Sari Pollen
Mar 19, 2022
Ibu Sari Pollen
38 years old
Born, raised and always lived in Bali, Indonesia
This is who I am in the world….
I am the Founder of the PKP Centre- Pusat Kegiatan Perempuan- The centre for women’s activities, which I began in 2013. I had previously begun a school in 2008 for children with special needs, which is now run by another “Ibu Sari”.
My name, Sari Ati, means “essence of the heart/love/someone to be loved”.
The school was the first step, the feet. PKP, the women’s centre, was the neck/voice and now the community centre that I am building is the head.
I am the amazing Ibu sari- or OM-azing Ibu Sari. I am the neck of the world. In our Hindu philosophy, there is a philosophy called TRI ANGGA – where the body is divided into three parts- this is a fundamental piece of Balinese architecture, or guidelines. There are the feet (child), the body, and the head (man). I place a woman in the neck. The neck is the bridge between the head and body and it supports the head.
I compare it to the PC computer- the man is the monitor and the woman is the central processing unit. In a Balinese compound, it can seem invisible how the family and the family environment exist. Whether happy or not, it is based on how they treat the women. If they treat their women well, they are the Goddess or Deity, or if they don’t treat them well, the women turn into Kali or the devil. If women treated nicely, it’s the family heaven or the opposite, the family’s hell.
When someone goes to medical services with a headache, it is isolated. If the neck is sick, it affects the head, throat, sleep. The man, the monitor, displays how the women are treated in society and in the country. The neck is also the core of expression. When we’re not allowed to express, we already know what will happen. When we are not allowed to express our feelings through the voice, life is unbalanced and the whole body collapses. This is why women have a very important role in the world. When they know themselves and they understand where they live, when they are able to recognise and see their roles in society, then they understand how to be the leader, the neck, the voice.
This is very important to me because when I understand myself and my situation and where I live, the culture I have been given, then I can understand how to respond to any behaviours that are presented to me and I can co-operate or cope with anything, especially unpleasant situations. This aligns with the philosophy of TatwamAsi, which means I am you; you are me; we are one. It means when we know and understand ourselves better, we can know and understand one another better as we both mirror one another.
The story I would like to see next written for women:
I want women to know that they don’t have to harm themselves to get their light or voice. I experienced my own gender inequality, and the reality is that most of us are good at blaming others as well as blaming ourselves. It comes from the situation when women do not see any possibilities and opportunities to broaden their horizons, meet many people, allow themselves to go to many places and experience many different situations.
I believe in the three E’s- everybody is a teacher, every place is a school, and every moment is a lesson. If you would like to see the result of what you are learning, you need to have the three P’s… passion, patience and perseverance. Passion in heart and mind alignment, patience to trust the process and remain calm, and perseverance to keep on going. I also believe in AFA- being adaptable, flexible, and adjustable to cope with any situation. And I remember that human beings can only plan anything, yet the Universe will be the decision maker, whether our expectations meet reality or reality meets our expectations.
Wherever you go, and whoever you meet, there are a few steps you need to do. The first is LAF- look, ask, and feel. To observe more, ask more, and feel deeper. The more I meet people with different personalities, life skills, whatever, I learn that we are one. It is really important for me to have self-awareness, self-love and self-consciousness, because life is about choices. Whether you choose your daily life as joyful or miserable, the energy follows there. It’s the angle we see from.
There is nothing new in this life- we all copy, paste, and improve the great things that have been heritaged by our ancestors. We can improvise if we would like to make life more meaningful and joyful, or miserable. At PKP we value meaningful work, growth, and sustainability. Whatever you do for others, is actually done to fulfil your own satisfaction, so when I help others, I need to feel good. And all those people we support and help is our own greatest way of doing good and collecting karma.
I have gone through some sh*tty sh*tty stuff that I have turned into great fertiliser, which I am grateful for. We should all be ok with unpleasant situations as we grow as plants with great fertiliser. Our body is also amazing. It knows how to select, how to remind and how to give us a signal if we listen to it.
The story that I would next like to write for myself:
My next story is to build a men’s centre because in my experience over the last few years of helping women, I have found that men also need to be empowered. The neck can’t exist without the head. Especially in Bali. That’s my next story. I am also creating more Ibu Sari’s, so that I can create more.
Author
Michelle Gardener
Author
Michelle Gardener is a Coach, Author, Yogi, Blogger and Inspirational Speaker. She educates women all over the world in Social Change Leadership and is dedicated to pioneering the most amount of impact possible through helping women create social projects that do good for our world.
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