Monte Carlo to Marlow
Ever had a dream to change your life and follow your passion?
Be inspired by conversations with people who have, because sometimes life has other plans for you if you just listen.
We speak to interesting people who have changes in their careers and life, often unplanned and always for the better.
Focusing on people in Monte Carlo and Marlow and beyond...
Monte Carlo to Marlow
Embracing Positive Change: A Conversation on Self-Growth and Mindful Living with Alison Bell
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In this episode, Alison Bell shares her inspiring journey from corporate life to becoming a dedicated life coach rooted in Louise Hay’s empowering philosophies. Discover practical tips for cultivating positivity, unlocking your potential, and transforming your mindset to live a more fulfilled life.
Key Topics
The influence of Louise Hay’s teachings and affirmation cards on daily routines
How life-changing experiences, like injury, can lead to profound career reinventions
Techniques for shifting negative thoughts to positive affirmations
The importance of morning rituals and setting daily intentions
The journey of becoming a certified "Heal Your Life" workshop facilitator
Creative ways to market and share your coaching or workshop offerings
The power of community and synchronicity in personal transformation
Recommended resources: books and apps for consciousness expansion
You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay
Empower You App (Hay House Audio Collection)
Connect with Alison Bell:
https://www.instagram.com/alisonbellwellness/
Thank you for tuning in. Remember, your mindset is the foundation of your life—nurture it daily with positivity and purpose.
Follow us on
Instagram: @montecarlotomarlow
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwVSEldi1G2_w_mgaGkFmJA
Hello, welcome to Monte Carlo Tomalo. Good morning, Alison, welcome to the podcast. Morning! We did. A few morning issues with technical uh technical issues, but we got there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So um it's beautiful sunny morning. We're both in Box. Uh are you a Box or a Berks, actually?
SPEAKER_01Berkshire, yeah, Berkshire. Warfield.
SPEAKER_00We're down the road and it's beautiful here today. So we're the Marlowe side of Monte Carlo to Marlowe. Um introduce yourself as what you would call yourself as a practitioner.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Can I can I start with something else first?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, please do.
SPEAKER_01So before our call, I um I shuffled the Life Loves You card deck, which is a Louise Hay card deck, and I just shuffled it saying, what do Krista and I need to know? And anyone else listening to this episode of the podcast, what do they need to know right now? And I got the most beautiful card and I love it. Um and it is Life Loves You. And I just love that. I I love these cards because they're a great tool, and I always do it before a coaching call or anything with a client or anyone like us. Um, and on the back it says, Life loves us all. Look at yourself in a mirror, breathe in and say, Life loves me. As you breathe out, smile and repeat that 10 times. And it's just a lovely reminder that life does love us. It's a it's a choice that we think that we can either think life is against us and and the world's against us, or we can say life loves us. And um, or life loves us. Yeah, really lovely. And the other card I pulled was I now go beyond other people's fears and limitations. And I pulled that from the Louise Hay Power Thought cards. It is my mind that creates my experiences. I am unlimited in my own ability to create the good in my life.
SPEAKER_00So nice.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they're just they're just really lovely. They're really lovely cards. So to go back to your point of or your question, so yeah, to go back to your question, Krista, about what what I do. So I'm I'm a life coach and I also h host workshops. Um I'm trained in the philosophy of Louise Hay and her teachings and and have immersed myself in that for many years. So I share her philosophy plus my own nuggets of wisdom that I've acquired along the way, or that you know, the realisations that I've had along the way. So sometimes tongue in cheek, I sort of say I teach people how to think. Because we're not taught that in school.
SPEAKER_00You're teaching people how to think differently if they are it's the I think one of the Louise, hey, you're not this much better than me is, you know, how do we stop the negative thoughts coming in and ruining our day and you know, ruining everything we do?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And yeah, that that's exactly it. It's helping people choose a better feeling thought. So whatever their thoughts are creating in their life, because you know, sometimes it's actually quite quite a concept to try and get your head around that. You can choose your thoughts, they don't just happen. But when you become aware of your thoughts, then you can choose to think something different. So I guess in a in a nutshell, and a really long way of saying it is I help people bring awareness to their thoughts, and then we look at, well, does that really does that really serve me well in my life? Is that does that make me feel good? And if it doesn't, then we create better feeling thoughts.
