My Spiritual Awakening in Bali: Part 1
Victoria Jenn brings in 2024 in Bali and shares her transformative, spiritual awakening journey. Trying to get out of a personal funk and seeking a deeper understanding of herself, she embarks on a spiritual retreat. This episode is part 1 of her experiences, learnings, and realizations.
Key Takeaways:
Victoria Jenn's introspection on turning 40 and her quest for purpose.
Why you need to go on a spiritual retreat, even if you have to go alone
Overcoming a scarcity mindset and embracing luxury in travel.
Exploring spirituality beyond cultural norms and embracing discomfort for growth.
The importance of trusting yourself and following your intuition.
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Bali Part 2: From Spiritual Awakening to Business Class
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Full Transcript:
Hey guys, welcome back to Banking on Cultura. I am your host, Victoria Jen Rodriguez. And today I am coming to you live from Bali, Indonesia. I decided to bring in 2024 on the other side of the globe. I actually live in New Jersey in the United States. And I don't know, I had this yearning that I just wanted to bring in 2024 In a new country.
I wanted to be outside of the U. S. And i'm pretty sure y'all can feel me on this because there's just a lot going on there And so I just wanted to be in new energy a different space and I am so excited to be recording this episode for you guys because I would love to share with you My experience and why I decided to come here And in true Banking on Cultura fashion, we're going to follow the segments that we normally flow with so that you guys can get the full scope as to why I came here and hopefully be inspired to visit Bali or be inspired to travel alone across the globe and really pour into you.
So let's start from the top. What's the Boncinche? So the Boncinche is I was really in a funk towards the end of 2023 after having an amazing year in business, building this incredible platform, having an incredible community, supporting Baking Ancultura. By the way, shout out to all of you. I appreciate you so, so much for tuning in every single week.
I felt like something was missing. I just didn't feel like myself and I couldn't put my finger on it. Have you guys ever felt that way? Where like you're emotionally going through something and you can't figure out like, what is the root cause? And like, where is this all coming from? That's exactly how I was.
feeling. And I decided that I needed to find the answer. Like I needed to figure out why I was in this phone. But most importantly, I needed to escape. Like I needed to do something that was going to revitalize me and give me new energy. And so in 2023 I turned 40 years old and I decided that I wanted to go on a spiritual retreat and follow me here.
This is all gonna make sense for you guys. I decided to go on a spiritual retreat because I wanted to really figure out like, okay, what is this next decade going to mean for me? What is my purpose? What do I want to do? How do I want to show up? Who am I supposed to become? And I just had all these answers.
Well, all these questions really with no answers. And I was searching for the answers. And what I've learned is when we are in a space where we are searching for answers. The best solution is to really look within, and I know that might sound a little cliche, but given my experience, I found that that is truly where you will find all of the answers because many of us have the answers already living within us.
We don't need someone to tell us what we should or shouldn't be doing. We don't need someone to validate us. Truly, we have all the answers within ourselves. The trick is we have to figure out how to connect with ourselves in such a way where we're able to get those answers, where there's no distractions around.
And so for me, what I discovered is the best way for me to kind of silent the noise. I need to get away. And so I booked this trip to Costa Rica in May of last year because I wanted to go on this spiritual journey. And I had such an incredible transformational experience after leaving Costa Rica. I literally Was a brand new woman and some of you heard me talk a little bit about Costa Rica in a previous episode So I won't get into too much detail, as a result of going to Costa Rica I met these incredible women who created this retreat called she wolf and I knew they were going to be in Bali for the new year They told me actually while I was in Costa Rica, but I was like Oh New Year.
That's like so far I don't know if I'm gonna But as the months went on, I really started thinking about what am I going to do for New Year's because usually I would spend New Year's on my couch in my living room and watching the ball drop on TV. I have done that for the past several years. I've always been alone in my house. I wanted to bring in this year different. I didn't want to do the same old, same old. I, I wanted to, find that fire within me and make sure to bring that into the new year. But it all stemmed from me turning 40 and going to Costa Rica, right? That has truly, , been the reason why so much of the actions that I take in my business, in my personal life, Is the result of what I learned about myself at that retreat.
