The Wisdom of Your Face is based on the same ancient principles as traditional Chinese Medicine. The Chinese believed that your face is a reflection of your true inner spirit, the blueprint of your original design. The wisdom written there explains why you think, feel, and behave as you do, and can help you find the life path that brings you joy, relationships that nurture you, and most of all, gain a way to feel true compassion for yourself and everyone you encounter.
A client recently said to me, “I’m so worried about signs of aging appearing on my face. I don’t want to end up looking like my mother did, but I’m already developing similar wrinkles.”
I think one of the reasons so many of us are so afraid of getting old is that we see overwhelmingly negative examples of how people age. As most people get older, they tend to hold onto their hurts and disappointments, become more discouraged and weighed down by stress, and slowly shut their hearts. Their faces reflect the message of that downward spiral and it makes our own energy drop just by looking at them. Why would anyone want to get older if we’d end up looking like that?
But what if our light didn’t go out as we aged? What if we not only were able to retain our hopefulness, our vitality of spirit, but to become more radiant as we grew older? Have you ever seen an elderly person who, despite plenty of wrinkles, you find absolutely gorgeous? This is probably because her heart is still open – she’s not been diminished by her difficult life experiences, but enriched.
Taoism teaches that the ultimate goal of the human journey is to become a sage, one who has become whole and gained mastery in her life. The original Chinese character for the word “sage” is a picture of a dancing child. This conveys the idea that a sage is a person who can combine the wisdom of experience with the innocence and spontaneous joy of a child.
This is not a state that you maintain from birth, or somehow restore after you’re grown up. You only become a sage through living consciously, working to learn and evolve as a result of all your life experiences, creating a wholeness that includes all of your suffering, all your broken parts, as well as your triumphs and joys.
But we’re not taught how to navigate life in this way. Instead, the models we have to follow are people who grow more negative or discouraged as they age, whose disappointments and stresses accumulate in their systems and block their growth and development. No wonder we’re afraid of aging, if that what it means!
One of the reasons I love my work so much is that it shows us how to use this ancient Taoist wisdom in practical ways for our modern Western lives. Learning to read the messages your own face offers can help you move through this alchemical process of life, so in your old age, you can successfully achieve that state of “dancing child.” And while you’ll still develop wrinkles, they’ll be communicating entirely different messages than your parents’ faces did!
Check out Jean’s Predictions for 2016!
