We weren't born to pay bills and then die

This quote has been used many times on quote memes, and they are all over the internet in different variations. I tried searching for the original author of this quote, but couldn't find it. Anyway, the truth in this statement will jolt some people awake.

Over the weekend, several people asked me through various channels how did I start on my spiritual path, the synchronicity in the timing of this question made me realise that perhaps it is time to share more about my journey. 

I was definitely in search of answers even before I made some really bad choices in my early 20s, it was a life of addictions that got intensified through sexual trauma, which got me into situations and circumstances that were unhealthy. By the time I was 28, I just knew I had to do things differently or else my health will go, but it wasn't until I was 30 that I got my act together.

My road to recovery was an interesting one, but it opened my heart to my latent gifts and abilities which I was trying to suppress. My intuitive and psychic gifts then made themselves available to me, if I dared to take them on, and this was when I knew I had to invest in myself in healthier ways to grow and learn. I searched for teachers and mentors, trying them out and leaving them, some helped, some didn't. Some were afraid of me due to their own ego spiritual pride, did things to try to sabotage me, but all in all, a good journey. 

If I were to be completely honest, I would say that the road to recovery never ends. After over 20 years, I am still "recovering" but this time, of a completely different nature. This recovery is not about healing the broken bits, it is more about re-discovering. 

I have come to realise the more life throws interesting lessons to me, and the more I embrace these lessons, without resistance, the more my heart opens. The deeper the pain, the more the heart opens, but I have to do this courageously to be able to hold the pain and the tension without bolting. This, my friends, is truly the formula for deeper and greater spiritual growth. 

In our fast-paced world, we want to quickly get over hurts and pains, so we look for quick fixes but then we never really address the hurts and pains. So we end up suppressing them, pushing them to be dis-eased energies in or bodies physical, emotional or mental. Or we overexpress our pains and hurts and using them as crutches for paralysis, blame, and stagnation. 

Our experiences shape us, the pain cracks us open to reveal the real gem within: our gifts that we have come to share with the world. But most people are too afraid to go there. So I want you to know and understand that you did not come here to pay bills and die. 

In your daily interaction with others, you can tell who can be on this journey with you, simply share something that is heartfelt from within and see if anyone is willing to listen or do they keep silent, or change the subject. Sometimes people change the subject or remain silent not because they don't care, it is because they do not know-how. Your heartfelt sharing is too much for them, and they cannot hold it because their hearts have not been opened yet. So do not judge them, but take your journey somewhere else.

Sometimes, in your sharing, instead of listening to you, they hijack the conversation to talk about their own stuff, because they needed to and it is not because they don't care, it is because they are too full of their own stuff to have space for yours. Move on to somewhere else to make your journey because they can't be on the journey with you. 

Sometimes people just overshare the same thing and issue over and over again to you, they are not willing to let go, and they are using you as an audience, and this may mean that they are a broken record, and they are stuck, send them somewhere else for help. 

Observe when people cannot sit with you in silence. They cannot bear listening to their own hearts or yours. Move on to others who can journey with you.

Because you know this, you know that there is more to life, and you must keep on searching. If the real gem doesn't reveal itself through your heart in your life, you can never truly have peace and/or experience joy, and you will realise on your death bed that you lived for nothing. 

Joy comes from deep within your own heart, and joy comes along with this real gem. Joy cannot be bought, neither can it be exchanged, joy can only be revealed.

So I'm going to remind you again: you didn't come here to pay bills and die. 

©2021 Shamala Tan

Let me know how I can assist you if you have any questions [email protected]
Shamala Tan is an author, spiritual entrepreneur and healer. Her work focuses on transforming the lives of others on the spiritual, emotional, mental and earthly level.

One of her success stories as an author is to being featured alongside New York’s bestsellers Sonia Choquette, Robert Allen, Arielle Ford, Marci Shimoff as well as Christine Kloser in the book Pebbles In The Pond.

Shamala’s clients include small business owners, holistic practitioners as well as those seeking to find more significant meaning and value in life. Shamala offers laser coaching to her clients on a one-to-one basis or in a group environment, offline as well as online.