Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy

Positive Thinking Unties an Emotional Knot of 40 Years

Once a seven-year-old child told me that he had observed that human hearts are of different colors. His words shocked me. He described his brother’s heart as "black." I asked him, "What is a black heart?" He replied, " A person with a black heart is evil and will beat others with no reason." I then asked him, "Why is your brother’s heart black?" Immediately his eyes were filled with tears, and he told me that his brother used to kick him with no reason when he was four years old. He felt very hurt. But he said that the color of white had started to appear in his brother’s heart after his brother had started practicing qigong in Tai Ji Men. I asked him, "What is a white heart?" He replied that a white heart is a kind and good heart. After my conversation with the kid about the color of the heart, I felt very impressed with his deep memory and feeling about the heart. Before our conversation, I didn’t realize that our hearts have colors. What we have done to others leaves marks behind. The child’s words reminded me to be more careful about my intentions and thoughts. I need to pay close attention to my heart and do not let it turn black. I have also learned from the child that the heart can turn white by practicing qigong in Tai Ji Men. What color do we want our hearts to be? That depends on our actions, words, and thoughts!

I think our hearts also hold the memories of our past. If we can reinterpret a bad memory and transform it into positive and forward-looking energy, we will become happier. One day, I had a conversation with a friend who was in her forties. She told me that she had harbored an emotional knot for four decades. She told me that she had profound resentments toward her parents. She felt that her parents never loved her since she was little. She said that after she was born her father served in the military and her mother had to work, so she was raised in the home of her relatives. Her parents only came to visit her on holidays. The happiest moments in her childhood were those when she sat in front of the house, waiting for her parents. The most painful time was when her parents secretly left her after their visit.

This kind of memory made her feel as if her parents had abandoned her. Although her parents finally brought her back home, she often felt very sad and unhappy when she was alone. I attentively listened to her story and understood that her parents gave birth to her before they were married.

Having practicing Tai Ji Men Qigong for many years, I have learned the philosophy of yin and yang from my Shifu. From her story, I was able to see a white spot in the dark part of the emblem of yin and yang, so I told my friend in an affirmative tone of voice, "You are definitely your parents’ most beloved child. Your parents did not have sufficient income to build a family at the time. Your mother got pregnant before she was married to your father in the 1960s, a very conservative era. But they insisted to give birth to you even though that would put them under great pressure. It meant that you were definitely the fruit of their love and they really loved you very much."

In the past forty plus years, my friend had never looked at her life from this point of view. Her eyes were suddenly twinkling after hearing my analysis. Tears were streaking down her cheeks, and then she instantly smiled. She suddenly got up and was eager to leave. She told me that her heart was now opened. Looking at her own emotional knot from a different angle, she now had a new revelation. She felt emotional and said that she wanted to go home right away to hug her parents and say to them, "I love you!"

I felt very pleased to see my friend leave with a happy mood and a bright smile. The moment she stopped blaming her parents, she untied the knot in her heart, which had been there for over forty years. I often keep in my heart the wisdom Shifu told us, " Forgiving others is forgiving yourselves." Learning the philosophy of yin and yang, I have also realized that nothing is absolute. We will gain more in life if we can look at things and people positively.