The Magic of Ibiza

I realised this morning that, in all the time I´ve had this blog entitled “Healing & Light from the White Isle”, I´ve never actually written a piece about the White Isle herself. Well, ladies and gentlemen, that is about to change... :)

I say “herself” because, quite simply, that´s how I view Ibiza – as female energy. Stepping off the plane when we arrived for our first holiday here, ten years ago, it was like I could feel her wrap her arms around me and I immediately felt safe and nurtured somehow. I´d no idea, of course, back then what this all meant; that it was, in fact, the first clue that I would eventually make this my home – I just knew it felt nice and kind of special, and didn´t give it much further thought than that. Space and Privilege were calling, after all!

Numerous clubbing holidays over the course of the next few years ensued, but even so, amidst the bedlam and the haze, there was a quiet little voice whispering to us – both me and my hubby – and eventually, we started to give serious consideration to moving to Ibiza.

And that´s when things got really weird.

Ibiza, or rather Es Vedra, the mysterious, majestic island rearing out of the sea off the south coast, is the third most magnetic spot on the planet and we certainly seemed to be feeling its pull, but to upsticks and move? Hubby had a senior job with a large multi-national, I worked full-time, we had a nice house, good standard of living, hectic social life and four cats. It seemed like an impossible pipe-dream, irresponsible even, but as soon as we faced the fact that we wanted to move, it seemed the entire universe conspired to make it happen and our life suddenly turned into something resembling a far-fetched movie with an implausible and contrived plot-line. There was no way we could have imagined or orchestrated events to transpire the way they did.

Hubby was offered a voluntary redundancy package that we would have never dared dream possible. To our astonishment, our house, when we had it valued, was worth three times the amount we´d paid for it and the day before we were due to put it on the market, a lady turned up on the doorstep selling raffle tickets for the village gala, of all things. We started chatting and, for some reason, ended up telling her about our plans to move. It turned out she was looking to buy a house in our village, so she had a look around and made us an offer there and then. Neither estate agents nor their fees were necessary!

Things had happened so quickly that found ourselves in the tricky position of having sold our house, without having found accommodation on Ibiza. The simplest solution seemed to be to rent a house in the UK while we were looking, but all the properties available to rent were for a minimum of 12 months (we wanted a 6 month contract) and none of them allowed pets. Just as time was running out and we were starting to get desperate, we stumbled across a letting agent we´d somehow missed before. We explained our situation and the agent, with a gasp, said “oh, what a coincidence”. Just the day before, a man had put his house up to rent with her which, due to his personal circumstances, he only wanted to rent out for 6 months, and he worked with animals so she was sure the cats would be no problem. In fact, the house was the only one on her records with a cat flap!

Once again, it felt like the universe and Ibiza were smiling on our plans. We managed to find the perfect house on Ibiza with little fuss and set a date for the big move. Now the only thing troubling us was transporting our four spoiled-rotten and totally adored cats to Ibiza. Getting ourselves there was a piece of cake compared to shipping animals and the more we looked into it, the more of a logistical nightmare it appeared to be. Then, a couple of months after we´d moved into our rented house, the owner – who we had never met before, all dealings having been carried out through the letting agent – called round. I found myself in floods of grateful tears when he mentioned, in passing, what he did for a living. He was the Managing Director of a freight company...who specialised in shipping pets abroad!! Problem solved – he himself collected our fur-babies and got them safely onto a plane to follow us out.

This all happened four years ago and to this day, I continue to marvel and chuckle at the magic of it all. I feel blessed that I am able now to live my life on this beautiful island, pursuing my creative dreams. Instead of rushing and stressing, working hard for someone else and frantically cramming in every social event we thought we couldn´t possibly miss, simplifying our lives in this way has, in fact, led us to the bliss we were always chasing.

