Judy van Niekerk: Forgiveness=Success
Shawne Duperon: What exactly is your gift from your past?
Judy van Niekerk: Over the years I have reconnected back to my inner self and it has got stronger, so much so, that my intuitive abilities have just skyrocketed. Living by my intuitive soul, my spiritual soul, life is effortless. You don’t need to make decisions. Life happens. You just flow. It is the flow. Spirituality is flow, isn’t it really? The same is when I reported my father to the authorities in Ireland. It took the police two and a half years to investigate and eventually it went to the high court of Ireland. Just before it went to the high court, I requested that it be held out of camera, so the public. I didn’t want revenge. I didn’t want him punished. It just was the right thing to do, but I wanted something great to come out of it. I wanted to share it. Why should I be ashamed? So much shame in society around it, so much silence, so much brushing it under the carpet. I wanted to bring it out, shout it out loud. The result was phenomenal. I mean the incidence of incest and rape reporting went up 75% after that in Ireland. It was phenomenal.
Shawne Duperon: Wow. That’s where it came out where you started that campaign about celebrate your challenges, yes?
Judy van Niekerk: Yes.
Shawne Duperon: Tell me about Celebrate Your Challenges, please.
Judy van Niekerk: I had then decided to dedicate a day to it, the 24th of November, round about Thanksgiving time. I thought it was a great time to celebrate your challenges because no matter what challenge, you can find tremendous gifts. It is just a day dedicated to encourage all of us to take a moment to reflect back on our lives, to reflect back on what it is we are battling with or perceiving is holding us back or we are suffering with. Just shift our perspective and just an opportunity just to reflect and say okay, instead of seeing the pain and suffering and the anger and the trauma around it, what can I take out of it? How can I mine this and take something beautiful, take something great, take something good, and apply it in my life today to make my life better and my family’s life better, community’s life better or even take it to a bigger role, make an impact in society?
