Transcript of - The Prosperity Podcast - Some Enchanted Evening Episode #57
Aired - 5/2/2008
More info - Prosperity Secrets Podcast
Podcast Transcribed by The Transcript Library
MUSIC
IRA: Welcome to THE PROSPERITY PODCAST show 57. The purpose of THE PROSPERITY PODCAST is to help our listeners live a better life through the use of the law of attraction and related tips and techniques. We view prosperity as both material and spiritual. The search for fulfillment is varied and each week we examine as aspect of this quest by sharing our accumulated understanding and experience. Julia has just returned from Bali and reviews her travels this week. Among other things, she had an amazing experience at the Taman Sari Bali Cottages Resort, on the web at Bali Tamansari. Now that she’s back, we’ll also be making more Tantra and Hatha yoga videos to post on YouTube as user “prosperity secrets”. Her travels included Thailand, Bali and Hong Kong and she has romantic and revealing stories to relate. So, nothing today but a nice chat in her garden on a sunny California afternoon. Next week we’ll be back with an amazing conversation, in the same garden, with Kenji Kumara from Seattle. He is currently traveling offering his amazing healing and opening treatments. Find more information about Kenji on the web at Quantum Light Weaving. If there is any focus to today’s show, it’s that it’s important to open ourselves to new experiences. The Universe is essentially infinite, but so many of us do the same thing day after day after day. When we travel, we experience new people, new cultures, new climates, new cuisines. And sometimes we come back from these travels with not just a bag full of snapshots and souvenirs, but with a new inner direction and conviction as well.
MUSIC
IRA: This week I get to say, “Welcome back home Julia.”
JULIA: Thank you Ira, it’s really good to be back. Especially with the really incredible spring weather we’re having, 85 degrees today in Sacramento.
IRA: Yes, it’s lovely. It was even 85 in San Francisco yesterday.
JULIA: I love it. Oh my gosh. Now, people may not be aware of this because we very cleverly recorded five extra podcasts while I was gone in Asia.
IRA: Oh, I think I’ve been making excuses like, “I can’t do that till Julia gets back.”
JULIA: Oh really? Well anyway, I have been gone for the last five weeks in Asia. And we’re going to talk a little bit about some of the things that happened for me during today’s podcast. So it’s going to be a little bit of an eclectic show today.
IRA: Yeah, but I like our eclectic shows because they lead us to new insights.
JULIA: Well they often do. And let’s face it, life experience is what it’s all about. And I’ve had some, for the last five weeks.
IRA: Yes. And it’s also, we mentioned several podcasts ago, is that a lot of people never take vacations.
JULIA: Right.
IRA: Because they think they can’t afford them, or what’s the point. Taking a vacation takes you out of your mind set.
JULIA: It does. And I notice that when I come home, I’m a different person. And interestingly, this time when I got home I had a temporary roommate and she loved being here at my house, and while I was gone she had asked if she could stain my kitchen cabinets. I said, “Sure.” She said, “I’m just doing it as a gift for you. They’ll look so great.” What she didn’t tell me was she was going to paint my bathroom and completely organize my entire house and garage.
IRA: I know, I came over here to pick up some books to mail to some of the orders we had for books. I came over here to get them and I said, “What house am I in?”
JULIA: I know. It was quite amazing. I walked in to a different house as a different person. And I thought that was lovely. Again, synchronicity, how I felt I went through some shift while I was gone, and again when our inner world shifts, our outer world always reflects it. And I got it reflected by the shifts in the house. I thought that was really fascinating.
IRA: You know, that’s a remarkable thing to say. You’re not the first one who said that. Wayne Dyer has his phrase--
JULIA: What! He copied me? (Laughing)
IRA: Probably. Wayne Dyer, he’s actually pretty good. The phrase everyone knows is “seeing is believing”. Well, he likes to say, “Believing is seeing.” That it will manifest once you really believe it.
JULIA: Inside, right.
IRA: So you’re living proof.
JULIA: Well, in this respect, absolutely yes. It was an interesting homecoming. But anyway, I would like to share a little bit about what I did when I was gone and I think some listeners might be interested to hear what I got up to. As are you, you haven’t even heard.
IRA: Yeah, this is the first time for me.
JULIA: This is the first time we’ve sat down together.
IRA: I’ve been trying to read her notes to try and get a head start, but her handwriting is really bad.
JULIA: My handwriting is so appalling, it’s worse than a doctor’s. You won’t be able to read it.
IRA: So I’m just going to have to say, “Go right ahead. Fire away.”
