GROWING UP IN MUMBAI INDIA

I am sitting in my lovely two-bedroom condo in Langley, B.C., counting my many blessings. It is a big job.

 

Growing up as a child, in Mumbai, India, with three siblings and my parents all packed into in a two-room house, I never could have imagined such a life for myself. The journey from there to here has held heartbreak and disappointments – and great growth and immeasurable gifts. The clues were there, if I had had the knowledge to recognize them.

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We three girls did all the work at home. It was our job – never my brother’s – to sweep the floor each night so we could unroll the sleeping mats. My mother was uneducated and timid, my father alcoholic and angry, unable to express love. To him, life was a competition, and he expected his children to do what he had been unable to accomplish.

 

I remember my father saying that girls are to go off and get married, and whatever he had to leave when he died would go to his son. That made me angry – very angry. I remember making a promise to myself that whatever I had in the future would be shared equally among my kids, whether they were boys or girls. That was the first time I clearly remember vocalizing what became one of the tenets of my life: whatever I do, it has to be fair!

 

I was frustrated and angry with hand-me-downs and rationed food, our crowded house and filthy common toilets, my father’s alcoholism and abuse, and sexual abuse by a tutor when I was a child. This anger would permeate my life for years to come.

 

Dissatisfied at home, I welcomed the chance to get married at the age of nineteen. Unfortunately, my husband had much in common with my father, including alcohol and gambling addictions. 

 

We moved to Dubai between the births of our two daughters so he could find better employment. It was a different world, but I hadn’t been happy in my old one and hoped for better opportunities there.

 

That life came to a crashing halt the day my husband died suddenly at the age of 36.

What could I do?

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WINDOWED AT 23

I was a twenty-three-year-old widow with two toddlers. I refused to go back to my previous life. For a few months, I stayed with a cousin of my late husband. I ended up taking my young daughters, who were aged ten months, and two years nine months when their father died, to stay with his family in India while I worked two jobs in Dubai to support us. 

 

I tried not to think about my daughters while I was away from them because it hurt too much. My life was an endless cycle of work-earn-sleep. Some people cope through addictions to smoking or drinking; I kept working. One thing I had gained was a strong work ethic, and it served me well during this period of my life, in a culture that wasn’t always tolerant of women in the workforce.

 

Only once a year, I could afford to go visit my girls. It broke my heart on one visit when my younger daughter pulled away when I reached for her. My in-laws didn’t have a phone of their own for us to keep in touch or for the girls to even hear my voice from time to time, and I was a stranger to her. 

 

After three-and-a-half years, I brought my daughters back to Dubai with me, before they got too settled in their family’s life in India. Their grandmother, aunts and uncle loved them dearly, but it was time for us to be a family again.

 

MOVE TO CANADA

Eventually, I married my second husband, and we had two sons. I’m glad to say that we never had ‘step-this’ or ‘step-that’ in our family; we were and are simply a family. What a blessing!

 

In the early 90's, we immigrated to Canada, settling in Langley, B.C. My husband got us established and then returned to his job in Dubai, visiting us two or three times per year and supporting us from a distance.

 

There were certainly challenges raising our family on my own in a new country. My income was limited, as my husband supported himself in Dubai and us in Canada. Because I believe in the importance of education, I sent our young sons to a private Catholic school. It meant we went without other things, but it was a matter of priorities.

 

My husband was a good salesperson and I was a good organizer, so in 1999 we bought a printing business. We hoped that he could move to Canada permanently and our family could be reunited. 

 

The problem was that neither of us knew anything about printing. The equipment kept breaking down and there were always too many other things to pay before we could pay ourselves. With the business needing cash input, my husband returned to Dubai to live and work.

 

Frustrated by the situation, he left me for good. I couldn’t understand why he had left. I was raised in a staunch Catholic home and divorce had not been part of my upbringing. 

 

While my daughters had already left home my sons were only thirteen and fourteen. Once again, I was a single mother. Beyond the emotional turmoil, I faced a frightening future with no solid source of income. It seemed to me that I had no future so it vaulted me into depression.

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LIVING ON CANS OF TUNA 

I remember finding a pair of shoes with holes in them that belonged to one of my boys. He hadn’t told me because he knew we didn’t have money for new ones. Essentially, we lived on canned tuna and a line of credit. I had no choice but to learn how to run a printing business, until I was able to sell it. Despite being able to sell it, I was still left with a huge accumulated debt that resulted in me filing for bankruptcy and losing my home to foreclosure.

 

To escape the worry that haunted me as we lived one hour to the next, I got involved in my community. That was a blessing in so many ways. I met more people and was able to give back to the community that had welcomed our family. 

I became president of the local Rotary Club, a board member of various non-profits, and earned my Distinguished Toastmaster accreditation. I was honoured that our local Rotary twice awarded me its Paul Harris Award for community service that enhances the lives of others. 

 

I founded an award-winning program through which volunteers donated, prepared and distributed thousands of sandwiches to homeless people in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, Canada’s poorest urban postal code. Three years later, I passed on 'Homeless on Hastings' to someone else. I’m pleased that it continues to provide food and other basics for Vancouver’s neediest residents. 

 

All of these activities helped me to look outside myself and pulled me out of my worries, at least temporarily. However, I was still looking for a permanent solution to my unrest.

 

HYPNOSIS SAVED ME

I found myself wanting to check out hypnosis as a path to healing. It was one of the best decisions I ever made. Hypnosis changed my mindset and gave me more calmness in my life as I dealt with the business and raising my sons.

  

After I completed the clinical hypnotherapy training, I saw some clients who seemed to make dramatic changes within only a few sessions. Some quit smoking in a single session while others regained their confidence and acquired a much desired job after a couple of sessions. Even I was amazed. How was this possible? I decided to dive in deeper. I re-did my training and began getting busy as a certified hypnotherapist. 

