Do you do this? Fret about finding the perfect holiday WITH A PURPOSE? Recently, I went around in 238974897 circles trying to find the best place to do a traditional Indian treatment. That’s what I do. I Over-research. Eventually the right answer pops up in front of me. So obvious. I didn’t want to travel to India. India ain’t good for us vatta types. But, it turns out, the first ever ( officially recognised ayurvedic wellness retreat outside of India is in Ubud, Bali at Como Shambhala.
Sarah Wilson
i like: the balinese shaman
I know, I know…these details are a long time coming. I posted a while back about visiting a shaman (who told me I shouldn’t do relationships). Tri Makna is his name and he’s a lovely, gentle soul who’s got it going on. He has a twinkle in his eye that says, “I see you”. From memory it cost about $AUS30 for an hour and he’s a 15 minute taxi ride out of Seminyak, past the Denpasar jail where poor Shapelle is couped up. If you’re in the area, he’s worth meeting and being seen by. Go with an open heart…
good thing to do #2: make an old-school visitor board
I found this idea so damn cute: a collage of Polaroid pics of all the visitors to your flat/house. A Who’s Who visual compendium of Folk Worthy of Being In Your Intimate Space. It’s a bit like those walls at the back of Italian restaurants where they get famous people to sign pictures of themselves … Read more
sunday life: in which the dalai lama tells me his secret to happiness
This week I meet the Dalai Lama.
And can I be honest? The experience nearly turned me inside out, what with the three days of fretting beforehand. I’d been invited to meet His Holiness, the spiritual leader of the people of Tibet, and ask him, on behalf of all you lot, how to make life better. Seriously, what does a girl ask? What’s the one question that will cut straight to the fuggy, constipated, heart-sinky life angst that people like you and me experience when we drop our facades?
i like: Gwinganna sleep retreat
This post has been updated. August 2013: My assistant Jo recently experienced the heaven that is Gwinganna retreat in July. I spent a week there a few years ago doing a sleep retreat (you can read about it below). That particular retreat has since been turned into a “Triple S” retreat: focussing on sleep, stress and – … Read more
sunday life: perfect lists
This week I write a perfect list.I find there are two schools of thought on to-do lists. The first says they’re a necessary dumping ground for shower inspirations and must-do minutiae (“fix rear-vision mirror”, “buy Napisan”)…all the noisy guff that swirls unanchored in your head. Ergo, lists are liberating devices that free the mind and help us Finally Get On Top of Things.
The second says lists are annoying. They stall the free-flow fun of life. Folk in this camp might point out that lists are not an inevitable part of the human experience. They emerged in the 1920s after the CEO of a steel company held a competition to find a snazzy new technique for getting more done in a day. The ten-item, tick-as-you-go list was the winning tendor. Mind you, a non-list writer probably couldn’t share such a factoid having failed to jot it down for later reference in the first place.
To-do list or not to-do list? Which is the happier path? It’s a question with far more water-cooler weight than you might think.
bondi style, a book
My friend Lisa has launched a book called Bondi Style – a snapshot (or several) of life in Bondi, with a sartorial slant.
I was asked to launch the book the other night. Which was a little bit weird because I don’t fit the Bondi style, apart from the glasses I wear (big, black, bought for ten bucks in Hong Kong when I was filming there with MasterChef). I do kind of observe it from up close, however, like a daggy anthropologist. This is because I work and live in Bondi.
declutterbug #1: online reader gizmo that gets rid of the guff
This is a new series I’m starting that will flag cool gadgets and tricks and things that make life simpler and less… stuff-y. Most of it will be free stuff. All of it will be elegantly simple.
Sunday Life readers might have seen my column a month or two ago about Instapaper (a nifty filing button for “cool/interesting must-reads you find on the web when you’re meant to be other stuff but that you know you’ll never find again if you don’t read now”. Basically, it enables you to read cool shit later.)
Chapter two in this thinking: Readability. It’s a new FREE! INSTALL IN-ONE-STEP button that you just add to your toolbar and it changes stuff you’re reading online into clear, simple, old-school text, getting rid of pop-up ads and annoying eyeball clutter. When you’re reading something online, just press the readability bookmarklet on your toolbar and it converts the text into a far happier format. A treat for sore eyes!
my name is salmon, as in the fish
And so The Lovely Bones, the movie, kicks off next week.[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikUWKi0W5_g&feature=related[/youtube]
I’ve been hanging for this movie to come out. The book by Alice Sebold has huanted me for years. What has struck me most poignantly is the kooky 14-year-old thoughts Susie Salmon has (via her narration) about family, and boys and beauty. They reminded me of my own personal dialogue at my age now. Which made me realise I had the same dialogue when I was Susie’s age. I wondered about impermanence, I reflected in a melancholy way and would hover on sad, small thoughts for a while…and pull them apart delicately.
sunday life: in which I try out “whimsy” for size
This week I sleep at the wrong end of my bed.
Lately I’ve been exploring whimsy (see my previous post). A little bit because I just like the word. It has a lovely onomatopoeic trill to it. It’s also a theme that’s been popping up a lot this past week, which is what themes do when I’m looking for a new topic for this column. When they erupt in clusters I’m compelled to write about them, somewhat whimsically. Or perhaps just superstitiously.
First, I met this guy down the street who’d stuck eight cameras together and had devised a button that could press them simultaneously. Just to see what happened. He was taking photos of twigs when I came across him.
Next I wandered into a bookshop and came across Isabella Rossellini’s new book Green Porno, in which she dresses up as a baby barnacle (totally deadpan) and ponders anchovy orgies via thought bubbles. Because she can, I guess. It’s compellingly bonkers.
And then I got a feed from 13-year-old fashion blogger Tavi Gevinson. I’ve followed Tavi for 18 months. Her “about me” blurb reads: “I take part in a rap group with a pirate, and we write about Japanese designers and furry vests”. Her posts see her variously dressed up in a piece of carpet netting with a blue fruit basket attached at the hip, and four clashing tartan pieces (one on each limb) worn with floral Doc Martens.
She’s now sartorial royalty. She’s been on the cover of fashion bible Pop and sat front row at New York Fashion Week last month. She posts: “For one week I was in a utopia full of people who can recognize that my jacket is Luella and appreciate that I stuck an upside-down doll in its chest pocket.” Off-the-dial whimsy in a four-foot-nothing package. I want to hug her!
[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/2247337[/vimeo]
(The above is the cutest damn thing I’ve seen a 12-year-old do…mind is troubled to think where such whimsy comes from)
Anyway, so I’ve decided whimsy makes life better.