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 Time Out With...
Bridget Menezes
RACHAEL PHILIP
She is sprightly and so full of life that it’s hard to believe
self-empowerment guru Bridget Menezes will be
turning 70 this year, writes RACHAEL PHILIP.
AS ironic as it may sound, age doesn't seem interested in
catching up with Bridget Menezes. Sure, her flaming
henna-dyed locks of her flamboyant days have been left to their own accord
and, with time, they have turned silver-white, lending a halo that works in
her favour.
The deep furrows at the corners of her eyes are now permanent but that's a
testament to her ever-smiling disposition.
Menezes turns 70 this year, yet she tells us that
she is not afflicted with the usual complaints of bone aches, body aches and
headaches usually experienced by people her age.
"I have not had a headache or a stomach ache in 16 years," the
former music teacher announces.
"My eyesight has improved too." She has stopped wearing spectacles
and she believes her skin condition is better now. Towards the end of the
interview, she does something which makes our jaws drop. Realising
that she has not penned down something inspirational in her book, Self
Empowerment, for photographer May, she lifts her skirt a little, runs up the
stairs for her marker pen and runs down again.
And then, as if to dispel any doubts we may have, she does it again, running
up the stairs this time to get the booklet, Cancer Care with Chi Dynamics, by
Master Anthony Wee for us. She attests her sprightliness to carefully
preparing and cooking her own food.
"It's true what they say - we are what we eat. When we prepare our food,
we must not have any waste thoughts on our mind and we must be happy. This is
important because food is direct energy for the body.
"Before we eat, we must sanctify the food and offer it up," she
explains. She places small amounts of cooked food in a container and offers
it to God as a sign of respect and gratitude.
Both Menezes and her husband Freddy, 75, never eat
food that's not prepared at home. They recently spent Christmas at their
eldest son's home in Sabah. She spent the day
before their departure cooking and freezing enough food for their three-day
holiday.
"Some people think we are fussy but the truth is we are healthy," says the mother of three sons and grandmother of three
grandchildren.
If she goes for a lunch meeting or a dinner party, she politely eats only
salads and fruit. A vegetarian since becoming a member of Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga 17 years ago, this is not the only
thing that she has had to make drastic changes in.
Her life took a 180-degree turn soon after she started attending Raja Yoga
classes. It all began when she noticed profound changes in her son Paul, then
22 years old. He was working in Johor when he was
introduced to Raja Yoga.
"I noticed a beautiful change in him. He was so peaceful and he had a
glowing complexion. I asked him (what caused the change) but I had no
intentions of changing.
"My weekends were spent at the Selangor Club.
I had my music, my gin and tonic, my wine and I was happy. But anger greed,
attachment, ego and lust was all there," she recounts. But she and
Freddy attended and completed the seven-day course anyway.
"We had to be at the centre at six in the morning. It was tough getting
up that early. We would only get up at five minutes to six and brush our
teeth. There would be no time to change from the housecoat I was wearing. I
would throw a shawl over it and drive to the centre.
"We didn't like it initially. The teacher was not very good. We asked
him some questions and he could not answer them. Apparently he was new,"
she says with a laugh.
Slowly, she liked it and since she started meditation, she dressed more
modestly, forgoing lipsticks and abandoning her short shorts.
"My friends thought I had been taken ill. Some wanted my shorts for
their daughters because they were imported and very expensive."
She guffaws. "But I was not ready to part with them, thinking that this
was just a fad. But eventually I stuck with it."
She calls herself a yogi, which means being close to God, and according to
her, the time spent meditating has brought on knowledge and clarity of mind.
This has helped her to be what she is today. Menezes
is a speaker and a counsellor on topics related to
self-improvement, positive thinking and stress management. Besides her daily
series, Self Empowerment, on Traxx FM, she also
does a radio show via teleconferencing for Kuching
RTM Radio called The Living Room.
She gives talks to various public and private institutions, appears on TV
shows for RTM2 and TV3 and writes for columns in the New Straits Times, The
Sarawak Tribune and The Star.
On top of this, friends - some of whom are big shots - would call her for
advice or to hear some uplifting words to get them through the day. Despite
her tight schedule, she has disciplined herself to take frequent time outs
during the day.
"People say they don't have time to take time out. But time spent organising our inner self is time gained for clarity and fulfilment," she says.
"When we look to the world to restore our peace of mind, or to repair
lost hopes, or tell us how to live, we may never find the truth we seek
because the truth is buried deep inside us."
Did she always have a way with words? How does she come up with her
inspirational sayings? Menezes confesses to not
having picked up a book prior to her involvement with Raja Yoga.
She gets up at four every morning and meditates for an hour. "I have a
direct conversation with God. I tell him everything, my problems, etc.
There's no point in telling your friends. Tell Him and you will get your
answers.
"I also ask Him what I can write on today. I may even just get one line
and I will expand on it. It's all inspirations from Him."
She says she speaks what she feels but admits to making a conscious effort to
keep her talks, TV and radio shows short and not sound
preachy or as if she is dishing out advice.
"People don't like these things. 'You've got
advice? Keep it to yourself; you're not a priest so don't preach' they say.
Hence I'm very careful with the words I use. Instead of 'you must...' and
'you need...', I say 'but you could..."
instead. It's all these things or I wouldn't last in RTM," she adds.
I like what she tells us that day. "You can't determine what happens
tomorrow but you can set in motion the positive energy which will be waiting
for you to claim."
She ends the interview with slices of her delicious Christmas cake (for which
she is famous), eggless yet filled with good vibes
and sits down at her piano to play a jazzy rendition of some popular
Christmas carols.
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