An Unusual Emotional Reaction

Back in September, 2013, I felt a strange urge to contact a healer called Sian who was based in Perth Australia.  I had always felt a sense of kinship towards Sian on the forum we belonged to because she wrote remarkable stories.  She experienced many healing miracles and she was keen on writing about it when I first joined the forum.  When I was typing that first email to Sian to introduce myself, something unexpected happened.  I started to cry for no apparent reason.  Tears were flowing down my face and I couldn’t stop myself from crying.  The content of the email was quite simple, I was wondering why she was no longer a moderator of the forum and that I really admired her work.  I told her that I would love to get to know her better and talk about all the miraculous sessions she had facilitated. She had facilitated more than 1500 healing sessions so far, many with excellent results.

Puzzled by my emotional reaction while composing the email, I asked Sian if she would be willing to speak with me on Skype.  So, while I was in San Francisco in late September 2013 to meet with my friend Clare, we had a great Skype conversation.  But something seemed incomplete.  I told Sian that it is highly likely I would have to go and see her.  I could not even explain why.  But she told me that I should not go and see her.  I didn’t feel rejected, I know how this feels. Whenever a client tells me that they wanted to travel from a place far far away to see me, I always tried to get them to go see someone else who might be closer to them.  The farther the client has to travel to see me, the more nervous I get.  It was some kind of performance anxiety.  If Sian was anything like me, she would try to stop me from coming to see her in Australia given that I would be coming from Vancouver Canada. It will take nearly two days to travel to Australia.  The idea of going to Australia just to see Sian seemed far fetched because I really didn’t know how I was going to fit this into my schedule.  So, life moved on.

Then in October 2013, I decided to schedule a visit to Taiwan at the end of November to visit my father and my sister.  While I was in Taiwan, I found out that my teacher will no longer be teaching courses internationally and I looked online for the very next course she will teach in person and it was going to be in Sydney Australia.  Around the same time, a friend of mine was going to visit his parents in Perth Australia and he suggested out of the blue that I could go and visit.

I connected with my own inner wisdom and They said that I had a mission in Australia. I was shown that I had to go to Perth, where my friend and Sian lives, and I had to go to Sydney to take the course with my teacher. It turned out to be the last time I was to see my teacher alive. With one week to go before the course starts in Sydney Australia, I was set into motion to put my trip together.  Everything came together quickly. I emailed Sian and she told me that even though she was not going to be around during weekend that I was going to be in Perth, Australia, she would make time to see me the night I arrive.  I was scheduled to take a direct flight from Taiwan to Sydney and then take a intercontinental flight from Sydney to Perth on the same day, the total travel time including train ride and layover time was 25 hours. My friend Ken (not his real name) also graciously offered to pick me up from the airport and drive me in to Sian’s house one hour in the opposite direction from his home.

“You Can’t Go to Australia.”

My flight from Taiwan to Sydney was set to take off at 11 pm on December 5th, 2013. I took the bullet train to the Airport station, which was 20 minutes bus ride away from the airport.  I arrived at 8:35 pm and pulled my luggage towards a check-in Kiosk at the train station.  This way, I could check in my luggage before boarding the shuttle bus to the airport.  When I arrived at the check-in kiosk for China Airlines, the lady behind the counter scanned my passport as part of the check-in process several times looking very confused.  I had to wait many minutes while she attempted to scan my passport over and over again.  Finally she looked up and said to me, “You don’t have a Visa to go to Australia.”

“What?” I was shocked, “I need a Visa to go to Australia? I have a Canadian passport, we are Commonwealth Countries. We are supposed to be friends!” I was clearly ignorant. “Can’t I just apply for a Visa after I land in Sydney?” Then they won’t be able to deny me!

“Unfortunately, I cannot even check in your luggage or give you a boarding pass without a Visa.  Every time I tried to scan your passport, it just said ‘error’.” She said.

The manager came by and graciously offered me the possibility of using their computer to apply for an electronic visa online.  He said that most of the time, people holding Canadian passports can be approved immediately. I began entering my information into the system.  I was keenly aware of the time on the computer, it said 9:06 pm — less than two hours away from take off.  I typed in all my information and payed my $20 fee to submit my application.  I anxiously waited while I pressed the submit button hoping that I could be approved right away.  After loading the page for a few seconds (but it seemed much longer), the screen displayed a webpage that said.  We have received your application.  Your application had been flagged for review. Please contact our Visa office in 12 hours to see if you have been approved.

“What?!” I couldn’t believe this, at 9 pm Taiwan time, it was 12 am in Sydney. Who was going to be there to process my application?

“Ms Chu,” the manager approached me, “I checked our system and saw that there is space on the flight tomorrow night. I would be happy to move you to that flight free of charge.”

“You mean you checked for available seats even before I completed the application? I asked in disbelief. Did he know this was going to happen?

“I can’t help it Ms. Chu, I already had to turn 5 other passengers away in the last 30 minutes because they didn’t have a Visa to go to Australia.” He said apologetically.

“When is the latest time I have to check in to make the flight?” I asked.

