By Joan Frew

A lifetime of experience and professional training as a Spiritualist medium and energy healer have helped Joan Frew find her path, then serve, receive and observe with integrity. It’s a personal process, she writes.

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s line, “Life is a journey, not a destination,” is often quoted, but do we really believe that or feel it is true? Or do we feel we are just getting through one day to another with no real focus on what we are striving for? Do we concentrate on work, family, holidays, week-to-week living, or a five-year plan? Do we measure life only as a list of achievements or failures?


We are more and more being told how our way of being should be, particularly at this time: Learn a language, do an exercise class, take up yoga. But one size does not fit all and nor should it.


Many people are on The Journey of discovery, but are they walking The Path?

For me, the journey was the life that led me to one defining time when everything changed, and from then I was on a path I had never walked before. All the experiences of my life are used on this path: Things I have seen, people I have met, positions I have held, and teachings that lead me to discover the meaning of my truth and living it as best I can, day by day. My Path is commonly and collectively known as Spiritualism. It embraces all faiths and none.

This does not make me special, saintly or a guru, but does make me start afresh every day to try to do better in my life — relationships, work, and in my thoughts, words and actions. I do not always succeed as some days are harder than others. And different choices at times mean change (something many of us do not like or are not willing to do).

The learning — the inner recognition — is that something must change, and that responsibility and action of change is mine and mine alone.

Serving with integrity

I cannot be a Spiritualist medium — and give information from loved ones who have passed to their friends and family — if I don’t treat both the recipient and myself with respect and honour, and trust the source of my information and its accuracy.

Every message is given in love from those who have died to ease, sustain, guide and help those who are left behind. To allow them to know that those they thought they’ve lost are never really gone, and that there is something greater and more beautiful for the living than to remain in grief, anger and sorrow.

Walking the path with integrity means attending to ourselves before others, and also respecting the place and process others are in.
Photo by Kate Jayne, Pexels

But to be able to do this, I first must heal my own anger, hurt, grief and loss — not only of people but of events in my life. I must see them for what they are and were. That process involves learning and growth through the recognition of what parts others were responsible for and what parts were my responsibility, and what occurred from choices and responses I made to each event. Forgiveness must be given to self and to others to be truly forgiving. To enable others to move forward I must also step into a new way of doing, being and trusting.

To facilitate therapies, I also must have had therapy (beyond the ones I provide) to believe and know the power of healing and transformation, and the freedom of releasing emotional and physical pain and its cause. I also must understand and be able to empathise with those who are still in their pain and why they may choose to remain there. Change is not always wanted or embraced. 

These experiences and my formal training combine as a great foundation for my work. I have walked The Journey of growth and I’m on The Path I’ve chosen.

Receiving with integrity 

The healing services I provide – intuitive readings and energy therapies – are based on years of training and professional experience. This is my livelihood. While these services are cherished, they also are undervalued. It’s all too easy to ask our friends and family for free services across any field of professional expertise.

While these services are often cherished, they can be undervalued either for their impact or for the effort and time put forth.

Value exchanges come in many forms.
Photo by Raj Vaishnaw, Pexels

For instance, I often offer and give free energy therapy and reading sessions to charities and friends. Some accept and others refuse, and that is their choice. Then there are others who approach me in times of need to send healing to themselves, family or friends. That service is freely given — and freely taken sometimes with no exchange offered, even though they may go on to pay someone else for treatments or readings. That is their journey not mine.

It’s important that energy and intuitive work are regarded with value and some exchange is offered for services – even for gratis work – in monetary terms or in gratitude.

It’s worth asking ourselves, Am I prone to taking or to giving?

Observing integrity
As a teacher and mentor, I have studied, read, questioned, observed, practised, and honed my skills and gifts over years. I question my own beliefs and those of others. I do not blindly follow or accept what is written in books. If something or someone does not feel right with me, I delve and explore to determine why. As Buddah said, “Doubt everything and find your own light.”

Energy healing, like all professional vocations, must come from a place of integrity.
Photo by Alina Vilchenko, Pexels.

I have had readings, sittings, and treatments from other mediums, psychic and therapists, and I have had mixed results.

Some who are considered good – even some quite well-known – have been disappointing. They lacked authenticity, quality and evidence to substantiate claims. Yet I have had other experiences from quiet, unassuming people that left me uplifted, motivated, touched, and healed by their evidence and compassion.

For me, the mind-body-spirit practitioners who combine compassion with authenticity are the ones who are not only on the journey but also on the path. They know where they’re headed and why, and they are willing to do the work that entails; no shortcuts. In these terms, they practice what they teach and while they may not be saints, they are genuine in their thoughts and actions and bountiful in their giving.


Living with integrity

Like any walk of life, there are those who are exceptional, average and mediocre. The ones who rise work with integrity and personal responsibility in all they do. You notice them by the light that shines when you meet them. They are happy, peaceful and content, which leaves you feeling uplifted and motivated. They are walking their Path on The Journey.

The Journey is the road we all travel. The Path is the point from where you travel within that, and see there is another way of being that always runs alongside us, like our shadow. What we believe in and create from the depth of our being contains integrity, truth, and personal and professional moral responsibility in all things; a desire to explore, grow and continue learning; to help and to make a difference, not just to others but to ourselves; and to reach for something we cannot see or touch but can only be felt in our heart and soul.

To enable others, we first must enable ourselves.

The Path, for me, is when you truly accept and realise you are connected to every living thing, and they to you. That we are all part of the wheel of life and we cannot exist without taking responsibility for our thoughts and actions. We have a professional and personal responsibility for the world we live in and the people we meet. The energy we send (positive or negative) is received and felt not only by ourselves but by those we love and care about, family, friends, and colleagues.

At this time, more and more people are looking around and seeing what they thought was important is not, and the old ways no longer work.

By walking The Path, you become fully conscious and responsible for how you live each day. You see and recognise the synchronicity of people and events, and you experience deep gratitude for this wonderful life that you are living.

For those seeking their path, may you find it and fully embrace it. You may question it at times, but something will always appear that confirms you are on the right path, if you ask.

This path — from within — does have a destination and is always waiting, should you ever seek to walk on it.

Joan Frew is a psychic medium and energy healer. Her intuitive readings, crystal healing, sound therapy, and Reiki services provide spiritual guidance, enabling people to find their path and gain clarity on personal and professional aspects. EarthStarTherapies.co.uk

Which path feels like yours right now? Are you willing to take it? Integrity has no shortcuts.

Photos (top left to right) courtesy of Pexels: James Wheeler, Pixabat, Kaboompics, Reza Nourbakhsh, Amanda Klamrowski, Lisa Fotios.

Please share comments about walking your path on this journey below.

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