REACHING INWARD
By Mark Seltman

Within five minutes of examining a person's hands, I can tell his / her current and major life issues and have valuable insights to share; As a professional hand analyst, I earn my living by helping other people to look inward until my late twenties, I never thought about looking inward. I was an egomaniac, some say a megalomaniac. I was ambitious, entrepreneurial, and into making money and having power. Somehow, though, in my quest for worldly success, I managed to find myself in one spectacular catastrophe or business disaster after another ( a devastating fire, partners' unforeseen drug and gambling addictions, sudden and unexpected deaths) . . all seeming to resulting from circumstances beyond my control. At the ripe old age of 28, I began pondering the concepts of fate, free will, and destiny. I found myself living in New York City, an initiate in a mystical order, studying hand analysis, astrology, tarot, and psychology.

Over twenty years have passed since my quest for meaning began. I compulsively explored my own symbolism. There is no end to the amount of self-scrutiny possible. A person's symbolism can be examined and reexamined in the light of any particular question. I meditated, practiced hatha yoga religiously, received regular bodywork, consulted a multitude of psychics and other readers, and worked therapeutically with several different psychotherapists. I devoured nearly everything ever written on the subject of palmistry. I studied both western and eastern systems, combining both with my studies of astrology, tarot, and !psychology in order to create my own eclectic system for analyzing hands. By applying this system to reading the hands of thousands of people, I have become proficient at observing human character.

After pondering all of my inward explorations, I can confidently say that the most effective method of looking inward for me has ultimately been to look into others. Reading other people has enabled me to become more conscious of my own positive and negative potentials, to accept my limitations, to be a more patient and tolerant person, and ultimately to become healthier, happier, and more fulfilled in my work and relationships than I ever imagined.

Here are a few of the lessons, which I have learned on my journey. People need to trust what they know about themselves. No one Can tell another person anything which he does not already know about himself. The main Problem is that it is very difficult to be objective about oneself. That is why many of my clients have been astrologers, numerologists, tarot readers, psychiatrists, healers, psychologists, and social workers who were looking for affirmation or confirmation about what they already felt, believed, or knew about themselves. Many people hope to be told something new about themselves. On a truly deep level, this is not possible, although a majority of people don't believe it. In the context of a reading, I can say something completely wrong about a person and he will often not contradict me. He thinks that because I have specialized knowledge, I must be right.

Looking inward can become like being a habitual student. No matter how much we look inward, we still have to take an active role in making decisions, creating structures, cultivating relationships, maintaining our health, and striving for happiness and fulfillment in whatever we do. We need to ask ourselves "What do I truly want and what's the best and worst possible thing that can happen by moving in that direction?" Then we need to ground our insights with action, take risks, and be part of the world.

The third and most important lesson, which I have learned, is that change is not easy. If the consistency of a person's hands is hard and his fingers are stiff, then he will resist change with every last molecule in his body. If his hands are soft and extremely flexible, he will find every rationalization in the universe not to focus his energies, and be disciplined and structured in his life. No matter what a person's hands say, his demons will raise their ugly heads as soon as he begins to manifest anything which interferes with his current patterns, habits, and cycles. By examining his past and current life in an objective manner, he can change. By looking and then reaching inward and drawing on his positive inner resources, he can change his thinking, feelings, and circumstances.