Hwee-Meng Tan
My prayer is to share with you what has deeply inspired and healed me in the hope that my writing may be one of the many lighthouses of light and love on your journey through life. I will share some personal stories so that:
You will not feel alone in your own struggles and confusion.
There is hope. There is always hope. Just as I have learned to create a deeply happy and fulfilling life, so can you learn to do the same.
I feel shy about revealing myself to you but I also realized that my story is nor unique nor special. You and I both share the same struggles as humans and the same wish to create a meaningful life.
Einstein was thought to have asked, “Is this a safe universe?” What do you believe? Do you live your life in fear, doubt and distrust of the world? Do you sometimes feel that you are an insignificant ant caught in the desperate survival of the fittest?
If you ever took the time to study the Universe around you, you will realize that Life is innately intelligent. The same intelligence that creates the stars, the sun, this planet, is also the same intelligence that lives in you.
You possess such wondrous intelligence in your body that it has taken scientists years and years of study to understand how your body works. And still, there are many areas of the body that medical science does not understand. Do you have to get up every morning to remind your heart to beat? To tell your thyroid to excrete the right amount of hormones to make your body function well?
In my final exam in anatomy and physiology, my lecturer asked, “What was the most important fact you learned about the human body?” She expected a long answer on all the facts and figures that I have spent the year memorizing. My answer was simple. “The human body is a miracle.” I got an A+.
You are a walking miracle! So why the deep unhappiness, confusion, sadness, and the feelings of being lost, frustrated or lonely?
Unfortunately, childhood rearing practices and societal values disconnect you from this intelligence that lives in you, surrounds you, and guides you. The fundamental healing principle work lies in re-connecting back to your own inner compass as the true source of guidance in your life.
Many people come to me with questions such as: What should I do? Why did this happen to me? Who am I? How can I solve this problem?
I do not have the answers to these questions, however through experience, I know that you possess the blueprint to your life. My work as a healer is to help you find this priceless treasure that lives in you.
An ancient story tells us that there was a divine being who wanted to hide an important secret — the secret of happiness. He thought first of hiding the secret at the bottom of the sea. But then he said to himself, “No, I cannot hide my secret there. Human beings are very clever. One day they will find it.”
Next, he thought of hiding the secret in a cave. But he rejected this idea as well. “Many people visit caves. No, no, people will find the secret there as well.”
Then he thought of hiding the secret on the highest mountain. But then he thought, “People are so curious these days. One day someone will climb the mountain and discover it.”
At last he devised the perfect solution. “Ah! I know the place where no one will ever look. I’ll hide my secret in the human being.”
Your inner wisdom has been called many names – the Tao, the Higher Self, the Inner Healer, the Divine Child or the Light. Your Inner Guide is constantly trying to communicate with you. It knows exactly what you need for greater balance and harmony in your life. It has the answers to all the questions you have ever wanted to ask. It wants you to succeed in fulfilling your greater destiny on this planet and it will do everything possible to help you.
A friend wanting to send you a message may use the following channels: handphones, home phones, e-mails, faxes, letters. Similarly, your Inner Guide also has its own methods of communication. What are they? Some channels that are used: body, relationships, events, dreams, synchronicities and mother nature.
I will discuss some of these briefly in this article.
A. The Body Channel
I have already mentioned that great intelligence lives in your body. So, naturally, bodily symptoms are bringers of important messages. Do not be afraid to face any illnesses or physical symptoms that you may have. They carry important seeds of learning that you need to go through for your own healing and transformation.
A few years ago, my body manifested urticaria for several months. I had red and horribly itchy rashes all over my body. Thanks to Western medicine I was able to control the itchiness. To utilize urticaria as a gift of learning, I spent several sessions working to understand the messages beneath the rashes. As a result, I made several changes in my life. I gave up a wonderful job, left a beautiful house, and committed fully to my life’s work.
Well, the messenger left after I made all those changes! Thank goodness, no more rashes!
Working with bodily symptoms does not mean that you do not seek medical attention or treatment. However, if it is non life-threatening, before you pop that pill in your mouth whether it is Western medicine, homeopathy, Western or Chinese herbs, play with the following exercise:
Imagine that this bodily symptom whether it is a headache, a rash, a cough, a pain, or cancer is a Heavenly messenger. Draw it on a piece of paper. Imagine that this picture could speak. What does it have to say?
The main mistakes that people make when trying to understand their bodily symptoms are:
They do not trust the process.
They do not realize that bodily symptoms can have many layers of messages. Therefore it is important to spend time (it may take several hours to several years) to explore their inner processes.
Or they do not believe that the messages can be simple. For example, take a rest. Spend more time with your family.
The other problem which arises is they often want the messages to be safe and reasonable. They do not want to hear messages that will rock the safe boat of their current lifestyles. Many of our current lifestyles are built on the foundation of societal standards and values. Work, raise kids, save money, buy house… all the important norms of our society today. Sometimes, bodily symptoms may ask for a totally radical change in lifestyle!
