I never thought I’d say that I’ve cleaned elephants before. Okay, so they weren’t real elephants. As a break from our usual work in the garden, Margret asks if one of us volunteers would be willing to clean “her elephants” – there are four large elephant statues scattered on Jiwa Damai’s property. I thought this could be fun so I offer up my services. Boy I was wrong.

Lana and Gede are directed to show me how it was done. They grab a bucket of water and scrub brushes, and motion me to follow them to the first elephant so they could demonstrate. Basically I have to scrub at the dirt of the cement animal, followed by a rinse with a cup of water. Seems simple enough. As I begin drifting into a rhythm, Tayrone comes to join me, also thinking that cleaning the elephants would be fun. We quickly learn that the job is a pain in the ass. There is so much dirt caked in between the cracks and the detail of the statue lead to several hard-to-get-to nooks and crannies that it seems impossible to completely rid it of the year’s worth of sludge. Hour after hour passes and we are still on our first elephant.

Tayrone remarks that if we just had a high-pressure hose, we would be finished it no time at all. I point out to the new guy that there is always a lack of efficiency and supplies here – we are in a third world country after all. Every day there is a problem with the hose or a garden tool, and our cleaning supplies consists of mild cleaner mixed with water. Fendi’s hoe would break in the middle of working, causing him to spend half an hour to fix it, only for it to break again the next day. Tayrone didn’t understand why a new one couldn’t be bought. I guess that’s just the way things were here – we have to learn how be resourceful and fix things ourselves. The learning process is definitely comical. I decide to try using a hose to rinse the elephant (pretending it was a real one) and quickly find that the one hose on the property doesn’t quite fit on the faucet that is closest to the statue. In other words, there is more water spraying out of the leak than spraying onto the elephant. After working on it for about twenty minutes, I decide to just grab a bucket and put it under the leak. That’s my way of being resourceful.

Of course after I volunteer to labor with the elephants, Margret admits that it’s going to be a long process. After days of scrubbing and after destroying three scrub brushes (the bristles died for a good cause), we finally finish those four elephants. It was a moment of celebration. I was free! I missed working in the now welcoming garden. But at lunch, Margret dooms me to another statue to clean: her “Water Angel.”

This statue is located at the far end of the property in a spot infested with mosquitos. I feel defeated having to spend yet another day scrubbing. But then, what’s even worse, Margret asks if I could first work on cleaning the stone bridge below the statue. She wants me to scrub the ground. Apparently the stones were a pretty color beneath all the caked dirt and she wanted to be able to see it. I resentfully walk all the way to the edge of the property to clean the ground and scrub the stupid statue alone. Here I am, stuck with this pointless assignment (the ground is always going to have dirt on it!) when instead I could be doing something more meaningful, like gardening work.

I’m fuming with annoyance as I fall into the all too familiar repetition of scrub, rinse, scrub, rinse. As I work on the ground, my headphones in, I begin to think. My thoughts of the idiocy of this chore slowly transition into why I’m here. I realize, how lucky am I to be here. Every day at Jiwa Damai I have a new learning experience, whether it has to do with gardening, Balinese culture, insights from the other volunteers or the power of mindfulness. And while I’m having these extraordinary experiences, I’m getting a place to sleep and three healthy, delicious meals a day. I realize that if I was given to choice again, I would say hell ya I could scrub some stones in return for food, housing, the opportunity to live in Bali, incredible life experiences and the privilege of traveling on the weekends. Suddenly I find myself enjoying the rhythm of scrubbing the stones, finding satisfaction in the process. And then, I see it. Beneath the dark, smoky dirt, red stones become visible. I begin to understand why Margret wanted me to clean the bridge. It’s beautiful!

I realize what I have just done. I took something that upset me and decided to accept it, while also altering my perception of the situation by turning it into something positive. I had applied one of my lessons from Jiwa Damai almost without realizing it (read about this lesson of “Good Vibrations” here). My prior damper mood had morphed into a much happier, proud me. It felt so good. I knew that I need to keep up this practice of positivity – it was only the beginning.

A year later, a friend pointed out to me the metaphoric meaning of my experience. Many times in life we are going to encounter the dirty surfaces of our circumstances. But if we take the time to scrub beneath it and look for something beautiful, we can change how we perceive life altogether. We have the power. We can look at life with disdain or find the grace and opportunity it has given us. Every negative is followed by a positive. You choose which one you want to rule your life.