
From struggle to peace
– a businesswoman’s story of resilience
Tell us a little bit about you?
I'm Jacqueline Hollows. I’m married and have a grown-up son and a kitten. I run a social enterprise called Beyond Recovery CIC, which is a non-profit organisation that primarily works with people with addictions, mental health issues and offending behaviour. I work within the criminal justice system. And I deliver workshops about state of mind and resilience to those people. And I just absolutely love it.
"I run a social enterprise working with people in the criminal justice system with addictions and offending behaviour.”
How did you come to find out about these principles of the mind?
"Well, I'm really sorry George and I really appreciate your time, but I don't like it."
I had some big life changes and decided to do Super Coach, with Michael Neill in 2011. There was a module on the three principles – an Inside-out paradigm of the mind - within that training course. And that's where I heard about it. It was George and Linda Pransky running it. And I really hated it. I was like, "I don't even understand what this is," and was very angry and angsty about it.
And then we had a Masterclass and George was leading the masterclass. They were all waxing lyrical about the three principles and about Sydney Banks, and all these things. And I was just working in the background, with it all on mute. Until eventually George Pransky said, "Well Jacqueline, what do you think?" And I thought, "Oh no." So I didn't want to be rude, but I said, "Well, I'm really sorry George - and I really appreciate your time, but I don't like it."
And then he really laughed. I was a bit surprised by his response. And then he was so intrigued. He was asking me about my experience, and what I didn't like. And he was so light hearted and amused and intrigued that it made me think, "I'm going to take another look at this, that’s not the response of somebody who's running a cult. That's the response of somebody who's just interested in me." So I took another look. I saw that there was some merit in it. And at the time I was an executive coach. I was working with professionals. And if everything else didn't work, I'd introduce this at the end. So it took me a really long time to see it. But also at the same time, I noticed things in my life got simpler and got easier. And that was unexpected as I was going through some really quite stressful circumstances myself.
What was going on for you, before you learned the principles?
I'd gone from a very high paying job with all the perks, to really not making very much money as an executive coach. I was getting further and further into financial difficulties. As well as the difficulties of building a practice. There were some family situations as well. I felt like I was ‘managing’,
“That’s just how it is. Life has to be a struggle.”
I had a good life. A really good life. I was a very happy person. Very optimistic, but I always thought: “That's just how it is, life has to be a struggle”. And I remember I worked with a coach a long time ago, who used to say, "Who makes it happen? You do." And I had to keep telling myself that. And that's how I lived.
When I had difficulties, I struggled through them or I was very driven. I’d had a sort of traumatic upbringing, so after I realised that I wasn't completely stupid, I became driven to get the highest degree possible. But everything felt a struggle. And I did achieve. And it looked to me like the harder I struggled, the more I achieved - that was just the way life worked.