32 Gilbert‟s activity in Ashram; yoga, gugurita, meditation and eating healthy food,
and the discipline bedtimes bring her contentment and happiness that she has been looking for all these months of seeking happiness.
“I felt so deeply, terribly happy. I thought to myself, “whatever this feeling is
–this is what I have been praying for. And this is also what have been praying
to.” p.203 Gilbert changes to a better person; the one who can accepts her negative
side and changes it to be positive and the one who forgives her past. Prayer changes her spiritual life. She already let go off her past experience, her
depressed, loneliness and worried through prayer. Once New Year eve, she celebrates it with people in Ashram and she expresses her relief.
“This is the first New Year‟s Eve I can ever remember in my life where I haven‟t known any of people I was celebrating with. In all
this dancing and singing, there is nobody for me to embrace at midnight. B
ut I wouldn‟t say that anything about this night has been lonely.”p.130
After long days stayed in India, Gilbert realizes that happiness which she
has been searching for is already in her. Where ever you go to find happiness, you will never find it if yo
u don‟t create it by yourself. Happiness is a choice and in that moment finally Gilbert is able to decide to choose happiness.
As mentioned above, prayer change Gilbert‟s life and through prayer she finds herself. Prayer is symbolizes Gilbert‟s happiness. She changes the negative
energy in her life into positive energy through prayer. She finds herself by finding God in her spiritual experiences in praying.
3. Meaning of Ketut Liyer, Wayan and Felipe
In Bali, Gilbert makes friends with some people. Ketut Liyer, Wayan and Felipe are the closest friends and she interacts with them in most of her days in
33 Bali. The first is Ketut Liyer, who is a medicine man in Bali. Gilbert comes to
Ketut ‟s house every afternoon to learn about anything with him and also to teach
English. Lately, after several times she comes to his house, she realizes something.
“Then he asked me to tell him some stories about India, about America, about Italy, about my family. That‟s when I realize that I
am not Ketut Liy er‟s English Teacher, nor am I exactly his
theological student, but I am the merest and simple of pleasure for this old medicine man
–I am his company. I am somebody he can talk to because he enjoys hearing about the world and he hasn
‟t had much of chance to see it.”p.243
However, she does not mind with that condition. She still comes to his house every day. Ketut teaches her a simple Balinese meditation which can make
she stops having a nightmare and she is happy about it. One moment which shows how she shares her love to
Ketut is what she calls “photocopy incident”. At that time, she knows that Ketut has all piles of old, lined notebooks and ledgers, filled
with tiny little handwriting, of ancient Balinese-Sanskrit secrets about healing. All of them are too old and beyond invaluable. The notebooks have been through
decades of mildew and mice and they are shredded almost to bits. Yellow and crumbling and musty, they look like disintegrating piles of autumn leaves. Every
time he turns a page, he rips the page. Therefore, she says to Ketut that the notebooks are dying and need to be renewed. He agrees with her idea then she
starts to photocopy the entire notebook and it becomes better. Both Ketut and his wife are happy about that.
“Every day, Ketut called his wife over and showed her the new copies and he was enjoyed. Her facial expression didn‟t change at all,
but she studied the evidence thoroughly .” p.245
34 The next day, Gilbert gets what she deserves for helping Ketut to renew his
notebooks. She gets grand success because K etut‟s wife who seems does not care
about her presence since her first visits to Ketut ‟s house finally greets her for the
first time. She fumbled through my hand like she was trying to unfumbled the
combination on a lock and she found my index finger. The she wrapped her whole big, hard fist around through her power grip,
right up into my arm and all the way down into my guts. Then she dropped my hand and limped away arthritically, saying not a single
word, continuing her sweeping as though nothing had happened. While I stood there quietly drowning two rivers of happiness at the
same time p.246
The quotation above shows that Gilbert is able to build a good friendship with others and also to share her love. She is not only receiving something from
others but also doing something for others. Besides Ketut, Gilbert also meets Wayan; a traditional healer and her
daughter Tutti. In short, they become friends and Gilbert wants to help Wayan and her daughter to buy a new house because they do not have a house. Gilbert is
touched by the kindness of Wayan and her daughter, so she comes with an idea that she will collect money from her friend around the world. She says that instead
of giving her a birthday present and party for her birthday which will come soon, she wants her friends donate some money to help Wayan and her daughter to buy
a new house. Wayan is extremely happy when she hearing it that she says “how
can I thank you, Liz? I would give you anything. If I had husband I loved, and you needed a man, I woul
d give you my husband” p.280. Her action to help Wayan and her daughter shows that Gilbert has a good
sense of empathy. She takes a good action to make other people ‟s life happier and