SPEAKER_00I usually ask people, you know, what is it that you wanted to do and how did you end up with what you're doing now? And a lot of people come to that question with, I wasn't happy with what I was doing, I felt stark. And actually, when we spoke pre-the-podcast, you didn't know what you wanted to do, but you weren't unhappy in a job and you were you had a lot of opportunities and you went for them, but it wasn't anything like I mean, you can explain, you kind of bounced around in lots of different places, but you had a little bit of a eureka moment with an injury that you know you could tell us about. It's it's so interesting how people come to where they feel like they are most themselves, but you weren't really searching for this thing. It it kind of almost found you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, that's it, exactly. It's it's funny, isn't it? You know, you you go to school and then you you start out in the workplace and you you sort of get on this like a treadmill, really, isn't it? It's you just go one step at a time, and I didn't know what I wanted to do at school, and when the opportunity came to go out to work, of course, you know, I did that. And so I don't think you really have the time to think about what you want to do.
SPEAKER_00Um, or we don't 16. How are you supposed to know what you want to do?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly, exactly. And I think, yeah, you're right, you know, my work took me around the world, I travelled a lot, saw some fab places, uh, was uh earned some good money, worked with great people. So there was nothing wrong with it. And actually, I was listening to a Joe Dispenser audio this morning, and it sort of coincided with that sort of time of life as well that I was in, where you've been doing what you've been doing for so long, and then you sort of think, Well, what what is life all about? Why am I here? You know, those sort of big questions, and I think it sort of probably coincided with that a little bit. Um, and yes, like you say, I had a a neck injury uh when my son was four years old, and it it was a big wake-up call. Like, unless you've got your health and your well-being, if you haven't got that, then it's the most important thing, of course. Um and yeah, it it really took me out for a little while and and and that gave me time to think about what I actually wanted to do and and make some really tough decisions about ending corporate career and with with actually nowhere to go to, and no idea what I was gonna do. But then as that door closed, and it was really emotional leaving that, you know, you're you're cutting off your income, you've got no you haven't got your health, so you can't go out and get another job straight away, and you've got a young family, and you think, okay, so but as that door closed, another one just opened, and it was it was within within three months, so I had to close the door on my corporate career at the end of July, but by mid-September I discovered what I was gonna do next, and that's the work I'm now doing.
SPEAKER_00How did you discover it? Because it's so different from what you were doing before. What was that kind of chink of light that was coming in that made you turn that way and start looking at this sort of well-being world?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, okay. I so I I had um followed Louise Hay and her work all through my corporate career. You know, I'd listened to the CDs, I hadn't read so many books. I wasn't a big reader then, I'm a huge reader now. Um it really resonated with me, and I got it, I got I got it mentally, I got it logically. Yep, you can choose your thoughts and and and what you think about you create.
SPEAKER_00What was the first book that you read of Louise's?
SPEAKER_01It was probably You Can Heal Your Life. Well, it was it was You Can Heal Your Life, and that's the book that the training programme that I went on to do is based on that book. Um, so I was I wasn't feeling great, I was still recovering from this neck injury, but Hay House, which is Louise Hay's publishing company, were hosting an event in London called the I Can Do It Summit. My friend and I went along, and I'm, you know, it still wasn't great, I was still very sensitive about my neck. There was Fern Cotton was launching her book, Robert Holden was there who worked with Louise Hay, David Hamilton, who's now a well-known author. And so there was all these speakers outside like the auditorium. There's these tables and they sell books and affirmation cards and journals, yeah, all that sort of stuff, all that lovely stuff. So I went out there and there was actually a company that was tra um was selling or positioning the training to become a Hill Your Life workshop leader so that you could actually share Louise Hayes' philosophy in a workshop environment with others. I was like, oh my god, I didn't even know you could do this. I didn't even know this existed. And I've just gone goosebumpy actually, just thinking of that, because it really was one of those moments where I was like, oh my goodness. So the first step then was to go along to a two-day workshop, which was created by Louise Hay and Patricia Crane, who was like Louise Hayes' support assistant, and now and now Patricia heads up the global training program for the Hill Your Life programme and community. And so I went along to do that, and when I was doing that two-day course in London, which was delivered by a wonderful friend now and coach called Jane Matthews, I can do this. I'd come from 20 years in corporate, I wasn't afraid of speaking in front of people. I can do this for the rest of my life. I wouldn't need to retire from this because this is like my dream work. So that was when that other door opened, and then I went on to do the training.
SPEAKER_00So she was such a pioneer, wasn't she?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00What year was that book out? Do you do you know? Do you remember?
SPEAKER_01Oh, I I probably I am what what year was it? I think it might have been 84.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's incredible, isn't it, really? And you think of the way wellness experts that have come after a lot of men actually. And there and there she was, a woman doing it pretty much um out of the blue and not with any influence from others, just really was something she truly believed in.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. And you know, she didn't even set up payhouse until she was 60. And that again, that's incredible. And that's and she's a real inspiration to me, you know, being 53 and just and on this path now. But it's like so she started at 60. There's no need for it, and I know retirement age is growing up now, isn't it? Um but it's just if you if you love the work you do and it be and it becomes part of your life, you'll and you're living it and you're literally sharing that with others, you don't need to retire from it. There's no age limit, honestly. There's no age limit.
