TRUSTING

When things don’t go your way

I’m not running my annual Bali Retreat for women this year. It’s August 2025 and after 12 plus years of facilitating my BlossOm retreats in Ubud at the same time every year, this year it wasn’t to be.

Something happened that I had no control over,  couldn’t have planned on my own,  didn’t choose.

Last year in 2024 during my retreats I went to confirm the same time for the next year (2025), as I always have the same weeks in August, and I was told the times had already been booked out and there was nothing available until October. 

Shocked and upset I couldn’t even believe it. Stunned. What happened? This has been my time slot for the retreats at this venue every year for the past 12 years and it was given away to someone. 

I didn’t know what to do with my initial shock, anger and sadness. So I did nothing but feel it and be with it.

After expressing my dismay and upset to the owners of the venue, who were extremely apologetic, I felt a calm acceptance. 

Life's Orchestration

Something else took over inside of me through this process of feelings and I went into deep surrender and TRUST. I relaxed into what had transpired and accepted that I wasn’t going to run my retreats in 2025 as usual.

It was the calmness I felt that struck me most. The upset passed quickly and moved into a surrendered state of acceptance. Not a surrender that felt like defeat, or submission, but a feeling that all will be ok. I can let go.

Back home, a few months later, I stumbled upon an ad for a ceramics workshop in Ubud in August 2025 and there was 1 spot left.

I knew this 1 spot was for me, especially because it was a workshop on what I had been trying to research on my own and not having much success. PLUS it was taking place during the time in August that I would have been running my retreats.

MEANT TO BE

You know those feelings and tingles when something like this happens and you’re aware that life is orchestrating this and you ride along with the orchestration with a deep knowing that it's one of those things that’s meant to be.

I quickly booked into the workshop and got the last spot.

A wave of awe passed through me as I recognized that this spot and the timing of the workshop was not a coincidence with the mix-up that meant I wasn’t able to hold my usual women’s retreat in Ubud at that time.

I stumbled upon this workshop towards the end of 2024 and here it is nearly a year later and it’s now August 2025 and in less than a week I’m flying  over to Ubud to be inspired and learn about matte glazes and surface textures. Something I’m keen to learn.

I write this story and share it with you mainly because I’m so inspired by the way life unfolds and how what at first may seem like things are not working out like you want, turns out to be an opportunity that  you could not have planned, or even imagined on your own. 

And next year in 2026?

The retreats are on again.

I’ve  booked the venue and women who want to join me in this spiritual and creative retreat are already booking their place. 

We practice gentle yoga, deepen our trust and surrender and  explore the Balinese spirit of taksu and how it expresses itself in our life.

Find out more the 2026 retreats HERE

Taksu is a deep part of the Balinese culture. It means a spiritual force of divine inspiration that fuels artistic creation. It's in everything and IS everything.

Having a pause this year has me pondering as I do.  Especially as we approach the year 2027 and the changes that will be taking place for the next 400 years or so. 

Human Design and the 2027 shift

In 2027, according to Human Design - a system for navigating life that is true for you, there will be a shift from what has been for the last 400 years under the influence of what’s called the incarnation cross of planning. And in 2027 a new energy will shift us into a new influence - the cross of the sleeping phoenix -  going forward for the next 400 years. 

I’m curious to see how it unfolds. No one really can say how this will affect each and every one of us. But we can see the current turmoil that’s unfolding in the world right now and collectively we know that things will need to crumble and fall in order to be rebuilt into a new version.

And it’s up to us individually as part of this collective called humanity to hold the values of heart and soul and bring that new version into all we do while we are here briefly in this world.

So dear ones,

When in doubt …  trust your heart, your soul. Not any outer authority

When unclear … surrender to the bigger energy that we are a part of. Go look at the stars and remember you are not alone.

We are not in control like we like to think we are.

The universe is so vast it's incomprehensible to the mind.

Let go and invite life to show you what’s next … one step at a time. 

Be in quietude and listen to your soul. It is speaking softly to you all the time. It is a different voice to your mind. Notice the difference. Go with the gentle soft voice that calls to you and follow it.

Namaskar