JULIA: So anyway, my first port of call was Hong Kong. I spent nine days out in Hong Kong. And I’ve got a dear, dear friend, who is an ex-boyfriend actually, who is very dear to my heart, lives in Hong Kong, and I’ve visited with him a couple times out there before. This time when I went out he has girlfriend and interestingly enough she was quite triggered by me coming to visit and she didn’t want to even meet me.
IRA: Triggered, that’s a polite word. I’d say she was totally threatened.
JULIA: Yes. She was threatened and jealous, but anyway, triggered we’ll say. But she didn’t want to meet me and that was okay, that was her choice. But she also required that he didn’t spend the night in the flat with me. And that he spend every night with her, while I was there. And again, I was okay with that. I thought it was an interesting manipulation, but that was where she was at and I actually said, “Is there any way I can help her process this through, because obviously she’s being triggered?” And he said, “Oh no, she’s not open to it.” The thing for me, the piece for that was really big was, I could have felt quite abandoned, by going to visit somebody in a foreign country and he basically spends a little time with me and then leaves, leaves me to it all alone in a flat. And I didn’t feel abandoned. I was so happy about that because I’d actually worked with this healer, Kenji, who you’re going to hear about later, in a different podcast.
IRA: You also sent me an email, asking me for a little advice. Do you remember that?
JULIA: Oh, I can’t remember. But let me just finish this train of thought.
IRA: Well that’s how much she considers my advice to be worth. (Laughing)
JULIA: The point is, I knew that in the past I’ve had a lot of history of abandonment by men. And it’s something that I’ve worked on, is clearing that pattern for myself.
IRA: And unfortunately, that issue is all too common for many women.
JULIA: It’s extremely common, extremely common across the board. So when I had a session with my healer friend Kenji last time, I said, “This is the thing I really want to clear out of my system. I feel it’s no longer necessary for me to hold on to that pattern.” So we worked on it, and then low and behold, I go to Hong Kong, the universe sends me a test. And how did I do? I did not collapse emotionally.
IRA: You passed.
JULIA: Absolutely, I passed. And what’s more I feel like I took advantage of the fact that okay, well Erik’s busy with this other woman, that’s fine. I had an invitation to go and stay on a Lamma island with some other friends. And I thought, “I’m going to go spend some time with them.” And I had a ball out there on Lamma island, with other people, and just had a great time.
IRA: Well you’re following on to what last week’s podcast was, about being tested.
JULIA: Yes.
IRA: You were tested.
JULIA: Exactly.
IRA: You didn’t get there and it was just “Ooooo! How wonderful!” You got there and was, “Oh, balls.”
JULIA: Well I didn’t say “Oh balls” so much as it was just interesting. I tried to stay in my observer and watch the situation and just be in the flow of it. And say, “Okay Universe, what wants to happen in this situation. I’ve got nine days.” Because when originally I booked my nine days in Hong Kong, Erik didn’t have the girlfriend, we were actually planning to make a trip together somewhere else for a few days. And so I scheduled nine days. And then he gets the girlfriend and he’s calling me saying, “Well, you can still come but I may not be able to spend much time with you.” So I decided okay, I’m going anyway and we’ll see what happens. And in the allowing a flow happened. It was absolutely delightful. I’ve made three really good new friends and they all want me to go back to Hong Kong. In fact, I did some private Tantra work with three people. So I did a little income earning work too while I was out there. And they all want me back for more. So it all really turned out great.
IRA: Speaking of Tantra work, can I make a plug here?
JULIA: Yes.
IRA: A plug here for our YouTube videos. You know how popular your Tantra video is--
JULIA: Is it really?
IRA: We’ve got a whole bunch of subscribers, who are eager for me. So I have to get you into the yoga studio to make another one.
JULIA: We’re going to do a whole DVD actually. That’s our plan, isn’t it?
IRA: Yes.
JULIA: A whole big Tantra DVD and a yoga DVD. And that’s exciting, that’ll happen.
IRA: Yes. Okay, I’m sorry.
JULIA: That’s okay, I love it. So anyways, that was Hong Kong. And then I left Hong Kong and I flew to Bali. And I have my yoga vacation to Bali that I do every year and I met my group out there. This year we were a group of seven lovely ladies and one lucky guy.
IRA: Oh yeah. (Laughing) That reminds me when I went to The Artist’s Way Workshop, which I might have talked about, this is like 15 years ago, and I got there and there were three men at the workshop and 38 women.
JULIA: Sometimes that’s the way. The women are more called to this.
IRA: Yeah, I just said (sarcastically) “Too bad.”
JULIA: Oh, poor Ira. I’m sure you hated it.