SPEAKER_00No, absolutely. So you went to the summit and you did the two-day course, and then always I think the way with somebody that wants to get into this kind of industry and profession is like, how do I monetize it? Because obviously you were quite lucky that you had a corporate career that maybe gave you some savings and a little bit of a safety net. But what were your thoughts? Did you think, oh, I I just want to do these two-day courses myself, or did you think, okay, I'm gonna put my own spin on this? What were your thoughts after you'd done that two-day training?
SPEAKER_01So the when you when you become qualified, you basically got all the material to deliver a two-day workshop, a 10-week workshop. You could do a one-day workshop, which is literally just the first day, literally, as COVID was happening, um, we brought out a um, so our trainers in India created with Patricia an online program called um Heal Your Life Journey. So that was a six-week program. And I started off by doing um mini workshops in my local community. Um, and then and then COVID happened, so a lot of it went online. So it's once you once you'd done the program and you were trained and certified, you then could sell the program um and deliver it yourself. And you could also work with uh another Heal Your Life practitioner. So if you had quite a large group of people, you may want to have an assistant, so you would support each other in that way as well. So it was really um it was really gentle, you know, and gradual.
SPEAKER_00And then it's just about then it's about the marketing and getting it out there, it's more about the marketing, really, and getting- because the marketing side of things, it so goes against the kind of like the workshop, isn't it? Because you've got to put so much effort into the marketing and actually all you want to do is sort of be having people in front of you and talking to them about the workshop. So social media is one way, but did you find that people were really receptive to it in your local community? Did it was it a word of mouth thing? Did you find after you'd done a session, lots of people were then saying, Oh, my friend did that and I loved it?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so there was definitely a bit of that, and also I still do use Eventbrite. So people were finding, especially when I did free um free mini workshops online as well. So I would do those. So what when people find you on Eventbrite, they may look for Louise Hay or free workshop or whatever, and they would discover it that way. So that was that was my early um way of sharing the programs that I was running. And then, yeah, then it then like you say it's social media, and you're so right, you actually just want to share the work, you just want to you you want to get it in front of people that are ready, that want it, that are looking for it. So that all of that marketing stuff beforehand is probably the hardest bit because you just want to put it out there, let everyone know it's available because it's a bit like when because you want that planned, aren't you?
SPEAKER_00You know, you've got to do your MPR marketing, admin account.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and it's it's the most enjoyable bit is the delivery of the work. Um yeah, it's yeah, it's incredible. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I want to give people a little bit of a taster of what it means to be doing a Louise Hay workshop and how this sort of positivity can really change your thoughts in your life. So I was gonna ask you a few little sort of teasers so that people can come to you and maybe do a mini workshop or find you an event. Do you have morning and like you've pulled a card, which is is lovely. It's having these rituals, isn't it? That you can look forward to that can, if you wake up feeling a bit grumpy, can absolutely just can you know turn the day on. What kind of daily rituals do you have that you feel like you've learned from the Louise Hay method?
SPEAKER_01So I start when I when I was starting, because you know, you know, I said in the beginning, I got it all logically. Once I did the training, it took it to a whole new level. You then embody it and you live it. It's not just psychologically and logically, no. Then I was waking up in the morning, and this took me three days to get my head around. But when you're just waking up in the morning, um, and you just know you're waking up. I mean, I used to wake up, and and one of the things I used to say was, Oh my god, how am I gonna get through today? That was like a real, you know, that that was real.
SPEAKER_00And was that because you were starting this new business and you were No, it was before I discovered this world.
SPEAKER_01Oh, before, okay, this year. Yeah, yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01So when when I learned these tools and and techniques, I would I would just notice when I was waking up, and I would immediately just start it off with I set the intention to create a great day, and it's still my favourite one, and I said it three mornings in a row, and then it became automatic. Now that's just my experience, that may not be the case for everybody, but I've just I did it three times, three consecutive mornings, and then I was waking up thinking I set the intention to create a great day. It became a habit after such a short amount of time. And then um, because it's really important how you start your day and how you end your day, and I think that's a really nice entrance into this work. It's not too much, it doesn't overwhelm you, it's not too much to do. And then at night, one of Louise Hayes' affirmations was I sleep in peace and wake in joy.
SPEAKER_02That's right.
