Bali-happy!

photo credit: sparselysageandtimely.com

Maybe this is my recompense for two hard years in a row, but damn it, 2011 is pretty much blowing my mind regularly.  So much great stuff has happened -- 12 whole days of AWESOME now, with no sign of let-up.  I could get used to this!

Yesterday the full force of the changes I've made really started to hit home.  I was already feeling pretty delighted that my orientation to new job included a field trip to our Indian Valley Organic Farm, smack-dab in the middle of the afternoon.  I stopped at home on the way for lunch and a change of get-up, to find that textbooks for Herpetology had been delivered -- so exciting to be able to get started on the reading early, plus I'm so eager to learn it all.  The Farm is gorgeous and so inspiring, in the most idyllic setting.  And then, if that weren't enough, I was treated to the sight of a bobcat first at a long distance, its distinctive shape and very cat-like walk emerging from the brush at the bottom of the Farm, then as we waited, quiet, entranced, it made its way up the fireroad right across from where we stood, pounced on something in the grass, missed, walked on, pausing to give us a long look though the fence.  Sheer fall-on-your-knees delight!

From that hour and a half interlude at the Farm, it was back to the office for an hour or so of work, then to Trixie's for the yoga pick-up, then to Laura's class, featuring live music by Todd Boston.  It was so great to see so many I know and love there, especially the special treat of Chrissy Graham, of whom I can never get enough.  

All around, just an amazing day.

And, throughout, I am amazed at the pace of my new life.  There is just so much more space in everything, between everything.  I am happy at my desk and in my work, happy learning new skills and a new business, happy to be home at 5:10 if I leave at 5.  Seeing the bobcat yesterday was icing on the cake, super-tasty affirmation that I made the right move.

This new slower tempo, this daily proximity to home and hubsand, came at a price, one I'll feel when I get my first paycheck.  But I just know it was the right thing for me.  And every day seems to bring with it more solid proof of how right was my decision to make this big change.  I'm happy on a daily basis in the same way I was happy in Bali, which seems funny, right, since daily life is a far cry from vacation life.  But I'm realizing that maybe the gap doesn't have to be so wide, that I can experience this spaciousness all the time, just by slowing down, stepping back, being a part of something that really, really matters to me.

Really, I'm Bali-happy and that's saying a lot, at ease in my skin, open, curious, learning. Long may it last!