“You will have to check in by 10:20 pm at the airport. The train station Kiosk will be closing soon.  But keep in mind that the airport is 20 minutes away from here by shuttle and the last train to go back to your hometown will leave the train station by 11 pm if you didn’t make the flight.” The kind manager reminded me of all my obstacles.

I looked at the clock on the computer screen and it said 9:25 pm. I stood up quickly and gathered my passport and walked briskly to my luggage. “I’m going to have to go take my chances at the airport.” I said as I hastily dragged my half broken luggage towards the shuttle bus exit. The shuttle left soon after I boarded it with my luggage in tow. I looked at my phone — 9:30 pm.

As I sat on the shuttle bus on my way from the train station to the airport, I could not believe this was happening.  I took out my smart phone and got ready to text my friend Ken and email Sian saying that I could not make it.  I thought of calling my Dad to tell him he would have to pick me up from the train station.  Then I paused and thought, “If I write them and tell them that I will not make it to Australia, then wouldn’t that cast doubt on my desire to board that plane? No! I cannot make any calls yet. I have to believe that I can make my flight!”

I looked up and waved my little fist up in the sky. “Why did you do this to me?” I said silently. “I thought you told me I was supposed  to go to Australia?!”  Thankfully it was dark and noisy on the bus or else people might have thought I was a little nuts (which would not be too far from the truth in my humble opinion).

Then a voice spoke loud and clear to me in my head, “You don’t believe in your mission. You don’t believe in your power.  Why should we let you go?”

“What?” I was shocked. Whoever they were, God or some kind of Higher Consciousness, they were right. I really did think it was absurd that I would be sent to Australia for an important mission. Me? Impossible. That just sounded too…important and too…unreal.  But my own doubt was about to cause me to miss my flight to Australia and hundreds of dollars in the intercontinental flight I had already purchased to fly from Sydney to Perth. “What can I do?” I asked.

“Believe in your mission. Believe in your power.” They said.

With 15 minutes left on the shuttle bus before reaching the airport, I closed my eyes. While sitting on the dark noisy shuttle bus, I began to mutter to myself over and over again, “I believe in my mission! I believe in my power! I believe in my mission! I believe in my power!” I imagined that I was already on the flight to Sydney. I could not let any doubt come in the way of making it on that flight.  I believe in my mission! I believe in my power!

After arriving at the airport, I made my way to the check-in counter for China Airlines as quickly as I could. I didn’t even have time to look at the clock.  When I got to the check-in counter, there was barely any line up. I supposed most of the passengers had already checked-in. I gave the lady at the check-in counter my passport and said, “I have a little problem. I didn’t have a Visa to go to Australia. I tried to apply the Visa at the train station but they said that I had to wait 12 hours.  I thought I would come here and try again.” I said quickly.

The lady behind the counter took my passport and started typing my name into the system. I looked at my phone, 9:56 pm — one hour and four minutes before take off.

“I’m really sorry Ms. Chu,” the lady behind the counter said, “It still says ‘Error’ on our system. Apparently your Visa has not yet been approved.”

“How long do I have before I absolutely have to check in my luggage?” I asked.

“Until 10:15 pm at the latest.” She said.

For a moment I felt deflated and disappointed. It was time for me to step to the side so that she could serve other customers.  I started to gather my stuff as I took one look at my phone — 9:58 pm.  If I planned to make it home by train I had to leave the airport and board a shuttle bus by 10:30 pm at the latest.  I turned back to the lady behind the counter, “Could you please just scan my passport again one more time?”

“Alright…” She said doubtfully, probably thinking that I wasn’t accepting the situation and was delusional for thinking that there was any chance I could make the flight.  After all, it was almost 1 am Sydney time.  She took my passport back and tried one last time to scan the passport through. Then she suddenly sat up in her chair. “You are in! You got in!” She began to punch on her keyboard quickly and efficiently.

“YAY! YAY! YAY!” Was all I could say.  In fact, I was jumping up and down at the check in terminal with passengers turning around looking in my direction.  I didn’t care as I jumped up and down again, shamelessly waving my hands in the air like a little kid on Christmas day.

“Please put your luggage on the scale, Ms. Chu, I’m going to check you in now.” The lady said with a smile as I put my luggage on the scale. I looked at my phone and it said, 10:05 pm, 55 minutes before the flight takes off.

I quickly made my way past the security check point and walked briskly towards my gate.  I took out my phone and called my Dad and told him about my ordeal in the last 2 hours.  On the other side of the line, I could hear my Dad laughing at me as I told my story.  After I was finished he said, “You better watch out when you get to Sydney!”

“Why Dad?” I asked.

“They might say, ‘Who the heck processed your application in the middle of the night?!'” He was laughing like a silly little boy.

“You have a good point.” I said as I reached my gate.

The voice over the intercom started saying “Welcome to China Airlines Flight CI 55 bound from Taipei to Sydney, we are now preparing for boarding…”

“I got to go Dad–” The announcement was so loud I could barely hear him over the phone. “I’ll call you when I reach Sydney.”

“Ok, Have fun with your adventure!” My Dad said in his usual cheerful voice.

I wasn’t sure what was in store for me in Australia.  One thing I knew for sure, I needed to ‘believe in my mission’ and I needed to ‘believe in my power’.

I will post more about my journey to Australia soon…Stay tuned…