SPEAKER_01So they were yeah, so they were the two that I just started off with. Then I've got one in my bathroom, um, which has been there for a long time, actually. And it is I trust the process of life to take care of me. So I was very much a worrier, and I'm not saying I never worry now, but I was very much a worrier, and just having that affirmation on my bathroom mirror, saying I trust the process of life to take care of me, it just was that reassurance to tune in and just trust that all is well, which is again another Louise Hay saying and affirmation, all is well. So that's how it really started. But yes, the cards, if I'm feeling a bit flat or unmotivated, or I need to know something, I'll shuffle the cards and I'll say, What do I need to know right now? Fan them out, blindly pick a card, and I'll be like, Thank you, you know, like I really needed that. So yeah, there they're a few of my little rituals.
SPEAKER_00Would you say that getting a pack of the cards, even if you haven't trained, is quite a nice entry level into getting some positive affirmations to start your day with?
SPEAKER_01I think so. I think they're sometimes people need something to do rather than and when I say something to do, something physical, like like you can shuffle the cards and say, What do I need to know right now and pick a card? And that's it's almost like something to do. It can be sometimes easier than going, Oh, I need to think of an affirmation. And it's difficult to think of an affirmation.
SPEAKER_00Yes, another banana oak recipe.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes. Yeah, so be saved in my are you speaking from experience? I know the look.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so um the the other thing I was um gonna say is that you went when you went to this summit and you mentioned Joe Despenser that you were listening to one of his um podcasts or David Hamilton. What things did you listen to at that summit and continue to? There's there's so many wellness experts out there as there and motivational speakers. What do you love about Joe Despenser and David Hamilton and people like that? What who would you recommend people would listen to as well?
SPEAKER_01I love Joe Despenser. He he recently he says you have to say, I'm trying to get this right, do him do him some justice. But in order to change your personal reality, you have to change your personality.
SPEAKER_00Nothing changes, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And that is really, you know, I sit with that a lot, and you know, sometimes I can find myself procrastinating and things like that. My old habits, it helps that that helps me remember, right? Do something different. I've I've brought awareness to the procrastination, do something different, take some action, and it's and it's okay, it's safe for me to do that. So I love him for that. I also love Wayne Dyer. I think Wayne Dyer and Louise Hayer were like my spiritual parents, and they actually passed away on the same day, but different years. Gosh. And the same day as Princess Diana. So the three of them passed away on the 30th of August, and but just different years. And so even that can make me go goosebumpy about they're just they're wonderful human beings, right? And and and they passed away at that time. So actually, recommendation recommendations for other people. I would say you can get the Empower You app. Um, Empower You, and it's a heart logo, and that is Hay House. That's that's their app, which has got like, I don't know, 50,000 hours of audio on it. So all Louise Hayes books, all Joe Dispensers, all Wayne Dyer's, all everybody, David Hamilton, you name it, whoever publishes their books with Hay House, they're all on there. Um Louise Hayes You Can Heal Your Life book was incredible. The Power Is Within, which is the subsequent book to that, is again really powerful. Um, so what it reading the books, listening to the audios, again helps you get it logically. Right. I get this concept. When you then work with somebody, you then embody it. And that's what I find with a lot of my clients is you can get it logically, but until you start working with it and living it, you don't always see the change that you want to see.
SPEAKER_00No, it's a bit like journaling or saying things out loud, isn't it? Thinking it is one thing, but actually putting it out there makes it feel a lot more real. I know friends now that journal every day, and God, I used to do a diary when I was teenager um and really hope they're burnt somewhere. But I I am a real write down we were both saying that we're paper diary people. We are it's people like you don't have a calendar in your phone. Well I don't want a calendar in my phone. I want to write it down. Yeah. Sometimes I don't even go back to it but because I've written it down I've remembered it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah same. And and you know when I think oh what have I got in my diary? Nine times out of ten I will know what's on on a certain day and even what colour pen I wrote it in. You know, but but and then sometimes I won't remember that but it will be it's the visual of it whereas everything looks the same in your electronic diary.
SPEAKER_00Yeah I want excuses to not be going on my phone spend enough time as it is. And the people that are coming to your workshops are they looking for life coaching or do you find that a lot of them are coming because they want to do what you're doing and and go on and teach workshops themselves?
