My cousin - hypnotherapist, confidant, kindred spirit.

I had an fascinating conversation with Sherwin (my cousin in Singapore) this evening on MSN messenger. I deliberately went online to see if he was there as I had a couple of questions I thought he could specifically answer. He was, and he did.

I have been researching what I would like to do to make the best use of our time in Europe. After ample time of contemplative reflection in the mountains and shores of Costa Rica on what I feel is most important in life, I foresee the next leg of this journey to be of learning and understanding. More and more I feel inclined to create my life around fostering spiritual growth, and so I have been exploring various forms of 'alternative medicine' or spiritual practices I could dabble with and use professionally in the future. A few fields of study I have been considering are:

• Hypnosis/Past life regression therapy
• Ayurveda
• Shiatsu
• Reflexology
• Neuro-Linguistic programming 

Sherwin is a certified hypnotherapist, and I've been fortunate enough to undergo a session on the day of my wedding (he was my best man). It felt enlivening to be able to share my strong interest in past lives and reincarnation without fear of being judged. Competently, he asked why I was thinking of pursuing hypnotherapy training and/or as therapy, and I responded that ever since reading Brian Weiss' 'Many Lives Many Masters,' the phenomena has perked my curiosity. I mean, if reincarnation is factual (and there is plenty of evidence to support it) then the bulk of the human race is living an untruth. Discovering reincarnation in Western society will have gargantuan implications in how people conduct their lives (in this life) and is undeniably a solution to serious global issues such as climate change. But before I get on to saving the world..

..I subsequently asked Sherwin how he felt about PLR and he unraveled his answer pensively. Although he hasn't experienced a past life, he believes in it. And that we are "spiritual beings having a human experience, rather than human beings occasionally having a spiritual experience." I think it was Wayne Dyer who originally said that, and it did sound a tad corny reading it again on the wall of my MSN chat. But I recognize Sherwin's communicated 'spiritual' experiences, and it is bolstered by the way he lives his life - authentically. A essential quality for any kind of metaphysical practitioner. It is valuable seeing things from another persons perspective, and I notice how automatic it is to judge someone else just because I don't share the same experiences.' But life is vast and complex and every person's experience of the world is his own and is as valid as anyone else's.