Nyepi, Balinese New Year – A Special Key

Balinese A special key:

Our visit to Bali happened to coincide with the Balinese New Year called Nyepi.  Nyepi Day is a Day of Silence. On the eve of Nyepi Day when “Ogoh Ogoh”, giant paper and bamboo puppets symbolising evil spirits are paraded around the streets before being burnt to ashes.  It is symbolic of slaying the negative thoughts we each carry.  Nyepi day itself is a day of purification and self-reflection honouring the Gods and the environment.  No one is permitted to leave their home, spending the day in silence and meditation. All of Bali shuts down honouring the Hindu New Year, even the airport was closed.  As guests at a resort, we were permitted to use the facilities but were not permitted to leave the resort and had to stay away from the beach.  We were pleased to be able to experience this Balinese sacred day and to feel the special calm that had descended upon the island. That evening there were no lights outside the resort or throughout the resort’s public areas. We could have lights on in our hotel rooms but had to keep the curtains drawn so no light would be visible being seen from outside.  On a completely darkened island, we experienced a night sky filled with millions of brilliantly dazzling stars.  It was breathtaking.  We lay on the dark balcony floor in awe of the spectacle above us feeling so grateful for all that we were experiencing. It seemed symbolic of our journey.  Two weary women releasing the negative experiences of the past being purified by the sun, friendship, massage, laughter, yoga and a Day of Silence. The next night when we looked up at the night sky we could only see a handful of stars compared to the millions we admired the night before.

The lesser lights of the world obscured our ability to see the magnificent light of the stars.  

Our ability to see beyond a limiting situation we find ourselves in is obscured by our beliefs and perceptions.  

Greater opportunities are always out there we just have to find the keys to unlock the doors that are awaiting us.  

We can’t see the stars in the bright light of day but we know they are there, just like we may not be able to see greater opportunities or pathways but they too are there.  

Equipped with this wisdom and the knowing that the very keys of transformation are within us and around us, we can approach our lives in a more dynamic way. Even a slight shift in perception can open us to entirely new worlds. Imagine standing behind a big boulder, you can see nothing but the boulder in front of you.  Your friend who is standing a metre away from you but not behind the boulder has the full view of the ocean, mountains and so on.  All you have to do is move a metre to the side and you too will see what they can see. While this is a very basic example it highlights that only a simple shift, which in this case requires stepping to the side, can change our vista completely. This is the same with our thoughts, by changing our mind we change our life, opening to vistas once obscured by our limiting beliefs. So why is it that there are so many people that stay in bad situations, marriages based on complacency, unfulfilling jobs, abusive environments, addictions, co-dependency and so on?  What keeps us trapped, locked in situations that not only do not fulfill or enhance the light of our soul but limit the very nature of our being?  The inevitable outcomes of living in these situations are depression, fear, anxiety, frustration, hopelessness, despondency creating a further downward spiral and acceptance of other limiting experiences. Could it be because they have forgotten that they have the key?