Hello dear friends!
In Bali, enjoying breakfast right next to our housesit!
Happy New Year to you! Max and I have been back in the US of A for the same amount of time we explored Bali and beyond this summer - 3 full, sweet months! The question we most frequently get asked about our trip is, "What was your favorite part?" To which I jokingly inquire back, "How much time do you have?" Our trip was wild and full of adventure. It was scooter rides, playing in ocean waves, volleyball with new friends, snorkeling, yoga on beaches with monkeys, and so on. It was also "Bali Belly", food-sensitivity-induced fatigue and a tweaked ankle here and there. Despite all that, if you ask me now what is the one thing that stands out above them all? It's this...
We were riding along a very narrow “short cut” past a rice field, dipping across a bridge over a creek, passing two men building a home. There was construction everywhere in Bali, particularly in Canggu where we spent much of our time (because the beach and volleyball were close). This level of development felt like the first world taking advantage of fertile ground. There were gyms, restaurants, tattoo parlors, hotels, bars, etc popping up like Monopoly pieces. All by the hands of foreigners. I was a Westerner using these amenities, feeling a sense of guilt and shame for my own Instagrammable privilege. However, as we slowed for a speed bump in front of this particular building, one of the Balinese men turned towards us. Rather than look away, as I might at times do to avoid the vulnerability of meeting another person face to face, I stayed looking. I felt warmth radiating from him. So I smiled. He smiled back; a smile so big, genuine and friendly that my heart lit up as we gained speed up the hill away from his presence. The moment passed, but its essence hardened like diamond into my memory. I took a chance by smiling at him and it was like my heart swelled. It was late in the afternoon, he was working, yet he still had the ability to radiate the joy he felt in his being. In that moment, my heart elevated and I felt a sense of wholeness wash through me leaving goosebumps in its wake. Bali prepped and primed me to understand what it feels like to be surrounded by a heart-centered, loving culture. This was one of my favorite moments amongst an ocean of unforgettable experiences that don't condense down like evaporated milk.It is this experience of "heart-swell" that I will forever remember and be grateful to Bali and its people for. Have you experienced something similar? These are the moments that I notice in daily life that are the source of my artwork. This is my why. I get this sense of extremely content emotion from something of the natural world or its people, pick up on something that hints at the divine energy we are made of, and feel it is my purpose to share it with you. This is also why I travel. When the noise of home life and daily stressors quiets by stepping away from them, into places, particularly those closer to nature, that feel nurturing, I can more easily experience that energy I speak of. It’s this energy of the highest frequency that provides hope, optimism and healing for a broken world.
On our first morning home, I felt drawn to a book I started in 2020 and never finished called “Becoming Supernatural” by, Dr. Joe Dispenza. As I enjoyed a morning cup of coffee, I flipped open to where I’d left off and read this,
“Since the autonomic nervous system’s agenda is to create balance and health, the instant we get out of its way, stop analyzing, cease thinking, and fully surrender, this intelligence steps in and creates order. But this time it’s carrying a newer, more self-organizing message with a greater frequency from the unified field. That very same coherent energy raises the frequency of matter…The body is receiving a more coherent signal.
When this happens you will feel intense love, a profound joy for existence, a heightened sense of freedom, indescribable bliss, an awe for life, elevated levels of gratitude, and a humbled sense of true empowerment. In that moment, the energy from the unified field - in the form of emotion - is reconditioning your body to a new consciousness and a new mind. In a heartbeat, the elevated emotions signal new genes in new ways, changing your body and moving it out of your biological past……
If on a consistent basis you can make this journey all the way to Source and connect with it, the moment you truly interact with it, you will begin to behave more like it. Its nature becomes your nature, and now more intelligent love is being expressed through you. What are its qualities? You will become more patient, forgiving, present, conscious, aware, willful, giving, selfless, loving and mindful, to name but a few of them. You realize that which you have been seeking is seeking you. You become it, and it becomes you.” - P. 251-252.
We've decided to dedicate 2024 (and any following years we get to experience) to cultivating this sense of heart-swell. Or as I like to call it, magic. I'll go searching for it and report back. I intend to do more, share more and give more. As coach Martha Beck teaches on how to live a purpose-driven life, "Pay attention, be astonished, tell about it." We can't wait to keep sharing with you in so many ways! We are cooking up so many exciting options for 2024. I'll give you a good hint in one word for now though...YOGA! Stay tuned!
Meanwhile, enjoy this story of my latest work! This year's first finished piece was inspired by a visit from my mom and her husband to St Petersburg, FL in April of 2022. We went to the Dali Museum together and these hibiscus flowers were catching the sunlight outside in the most delicious way! Later that day, we were sitting on a picnic table drinking G & T's under the stars at their campsite with banana leaves rustling beside us when this vision came together. Originally, I proposed this as a mural idea to a client, but unfortunately she had a negative association to the hibiscus & family so we shifted in a different direction.However, for many cultures Hibiscus flowers, like many natural elements, symbolize multiple things. The ones that resonate most for me are matters of the heart. They evoke feelings of love and passion, and represent divine femininity. They embody the law of attraction, as they attract admiration and awe simply by being. Or in my case, outside the Dali, by catching the light just so, as if they were lit from within. They bloom only 1 day, suggesting the ephemeral nature of beauty, and the reminder that every moment something sacred is occurring. They are also considered good luck for brining one's soulmate to them. I consider it no coincidence that Max & I met only a few months after this sign presented itself! If you relate to this piece, or if you need a little enticing to draw in that partner you've been hoping for, or just want to cultivate more love & beauty in your being, the ever-stunning hibiscus is awaiting your attention! I finished this piece today, and it wasn't until sitting down to write this that the meaning of this painting truly came to me - two hibiscus UNITE to make one even lovelier. I've been blessed and I send that blessing out to everyone and anyone who is looking for more love in their life.This piece, like several others on my website, are available for purchase. Thank you so very much for your continued appreciation and support - I can not WAIT to share so much more with you in 2024 as Max & I continue to co-create! Sending you and yours all the love in the world, from our hearts to yours!
With love,
Anna & Max
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