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The Louise Hay programme works through fears and pains and looks for the reasons why we are in a particular place. We gain knowledge, understanding and guidance to lead us to a fulfilled and peaceful life. Petra Arnež Mohorič from Domžale is also a licensed Heal Your Life® coach and was so inspired by Louise Hay's book Life is Yours that she first changed her own life and ways of doing things, and later educated herself so that she could help others to do the same. Today, she raises awareness that everyone has the chance to break the vicious cycle of family illnesses, and because of her personal story, she focuses on cancer in particular, and to live fully, peacefully and without fear. »I believe that the key to a happy and fulfilling life lies in understanding and accepting ourselves and others around us. My goal is to help you discover and unlock your full potential so that you can live without fear and limitations,« says Petra, who walks the New Path with heart and commitment, and above all with gratitude that she can help others.
When we met in April 2019, then for an article about the newly founded Club of Business Excellence in Domžale and its surroundings, of which you have been the President for several years, you were still working in an international corporation, and today you are a licensed coach through the Heal Your Life® programme. What happened in between?
I got married in 2022. I also read for the second time the book Life is Yours, which took me deeper into Louise Hay's research and philosophy. I read book after book and, as even that was not enough, I started looking for where I could learn more. I went to America to train and become a licensed workshop teacher, and then to Ireland where I initially became a licensed coach, and on my second visit I learned how to set up a holistic centre, while working as an assistant to the trainer who licensed us. This is how I became a licensed Heal Your Life® coach.
What was the reason, the trigger for the complete change in your business path?
Louise Hay taught in the 1980s: change your thoughts and you will change your life. When I read the book Life is Yours, I started training according to her instructions and saw results immediately. At that time, it was exactly ten years since my divorce, which, especially from my ex-husband, was still a burden. By learning the Louise Hay method, I saw how you can resolve these situations with love on an energetic level and not even physically with the person if, say, they don't want to talk about it. The results came immediately, which motivated me to encourage and inspire people to use this method and work with it, because life really starts to turn around when you start to change your thoughts.
Today, my mission is to raise people's awareness that no matter what disease they have in their family, and I focused on cancer, they can change that and not inherit the disease.I have drawn on my own experience here. My grandmother had colon cancer. I spent my childhood close to her, as my mother and I lived with her until I was eight years old. I watched my grandmother being filled with fear all the time - fear that she was going to get sick, fear that someone was going to steal something from her, fear that something was going to happen to us, etc. Fear was present all the time, and there was also some resentment. Today, I believe that her cancer developed from that fear. Since I am her granddaughter and one actually follows the path that one's ancestors have laid out, and I did not want this life for myself, I started to change my thinking, my beliefs, my thoughts, which gave me the energy to live a healthy life and a healthy body. All situations that come my way, I now deal with in this way. Of course, I still don't live in a fairy tale, but today I approach life's challenges differently - I change my thoughts, I don't stay in the story, I don't marinate in the problem, I don't argue with my mind. I see it as a friend that is with me 24 hours a day. My children and my husband live by this example. Now I see that everything is possible, no matter what fears we come with from childhood or maybe even from other lives. (smile)
So this programme is not only your job, but you live by its laws. How valuable is it to combine business and personal aspects? Not least physically, because you run the workshops in a room that is part of your own home.
We often hear advice about the need to find harmony or balance between work and private life. But I am one person. Petra who goes to work and Petra who is at home are not separate, they are one and the same person, which is why you have come to my house today. The room where the workshops take place is still a little bit separate, but on the other hand it is very connected to the rooms where I live with my family. We are now making new stairs to my workspace. When I asked at home whether to do external, separate stairs or internal, connected stairs, both my children and my husband said internal. They also want to be connected to my mission and that is what it is all about - living this philosophy. I cannot imagine how to motivate people if I do not bring the laws of this programme into every aspect of my life. As much as you respect yourself, others will respect you, as much as you love yourself, others will love you. This is my starting point, and I believe that my mission only works if I intertwine it in both my business and my personal life.
What is the Louise Hay Programme? How would you describe it?
It is a six-week programme with six 60-minute, highly effective sessions.The person comes to the sessions once a week or fortnightly. The timetable is completely flexible. With the Louise Hay method you learn a lot about yourself in six weeks, for example why fears come, why negative beliefs, how they affect everyday life, etc. We learn very important things, like how to release anger. Anger needs to be released, of course in a different way, not at another person or at a situation, and most people don't know how to do that. We learn to forgive. This is also the aspect that motivated me in connection with cancer patients. A grudge that is not let go of while the person it is directed at is living his life normally is like a prison. In addition, we have interactive exercises, some meditation, visualisation in between, so that this hour passes in a flash. Already during the individual meetings the person brings new knowledge into his life, and after six meetings everyone can easily continue on his own.
How was your training?
