Finally Friday Week 21: Purging in Paradise

There's something I didn't mention. I came down with a pretty bad cold. The kind that keeps you in bed with a stack of Kleenex on your belly, a good book, cough drops—the works! Yes, you can get sick in paradise. I am :)

But the interesting thing is, I'm still enjoying my time here. Sure, night time is a bit rough with the coughing and such, but I usually feel a bit better during the daytime and have enough energy to go on one adventure. Luckily, I think the cold is on its final stretch to the finish line, thank goodness.

We are in the most gorgeous setting, so it's actually rather healing. We are way up in the hills of Kula at the base of the Mt. Haleakala farm sitting for friends. Yoon says my body is purging out all the impurities in this high vortex place. I'd like to look at it that way. It's given me an opportunity to slow down. In fact, whether I have a cold or not, this place makes you move very slow. It's not the kind of place where you are surrounded by tourists and you feel the need to check activities off a list.

Here, we feel we are not tourists. We are locals. I even went to the clinic here and Yoon drives a big truck that says Practice Aloha on the bumper. I have a CVS card and everyone thinks we are local.

This place calls us not to go out, but to sink in. It sings and vibrates and moves. A whirl of energy mixed with the fragrance of flowers, fluttering birds, trade winds from the coast, plants, vegetables, sun and light. It's really all about the light and the air and the stars. They make you stand still. You can't move. You don't remember what you planned to do, because you are just right here.

I'm right here.

No agenda.

Just wake up and see what happens.

And peacocks happened actually. We were up on the Hana Highway where we decided to stop off at Garden of Eden. We couldn't resist the name. Wow, what a gem of a place! The first thing I saw as we entered was a large male peacock. Peacocks have been on my mind for months now lately. The peacock began to follow me. Later we found a female and her baby and then the same thing happened. Around and around we went together near a picnic bench. I would think she'd want to protect her baby, but she wanted to scope me out. Maybe she was looking for food? I decided it was a sign. I needed a sign anyway. I decided that peacocks are my "spirit animal".

I looked it up online and it said that peacocks represent immortality and rebirth. They also represent royalty and prosperity. On a website called www.universeofsymbolism.com I read this quote: "With a peacock as your animal guide, he will tell you the power of believing that all things come in perfect timing, just trust the process and allow the Universe to do it's magic working on your behalf."

So with all this purging in paradise, perhaps I'm going through a kind of transformation. Maybe I'm becoming a peacock? No, in all seriousness, I do feel like something wants to work itself out of me. It could be just the cold, but I feel like it's a bit more than that. I feel I have been becoming a different person for a very long time, but I'm still holding on to old patterns and beliefs. These pull me down, really. So this purging, if I were to look at it metaphorically, really is a pulling out of who I used to be. It's not always easy to let that go. There's lots of fear in letting go of the identities we create.

I'm going to "trust the process," as the quote says. At times, up here, it feels like nothing is happening, but I know so much is going on. More than I can even comprehend.

365 Inspirations—318: Waking Up at Kalani

“How sweet the morning air is! See how that one little cloud floats like a pink feather from some gigantic flamingo. Now the red rim of the sun pushes itself over the London cloud-bank. It shines on a good many folk, but on none, I dare bet, who are on a stranger errand than you and I. How small we feel with our petty ambitions and strivings in the presence of the great elemental forces of Nature!”—Arthur Conan Doyle

I woke up early, not because I like waking up early, but because the entire bedroom was cast in a fiery glow. It seemed like the land outside must be burning. Maybe Pele, volcano goddess, was paying a visit.

In a half-asleep dream-like state, I wandered outside in my nightgown and slippers to the edge of the grass and looked out at the ocean. It was the SKY that was on fire—a brilliant sunset. How could one sleep with this glow?

Birds were chirping and fluttering about, the smell of sweet tropical plants filled the air. As if this place wasn't alive enough, now things were really getting started.

We are way out here on Ocean Vista point. A bit of a hike to the dining hall, but we decided to hike it this morning.

We walked slowly on the dirt path that was wet from an early morning rain. The air was humid and the combination of wet and the rising sun caused a fragrant, tropical steam to rise from the ground.

Palm trees rustled in the breeze, greeting us as we walked along.

On the way up toward Guest Services, an island cat came running down the street toward us meowing. He rubbed his body up against our legs as if to say, "Good Morning, so nice of you to come this way!"

We passed the pool, the reclining Buddha statue in the bamboo and a statue of a feminine-looking Buddha who may well have been Pele, with many offerings of shells and crystals.

 Finally we reached the dining hall.

A tiny woman blew into an enormous conch shell signaling the start of breakfast. The sound can be heard all the way to Ocean Vista.

Breakfast was fresh Kona Coffee, fresh squeezed juice, egg frittata, french toast, oatmeal with homemade granola and an abundance of fruit—papaya, pineapple, berries, mango, watermelon, grapes and some other tropical fruit that I couldn't identify. I topped my fruit with fresh whole yogurt.

After breakfast, I walked slowly back to the room feeling full of all the abundance and beauty of this morning. I could get used to waking up here....

Have you ever woken up to amazing beauty? Where were you?