IRA: I hated it.
JULIA: The man involved had been warned that there would be more shakti energy, than shiva energy, and he being a tantric practitioner, was only too happy to have lots of women around. Well, I’ve got to tell you what happened because it was really quite funny. He and another lady on the trip fell madly in love.
IRA: Yeah, I got an email about that as well.
JULIA: I think I may have told you.
IRA: It’s almost like I was there.
JULIA: I hope everyone has the feeling they were there. Anyway, not only that but another lady who was on the trip, the very second day we’re on Kuta beach out dancing at night, in a bar, because we do that kind of thing to have fun in our group sometimes, we’re out on the town, she meets a lovely young Australian and before you know it, they’re having a wild, wild love affair. He has to leave and unfortunately go back to Australia--
IRA: So there were two?
JULIA: Wait, wait, there’s more. He goes back to Australia. He can’t live without her. Takes care of his affairs. Flies back. She extends her stay, meets him in Thailand and he is now with her in California. They just came back together.
IRA: I know, and I’m going to put him to work. Because he’s obviously got nothing to do.
JULIA: He’s obviously got nothing to do. I have yard needs help and we have all kinds of technological things that you need help with, right?
IRA: Keep him busy.
JULIA: So we’ll get him a job. But anyway, he’s wonderful, gorgeous, lovely and we’re happy to have him in the states. But wait! There’s more.
IRA: There’s more. (Laughing)
JULIA: There is in fact more. So as the trip goes on there’s another lady who --
SOUND OF PAPER RATTLING
IRA: Okay, there’s paper rattling sounds. We are outside again.
JULIA: We are outside because, actually Kenji’s here doing intensives in my house. Anyway, there is one other lady and she is so delighted to be in Indonesia with all these delightful Indonesian and Balinese men. And she ends up having a wonderful little romantic time with one of the local Balinese guys and it was so sweet because she went off to meet his family and he told her he loved her and when would she come back and I thought, how lovely that she’s having a cultural experience.
IRA: Yeah, don‘t want to use the word cultural exchange there. (Laughing)
JULIA: Let’s not go there. But it was great. Out of eight people, four people had romance on my trip. I mean, I don’t often get a 50% thing going on, but in this case we did. Love was in the air and I got to watch it all with great delight and glee.
IRA: Okay, well speaking of love, one of the listeners wrote in and said they really liked the stories I told about my wife Stephanie. And this is just the little tip of the iceberg with an ongoing story with Stephanie, beloved Stephanie, is that we’re expecting a little baby boy in October.
JULIA: Aw, a little baby boy! Congratulations. Are you picking names?
IRA: We could have a contest. I don’t know what people would win if we picked the name, but yeah, we’re working on names.
JULIA: Wow, that’s great. Awesome.
IRA: Although, we have like, in Hollywood when they make a movie, there’s a working title, before it’s released. So we have a working title.
JULIA: What’s the working title?
IRA: Well, it’s really embarrassing. It’s Remy.
JULIA: Remy?
IRA: If anyone has seen RATATOUILLE, the lead rat, the rat chef is Remy.
JULIA: (in French accent) So the rat is Remy. Remy the rat.
IRA: Well he’s not stupid, he doesn’t talk like that.
JULIA: He’s French.
IRA: He’s French, but more American French. He really can cook well.
JULIA: Was that English French then, that I just did? (Laughing)
IRA: That’s more Inspector Clouseau than anything else. Anyway, that’s the working title. So if I ever talk about Remy this or Remy that…
JULIA: Oh, that’s lovely. We’re digressing away from my little stories --
IRA: Well that’s our little . We’re manifesting love in all of its --
JULIA: Love is manifesting all around. So let’s see, a bit more about Bali. Some of you out there have probably read EAT PRAY LOVE. It’s still on the bestseller list. Written by Elizabeth Gilbert.
IRA: And I don’t know why.
JULIA: Oh, it’s great. It’s probably a woman’s book more. It’s awesome, I loved it.
IRA: It’s so self-indulgent.
JULIA: Oh gosh, be quiet already. She’s awesome. She does great stuff and besides, she connects certainly to the female heart, if not the male heart, and we women love her. Anyway, if you’ve read EAT PRAY LOVE, in this book this woman spends four months in Bali.
IRA: I couldn’t get that far. I was too bored. (Laughing)
JULIA: Well she does. And while she’s in Bali, she also falls in love in Bali, that’s beside the point, she is told to go and see this medicine man. And she has this experience--
IRA: Well actually, that’s at the beginning of the book.
