We'd all be a little healthier and happier if we paid a bit more attention to the little voice inside our head. You know - that voice of reason, sense and tranquility that can all too easily be drowned out by the hubbub of city life. Michelle Tanmizi can recall two instances when her inner voice actually saved her life.
'One morning, I had this spontaneous thought that I should put on a pair of shoes instead of the flip flops I usually wore every day, so that it would be easier to run,' says the 37-year-old. 'I was in Africa at the time and for some reason that day, I automatically thought to wear shoes. I've no idea why. Nothing happened the whole day - and then that night, my travelling partner and I were attacked. I had to run for help.'
It was indeed a self-defining moment. 'It told me to always listen to my intuition,' she says. Her revelations don't end there, either. 'When it comes to travelling, if it doesn't feel right, I won't do it. Once in Cambodia, I was trying to hitch a ride to Siem Reap. I had the chance to get on a helicopter flight, but for some reason I just decided that I shouldn't get on it. It later crashed, killing two people.'
This isn't to suggest that the Jakarta-born, Singaporean, French and US-educated Tanmizi is purely guided by voices (although with intuition like that, it's tempting to ask her along to the races). Tanmizi is now the joint director of Zama International, a holistic healing centre in Central that embraces everything from botanical remedies and mineral therapy to live blood cell screening, counselling and lifestyle coaching.
Tanmizi is also a globe-trotting poet, with her own book of poetry. 'I'd realised that corporate life wasn't for me,' says the former executive, who arrived in Hong Kong with Hennessy in 1990 before switching to Christian Dior, which she left four years later. 'It's always the same - lots of politics, and I can't deal with that. So I quit everything, packed my backpack with eight items of clothing, and that was it. I just wanted to travel and write.'
She describes her self-published book, Truth, as 'the product of travelling around the world, and the relationships I've been in since 1985. And the photos in it are from bits and pieces of my life. I have to warn you though - most of the poetry is a bit depressing.'