Education is very practical, which is why coaches and trainers now do this in meetings. When we came to America, the first thing we experienced was the original two-day Louise Hay workshop. I now offer it in a six-week programme because I felt that a two-day workshop moves a lot, but the knowledge is lost more quickly than if you work for a longer time and step by step. But to continue with the training- at first you go through all the processes yourself, and then you start learning how to train people yourself.
What are your areas of activity within this programme?
I am now focusing on working as a couple, as I believe that my mission - to live cancer-free - is much more quickly achievable as a couple. If partners grow together, hear each other, make time for each other, then change happens quickly and spreads.
Apart from the divorce and hereditary illnesses you have already mentioned, what are the other changes that have been most valuable or life-changing for you? How have they changed it?
It's a huge change that I no longer point fingers at people for making me have a bad day or do something wrong. Above all, I take responsibility for everything I do, say and write. Another important change is that I do not change others. I did this a lot in my first marriage when I wanted to put my husband in a certain box so that he would think like me. I also wanted my in-laws, with whom we lived in the same house, to accept my way, what I want. That is not the way it goes. Sooner or later you realise that you can only change yourself and those patterns that do not serve you. If you do it with love and the right leverage, then others will follow. When you accept yourself as you are and live in the moment, you can become a role model. These are all skills that can be learned.
How difficult is it to change the ingrained patterns of behaviour and action that people have?
The book Life is Yours had such a profound effect on me because it is so simply written, easy for anyone to understand. Moreover, its main message is: change your mind and you will change your life. If, with this in mind, I answer the question of how difficult it is to change patterns of behaviour and action - it is not difficult. If we say it is difficult, then it will be difficult (laughs).
Of course, every change takes time, you have to be patient, but it is still much quicker than knowing that for twenty, thirty, forty years we have been living according to patterns and beliefs that no longer serve us. My programme consists of six meetings. If I cannot motivate people to move in that time, then there is no need for further meetings. My intention is not to have people coming to my meetings all their lives or for a whole year. It is good to keep in touch, because sometimes people get stuck again and I can help them immediately. He does not need months and months of meetings. That makes no sense, because the solution quickly becomes apparent. That is why I like this programme so much. I like efficiency. If it doesn't work, I don't make any special effort. And the Louise Hay method really works. When you get to the point where you love yourself and accept yourself as you are, you can't go anywhere else. And what's the best thing about all this? You lose your fear. I lost all my fears, even of death. You have to ask yourself what you would regret if your partner died tomorrow. Why? So that today we live a quality life, so that when someone is gone, we don't mourn, we don't grieve. Of course, every person mourns for a certain period of time, but it is important not to stay in this story. Some people cannot get over the fact that someone has left them for the rest of their lives. Why? Husband, wife, partner, child, they were half of them, and I teach that we have to be whole and bring these wholes together in beautiful relationships. This applies to both the private and business spheres.
Is it the efficiency that convinced you, or is it something else?
Why this method? Not so much for its effectiveness, but for its simplicity. Many people did not believe Louise Hay, saying that her method was too easy. But when you start doing, talking, living her method, believing in it, you see that it really can be that simple. Anyone, no matter how low they are, how much fear they have, how twisted in their beliefs they are, can make changes in their life - first with my help, then on their own. If someone reads a book and watches videos on the subject, they can go far, and I invite to coaching all those who want to get results faster and more efficiently, or who simply need someone to stand by them, listen to them and hold their hand. You have all the answers within you, you have to come from within. This programme allows you to finally hear yourself and get in touch with yourself, but above all, it is crucial that it is never too late to make that decision. Louise Hay started in her forties; she spent so many years learning from her own mistakes so that she could teach and help others.
It is important to remember that the method is suitable for everyone, whether single, couples or elderly, regardless of the problems they face. Psychotherapy is a therapy that brings you out of the bad zone to a state where you are OK, while coaching brings you out of the latter to a state where you are great. We all deserve a beautiful, above all peaceful life, free from fear. When we are not afraid, life opens up.
Are fear and resentment the most common negative emotions, or is there another one we haven't mentioned yet?
The guilt is very strong.
Is this about self-blame or blame-shifting?
Both. But self-blame is usually the strongest. In our encounters we learn that emotion is only useful to us if it is within some normal limits.For example, fear is useful to us so that we don't walk on the roof, it is not useful to the panam, it is not useful to us so that we don't get on a plane and therefore go and see the beautiful world. The important thing is to keep the part of the emotion that is useful and to know how to use it, and to learn to moderate the excessive part and turn it to our advantage. It is important to remember that it is only a thought.
What are the most important milestones on the path of personal transformation?What are the factors that you would point out from your experience that are absolutely necessary to reach your goal?
