crisis, but on the contrary. Every healing crisis, however small, was celebrated by all the staff, the majority of them the most warm and genteel Balinese folk I have thus far met. For them the physical body is to be revered.

Have fun with our theme this merry month of May, my friends, as you “live wide awake and fully aware” 🙂

With all my love and warm hugs as I slip into cooler autumn weather,
Elizabeth