JULIA: Yes but then at the end she goes back to spend a lot of time in Bali. So she goes to see this medicine man, near Ubud, and we also went to see him. About four of us went to see him, four women--
IRA: He does sound pretty cool.
JULIA: He was really cool, I have some great pictures of him. Maybe we should put them up on the site.
IRA: Absolutely, give them to me.
JULIA: Anyway, we went to see him in his little place, four of us women, and he sits down--
IRA: The four who were not romantically involved? Is that it?
JULIA: Actually, you’re about right. (Laughing) The others were busy. Anyway, he’s got this one great tooth that protrudes from the center of his mouth and there are no other teeth in his mouth at all. But that one tooth is looking very strong. He’s about 80.
IRA: Wait a minute, he looks like Sherry Lewis’ puppet, snaggle tooth? May she rest in peace.
JULIA: I don’t know.
IRA: See, you didn’t grow up watching Sherry Lewis.
JULIA: I know Sherry Lewis, but I don’t know the puppet. But anyway, he’s got this great almost toothless grin and he’s a lovely, lovely man who sometimes he says he’s 65 and sometimes he’s 90. Who knows his real age but it’s somewhere between the two. And he basically read our palms and our bodies and gave us all a reading. So he reads me first and he says to me, “Julia, you have very good karma. Very good karma indeed. And you’re going to live to be over 100.” And he did get one thing right, he said you didn’t have children. And I said, “That’s right.” He got the kids thing down on all of us. And then he said, “You’re going to be very happy. And your health, also very good.” Although, when I’m 60 I may have a little something that happens, but I will get over it.” So that’s what he told me. And I’m thinking, “This is great. I’m going to live a long, healthy life. Good karma.”
IRA: And you’re thinking, if he got it right for Elizabeth Gilbert, it’s right for you.
JULIA: Well, of course. Then the next three people have their--
IRA: I better go.
JULIA: Have their palms read. And he says exactly the same thing to all of them. (Laughing) Which is actually quite funny. But maybe we’re all going to live to 100.
IRA: There’s a story I tell, many years ago I went to this class, “Esoteric Communication”. It was given by a professor at UC Irvine. This was 1970 era when they were trying this experimental classes at respectable universities.
JULIA: Sure they were.
IRA: This was the guy that introduced me to Carlos Castaneda, though I never got to really know Carlos well. At least I got to meet him, right?
JULIA: You got to meet Carlos Castaneda, really?
IRA: I didn’t get to talk to him. I just got to meet him.
JULIA: Sorry, I’m a little impressed with his philosophies.
IRA: It was cool to be in the same room. He was a really nice guy, may he rest in peace also. As one of the classes, he brought in a Fortune Teller who worked in the Orange County area. There were like 12 people in the class and she went around and told everyone a little fortune. And then she said to everyone, okay, exchange your fortune with, rotate them around the table, play musical chairs and give your fortune to the person next to you and take the person next to you’s fortune. She said, “Does it still apply to you?” And everyone said yes. And she said, “Exactly. We as professional fortune tellers know how to speak universal truths, the things that apply and resonate with people.” So, I became a skeptic. Now of course, this wasn’t Bali and she had all her teeth and things like that. But the real truth is that there are commonalities between people and our experiences in life. As we’ve said often, about teaching, even Eckhart Tolle says that with Oprah, “If you don’t get it, you’re not ready.” You hear what you want to hear.
JULIA: Absolutely, you do. And the thing is, we had a wonderful afternoon. It was pouring down with rain that day and we just sat there with the energy of this wonderful man that was full of love, beaming wide. And we didn’t care what the fortune was necessarily, we were just happy to spend time with him. And he showed us his artwork and he was so proud and he gave us all a little kiss. He loved having us four ladies there too. And a lovely time was had by all.
IRA: I personally, before I was married, would have loved to have had you four ladies there too.
JULIA: So that was a good experience.
IRA: and if you want to tell your own fortune, just go to the 98 cent store and buy one of those magic eight balls.
JULIA: Oh, well, okay there you are then.
IRA: And it will say, “Yes most definitely” or “Not a chance.” I think there’s eight answers in the magic eight ball. But they are always right.