And the reason why I was able to learn those things about myself is because I was finally able to silence what was around me and go deep within. And so a couple of months after that retreat, I started feeling that itch, right? I started feeling that it's like, okay, something is going on with me.
Emotionally. I can't figure out what it is. I'm in a funk and I want to get out of this funk. And so my health coach actually. Shout out to Marquise, who has helped me lose 30 pounds. I've lost 30 pounds since that Costa Rica retreat. I'm telling you, I'm brand new y'all. I'm on one. I am on one. , you know, I was talking to him about what was going on with me because as I was on this weight loss journey.
I was beginning to feel like I was losing my umph for the weight loss journey. I was losing the vision. I wasn't focused as much as I once was. And he said to me, you probably need to go on another spiritual retreat. You probably need to search within. You need to go. And find yourself and continue to find yourself with is which is a never ending journey That is also something that I learned So for those of you who are feeling guilty or pressured because you haven't figured out your purpose or you haven't You know, figured out your why, or you're still struggling, , and kind of operating in this space of ambiguity and yearning for the light.
My advice to you is to keep searching, keep doing, keep taking action because it will come to you. Okay, so talking to my coach, he's like, Hey, you probably need to go on this spiritual journey. So that was like another seed that was planted a couple of weeks later, I decided, you know what? Literally a week before new year's, I booked my trip to Bali.
I hit up the girls and I was like, Hey, is there a space for me in Bali? And they said, absolutely come. We would love to have you. And I booked my flight. And, , I am so, so happy that I did, and I'm going to break down what I've experienced here in Bali, my major takeaways, because I, I believe they will be helpful to you, especially in kind of this era and new year of, , reinventing ourselves and figuring out, you know, where we want to go next.
I hope these takeaways. will help you along that journey of discovery. I first want to start from the beginning because I want to give you the entire visual of the experience. So, I'm booking the trip online and, , I decided to fly Emirates. Because I know that Emirates has this bougie side to them and meaning that if I flew economy, I knew that I would at least eat really well, I would have, you know, , space, I will be okay in economy compared to other airlines.
And something interesting happened when I was booking that flight. So I decided to go economy. And economy costs, it cost me about 3, 000 round trip. And I was having this internal debate with myself as I was booking this flight because I really wanted to go business or first class and it is true. I don't know if you guys ever seen that Steve Harvey video that went around that would say, you know, once you fly first class, you'll never go back.
Like, you'll be able to experience that luxury and, and, and work and aspire to always travel that way. And that is a metaphor for many things in life. Yeah. And I truly believe that because I've had the pleasure and honor of experiencing first class and like, it is a vibe, especially when you're traveling 24 hours plus to come across the globe, which is how long it took me to come to Bali.
It took me over 24 hours to come here, but the business class ticket was like 10, 000. And I was like. Hmm. Do I want to spend 10, 000 on this flight right now? And, you know, I kept going back and forth with it. And for me, I just couldn't find the true value of spending 10 G's to fly here. And after my first flight in, so I flew from JFK in New York City to Dubai.
That was the first flight. Because there's no real direct flights to Bali from where I'm coming from. After being on that flight for 14 hours, all I kept thinking about was like, Damn B, you should have just paid the 10k to go business. I actually have never flown business or first class internationally before.
So it would have been a great experience, especially on Emirates because they have like this lounge. It is a whole vibe. And so as I'm sitting there, I'm like, really thinking to myself, like, why didn't you book the business class flight? And I'm going to tell you why.
The reason why I didn't book the flight is because I was operating from a scarcity mindset.
I was thinking about, wow, 10, 000 is a lot of money. Like, you know, how am I going to make the 10 K back quickly? , because I have other goals, right? I have other goals that I want to accomplish this year. And so being very intentional about how I spend money, by the way, intentional is my word for 2024. It was the same for 2023.
And I've decided to keep that word because I'm still on this journey of intentionality and discipline. I was giving it thought and I was like, wow, you were really operating from a scarcity mindset. And as a result, now you're stuck in economy, not completely uncomfortable, but you definitely would have been more comfy wampy in business or first class.
