Practical Wisdom: Strive Less, Live more

I came to Bali ready for a reset. What I didn’t know was how it would melt away my assuredness—in the best possible way.

Bali isn’t just a place. It’s a presence. A rhythm. A force. If you understand elemental energies, you’ll feel it right away. Bali is water. It flows, it shifts, it carries you somewhere unexpected. Just when you think you know where it’s taking you, it changes course. It’s beyond words, the way water is—something you don’t explain, you just feel.

And Bali asks you to feel. To stop hovering somewhere between head and heart and instead, settle fully into your body. To be here. To be human. To let go of the shore.

It softens. It dissolves what needs dissolving. It moves in harmony with all of life, and if you’re willing, it will show you how to do the same.

In the five weeks I’ve been here, in and around the city of Ubud, the wisdom of its people, the ever-present connection to spirit, and the food (yes, the food) have been reshaping me. Softening the edges of what I thought was certain. Melting away old truths I thought were set in stone.

Like what it means to live on purpose.

How it truly feels to be human.

And what it actually takes to be happy.

Living on Purpose

Back home, purpose has always been about doing—setting goals, working toward something, making an impact. But here, it feels different. Purpose isn’t something to achieve, it’s something to embody. It’s woven into the way people move through their days. The small, sacred offerings placed on doorsteps. The easy laughter between locals and tourists. The way life and spirit are seamlessly intertwined. Purpose here isn’t about striving. It’s about being fully present to the experience of living.

Being Human

I’m used to defining myself by what I do, by the ways I excel, by the story I tell about who I am. But here, being human feels simpler. It’s about connection—to the land, to each other, to something greater. There’s a rhythm, a shared breath, an unspoken understanding that we’re all in this together. The need to prove, to control, to define, feels softer. Less important.

Happiness

I think a lot of us in the West are conditioned to chase happiness. To believe it’s something just around the corner—when we reach the next goal, fix the next problem, find the next thing that will finally make us feel whole. But here, happiness isn’t something to pursue. It’s something to receive. It’s in a shared meal, in the scent of incense curling through the air, in the way the rain falls as a blessing. And oh, the food! Its fresh, alive, and made with intention. Enough, but not too much. It nourishes, not just in a physical way, but in a way that reminds me my body is sacred, deserving of care, of love.

A Balinese friend asked me how I’ll take this home. "How will you share what you're learning in Bali?" It’s a hard question to answer because transformation isn’t something you pack in a suitcase. It’s not about mimicking rituals or trying to recreate the exact feeling of Ubud in a different landscape. It’s about integrating the essence of what I’ve felt here into the way I move through life wherever I am.

I know I want to feel like I feel here. More present. More at ease. More open to life as it unfolds, rather than trying to force it into some preconceived shape. I want to strive less and enjoy more, not in a passive way, but in a way that trusts the natural rhythm of things. There’s a grace to that—an allowing, a deep breath instead of a clenched fist.

And I’m realizing that so much of that comes down to acceptance. Accepting myself and my life, just as it is, without the endless push to be more, to be better, to measure up to some imagined standard. Accepting others in the same way—without expectation, without conditions. There’s a freedom in that. A peace. A doorway to harmony.

And maybe that’s the biggest lesson of all; Happiness isn’t something to chase or earn. It’s something you receive when you stop resisting and judging yourself and your life, and open to the truth that you are, and always have been, a perfect expression of the Divine Source.

I don’t have all the answers yet. But I’m feeling into this possibility...one breath, one step, one moment at a time.