9 Years and Counting – My Post-Tsunami Psychic Journey

Happy Boxing Day. This is a very special post from me. Today is the nine year anniversary of my family and I escaping the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami in Thailand.

Hundreds of people drowned in the two streets in front of us. We lived because we could only find a hotel room in the third street back from Patong Beach (thank my Dad for his last-minuteness). To celebrate my ‘life-extension’, here are nine things I’ve learned about spirituality and psychics since 2004:

1) Not all psychics exhibit abilities from birth. Some people (including me) become psychic as adults, after traumatic wake up calls. In most cases, a near-death experience forces them to question everything they do, which brings out their intuition. As a trained scientist and die-hard sceptic who attended church until my teens, I was never someone you’d pick to become a professional psychic.

However, after the tsunami, I kept asking myself why I was working for government when it clearly drove me nuts, and what I was truly meant to be doing with my life. As a result I went back to Thailand to volunteer and, upon coming back to Australia, embarked on a personal growth journey that resulted in my current spiritual path.

2) You are always on Divine time, even if it’s not human time.Punctuality (or people’s focus on punctuality) is one of the banes of my existence. I have been late for appointments since I was a toddler, which makes me wonder if it’s genetic! Over the years I’ve heard, hundreds of times, ‘Sarah you’d be more successful if only you were on time’. And yet, being 10 minutes late to the beach nine years ago saved my life. Go figure.

Things have improved since then…I make a huge effort to be punctual for my clients but when I do run late, instead of getting angry, I give myself a kiss and tell my body ‘it’s ok, you’re still worthy of being loved’. Who knows, maybe I got sent back to Earth to teach people (including myself) not to be so judgemental…

3) Everyone wants to be of service to others. Everyone! Watching the tsunami relief effort I was stricken with guilt for choosing an environmental science degree over medicine. I kept thinking, ‘if only I was a doctor I could be saving lives right now’.

Eventually, I burned out of conservation, which led to me retraining in fundraising and counselling. What great fields to join! You meet so many people who just want to give…it healed my heart to realise that not everyone is a litterbug in need of scolding.

4) Psychics are like hairdressers. Buyer beware. Go by referral. Psychics are people too. As author Dawn Hill says, psychic ability doesn’t always bring spiritual maturity. Do your research before seeing a psychic – at least check their website or give them a call. This will usually be enough to figure out if you have rapport. I love having readings myself but am choosy about who I see. I’m still haunted by a dodgy psychic who said a relative of mine was cursed by an evil spirit…that she could remove for $15,000!

5) Doing psychic readings for others teaches you that there’s a God  (or Universal order). The Universe always sends psychic readers the clients they need to see. One day I was dithering over the fees for a naturopathy course. That afternoon, someone called me for a reading – about the fees for a naturopathy course. Another time, I read for a series of people who’d had sudden breakups. The next day, my partner broke up with me. Crazy huh! Reading for people puts you in the ‘zone’, or what I call ‘God-brain’ – it really is a fast track to spiritual development. Just make sure you have a good support network and keep up your health routines so you have the energy to keep growing.

6) You can do psychic readings for yourself but it’s good to get a second opinion.  Why? Because your ego will gloss over the difficult parts in favour of the juicy, happy news. I do readings for myself each week, but I also have spiritual mentors to keep me on track because I naturally tend to repress my feelings (my favourite phrase is ‘what feelings?!’). They’ve known me long enough to call me on this behaviour straightaway.

7) Nothing is ever 100% certain, except death and rebirth. A genuine psychic may say things to you in a reading that don’t come true, but keep you on your life path. This sounds ridiculous but it’s not. It’s reverse psychology, Angel-style. A friend of mine was told she’d get divorced at a certain age. That reading made her commit to her marriage and so far, they haven’t separated. Yay! Better for the psychic to be the ‘bad cop’ than to ‘cop out’ of helping my friend by bluffing her and saying there was nothing to worry about. Truthfully, nothing is concrete in our lives except the fact that we die and return (to Earth, or other dimensions).

8) Your worst enemies might be your best friends upstairs. I’m serious – the people who annoy you the most, who have hurt, lied and cheated you – they could be your soul family in Heaven. Who else would volunteer to cop all your negativity and hatred? Forgiving them while you are on Earth not only gives you energy back, it ensures that when you pass over, there’s less to clean up before you party on.

9) Everything you do in life teaches others to be more authentic or less authentic. It was bone-level painful for me to turn myself into professional psychic, because I didn’t consider myself qualified when I first began (there are no psychic universities in Brisbane…yet!). It took years before my decision to go into palmistry and numerology was validated. Years for my parents to accept the idea their daughter had gone ‘even more feral’. Years for me to meet my partner while doing a palmistry talk. Years for me to not look down or cough when I gave people my business card. Now, I can see that following my passion was a solid gold decision. Why? Because I have nothing to hide any more – what a relief!

I’ve inspired those around me to stop apologising for who they are, and to believe great changes can be for the best. I could happily die tomorrow knowing that I have given my all to the world, which is all I ever wanted to feel.

So thank you, giant wave of 2004. You carried me, all the way home.

Recommended Links
A Poem for My Critic – If You Can’t Beat Them, Enjoy Them
10 Years On – An Eye Witness Account of the 2004 Phuket Tsunami
The Five Craziest Things Psychics Have Told Me – Why This Industry is Buyer Beware