Life is not a Disney movie. Change, especially a change for the better, does not happen overnight with a swish of a wand. There is no prince nor nobleman coming to sweep us off our feet and take us away from our troubles.
Before I embark on a new series of content on this blog, I’d like to take a day to share my own journey of transformation with you.
I am a professional storyteller by trade. I spend my days telling the story of motorsports via the written word, pictures or video. Like many of my generation, I have allowed my career to define me. While my professional skills have grown, there was little room or thought given to self development. This went on for decades.
About three years ago (in Bazi terms, that was just at the time when I was entering a new Luck Pillar), the nagging voice inside my head, telling me that there is something more out there, became louder and more insistent. That was when I decided to embark on a serious study of a topic that had fascinated me all my life – Chinese Metaphysics. Unknowingly, that was the start of a new journey.
As a Malaysian Chinese, I have known about Bazi all my life. In fact, my parents told me they consulted a Bazi Consultant when I was a baby. They said the consultant revealed that I would travel frequently in life. Which was true. Apart from that, they couldn’t remember anything else from the consult. They don’t provide reports in those days. 😊
In spite of my natural fascination, during my youth, I felt a push-pull towards the art. This was mainly due to the over-commercialization of the industry especially during the 90s. Put this crystal in the what-not sector of your bedroom, and you will soon find a boyfriend. Really? Just hang these metal coins in the whatever sector of your house, and you will be promoted. Perhaps those over-simplified solutions worked for some people, but I had my doubts.
So decades went by where I vacillated between feeling drawn to the art while at the same time repulsed by it. And then something happened.
In 2014, I went through a golden three months where everything I touched turned into gold. It was like I was on fire. Hot! I wanted to know why. Being human, I wanted to know if I could forecast that period again. Being greedy, I wanted to know what I could do to prolong the effects of that golden window.
I began searching for information in earnest. By then, Dato’ Joey Yap was already dominating the space in Chinese Metaphysics. And truth to tell, his message of action versus inanimate objects resonated with me. So in 2017, instead of spending my fun money on self-indulgent K-pop concert trips to Seoul, I decided to invest in courses.
In modern psychology, there are five stages of learning – Unconscious Incompetence; Conscious Incompetence; Conscious Competence; Conscious Incompetence; and Mastery/Flow. This corresponds with the Chinese stages of learning, and I prefer the Chinese version. It’s simply cooler. These five steps are: 1) 知To Know; 2) 明To Understand; 3) 悟To Awaken; 4) 修To Cultivate; and 5) 行To Practice.
I spend much of 2017 and 2018 on Stage 1 and 2. Apart from gaining new knowledge and an expanded social network, nothing much had changed.
Stage 3 and 4 happened in 2019 where I noticed an increased mindfulness of my own capacity, blind spots and habits. Awakening to the knowledge that I have a naturally lazy chart, what then should I do? Knowing my tendency to rush willy-nilly into projects, how can I change my approach? Do I just accept things as they are? Or should I start making changes? Do I want to continue operating on auto-mode? What do I really want?
With clarity came mindfulness and growth, as well as a drive to help others gain the clarity they need to make better decisions. Which led to the creation of this blog in 2020.
These are also the questions I now ask my clients during our consult or coaching sessions. Now that you know, what will you do? Armed with this information, what action will you take?
But the learning never stops. Now that I am at Stage 5 with Bazi and Qimendunjia, I am preparing to embark on Stage 1 again with Feng Shui. And I will continue to share my learnings through this blog in the hopes that the information will help spark an idea or inspiration in you.
To conclude, life is not a Disney movie. It’s about being 1% better every day.