 

Hypnosis saved me. Learning to ask for help and taking a hypnosis course was my turning point. I found the courage to rescue myself, and now I spend time rescuing those in the most need in our community.

 

THE POWER WITHIN WAS BORN

I named my business ‘The Power Within’ because I believe that through hypnosis, we really can access the incredible power that exists within each of us. I believe that creating a stronger, more resilient person (rather than simple symptom-removal suggestion) creates lasting change. I teach my clients techniques to empower themselves so they can change their lives for the better, just as I did. I inspire them and give them hope and the promise of a bright future.

 

Only permanent change gives clients the best chance to truly shift and be empowered, so that they can continue to grow and face future challenges on their own. 

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In my opinion, making a profit (on prescription drugs) has too often superseded the patient’s best interests in our medical system. It’s created a society where people have learned to expect a quick fix and too often stay stuck, and even get worse. 

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My hope is that the tide is turning. I now receive an increasing number of referrals from physicians who realize that modern medicine often doesn’t meet all of their patients’ needs.

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While I frequently hear “You’re my last resort,” my hope is that this type of work becomes the first resort for more and more people every day!

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I love what I do because of the changes I witness in my clients. They learn to see themselves and their world in a different and more positive way that puts them in control of their lives. 

Recently, I have added Access Consciousness to my practice, which is a set of pragmatic tools, that help individuals make changes quickly and dramatically in any and all areas of their lives. It has, once again, expanded my point of view of how life works.

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WE CREATE OUR OWN REALITY

As I continued, I gained additional understanding of my own life and how events surrounding it had influenced my thinking around it. My studies and my experience have taught me that we create our own reality, whether good or bad. I told myself that if I could create loads of crap in my life, I could change it, and change it I did! After years of telling myself I was born unlucky, my days are now filled with joy.

 

Part of what kept me from success was my unacknowledged belief, instilled during my childhood, that I wasn’t worthy of it. I was trained to believe that I wasn't worthy of things until they are absolutely necessary. Now, I give myself the freedom to replace something before it wears out or breaks down! 

 

Even though I grew up in a church-going household, I felt life was about survival and competition. My father envied others’ success and tried – unhappily – to live his dreams through his children. Although he believed in education, he didn’t know how to provide positive support to us.

 

Nobody taught them - or me - that we have the power within us to make real, positive change. Yet, there was always something in me that said that my life didn't have to be that way. Who could I talk to about those feelings? I had questions and no answers.

 

LAW OF ATTRACTION AT WORK

When I took Law of Attraction training from Michael Losier, I learned that ‘Selfish = Self-care’. I have learned to make decisions based on my needs, not what other people expect or want me to do. Sometimes that means I don’t fill a traditional role. Instead, I choose for myself, and create a greater life, which allows me to give back fully to the people and world around me. 

 

I frequently see the Law of Attraction at work in my life. If I have the intentions to support and help other people, and put my needs out to the Universe, I know they will be met. These are small, subtle shifts in thinking, but they make such a difference in our lives!

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I have also come to realize that I am all about teaching – a deeper incarnation of the same instinct that had me volunteering in community organizations. I want to help other people in whatever way I can. Teaching is how I do that best, and I routinely offer coaching to business owners and corporate executives. I draw on my own experiences and training to help them move ahead and achieve more than they believed possible. 

 

In my hypnosis practice, I teach people how to help themselves. Furthermore, I have taught self-hypnosis through Continuing Education and the local School District. 

 

I especially help those who are struggling with addictions, whether to substance abuse, gambling, shopping or any habit that is destructive in their lives. Having lived so much of my life with addicts, I understand where they’re coming from and what tragic results addiction can cause. My younger brother, who shared our father’s addiction to alcohol, died when he was only thirty-six. Over the years I have developed and addiction treatment method that gets consistent results.

 

I AM AT PEACE WITH WHO I AM

Even though my life may seem like a long litany of losses – loss of my innocence to abuse, loss of my first husband to death, loss of well-paying jobs in Dubai that provided us with a luxurious lifestyle, loss of my second husband to divorce, the loss of my home to foreclosure – today I am at peace with where and who I am. 

 

I am happy. I love my new home. I continue to enjoy many wonderful opportunities in my life. I am most proud of my amazing children, as they are now compassionate and practical adults. They understand the value of giving back and are very involved in family and their communities.

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I see how my struggles have influenced them. They learned hard work from me and I encouraged them to obtain good educations. However, I also see that they believe that life requires endless hard work, because that is what they saw me doing as they were growing up.

 

I am trusting they will also learn from the changes I have made in my life, and gain their own peace. I can wish them nothing more valuable. 

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I love what I do and see my 'work' as play. I have the opportunity to travel and and learn new ways of thinking while I experience new places and diverse people. I have created a life of joy and freedom.

 

I have overcome many struggles to get here. In the process, I've learned that change - especially lasting change  - is up to me. Once I fully accepted that I am worthy and have the strength within me to take control of my life, I was able to explore options to find what would work best for me.

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Now, I find fulfillment by sharing what I have learned to help others overcome their own challenges. I tell them, if I could do it, so can you. (End of chapter )

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KEEP ON EVOLVING 

Fast forward, I had been feeling the need for a change, for awhile. So I decided to reinvent myself. I am transforming, once again! 

 

In 2023, I re-branded my identity and business name to 'Jackie Maclean International', and launched 'THE POWER WITHIN' signature retreat, where I will be designing retreats for the future.

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Life feels fabulous! I feel like I am on top of the world! Never stop evolving, learning and growing, no matter how old you are! If I can do it you can to!