And that was my first aha moment on this journey, right? The first aha moment was the stop operating from a scarcity mindset. Now there's levels to scarcity mindset, like what I'm sharing with you. You may not be able to relate to, but it can be as simple as you procrastinating on starting a new business or you procrastinating on going after a big client or you choosing not to invest in a coach for your business because you think it's too much money, right?
All of this stems from a scarcity mindset. And as a result of me operating from that scarcity mindset, I had to travel economy. 14 hours. And then on the second flight from Dubai to Bali, another nine hours in economy. And I really felt in that moment that I played myself like the, you could have gone the 10 K, but what was really dope about that experience was I said to myself in that moment, Hey, you will never do this again because you are deserving and you are worthy to travel business and first class across the globe, if that is what you choose.
But B, it inspired me. It gave me, , inspiration to work harder, to not even worry about spending 10 K on international travel. Like, I don't even want to have to worry about something like that. I want to be so financially sound and mentally sound that spending 10 K to travel across the globe is a no brainer.
Right? So that was the first takeaway. So literally the, the takeaway started from the beginning of my trip. I arrived to Bali fully embraced with my amazing she will familia, and I will most certainly put them in the show notes. You should definitely check them out. Highly recommend, love their experience that they create all the time.
And I was in this beautiful villa. Y'all, this villa is absolutely stunning. I'm I'm actually filming this video from the villa. To the right of me is our yoga shala. It is where we would, , do yoga every single morning, out looking the jungle. , in front of me is a fire pit where on New Year's Eve, we burned all of our fears that we wrote down on paper.
And upstairs for me is our infinity pool, , that overlooks the jungle and our amazing villa. So immediately as I stepped in to this space, I knew I had made the right decision. I immediately was uplifted. I immediately was like, already coming out of my funk. So while I was here, there was pretty much sessions every single day.
That were centered around going within. So we did a lot of meditation. We did a lot of crying. We did a lot of soul searching. We did a lot of writing. This is my journal. How cute is this? I mean, they gave us this when we arrived. , for those of you who are listening, you might want to check out the YouTube.
, because a, my fit is fitting. Okay. , but also because I want you guys to see how cute this notebook is. , It was everything that my heart and soul desired, and there are a few takeaways that I want to share with you that I hope resonate and land with you as we continue to move into this new year and this year of finding ourselves, which I think we are always doing.
, but first I want to share with you the diversity of women that were at this retreat. So we had two doctors, so two psychologists were here. We had an astrologist who was very successful, , who came from Iceland. One of the doctors came from Poland. The other was from New York. , we had this beautiful, soulful, amazing photographer who came from LA.
And then we have the organizers, Maddie and Lena, who come from, , Romania. And then we had Kimberly who was like our in house shaman. And so it was, Diversity of women, women that I really would have never come in contact with if it wasn't for this retreat, which is why I love coming to retreats now because I just have the opportunity to meet incredible women and network and build relationships.
And it's a different type of relationship building because it's so intimate, it's so intimate and raw. So you really get to connect with each other on a human level. And on a level where there's a bond that has been created. So now, you know, these women are your sisters for life. And for any of the fellas who are listening, tuning in, I encourage you to also go on retreats find your space where you are able to be completely vulnerable and take off your mask because I know how heavy it is to wear armor every single day. I know I'm kind of like hopping around, but I, I want to really bring you the true essence and the energy of this experience and hopefully find yourself in, in the little, , takeaways that I am sharing with you. And I am really curious by the way, guys, of your feedback from this episode.
So please make sure to subscribe. Please make sure to leave comments. , so I can hear your feedback because maybe just maybe I might hop my booty on another plane and come to you live from over there. Oh, I was supposed to give you Hello. Okay. Let me bring this back.
So the bonchiche of why I came on this trip, I told you that I was feeling in a funk. I told you that I, I needed to figure out why I was in this funk. And after being here, I realized why I was in a funk. And it really had nothing to do with me. It had to do with somebody else, boy problems. And what this experience has showed me is that I was, I'm so appreciative of having those boy problems because it allowed me to identify what I am willing and not willing to tolerate coming into 2024 and pretty much the remainder of my life.