JULIA: Good, well that will save you some money on fortune telling. So, anyway, a lovely time was had by all in Bali, I have to say, just fantastic. And one other wonderful thing happened, in terms of a synchronicity, and that was, we were at the very last place we stayed, it’s a resort called Taman Sari, Pemuteran in Northwest Bali, way, way off the beaten track. It’s like the far northwest corner where nobody much goes. But there’s this incredible little place with this gorgeous beach and the best snorkeling right off shore in the whole of Bali. In fact, I think it’s the best snorkel day on the planet, and I’ve snorkeled a lot. So I like to take my people there, even though it’s a bit of a long journey, like four hours to drive there. We stayed there three nights. So while we were there this time, and I’ve been there about eight times, it just so happened that the owner of the whole resort was there, his name is Agung Prana, and he found out about our yoga group being there. He’d heard of us before and never met us. So he made an effort to actually meet with me and asked if he could come address the whole group that evening. He said, “I’m not going to drive back to Denpasar tonight, I really want to talk to your group. So I said, “Fantastic.”
IRA: You gave me a hint about this, and I’m sorry I didn’t send you off with the portable recorder.
JULIA: Oh, I wish we’d have taped this. Because this was amazing, oh my gosh. Then, he also gave us an upgrade.
IRA: Julia’s like bouncing out of her chair.
JULIA: I am because his was so fantastic. It just so happened one of the girls had a little problem with her room. And he said, “I tell you what. I’ve got these brand spanking new villas. They’re still a little bit being landscaped, not quite ready. No one has even slept in them before. Would the three of you like to stay in this one villa?”
IRA: Aw, shucks.
JULIA: I know. Oh my god, talk about luxury. We had our own swimming pool. Everything was marble. It was just absolutely gorgeous. So we got to spend some time in this beautiful villa, three of us. And then we were able to have our yoga sessions and our group meetings there. So we invited him over to our luxury villa for our group meeting and he said, “I want to tell you all how Taman Sari, the resort, came into being because you might find this interesting as a yoga group.” So sure, we listened to him. And he said that he was visiting relatives in this area one day years and years ago and he had a vision. And he felt like god came to him, or the divine came in some form, and said, “Agung, you need to build a resort here on this very beach.”
IRA: This is kind of like Noah-esque.
JULIA: It’s a little Noah-esque, if you build it they will come.
IRA: Well that’s Kevin Costner.
JULIA: I know, but same idea. So Agung was like, “Look here god, what are you talking about? There was no infrastructure. There really wasn’t much of a road even then. It’s a grubby little beach. It’s a fishing village. There’s no staff. What the hell are we going to do? How is this going to happen? I don’t understand.” But the vision was so strong, the instructions were so strong internally - build a resort here. And, involve the local community. So, he started to get investors and I guess he’s a business man and he managed to do this, and he started to create the bones of this little resort. He started off with just a few huts. But what he did differently was this, he got the whole local community together and he had a village meeting about the resort. And he said, “Look, this resort, if I market it correctly, could change the face of this whole area. It’s going to bring employment in. It’ll help me help you get educated. You’ll be able to learn English. I will help your schools. I will help your people. I will train you so you can work in this hotel, in tourism. We’ll get the beach cleaned up. And it’s going to be helpful for everybody. Let’s make this a win-win.”
So he worked with the local people. He worked with the local religion and religious organizations. Because it’s actually quite Islamic there as well as Balinese Hindu in that area. And he had the most amazing success. And what happened is, now here we are 10-12 years later, the entire beach area is starting to get developed. Other people have come in and also built other hotels or huts on the beach. There’s even a five star resort called the MataHari close by too. The area has come up. It’s clean. The people are employed. The healthcare is better. Education has improved, because there’s more money coming in through tourism.
IRA: For some reason, this story made me think of something totally unrelated, which is not uncharacteristic of me.
JULIA: Right.
IRA: But it did connect, because when you talked about healthcare, I had an interesting experience in San Francisco yesterday. And yours is a counter example. We went to lunch in San Francisco with some friends. We got the bill and I was feeling generous and decided to pay for it. And at the bottom of the check there was this thing “San Francisco Health Care Tax”. It was the first I’d ever heard of it but apparently San Francisco has decided that everyone who lives and works in San Francisco more than 10 hours a week, is entitled to healthcare. And they’re going to put a tax on businesses, and so on. So I had to research it today, on the internet, and there’s a lot of opinions about it. But finally I found a website that simply put the whole law on. It is the most complex, involved, you know, conditions, this threshold, this level, this thing. I think it’s a great and noble experiment. I think it’s really important because we have people campaigning for Universal Healthcare in this country. But I think your friend, in Bali, by creating something positive, has created more. I mean, they had no healthcare before he started.
JULIA: No, nothing.
IRA: And now, they have healthcare and it’s not a government project--
JULIA: Everyone is growing and winning here.
IRA: Everyone is participating.