But it hasn´t all been smooth sailing – far from it. I said before that Ibiza has a nurturing and protecting energy...but she is also tough as old boots! For me, I feel that she´s saying, “well, all right then, come and live here, but I have some things to teach you. Are you ready for that?” Erm...I suppose so. Lessons have abounded in the time I´ve been here – some fairly straightforward and easy to take on board, some absolutely not. I view Ibiza´s main lesson to me – which I now understand is a gift of gigantic proportions – as showing me all things and all people, including myself, in our true colours to see how I will handle it. A little bit shakily, it has to be said, on the occasions when the truth turns out to be startlingly at odds with what I´d previously assumed to be the case. Tough lessons, tough love, but I´ll tell you something – I wouldn´t have missed out on a single one of them.

It´s felt nice to write about this and to actually express to the world via the internet (or at least to anyone still reading these ramblings) my gratitude to the Tao of Ibiza and to share what is clearly the most important lesson for us all here. The power of positive intention, followed by simply letting go and trusting. When something is right, and is for our highest and greater good, then all we have to do is state it clearly, ask for help & sit back to allow the magic in.

Give it a go...who knows where you might end up. ;)

The Tricky Business of Letting Go

What exactly is it about letting go that freaks us all out so much? Well, if you ask me, I reckon it's all to do with attachment. We get so attached to people, things, situations, positions, beliefs, opinions and so on that we actually believe we can't live without them. In effect, we believe that we are those things. And if we want to overcome our fear of letting go, then that's the first belief we absolutely have to let go of.

Try reminding yourself every day – as many times as you remember - “I am not my beliefs” for starters and once that new way of thinking has had time to register, you'll find the whole process much easier. This is not just wishful thinking, the fact that you are much more than your beliefs has the added bit of clout that it is, in fact, The Truth. Most of our beliefs, at the end of the day, are inherited. We learn them from our parents or carers, our teachers, our partners, friends, so-called “authority figures” or society as a whole. But as we journey through our lives, there are inevitably times when certain beliefs we once held dear no longer serve us in a positive way. To keep growing and developing, it is essential that we are able to let these outmoded beliefs & opinions go. There is nothing wrong with this – it is entirely natural, no matter what anyone else says and no matter what the outcome or changes this letting go may bring about. And you certainly don't need to be all uppity and superior about it, nor do you have to beat yourself up for once entertaining ideas that are no longer relevant in your life. You've outgrown them, that's all and you're perfectly within your rights to acknowledge that they've worked for you in the past, but to affirm that you now have a different way of being so you're releasing them gently and with love. It might all sound a bit namby-pamby and pointless, but try it – it's more powerful than you might expect.

Once that idea has had time to settle and become hardwired into your inner circuitry, it becomes clear that it can be applied to all aspects of your life. Of course, we all love certain people and hope to have them in our lives forever. We are proud of our positions in society, the money we've made, the things we've accumulated over the years – nice house, car, gadgets, holidays etc. But the simple fact is, nothing and no-one is guaranteed to be around for ever. Anything could happen – we've all seen it in our own lives and in the lives of those around us. Anything. And there's nothing we can do about it, except to change the way we look at it. Letting go of the fear and the dread is the first step; a close second is to make sure we take time every day to appreciate and give thanks for those people and things. Then if someone or something is suddenly taken from our lives, we can go through the whole grieving process – which is perfectly natural, essential in fact – safe in the knowledge that we will handle this.

The thing to remember is that everything happens for a reason. Even if you can't see it at the time. The Tao has it all under control and is working for your highest good all the time – fact - even if you can't for the life of you understand why. We've all had these situations – when we look back and say “wow, had it not been for that horrible thing happening, then this really good thing would never have happened” - haven't we? So, even though it's difficult to remember when you're in the midst of having to let something or someone go, why would you think that this time would be any different? The Tao will never let you down, and the more you can show your trust of it, by letting go with grace and gratitude, the easier the process and the more empowered you become. This doesn't make us hard-nosed, unfeeling so-and-sos, quite the opposite. When we start to trust in ourselves and in the grand scheme of things, it ultimately makes it easier for everybody concerned. Our decisions become more love-based and clear, in other words.

Everything changes – some things go, new things come in. It's life and it's wonderful.

However it appears initially, keep remembering, all change is good.