Right. And for a lot of us, we tend to take on these experiences and hate them, like especially experiences that teach us really hard lessons about ourselves, make us get real with ourselves, hurt our hearts. Maybe make us feel insecure like we're not enough and we're tired of those lessons. We don't want any of those lessons anymore.
We're just over it. Actually, I posted about this on my LinkedIn and one of my community members, , mentioned, You know what? I'm tired of the lessons. I don't want to be the pupil anymore. I want to be the teacher in this school. And it really made me think about how in order to be a good teacher, you always need to be a great student.
And although those lessons are painful, outrageous, overwhelming, perhaps bring you anxiety, have you step out of your character. Always remember that without those lessons, there would be no growth. And although it is difficult in the moment to really have appreciation for hardship, I encourage you this year to really embrace hardships and struggles that come your way because they truly allow you to blossom into who you are destined and meant to be.
And in the moment, we don't always realize what exactly those lessons are and it takes some time and it takes some. Self reflection and it takes time for you to like look back and find the answer, but it is always worth it. Okay So that's the one change I came here because I was in a funk boy problems Needed to get away.
So let's talk about the other takeaways Okay, and I'm gonna open my , beautiful journal here. So one of the things that I have Learned in this experience And because this experience is so intimate people are able to see you for really you right without the mask Without how you're showing up on social media how you're showing up in your business They get to really see you for you and you're constantly getting feedback From these people being able to see you in this intimate setting you being so super vulnerable and What I love is that it is curated in such a way to allow you to Receive that feedback even though it might feel uncomfortable in the moment and so one of the pieces of feedback that I got was , I need to work on bringing down my walls And continue to allow my community and people who come across me to really see my heart and that feedback was really interesting because I truly believe that I have made an effort over the last, , two years, , to welcome people into my space and, and make them feel safe.
And what I learned, because we had an astrologer here, I told you, she like read my chart and all the things, , that God has programmed me to be this way. Because he's using me, and I've always believed this, but it's just so interesting when other people are telling me what I already know, , and they're able to see it.
, he's using me as a vessel, right? As a vessel to really bring you guys some clarity and help you see the things in yourself that you may not see or have forgotten, and sometimes that requires some hard truths, and I'm a truth teller. And with being a truth teller comes tremendous responsibility. And sometimes when I come across people who are not ready to receive that truth, it makes them uncomfortable and they might tend to steer away from me at the beginning because they're unsure of what they are experiencing.
And what I have to learn to do is just be conscious of this power that I have, right? The power to teach and the power to influence is a tremendous responsibility that I do not take lightly. But give people time, time to consume me. that was really interesting for me to take away. , and it's something I'm looking forward to continue to do in 2024.
So another key takeaway was that, I was told that I have this motherly nature to me and that I want to help people get to see, like, I want you to see, I want to help you, like, come on already, like, like, let's get to it and have this motherly nature to me without being a mother, I don't have any kids and I'm not sure if I will have any in the future, but I have this motherly nature to And it's so interesting because one of the exercises that we had, we had to pick in archetype and, , immediately everyone wanted to assign me the architect of like queen and like energy and strongness and everything.
And I was like, I want to take on the archetype of. , being motherly, I want to embrace more of that side of me. I want to be more nurturing. And some of you may be able to relate to this as we're building our businesses, our brands, and just taking over the world. There is this strong push to be armored up number one, but to also be fierce in our conquests, which is amazing and beautiful.
, but what I'm trying to figure out this year is how to do that and in the same fashion also be super nurturing. So that's my learning, , that I'll be working on and I'm curious to hear from you guys in the comments, what are you planning to work on in 2024? , let me also share this with you guys and then I'm going to move into the Talk That Talk segment.
One of the exercises, , we had to paint, it was like on the second day that I arrived here and we had to paint our soul is how it was positioned, paint your soul and I was like, Ooh, paint my soul and immediately everyone got to painting and, , I, I was observing and I saw myself like taking a moment because I couldn't, I'm like, paint, what, what is my soul?
Like, how can I paint? My soul and after giving it some thought, , I started to paint my soul and it was so liberating Because in this exercise and I encourage you to do this exercise y'all paint your soul. Okay What I learned in this exercise is that I found my my mojo again My mojo that was kind of like there always there.