In these six sessions, we can process everything to start thinking differently. As a coach, I am trained to quickly identify where the biggest problem is holding a person back, and I adapt the programme accordingly. In my opinion, not all people can have the same programme, so I tailor it to what the individual needs. On my website petraam.com, people can also register for individual sessions. This is an introductory coaching so that someone can see if they want to do this.
How do customers feel when they come to you? When they enter your house, your family?
Customers feel that I have not made a distinction. This is my life. Everything I say and do comes from me. In the future, the desire is to build a holistic centre so that more people can access the programme, but until it exists, it is a case of taking it one step at a time and starting at home. I have the option of renting, but I still decided to invite clients to my place so that they feel at home and see that I live what I say. Some people are afraid that all these energies stay in this space, but that is also just a thought or a belief. I am walking this path to motivate and make people aware and to help them, so I do not take their energy upon myself. But there are also methods that I use to help myself. I do figure eights, for example. Even though we are connected at the moment, I am in my space, you are in your space.
Are these 8s also useful when it comes to other types of encounters or even conflicts, so that one can distance oneself?
Everywhere. In business, in the family, with children, etc. The Eight is infinite connection. When you do the Eight, you are connected so that you can do good work, but everyone stays in their own pole. Then there is also no fear of losing someone. Why? Because you love yourself and you know that you have come to live your life not for your partner, your child, your job, your work, but for yourself.
I guess we can call that a healthy connection, can't we?
Yes, it is true.
In your opinion, is there less of this healthy connection nowadays?
That's right. If we look only at the children, who we would like to wrap in cotton wool and not let go of. But every experience, even a negative one, enriches a person. And that enrichment, of course, is what I want for my child. So that he becomes an independent personality, an independent whole. That is the ease of living without too much attachment.
Why do we do it? Are we not enough for ourselves?
Mostly because we are afraid to be with ourselves, afraid of ourselves, afraid of not being accepted and in constant need of validation from those around us. I have experienced this myself.When you understand this, you don't need validation anymore. An important tool in Louise Hay's work is the mirror; when you look at yourself and talk to yourself and say certain things to yourself, that is when you start to give to yourself what you want others to give to you.When you start to give to yourself, others give to you.
As you mentioned, your ambition is to create a holistic centre. What are the plans?
Very close to the current location is the land where the holistic centre will stand. If a co-investor could be found, the story could take on a bigger dimension, benefiting everyone. I am 44 years old, so let's say that at 50, this milestone will be when my wish will come true.
Immediately after the end of my training, the desire to give my experience a voice on the world stage was born. I hear the call of abroad. I intend to do this through multi-day workshops for foreign clients in our beautiful Slovenia, as well as by running programmes abroad. I am taking slow steps. If one embraces with too big a spoon, one no longer comes out of oneself, but loses passion and works by force.
In addition, I am very keen to obtain another licence, the Five Languages of Love. This year in America, this programme is to be based on the wonderful book of the same name written by the psychotherapist Dr Gary Chapman. After many years of research and working with spouses, he found that we all have the same problem - no one speaks the same love language as the other. There are five emotional languages of love, or five ways people express and understand love. When we know which love language the other person is speaking, we understand how he or she is acting in the relationship, what he or she wants, how he or she shows that he or she loves us. This is the second step in my training - with the Heal Your Life® licence I focus on the person, and with this new knowledge I could also shed light on and deepen their relationships.
You received confirmation that you are on the right path in life or that what you are doing is your mission in Bali; can you tell us more?
Before I went to Bali, there weren't that many clients coming in and I was doing a lot of cleaning. I knew I had to go, leave things behind for a while and be open. In Bali I went to a healer who, before I even told him what I was doing, confirmed that this was my mission.
How do you feel after two years of being an independent entrepreneur, where you are free but sometimes less secure, unlike in a big corporation, where your career or growth, both business and personal, can come to a complete halt at some point?
The key is to have a smooth transition. I am still working with the corporate world. I was very happy that I was heard and we started coaching in the company where I was working. It is a step I would recommend to any entrepreneur. It makes employees feel that the company cares, because the purpose of coaching is not business results, perhaps as a long-term goal, but people satisfaction. This collaboration has left financial security, which is why my path as a coach is being built naturally, out of love and not by force.
Let's go back to the beginning with the last question ... How is it that you decided to close the Club of Business Excellence in Domžale and its surroundings, which brought together business women from Kamnik, Domžale, Mengeš, Trzin, Komenda and Lukovice, and encouraged them to informally exchange knowledge, experience and energy?
The closure is not the end of the club's story. After five years as President, I realised that it would be easier for us to function if we were bigger, so we joined the Dolenjska Club, which is becoming central for the whole of Slovenia. This will allow us to create larger projects at the level of the whole of Slovenia, but of course certain events will still take place locally. In my opinion, this is a stepping stone for more. So I have stepped back so that more can be born.
The interview was published in Blue News, May 2024-292
Written by Mateja Štrajhar