ABOUT JANE
The Coach
I owned a health retreat for many years. One thing I noticed over and over was that people often knew why things weren’t going well in their lives. What they didn’t know is what to actually do about it. This was especially obvious in the way people communicated.
So I get interested, really interested. I researched and I trained and I practiced and practiced. My work with people became about finding strategies, so people knew what to do and when to do it. This worked particularly well with couples.
Having had a rocky to start to life, I needed to do quite a bit of therapy and changing. This was a great recourse when working with people.
When I left the retreat I found myself teaching communication in the form of seminars and coaching. I become a mediator. I combined my work from the retreat with the communication work, helping couples and individuals who were struggling.
A few ageing health niggles and covid disruptions has given me time and cause to re-evaluate how I am living my life. I realised that I enjoyed the individual and couples work and was ready to let go of the seminars and mediations.
Also, having paddled about in my great dream – writing – I decided it was time to dive in and give it a good go.
The Writer
I have always been fascinated with words. Words to express the complex muddle of our inner landscape and the intricate maze of how we interact with each other. My deliberations have recently expanded to include the even more complicated mess we are making of our world.
At twelve years old I would plaster my walls with my teenage ponderings and angst about the meaning of life and love. I longed to make sense of my experience, longed to understand and be understood, to feel more deeply. I longed to express something more.
At seventeen, my critical brain kicked in and booted these longings into the shadowlands. They hid there for years as I got on with the business of growing up and being responsible. Regrettably I decided that being a poet was not the responsible/ grown-up thing to do.
The longing to write never went away however. I did lots of other interesting and exciting things. In my mid 40’s I decided that I better get on with it and I wrote my first book. At the time I was sure that I was going to keep writing for the rest of my life. But I did it again and distracted myself with lots of other interesting and exciting things.
Recently life pushed me to reassess how I live. It was no surprise that the need to write started shouting at me. I wrote two more books and started writing articles.
I have made a promise to myself – no more distractions, no matter how many other interesting and exciting try to drag me away.
My lifestyle
So often in my life I’ve found myself busy, busy, busy. Always interesting and exciting things but too much busyness. My goal in the last 10 years has been to simplify my life. To make sure each day reflects what is important to me and to say no to everything else.
Instead of turning up the volume, I have learnt to experience life by slowing things down and becoming more sensitive.
I love my children, my husband, and my friends. I must admit, my grandchildren are my newest great love.
What keeps my sane is my garden. Making compost and growing vegetables and flowers helps me to stay balanced. I’ve been an environmentalist since my teens and been a bit of a climate change activist over the last 10 or so years. What we are doing to the natural world and the natural life-support systems breaks my heart. The question that guides my life is - how can we bare to know what is really going on and still stay grateful and enjoy the wondrous lives we have?
A couple of years ago we got a dog and I have fallen in love. I have always loved to walk in nature and doing it with Tess makes me even happier. I love the bush walks and the wild beach walks. We explore new places with her.
I like to read, to draw, to take long hot baths in our outdoor bath. I practice being grateful but the old unhappy earworms can still take hold at times. Life is good.