Our mojo is always there, right? Our essence our is always there, but sometimes things happen that dim it or We feel like we have to package it away or it just happens inevitably because of the experiences that we are having so Started to paint my soul and I was like, you're back and this is what I painted y'all, a true Picasso.
So I painted this because this is how my soul felt in, , that moment what I am embodying this year because for the last couple of weeks of 2023, I felt like I lost this energy. I, I wasn't feeling like myself. And so in this exercise, it really brought me back. It's like your back baby is go time.
So encourage you to paint your soul. All right, so let's go into the talk that talk segment. So I've been sharing my experience on social media and I was sharing, you know, every day we would pull a card and we would read the card and tarot cards. And it would tell us about, you know, what we should be thinking about and considering into this new year.
We would light candles with a whole bunch of flowers and it was just absolutely beautiful. And I can see how from the outside it might be perceived as almost like cult like because, you know, we're, we're singing together, we're lighting candles together, we have the flowers, we're pulling cards. And for many folks in the Latino community, as well as, , you know, people of color, there are beliefs within those communities.
Whether it's Santaria or, , , different religions kind of like pulling at you and, and it could come off almost as like cult life or almost like, Hey, be careful because you don't know what energies that is. And like, somebody might put a hoax on you. And I had gotten a couple of DMS along that theme, like Nita without like, you don't know what's happening there.
And it made me think about how in our cultura, in, in so many cultures of people of color, it is almost taboo to have this deep connection to your spirit angel, I'll call it, , or have this deep connection to your soul because you're supposed to, you know, follow your religion, whether you were raised Catholic or Christian, whatever it is.
But it is almost taboo that you feel uncomfortable in those moments and therefore don't even participate. And I kind of like want to break that a little bit and, and use me as an example, because to be honest with you, , in the first retreat that I did in Costa Rica, when I first experienced this kind of like kumbaya on this, I was like, Ooh, wow, this is like really interesting.
But once I surrendered to that and really allowed myself to participate in the experience and light the candles and sing the songs and scream out loud and cry with other women around me, , as well as smile. I, I realized that for a long time, I have been almost neglecting myself by not allowing myself to go deep by doing things that are outside of my norm or outside of what I culturally have become accustomed to believe is the right way something should be done.
Or to believe like, Oh, wow, if you are following this, if this is your belief system, like something is wrong with you, let me go run in the opposite direction. And so I encourage you this year to surrender. I encourage you to surrender to everything that feels uncomfortable. Obviously not putting yourself in danger.
That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about things that make you feel a little beside yourself because you are so set in your ways and your beliefs. That it's difficult for you to see beyond yourself. Does that make sense? I Hope this episode was fulfilling for you I hope you take some of these lessons that I've learned and apply them to your life I hope that you choose you this year, and I hope that as you are going on your journey of revitalization, of reinvention, your soft light, whatever moment you're in, I want you to remember that it's okay to feel lost.
It's okay to feel like you have no direction, and it's okay to feel like It's very distant, the light at the end of the tunnel. However, as you are going through those emotions, which are completely normal because you are human, I want you to also be brave and courageous enough to ask for help, to seek help, and to pour into yourself, in whichever way that looks like.
That might be hiring a coach, going to therapy, going on a trip by yourself, right? Calling a friend that you haven't spoke to in years. Whatever it is, whatever is true to you, do it, don't ignore it, pay attention to what your gut is telling you. One of the major superpowers that women have is our intuition.
It tells you when it's time, it pokes at you, keeps you up at night, right? Has you in a daze when you're at a party full of people and you're just like sitting down and you're like, wait, hold up, something's not right here. Right? That's your intuition. Pay attention to that. Do not ignore your intuition.
And most importantly, what I really want you to take away from today's episode and what I want you to focus on in 2024 is trusting yourself, trusting yourself. You have it in you. You have all the answers within you that you need, but you have to trust yourself. All right. Besitos, mi gente. Thank you so much for tuning in.
Remember to subscribe. Remember to leave feedback. I appreciate you guys so much for being here for the next episode.