In my experience, receiving the messages from your wise self is the easy part. The main difficulty is having the courage to make the necessary changes in life or finding the patience and persistence in manifesting the vision. This is where you must find that next level of support to follow through. We live in a society of instantaneous gratification. The NOW time. We sometimes underestimate the amount of hard work, effort and time it takes to change.
It does not necessarily follow that symptoms will disappear overnight even though they may, just because you do the work to understand the message and make the necessary changes. Some bodily symptoms are like master teachers. They guide you all your life. I have met people with Down’s Syndrome that are incredible teachers of unconditional love.
I had a very wealthy and successful client who suffered from asthma for over 70 years. Western, Tibetan, homeopathic medicine, you name it – he has tried it. He finally realized that his asthma was the compass in his life. Through his asthma, he met his spiritual teacher. His asthma was also the engine that powered his spiritual and inner healing growth. And finally because of his asthma, he founded several charities to help children with asthma.
B. The Relationship Channel
Learning about yourself through the relationship channel is wonderful, challenging and growth producing work. Using this tool has made it easier for me to deal with difficult relationships and people in my own life.
Accept that everyone around you is your friend, your ally – an arrow that points you in the direction of your true purpose. Without an exception. Yes, all the wonderful people in your life and all those difficult people including terrible parents, selfish co-workers, philandering husbands, cheating wives… That they are here to teach you something about yourself or to help you to the next stage of your learning. In fact, people you have the strongest reactions to, whether it is love or hate are the teachers on your path right now.
Here are some simple methods of working to start you on your process.
Exercise
(This exercise is inspired by one of the teachers I have studied with – Arnold Mindell)
Think of someone you have a strong, negative reaction to.
Pretend you are that person. Act like him. Move like him.
Ask how you might need his qualities in yourself.
For example, your colleague revolts you. You judge him for being ruthlessly ambitious, cold and calculating. When you act like him, you notice how confident he is, how he goes after what he wants. You suddenly realize that you have never given yourself permission to follow your dreams.
Through this exercise, you understand that your “ruthlessly ambitious colleague” is an external exaggeration of your internally repressed desire to go after what you want. The quality you need to embody is assertiveness in pursuing your secret longings.
In relationship work, your relationships are mirrors to help you see yourself. As a general rule, people you dislike have qualities that you need to come in contact with and people you love have qualities that you want to develop in yourself in this lifetime. Couples in relationships often bring great teachings to each other. Your family is also another area where you will find your master gurus in disguise.
Barbara Brennan (another teacher I have studied with) gave some information about families that I would love to share with you.
“Each member of your family is vitally important to you, reflects a particular aspect of self, and is there to help you learn to deal with and heal that internal aspect that is difficult for you to heal… I guarantee you each member of your family that presents difficulties for you – and of course usually all of them do – represents an aspect within yourself. By virtue of the existence of that family member, you are always reminded that this is deep personal work for you to attend to.
Find how each family member represents an aspect of yourself that is being brought forth to develop, to heal, that can make you a better person and enhance your growth. When you fully understand, embody, and experience this, what arises from within is gratitude, because these members are helping you uncovering, bring forth and develop the core qualities that you long to develop. Qualities like unconditional love, caring, steadfast reliability, deep inner wisdom, the ability to care for yourself, the ability to center, and to let yourself unfold in your timing.”
Enjoy the exercises and the relationships!
C. The Mother Nature Channel
Native American Indians saw Earth as a living, intelligent Mother. To seek answers and teachings from Earth, they would participate in a ritual known as the Vision Quest. The Indians would journey alone into Mother Nature and look for visions to guide them. Mother Nature may send any number of her ambassadors; animals, any of the elements such as fire or water, tree guardians and so forth.
One of the most important messengers is animal spirits. In inner journey healing sessions (the urban equivalent of a Vision Quest), animals often appear as reminders of your strengths and gifts. Interestingly, can you guess which animal has appeared the most often to Singaporeans participating in the inner journey sessions?
Yes, it is the Lion! Perhaps it is no accident that Singapore’s name means the Lion City. It feels like the Lion Spirit is one of the animal spirits guiding this country. The Lion is here to remind Singaporeans something you may all have forgotten: You are all lions and lionesses!
Here is an exercise to help you identify the message of the Lion Spirit:
What are the characteristics of a Lion?
Choose one of the above qualities of the Lion that resonate deeply with you.
Imagine that you were to live out that quality. How and where would you use this quality?
If you knew that you carried the energy of a Lion deep inside of you, what in your Life would you change? What risk would you take? What would you do that would be different? What challenge would you go for?
As each one of you take up this challenge to bring forth the lion’s quality from within, you will help anchor the Lion’s consciousness in the psyche of this country. You will heal the energy of fearful thinking, scarcity consciousness and survival mentality that permeates your country so pervasively.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Singaporeans who participated in the healing journey sessions for allowing the Spirit of the Lion to speak!
So, go roar with power, strength, passion and play!
Hwee-Meng Tan conducts private inner journey sessions to reconnect you to your Inner Guidance. She will be starting a 3 year study program to empower students to work more deeply with inner healing principles, some of which are explained in this article. . For more information, please contact Lapis Lazuli Light (Singapore).