THE YIN AND YANG OF LIFE

This weekend I have read a lot of unpleasant news happening in my country and around the world. First there was the slaying of a mum, her baby and maid by a drug addict who wanted to steal a laptop from the house, then the apparent suicide of former South Korean president, the killing of a maid by her employers and the list goes on ... Besides the morbid news, I watched two news reports on people who lost their jobs because of the economic downturn and are finding it hard to make ends meet while they are looking for employment. Each day there will be quite a number of happy as well as unhappy news but I guess that is inevitable. This is the Yin and Yang of life.

That is why I make sure that I start counting my blessings for what I have. A month and a half ago, my mum was very ill. It got to a point where my sister, brother-in-law and their son thought that my mum had gone crazy. They even brought her to a psychiatrist and even suggested that my mum be sent to a nursing home. My sister kept on insisting that my mum was mentally ill and wanted to feed her the tranquilliser and anti-depressant pills given by the doctor. This is not the first time they did this. The same happened in 2004 when my mum became ill but the doctors couldn't really find anything seriously wrong with her. They too had thought that my mum had become crazy and their first thought was to suggest that I send her to a nursing home. They brought her to see a psychiatrist. Know what the doctor said the first time? He said that my mum was mentally sound. Then my mum was given sleeping tablets each time she said she could not sleep. It got to a point that she became zombie-like and was addicted to the sleeping tablets and tranquillisers. When awake, she'd stare at the walls. She needed the pills to keep her calm and also make her sleep.

Well, this time around I put my foot down. I ordered my sister to not feed my mum the tranquillisers and sedatives at all. Thank God she only made my mum take two. I noticed that there were easily 30 tablets in the pack that she was given. When I got home, I made my mum throw the pills away. I would not hear anything of sending my mum to a nursing home, even if it were only for half a day.

I had explained that my mum was in such a state because the Five Yellow Star was in her personal sector for the month. Her bedroom was also afflicted by this same misfortune star in 2004. For your information, the #5 Yellow star brings bad luck of all kinds, financial loss, accidents, misfortunes, mishaps, fights and death. Those with this star would have a tendency to become depressed and their 'spirit' would be very low. To compound it all, she went to the grave to pray to our ancestors during Cheng Beng (Chinese All Soul's Day) and had sort of attracted some Yin forces to linger near her. We brought her to a temple and got a Buddhist monk to do an exorcism. The Chinese believe that it is not advisable to bring old folks and young children to Yin places as they might easily be bothered by such beings and fall ill.

Anyway, I said to wait until the 6th of May when the new month starts and the Five Yellow had left my mum's sector and she'd be totally fine. My sister and her family do not believe in
Feng Shui or the supernatural at all. They even got my nephew to call me to discuss long term plans for my mum, being that I send her to a daycare centre for the elderly. For those visitors who are from countries like America and England, the conditions of the nursing homes here are a far cry from the ones over there. Believe me, I lived in England for two years and one of my friends works as a nurse there. The condition and care there are very good.

As the 6th of May was a Wednesday, I did not get to see my mum but spoke to her over the phone. She said that she was feeling better but was still having problems sleeping and also her appetite had not returned. When my Aunt Linda and I saw her on Friday night, my mum was waiting for the both of us to go for dinner. Her appetite had come back but she still had problems sleeping.

The pictures above were taken this evening before I left for Sitiawan. In the morning my mum did some gardening before she, my Aunt Linda and I went for our breakfast and then to the market. We went to Tesco to do some shopping in the afternoon. She even cooked lunch and dinner for us. She is also slowly recovering from her insomnia and manages to sleep a few hours each day.

My sister and her family can believe in all the science and psychology stuff BUT I believe in Feng Shui playing a BIG part in our lives. Anyway, they still think that they are right and that I am being unreasonable and irrational in my belief of Geomancy. Can you imagine what would have been the outcome if I had no knowledge of Flying Star Feng Shui and were weak and let my sister and her family make the decision? My mum would either end up in the mental asylum or the Old Folk's Home.