Of Life and Death - and the courage to open the Door of Change

Happy Sunday everyone!

First off, thank you again to all readers and clients out there for reading my posts and supporting me! Without your support and encouragement, I would have given up my foray in the realm of metaphysics and my other love, facilitation and teaching....Oh! and not forgetting reading all my dusty books collected from various book fairs :)

A lot has happened since my last post, hence my 'blog silence' for a few weeks. I had a wonderful tarot reading consultation with new clients (I hope they thought so too!) and made new friends who were not only my teachers in facilitation techniques but had an interest in metaphysics as well! I was busy reading their palms during our coffee break sessions, to the point the class began rather late, but it was fun and they had a great laugh :) On the other hand, I also received sad news from three close friends, all of whom were going through major life challenges, 2 of whom involved death of a beloved family member and 1 who had a separation. This year has been a tough year as well for all Malaysians, in the wake of the MH 17 and MH 370 tragedies.

At the same time I've seen friends and families venturing more confidently into their career or having a positive paradigm shift in their mindset. I enjoy spending time with the younger generation who are just entering their mid-twenties (their energy and enthusiasm are contagious!) and the older generation passing on their wisdom and being a great role model on what it takes to be patient. I also enjoyed the experience of being in a highly-charged positive Qi area, thanks to the formation of good Feng Shui land forms - one in Kuala Lumpur and one in Penang - which sealed my belief in the existence of Qi.

As we are nearing the end of they year (as my mum used to say that when the -ber months come, time passes by very fast!), I reflected on all that has past this year and ask myself what I can learn from it and what I can pass on to others. During my Tarot 2014 reading which I did with my friends back in December 2013, the theme card which I pulled was 'The Hangman'.

My friend who read my cards, shared 2 things will happen to me: I will have a paradigm shift in my life perspective and I will have problems with my ankle. Both came true for me (he was naturally anxious when I told him, a few months later, that I fell and tore my tendon at my ankle joint) and I became less anxious about 'chasing' after material gains in life. Both I am thankful for as I am now practicing 'walking meditation' by carefully placing one foot forward, mindfully observing where each step lands (less I fall again!) and gaining a deeper respect for the journey that all of us will faced in the end- death. Yeap, serious stuff for a blog reading on Sunday, of all days, but as Brad Pitt once said in the film 'Meet Joe Black' - Nothing is certain except death and taxes.

One of my religious teachers shared that nothing exist on its own; everything is interconnected or assembled and therefore can be disassembled. Hence, for example, a person who is jealous of someone's success, often filter the perception into one statement 'Oh, he/she became so wealthy because he/she was lucky, etc'. However, the variable complexities that led to the said person's success could have been luck, but also a hundred other factors throughout his/her life (or past lives) which led to his/her success. I would sum it up as your very own Book of Life - which leads me back to my original point: To truly understand how to enjoy a meaningful life we must first acknowledged our relationship with death. 

Most, if not all, fear death...but birth and death comes naturally in our daily life - birth of a new career, loss of a cherished job, birth a family member, loss of a good friend - the list goes on and on. An accumulation of these fears would naturally prevent someone from moving on to a new 'life'. I've seen it over and over again, including myself, and it pains me even more for those who see the 'door of change'  but afraid to turn the doorknob, despite showing so much resentment of their current life and a huge potential to 'blossom'. However, on the other hand, I've celebrated with those who not only turn the doorknob, but leap forward with such speed that they attained whatever they've always wanted within 2-3 years. So my question to you is - what is your relationship with death?

This is the tarot death card, which often invokes a negative reaction among my clients. However, I will quickly reassure them that it is a card which celebrates the 'death of the old you' and 'birth of a new you'. Noticed the priest and child who respects the presence of Death with the knowledge that the birth of a new dawn is coming, and the fallen man who loss his crown which is often equate to loss of ego. How often do we cling on to our personal beliefs that define our ego, preventing us from embracing a new path in life?

To let go of ego, it can start with a simple gratitude and thanks of what life has offered you.

I end this post by accepting the 'gratitude challenge' from a friend (not ALS bucket challenge :)) and hope that you, the reader, will also follow suit. 

1) I'm grateful for my love of learning - which has led to me learn from all avenues; learning from my young nephew that it's ok to dance whenever you want to or from the various teachers and mentors I met this year who taught me the power of 'opening your mouth to ask'.

2) I'm grateful to have met wonderful people - those who share the same passion of learning and those who, by making life difficult for me, taught me lessons I won't forget and made me a better person

3) I'm grateful for simple things in life; breathing, enjoying a simple hawker meal, assembling lego toys, catching up with old friends...I need to add more to this list! Haha!

Have a great Sunday!

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Regina Ong has always considered herself a normal 9 to 5 working gal until she 'stumbled' upon the exciting yet quirky world of metaphysics. She is currently learning and providing consultations in areas of Classical Feng Shui, Tarot reading, BaZi life chart reading, palmistry and occasional face reading. She will soon be learning the art of Qi Men Dun Jia, an art which was rumored to be  practiced by one of her favourite and respected China militant strategist from the famed Three Kingdom period; Zhuge Liang.

Besides being a practitioner of metaphysics, she has great interest in facilitation (an art of weaving organic thoughts or discussions) and other weird stuff (e.g figuring out what people search on Google).

The last time she was this 'weird' was when she recently enjoyed doodling during a creative recording jam.