LIFE COACH GURDS HUNDAL SHARES THE STORY OF HOW A CANCER SCARE LED HER TO A PATH OF EMPOWERING OTHERS
It can take one incident to change the life of someone; and for Gurds Hundal it was a cancer scare in her mid-twenties that triggered a journey towards much-needed healing, which subsequently led to helping others.
The London-based life coach and light leader is helping women to be their most empowered self. She helps women reclaim their inner light and today has an online global service. Gurds has also written a book and hosts a podcast called the Inner Light Project.
Eastern Eye got Gurds to tell us about that journey towards healing and helping others in her own words.
“I was a workaholic. By the time I was 22, I had been in several media firms and landed an opportunity at CTV National News in Canada. I had two degrees under my belt and a healthcare background. On paper, I looked like the perfect employee, but on the inside, I was a hot mess. I was heartbroken, ashamed and alone.
“I was prone to accidents in my teens and early 20s, including an eating disorder, a car accident resulting in short-term memory loss, to collapsing in Canada due to burnout syndrome, and losing all sensation in my left arm. Thankfully, I was able to regenerate it.
“But it got worse. I collapsed in an office job due to extreme exhaustion and three months later I was handed a redundancy payout and a cancer scare, all before my 25th birthday. It was here I woke up and my journey through healing started.
“Aged 24, I was sitting alone in a hospital room awaiting my cancer test results. I remember thinking, ‘why is this happening to me? What have I done to deserve this?’ and then I heard a voice saying, ‘you created this’. I gazed around the room, but no one was there. I shrugged it off and patiently waited for the doctor.
“Up until that point, I was a people pleaser, self-sacrificer and self-disruptor. I loved helping others even when my own cup was not full. I always had this deep yearning to save the world and those who were suffering, when first, I needed to save myself.
“Deep down, I was tired of being walked over; the toxic relationships, emotional abuses, lack of trust and draining energy surrounding me. Plus, I just wanted to be loved, understood and feel free. It didn’t matter how much money I was earning, there was a massive gap in my life - the real me.
“When the doctor approached me, I began to have flashbacks of my childhood and early teens. I began to think, ‘where did that happy, free-spirited Gurds go? The one who loved to draw, write and paint? The one who loved hugs, skipping and gymnastics?’ And when the doctor told me, ‘you don’t have cancer’, I froze. In that moment, my life changed forever.
“I ran out of the hospital crying with joy. I then heard a voice say, ‘you need to heal’. Again, there was no one around me, but in that moment I realised that it was a sign from god or a higher power telling me that it was time to heal my feelings and my life.
“That night, I spoke with my friend in Canada and told her what happened. I began to cry as I shared my personal story, and in that moment I felt vulnerable and thought, what have I done? Will she tell someone? Should I have trusted her? But truthfully, I was so used to listening to other people’s problems that I never felt worthy of being heard.
“Later, I began to cry non-stop. I looked at myself in the mirror and heard, ‘I am worthy of being loved. I’ve got this’. Then something inside of me had the urge to write. I grabbed my laptop and began typing frantically. Seven hours later, I had written a 30-page document detailing my life and how I had created the patterns in my life, and what was holding me back from being my true, authentic self.
“Looking back, I now recognise I was showing early signs of an emotional crisis, a type of mid-life crisis. I was being invited to heal all the things that no longer served me and take my power back as a woman, and embrace who the divine created me as; perfect, loving and complete.
“It sounds odd, but all of my experiences changed me for the better. Going through all of these traumatic experiences was awful, but I feel grateful more than ever. It forced me to work on myself and my mindset, and understand the importance of being an empowered woman and owning my light. Once I had been through the healing process, it made me realise that we all have stories and that’s what makes us powerful and unique.
“Today my business is a global online service. I’ve written a book and have a podcast called the Inner Light Project, where I interview insightful and influential guests on spirituality, self-love and inner healing. The first time I coached someone I felt this amazing sense of joy and empowerment.
“As a life coach and light leader, I love supporting other women in finding true freedom in their lives. After working with hundreds of women and growing my business over the years, I’ve seen the same thing again and again; ethnic women self-sacrificing, people pleasing and self-disrupting their lives - it’s time to shift this paradigm.
“My experience of coaching women has taught me that ‘the world will be free when women are financially, emotionally, physically and spiritually liberated’. I plan on helping a million women change their lives through the Inner Light Project by the year 2023, so they too can lead a life of joy and pure bliss.
“In the future, I plan to build schools in India. By providing young girls with the tools to feel divinely empowered, we can put an end to physical, emotional, sexual and financial abuse and gender inequality.”
