Life coaching is a 21st century phenomenon. In the United States where it all started many practitioners are self made multimillionaires. So what does a life coach do and how can they make a difference?

Life as we know has its up’s and down’s and in this increasingly stressful world even the strongest amongst us often find it hard to cope. Looking back on our own lives most of us retrospectively would have done many things differently. My philosophy is that we all give it our best shot at the time. Regrets are pointless. After all we can do nothing about the past, but we can certainly do something positive about the present and the future.

This week I met Janet Ashfield. She runs MPOWERME, her own successful life coaching company in Eastleigh, and channels her own life experience into the business of helping others. To her it’s a vocation. “I don’t want to make millions”, she told me, “I want to make a difference”.

Janet is a surprisingly complex, charismatic and dedicated woman. Her parents, she feels, actively discouraged ambition and therefore by the time she became a Mum at 22 years of age, she had next to no academic qualifications. After the birth of her son John, and fifteen months later her daughter Rachel however, she was enjoying what she describes as one of the most satisfying times in her life.

Almost immediately after the birth of Rachel, Janet began studying for a degree in Psychology and Sociology. Now, at 44 Janet has a BSc and a grandchild!

She believes that the best thing you can do for your child is to be the best person you can be. “Parenthood”, says Janet, “doesn’t have to mean losing your identity, as inevitably, a content parent means a content child”.

So what’s it all about?

According to Janet “Life coaching” is the process of getting people to look at their whole life. It’s not just work, it’s not just their personal life or whether or not they’ve got a partner. It’s really about taking an overall view. You can liken it to having an extension built on your house. You could take hours over getting the plans right, take great care employing the right trades people, make sure that local building regulations are in place, and pay close attention to decoration, fixtures and fittings. So much effort for many of the material things in life, but often paying very little attention to getting your own life right.

This journey called life, do you know the way?

Do you find that more frequently you are feeling unfulfilled and dissatisfied with your life? Do you keep thinking there must be more to it than this? And is that feeling made worse by the fact that those around you already think you have a great life? Do you make excuses and say it will change…….some time?

We can own a business, climb the career ladder, plan a holiday, debate which car to purchase, jump through planning hoops to build an extension or research the best school for our children, yet how many of us let our physical, emotional and spiritual health go unnoticed whilst we are on the conveyor belt of life?

We may fill our lives by working long hours, put up with an unhappy relationship, suffer with ongoing health problems just so we keep busy enough to avoid thinking about the direction we are going in.

Perhaps a mid life crisis or the seven year itch is a realisation of all this. People suddenly stop, think and realise that life is passing them by and they are not enjoying the journey! They get off the conveyor belt which their lives have become and start to think about how they want their life to be.

So isn’t it about time you gave yourself a little time for considering your future, a little time for reflection and just forget the computer games, chilling out in front of the TV with a glass of wine, taking work home for the evening and weekend and the constant rushing about? Perhaps it’s time to make a change or two? Identifying what you want out of life can start out like hard work or be phenomenally exciting depending on your starting point but it can turn into the time of your life – funny that!

Talk to Mpowerme about achieving quality living and becoming happier and more fulfilled. Director Janet Ashfield’s philosophy is to work alongside you to achieve a balanced approach looking at all aspects of your life to ensure motivation, direction, harmony and balance leading to improving your quality of life.

Janet truly believes that everyone has the ability to find out who they really are and what they are truly passionate about. It can be done, the secret is knowing how – contact Mpowerme to find out how.

Janet Ashfield

I am a member of the Hampshire Ambassadors, a group of people who during the course of their business and private lives support and promote business and economy in Hampshire.

One of their recent events involved a visit to the Winchester City Mill which is located on a site that has been used for milling flour since Saxon times.

We enjoyed a presentation given by the staff, who obviously enjoyed their work, and who were able to tell us all about the first recording of the mill in the Doomsday survey of 1086.  We also learnt how, following her wedding in Winchester Cathedral, Mary Tudor gifted the mill to the city in 1154.  After a rebuild in 1744 the Mill remained in use until the turn of the last century. More recently the mill has been restored to full working order and after the presentation we had the opportunity to see the watermill and its machinery in all its glory.

On a personal note it was great visit and it was lovely to meet staff so passionate about their work.  The downside for me was that I had just started a wheat and dairy free diet that was, until that point, going really well.  However I found myself being tempted to nibble on a range of wheat products (made with flour milled at Winchester) and local cheeses – all of which were very nice indeed.
The mill is a great place to visit with the family and both young and old can enjoy watching the mill in operation. 

For more information about this unique venue visit http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-winchestercitymill/

For more information on Hampshire Ambassadors please visit:
http://www3.hants.gov.uk/business/advice-information/hampshire-ambassadors.htm

Photo L-R – Hannah Payne from Hampshire County Council, Anne Aldridge Winchester City Mill Manager, Peter Coates-Buglear of NewNet plc, Jennifer Laing of Cresson Creative, Glenda Willis Assistant Manager of Winchester City Mill, Janet Ashfield from mpowerme and Heather Coates-Buglear of NewNet plc.