SPEAKER_01So the f the first workshop I delivered the two day workshop actually one of the participants went on to become a Hill Your Life teacher as well which was amazing. Actually so and then somebody else as well was sort of in the in the services business so so you know serving others. But the one I I ran a workshop a two-day workshop not this weekend just gone the weekend before and it was incredibly cool. And everyone comes I think for different reasons and I don't share loads about what we do in the workshop. And and and like me when I went along to the first two day workshop that my friend Jane delivered I I had no idea what I would be doing in those two days but I just trusted I needed to be there and I wanted to be there and it almost didn't matter what what we were doing I knew about the book I knew about the work and I wanted to be there. Three three people that weren't familiar with Louise Hay's work that came to my two day workshop found that I was delivering a two-day workshop. So it so it's really powerful whether you know of Louise Hay and her work and teachings or whether you haven't people arrive independently as strangers and over those two days become really close and good friends and share some really transformative moments together.
SPEAKER_00I know that when I've done classes and events people that have just done breath work together you know that they might never have met and then they're hugging each other at the because you've shared it's an amazing experience and I think you find that the right you attract the right people I always think that when you put on events or when you do anything like that you think oh God you you you you all loved it and it's it just attracts I do a a community yoga summer solstice event in fact it will be doing doing it this Sunday keep looking at the weather and afterwards like people arrive quite calm because I've been doing it a few years now but it's such a lovely atmosphere because you've just got the right people there and and you attract you know hopefully you do attract the right people that are really receptive to it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah and and I always trust that the perfect group come together. I love that about it you know that you you're just trusting the perfect group come together and that doesn't matter you know numbers or age range or anything everyone and I and I love even retrospectively I look back and I said to the group the synchronicity of all our paths crossing on that weekend to spend those two days together was really special. And of course we're all still connected now and we have a WhatsApp group have just got that got that connection with each other.
SPEAKER_00Yeah that one weekend really can change somebody's life because maybe they were a bit lonely and maybe they might have come along just to meet people that think the same as them because you do find it hard to make friendships as you get a bit older and you do go off and think different things to your friends that you've known for 20 or 30 years.
SPEAKER_01And sometimes these kind of workshops and environments are about connecting with new people aren't they yeah yeah definitely definitely the fact that you it's a shared experience and um that you're open and receptive to it and you're all you're literally all there to share that share those two days it's yeah it's it's really lovely. It's a it's it's actually it's the bit that I enjoy the most is holding space for for those two days and and seeing what unfolds.
SPEAKER_00What would you say to people that are in a career or somewhere in their life that they feel a bit stuck and they want to make that transformation what would you say would be the kind of because sometimes you can't just leave a job and start something else but what would you say would be a kind of a good path the beginning of that path of trying to sort of change your thoughts and trying to think about a more positive way for your life to be heading into?
SPEAKER_01So I think if I knew what I knew now and I was and I was still in corporate I would change the way I think about my situation that I thought about my situation. It was difficult it was different for me because I left through a neck injury and and everything all came to a sudden halt. I think you can change the way you think about your job, your boss, the people you work with and to the extent where you can change your thoughts about that and your perception of that role to the extent where you might actually start enjoying the role and then not need to be a reason to leave or need to leave.
SPEAKER_00And if if you're in something that doesn't isn't very fulfilling then look outside of that to find things that fulfill you so you're dropping the focus I guess as well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah that's it and I think that sometimes that can be a challenge for people because they they're working such long hours and there's they feel like once they've finished work they might have family and and there's nothing there's no time left for them. But I think the if if I was if I was to go back into corporate as an employee I would I would be so different in how I perceived the environment what was being asked of me how I would respond to things and and I had a great corporate career but for a long time I was saying I'm not going to do this forever. So I was always sort of looking for the next thing that maybe might not be in corporate maybe maybe that was just subconsciously what I was believing. But I think if you're if you're in a situation with work and I'm looking to go back into the workplace but to deliver the workshops that I do now on the business side if you're in a job where you don't particularly like it explore how you can think differently about it. And then you can also look at what do you need personally? What what does your heart need and what do you need to fulfill your life because we're you know we all say this but does it really land we're only here once in this lifetime and it's really important to make the most of every day in my my opinion and you know you have experiences in life that really bring that home to you but it's about making the most of every single day and even if you just set the intention to create a great day every every morning you wake up that might be enough to carry you through and continue to have in those those positive thoughts throughout the day.
SPEAKER_00That's such a nice message to end on Alison it's really great to speak to you. Thanks so much for sharing and I hope that well I'll obviously link to everything that you're doing in the podcast and on the on YouTube so people can find you. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01I'm doing online work do you still do online or are you just I'm doing a a six week online I think it's September and October the six week one and then I'm going to do another two day maybe September and January so I need to get everything out there so if people can't make one date they could potentially explore another date yeah. Brilliant okay thanks but thank you Christopher it's been so lovely chatting to you. Yeah it's really nice to reconnect again.
SPEAKER_00Yeah were you doing a workshop at my in your element in Mar there the first one three or four years ago.
