In a modern day Thai temple sits an 800 year old Golden Buddha rising ten feet tall - made from 18 carat gold. Yet for centuries, no one knew it was gold at all.

To protect it from an invading army, the 13th century monks covered the statue in thick layers of clay and plaster, hiding its radiance beneath an ordinary outer shell. Tragically, the monks who performed this work were killed in the invasion, and with them, the secret of the Buddha’s true nature was lost. For hundreds of years the statue sat, plain and ordinary, worshipped as a clay Buddha while its golden identity remained hidden.

It wasn't til the late 1950s, when a crack appeared in the clay, that the statue’s brilliance was revealed - pure, golden light radiating outwards. In awe, the monks realised their mistake, unaware til that moment of its true divine nature.

Isn’t this our story too?

We learn to cover our true beauty, our innocence with protective layers. We build masks and shells to survive the “invaders” of life - criticism, betrayal, heartbreak, loss. Those coverings once served us, just as the plaster protected the Buddha. Yet over time we forget. We come to believe we are the clay, forgetting the golden radiance that lives within us.

With the coming of spring, nature reminds us that light returns. The blossoms push through, the days lengthen, and the earth stirs with renewal. The Golden Buddha reflects the same truth: remember your light.

When we become caught up in everyday dramas, it only takes a few mindful breaths to touch back into what is eternal inside us. Breathing with awareness helps us loosen the outer shell and rediscover our true self - luminous and divine.

This is also the gift of our work with others. Clients often come to us weighed down by the burden of their own stories, stuck in their mind’s circular worries. Yet through a gentle induction, through stillness and inward connection, something remarkable happens. A crack appears. Light slips through. Inspiration, awareness, and nourishment begin to flow again.

This is the beauty of the Transpersonal approach: we remember the person is more than the mask they present, more than the struggles of their mind. We quietly hold the vision of their golden essence, even when they cannot. From this place new possibilities and perspectives arise.

As spring beckons us with its warmth and light, may we, too, find the courage to let the clay fall away. May we dare to remember that beneath our layers of protection lies our true identity.

The Golden Buddha is not only in Thailand. It lives in each of us, just a few intentional breaths away.