JULIA: And, there’s more. He also was told, internally, to help the people stop destroying the coral reef. Because the fishing village, they were using dynamite, to dynamite the reef and get the fish to float to the surface so they could catch them more easily. And he said, “You have to stop this because tourism wants to see corals.” So what happened was he, through research, found a way to build a new coral reef.
IRA: They do that off of Australia too.
JULIA: But he started it. This guy is amazing. So what they do is they’ve got these like rebars, set in these most incredible shapes,
IRA: You can use old junk to start it.
JULIA: Well they can, but they’ve got these beautiful-shaped rebars just off the shore and they send electric pulses out to the rebar somehow and the coral are attracted to it. I’ve been going there now about eight years and I have seen this reef grow and grow and grow. And now it’s absolutely gorgeous. There’s all kinds of fish there. It’s right offshore. And it’s an attraction in its own right. And because of this, he won Environmental Project of the Year. I don’t know how many years he’s won it. And so he got lots of kudos and recognition. And he is being included in books about great men written nowadays along with the likes of Nelson Mandela.
IRA: And, Julia and I are off course…
JULIA: I just thought it was so wonderful to hear about this. I’m deeply grateful to him for following his vision and having faith that this crazy dream would manifest the way it has. Because it’s for all of us to see and benefit. So we’ll have to put the link to his website up, Taman Sari Hotel. I’ll give it to you.
IRA: Absolutely.
JULIA: Because I’d love people to at least check out the website on it. It’s just a lovely, lovely, serene quiet place to go. And it’s very reasonable. Love it, love it, love it. So that was Bali. And I have more on my trip.
IRA: There’s more?
JULIA: I have more. Then after Bali I went off to Malaysia for a bit of decompression time for four days on my own.
IRA: I think I got emails from there too.
JULIA: I think you probably did. So I went to Malaysia to a little island called Langkawi Island, off the west coast of Malaysia. I’m a diver as some of you know and I wanted to go diving. So one day I did a tour of the island and we stop at this fantastic little, tiny lake, like a volcanic lake by the coast. And I’m sitting there enjoying the beautiful view, there’s lots of people on this little tour and I’m listening to these German people next to me. I speak German, so I could hear what they were saying. And this one German lady was saying, “There’s too many people on this tour, it’s like over-touristy here. It’s too hot. There’s too many bugs.” And I heard her and complete complaint and I looked at her face and her mouth was down-turned and her husband looked miserable. And I thought, these people are in this gorgeous place--
IRA: Have you ever seen a German whose mouth wasn’t down-turned?
JULIA: There might be nice German people listening, let’s not go there. But anyway, I listen to her complaint and thought, “Oh lady, I wish you listened to our podcast and get it, that complain lowers your energy and will make you and everyone around you miserable.”
IRA: The basic law of attraction. While you’re complaining, guess what you’re going to get more of.
JULIA: You’re going to get more things to complain about. So I got to see this.
IRA: “You like this, here you go.”
JULIA: I felt bad for her and all I could really do was send her some love and concentrate on me feeling grateful for this incredible place and this wonderful Malaysian guides who took us to the place. So that was one thing. I encourage everybody to look around you and listen to how people speak.
IRA: When I went to Angkor Wat with Stephanie a few years ago,
JULIA: In Cambodia…
IRA: …in Cambodia, we were on the tour that her parents arranged. When we got there we noticed we couldn’t complain because it was really crowded. It’s incredibly popular.
JULIA: It’s busy.
IRA: It’s really busy. So we asked around and said, “When is the best time to go here when there aren’t crowds?” And they said, “If you go early in the morning. Really early, like sunrise.” So even though our tour wasn’t scheduled to go there we asked them, “Can we get the tour bus to take us there?” There were only like six to eight people on the tour that wanted to get up that early and go. And we went early in the morning, and watched the sun rise over Angkor Wat and had the place virtually to ourselves. And got to talk to some Buddhist monks who were doing their thing there. And had a fabulous experience. So there’s always something available to you if you just ask and are open to it.
JULIA: Exactly. That’s a great thing, you did, must’ve been wonderful experience.
