This week’s newsletter is a special one.

Instead of introducing a Chinese expression, I am opening the doors to a hidden side of Chinese culture.

A mystical side of our heritage that many Chinese Canadians have never accessed before.

It is something that has fascinated, tormented, liberated and transformed me continuously over the years–

Intuition.

I bet your parents didn’t preach about the importance of intuition when they transmitted Chinese traditions to you. 😉

Yet intuition is at the soul of Chinese philosophy and worldview.

It is of such importance that I am going to spend the next few articles dissecting its secrets.

Today, we are just going to scratch the surface.

We are all born with inner guidance.

I was a child with heightened imagination and unbound curiosity.

Many of you were probably the same way.

As a child, I knew instinctively who to befriend and who to avoid.

I naturally gravitated towards certain activities, toys, and books without external prompting.

You see, children rarely overanalyze. They simply move towards what feels true.

Before the world started imposing rules upon them, they had a strong and direct access to their inner guidance.

Of course, some people grew up in physically or emotionally unsafe environments.

They adopted survival strategies as children: suppressing their needs, hiding their true selves, and performing actions to earn love from their caregivers.

These people numbed the voice of intuition early on. As a result, they often end up making choices that betray their truths.

Even if your childhood was peaceful, most of you started bending to fit the world’s expectations at some point.

So much of what we call “logic” is really a justification for choosing actions that are “realistic” and “good” according to cultural norms, even if such choices go against our own nature.

It is easy for external rules to override intuition.

Growing up in China, I remember being praised for being well-behaved and obedient towards authority figures.

In hindsight, I was suppressing my rebellious and eccentric streaks in order to fit in.

That was the beginning of my complicated relationship with intuition. And the struggle carried over into adulthood.

For instance, my intuition always picks up on people’s characters early on.

Every time I dismissed this inner knowing, I paid the price.

Needless to say, I had my fair share of experience in the underworld of betrayal, manipulation, jealousy, and deception.

People revealed their true colors over time.

And my initial intuitive hits about them were always right.

Despite great pain, these experiences were deeply humbling and instructive.

They forged within me the capacity to bring these insights to you today.

Intuition is the forgotten inheritance of Chinese Canadians.

A lot of Chinese Canadians grew up believing that Chinese culture is all about hard work and chasing after material success.

But this is a fragmentation of the truth.

First generation Chinese immigrants often struggled with language barriers, discrimination, and exclusion from their professions due to foreign backgrounds.

They fixated on survival: working long hours in thankless jobs just to put food on the table.

When you are in survival mode, you develop a tunnel vision towards goals that are immediately useful.

Unsurprisingly, many of you have parents who overemphasize hard work, discipline, and expectation for you to get into well-respected professions.

Many Chinese Canadians inherited a rigid mental model of success without inheriting the soul of the Chinese way of life.

Chinese philosophies are inherently spiritual, in my opinion.

Chinese culture is rooted in mythology and a deep reverence for the invisible forces in the world and within every person.

Famous poets, philosophers, and emperors throughout more than 2000 years of Chinese history wrote about the power of inner guidance.

Take《易经》(yì jīng) for example: at first glance, this is a classic that serves as a guidebook for fortune telling.

Beyond its role in divination,《易经》(yì jīng) is foundational to Confucian philosophy.

Even Western philosophers and mystical traditions respect its detailed elucidation of the laws of nature.

Here is a famous phrase from this timeless classic:

寂然不动，感而遂通 (jì rán bú dòng, gǎn ér suì tōng).

My rudimentary understanding of it is: when your inner world is quiet and still, you are able to quickly grasp the meaning of any external signals and circumstances.

Because real guidance emerges in the quiet.

Unfortunately, my knowledge of《易经》(yì jīng) is limited. I will have to read it properly first before shedding more light on its teachings.

Intuition doesn’t compete for your attention.

It waits for your receptivity.

Ancient Chinese poets and philosophers often wrote about the importance of stillness.

Because in stillness, you receive truths and clarity.

Intuition is like the north star.

It is always there, but you can only see its glow when you pay attention and when the sky is clear.

So why are so many people overworking and unable to slow down?

Perhaps, by avoiding stillness, they get to avoid encountering uncomfortable truths that could upend everything they have built on the foundation of false beliefs and self-deception.

But that’s a subject for another day.

This series is a special gift from me to you.

I have been fascinated by the art of understanding people for at least a decade now.

The deeper I dive into this subject, the more intimately I experience the presence of my intuition.

Intuition helped me peel back layers of my own psyche, which in turn helped me see others beyond their facade.

I know y’all are curious about why certain people do certain things. 😉

Perhaps by understanding your loved ones better, you can finally put some age-old resentment, guilt, and disputes to peace.

As always, these reflections will be guided by knowledge embedded in your very own Chinese heritage.

In the meantime, stay tuned for my upcoming video on how to choose the right people for your life.

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Until next time.

Love,

Crystal