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Now my days are divided into natural thirds. I spend my mornings with Wayan at her shop,
laughing and eating. I spend my afternoons with Ketut the medicine man, talking and drinking
coffee. I spend my evenings in my lovely garden, either hanging out by myself and reading a
book, or sometimes talking with Yudhi, who comes over to play his guitar. Every morning, I
meditate while the sun comes up over the rice fields, and before bedtime I speak to my four
spirit brothers and ask them to watch over me while I sleep.
I’ve been here only a few weeks and I feel a rather mission-accomplished sensation
already. The task in Indonesia was to search for balance, but I don’t feel like I’m searching for
anything anymore because the balance has somehow naturally come into place. It’s not that
I’m becoming Balinese (no more than I ever became Italian or Indian) but only this—I can feel
my own peace, and I love the swing of my days between easeful devotional practices and the
pleasures of beautiful landscape, dear friends and good food. I’ve been praying a lot lately,
comfortably and frequently. Most of the time, I find that I want to pray when I’m on my bicycle,
riding home from Ketut’s house through the monkey forest and the rice terraces in the dusky
late afternoons. I pray, of course, not to be hit by another bus, or jumped by a monkey or bit
by a dog, but that’s just superfluous; most of my prayers are expressions of sheer gratitude
for the fullness of my contentment. I have never felt less burdened by myself or by the world.
I keep remembering one of my Guru’s teachings about happiness. She says that people
universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descend
upon you like fine weather if you’re fortunate enough. But that’s not how happiness works.
Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it,
and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly
in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happi-
ness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep
swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If you don’t, you will
leak away your innate contentment. It’s easy enough to pray when you’re in distress but con-
tinuing to pray even when your crisis has passed is like a sealing process, helping your soul
hold tight to its good attainments.