IRA: Yeah, well Angkor Wat is kind of--
JULIA: Angkor Wat is pretty special. So, that was one thing and the other little thing I noticed was when I did go on my dive, it turned out it was a very windy day and it was murky in the water. And I watched myself feel a little disappointed that the visibility was so poor and I couldn’t see a whole lot. And then I started to change it for myself and say, “You know, I’m in the water, I’m on holiday, I’m diving, this is so great. I get to play in the water.” And I was kind of playing with being acrobatic in the water a bit. And having a good time. And all of a sudden, through the murky, plankton-laden water, I saw something I have never seen in my life, something phenomenal. It was a jellyfish that’s got to have been three feet in diameter. I’m not kidding you. It was white. It had white, long dangly things hanging down. It wasn’t Portuguese Man o’War. I don’t know what the hell this thing was. But it also had weird stuff attached to its bottom. It was like a creature from outer-space. It was like the alien. I don’t know. But we all just stood and stared at it, everybody on the dive. We were like, “What the hell is this thing?” And my dive master, I asked him, “Have you ever seen this?” And he said, “No.” It was so incredible to see something so unexpected like that. Again, it made me realize that we never know when the unexpected will occur. If we stay positive and we stay high-energy, good things will happen.
IRA: That is the definition of the unexpected. (Laughing)
JULIA: I was pretty unexpected.
IRA: We do never know when the unexpected will occur. But the unexpected occurs more frequently when we’re open to it.
JULIA: Yeah, yeah.
IRA: And we’re not talking the unexpected like sh*t happens, we’re talking unexpected like wondrous things.
JULIA: Wonder! Yes, I felt in a place of wonder around it and I loved my dive just because of that one thing. It was just awesome.
IRA: I’m not saying that oil is something we should all be pumping out of the oceans and polluting the air with, but there was something on the news that off the coast of Brazil they just discovered oil reserves that are the third largest known reserves in the world.
JULIA: Oh really?
IRA: Saudi Arabia has the largest, I don’t know who has the second largest one but this is the third largest. And I don’t know if this is kind of a gift from God that says, “You’re really messing up the environment and I should really cut off your oil supply. But I think there’s enough warnings, you know, global warming and the other problems going on. Here’s just a little bit more to get your through, so you can make the change.” There are discoveries out there all the time. It’s back to being tested. If you have the faith, like your guy, he probably had no idea how he could get this resort built. Yeah, he was a businessman, he had some connections, but a lot of time you go to your connections and they say, “Are you crazy?” And they don’t give him support. But when he has faith... Apple Computer, Steve Jobs, used to go to the suppliers that would supply him with parts, and he would just sit in their office until they just said, “We’ve got to get rid of this kid, so we’ll just give him the parts he wants and he’ll be gone.”
JULIA: Persistence.
IRA: It’s persistence, it’s vision, it’s knowing what you want. It’s being specific. It’s being definite and having faith and having a goal in mind that’s bigger than yourself and generous to the universe.
JULIA: Yes. Exactly.
IRA: My god, what a speech that was.
JULIA: That was awesome. And this guy, Agung Prana, you could tell was a deeply spiritual man. Actually, he has a guru, a teacher who he wants us to meet with the next time we come over. He wants to set us up to go to his Ashram for a little time and he says, “This teacher rarely meets people, but I will introduce your group to him.” So that felt really special. But I’ve got one more thing I want to talk about.
IRA: Okay, I was going to ask you, “Do you have anything else from your trip?”
JULIA: Just a quick thing. I’ve got to say that, after Malaysia I went to Thailand to see my childhood friend Sally. And I spent a wonderful time with her family for nine days.
IRA: And that must have gone well because you did NOT send me an email from there.
JULIA: Oh, I was pretty flaked-out. I spent that time taking care of my physical being and I got a lot of work done on myself. I had my eyelids lifted, which was great.
IRA: I haven’t even seen that yet because she’s going around with dark glasses.
JULIA: I’ve got my dark glasses on. (Pause) Now you can see.
IRA: Ah, okay. I can’t tell the difference, I’m a guy.
JULIA: Anyway, there it is. You’re a guy. I got work done on my teeth. I had a physical check-up at the hospital. Which, I’ve just got to say briefly about this, it was so wonderful and amazing and cheap. Sally and I walked into the McCormick hospital in Chiang Mai and immediately, up to the nurse’s center, there’s no waiting. They take your blood pressure, your vitals. A nurse walks you around the hospital to get the checks - x-ray, pap smear, blood test, whatever it is that you’re wanting. No waiting. And then when you’re done with that, you go back up to the healthcare center, there’s a doctor there with your results and he spends like a half hour with you, leisurely talking about your health and your results. Luckily I’m in good shape, but that was nice to hear.
IRA: Well, you heard that in Bali.
JULIA: Well I did, you see, exactly. But the whole thing costs me $40.I just thought that was so incredible. And they were so charming and lovely. So anyone that wants dental and healthcare and they can’t afford it in the states, then Thailand is the place.
IRA: Well I don’t know if spending a couple of thousand on plane fare to save the money is a good idea.
JULIA: Well, not that much. It’s about $850 from San Francisco. But anyway, I just want to say how fabulous it was and I felt so taken care of by all the various medical and dental staff that I was with. And I would certainly recommend it. And, got to say something about Bangkok airport. It’s probably about the newest airport in the world. It is so high-tech. So awesome. Clean, fun, free internet, gourmet restaurants, healthy food, charming people. Massage people waiting to give you massages before you get on your plane. I had this feeling like Asia is so booming. They’re so high-tech. I feel like America’s being a little left in the dust around all that.
IRA: Yes.
JULIA: We won’t have time to get too far into it.
IRA: I’ve mentioned some of those things too.
JULIA: I really had that impression. It was so beautiful and wonderful there. But I will be going back. In fact, I am inspired to go to Thailand in October and lead a yoga retreat on one of the islands. So there’ll be stuff coming out about that soon.
IRA: I think one of the things the United States of America should think about is, in Europe, they have formed the European Union. And in order for a country to be in the European Union there are standards of human rights to adhere to, there are standards of law they have to adhere to, there are environmental standards they have to adhere to. They don’t say you have to be this kind or that kind of country. It’s just that you have to follow a fairly enlightened pattern of government and living. I think it would be a great goal for the United States to try and be part of the EU.
JULIA: (Laughing) There’s a concept.
IRA: I don’t see the egomaniacs that are running this country ever wanting to do that. But if we could become a citizen of the world, I think it would be great. I think it would end so many conflicts, so many wars.
JULIA: Well we should really let the Queen rule us again, that would be the answer.
IRA: Yeah, well, that’s your “brit” thing. The Queen is wonderful. Everybody loves the Queen.
JULIA: We love the Queen. Anyway, we’ve chatted lots. We’ve filled everybody in on my trip. We’ll have more meaty stuff next time.
RIA: I think we had some meaty stuff this time.
JULIA: We had a little.
IRA: We did good. Thanks Julia.
JULIA: Thank you. Bye.
IRA: One special note, Chrisie Santoni, of the New Jersey musical duo The Billies, submitted an original composition for possible use as our PROSPERITY PODCAST jingle. The Billies are appearing 8pm, May 3rd at The Cool Beans Coffeehouse in Toms River, New Jersey. Here’s a little sound bite from the submitted jingle.
MUSIC
IRA: Thank you for listening to PROSPERITY PODCAST show 57. We opened this week with Willie Nelson singing the standard “Far Away Places” from his 1979 release, “One for the Road“, re-released on CD in 1989. We close with “The Blues Tinge Ditty, A Little Romance” played and sung by Trail, on the web at www.trailband.com. We’d like to give a loud word of thanks to our supportive 15-year old listener [xx] in Miami. I only wish I had started on a spiritual path to prosperity at that ripe, young age. Give my compliments to your parents, they’ve raised a fine son. I’ve also like to mention another podcast. My friend, Bernadette Clavier, produces the SOCIAL INNOVATIONS podcast for the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Their mission statement is as follows, Social Innovations Conversation’s Mission is to expand the reach of important and valuable knowledge to people who otherwise wouldn’t have access to it, by recording and sharing spoken words of thought leaders in all sectors and disciplines and offering listeners a multi-stakeholder perspective on the world’s grand challenges and social issues. On iTunes and the web at Conversations Network.
A note for iTunes listeners looking for old shows, the number of downloads is currently limited to 50. If somebody objects, please let me know. Older shows are still available directly on our website prosperity-secrets.com. One more week left to download a free audio version of Chapter Four of Julia’s “Twenty Questions for Enlightened Living” by navigating to the link on the right-hand side of our website. Check it out.
Maybe I’m confused about the late Sherry Lewis’ characters, but she was a great performer and she is sadly missed. Notably, she was married to Jeremy Tarcher, publisher of “The Artist’s Way” and many other uplifting books that are often referenced on this show. His interesting world views and stated four principles are #1 The everyday world and our personal consciousness is a manifestation of a larger, divine reality, #2 Humans have a suppressed or hidden high-self that reflects or is connected to the divine element of the universe, #3 This higher self can be awakened and take a central part in the everyday life of the individual, #4 This awakening is the purpose or goal of human life.
As we have said on this show, the path to true prosperity is through things of the spirit. Our website is www.prosperity-secrets.com, as mentioned before, our email is still: prosperity-secrets.gmail.com. Julia’s books are available on her website Julia Tindall
The greatest favor you can do us is to tell your friends about our podcast. We invite all to listen. We value each and every listener and are very grateful you have let us be part of your lives. Thank you so much.
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