{"id":80,"date":"2018-08-13T07:32:06","date_gmt":"2018-08-13T07:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thinkactyouwin.com\/press\/?page_id=80"},"modified":"2018-08-27T06:18:48","modified_gmt":"2018-08-27T06:18:48","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.thinkactyouwin.com\/press\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"

So who exactly is Susan Dowdall<\/em> you might be asking?<\/h4>\n
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Susan Dowdall ~ Certified Counsellor ~ Eating Psychology \/ Mind Body Nutrition ~<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Well really I am just another person like you but now at an age to understand what my burning passion is \u2013 I will get to that a little later.<\/p>\n

I live in Balclutha in the beautiful South Island of New Zealand. It is a smallish town which is semi rural and in the heart of a farming district. I have a wonderful husband and loads of animals on our small piece of land. Sadly I was unable to have children, hence all the animals.\u00a0We have a very large vegetable garden, plenty of fruit trees and berry plants. Plus flowers and native shrubs and trees. This is where I spend many happy hours on weekends.<\/p>\n

I grew up in New Zealand with an English mother and a New Zealand father. It was a very happy home life although my parents were definitely of lesser means.
\nI was particularly close to my mother and while I did not understand when I was young, her beliefs and ways did still rub off on me. She used to say \u201cAnything your mind can conceive, you can achieve.\u201d The funny thing was she had not studied any of the teachers we follow as masters these days such as Napoleon Hill or Dr Wayne Dyer.
\nShe was just instinctive or intuitive with her beliefs. I really did not think much about it at the time, my study came much later.
\nMy mother was a freelance writer and contracted, from New Zealand, to write short stories for a couple of American monthly publications. Being a writer, she instilled into me and my two siblings, the value of books and reading.
\nBoth my parents were avid gardeners. I spent many happy hours with my Mother in the flower garden and my Father in the vegetable garden \u2013 hands in the dirt developing a love of and connection with the earth.<\/p>\n

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Susan on ‘Archie’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My childhood passion was with horses and I got my first pony when I was 12 (I think my parents just wanted to stop my nagging!). No one else in the family knew much about horses so I had to learn fast to care for my pony and how to ride. Even as an early teenager I was smitten with the dream of competing at the Olympics \u2013 especially in the exacting discipline of dressage.<\/p>\n

But by my late teens I was already studying to be an equine instructor and by my early twenties had national qualifications to teach both riding as well as the care of horses. During this time I also trained as a dressage judge. But the joy of training others was dominant in me and I knew I could not be a judge – all I wanted to do was tell the competitors how to ride better!
\nSo my Olympics dream faded as the call to teach took over.<\/p>\n

During this time I also started my working life. It began in retail sales, then onto office work. There I developed a good grounding within all areas of manufacturing companies \u2013 from PA work and onto purchasing manager and production manager.
\nMy career then took a turn as I found my professional calling was far more towards sales and marketing \u2013 I was missing sales after my early days in retail selling. Over about 9 or 10 years I held several positions as a sales rep and onto sales\/marketing manager. Plus I developed my own program for teaching sales, particularly to young and\/or new sales people \u2013 my first experience in that type of coaching.<\/p>\n

From there I built a couple of companies based on business to business sales. These were to supply promotional products and corporate apparel to businesses for them to use to promote themselves. I loved this industry and got such a buzz when customers of mine used products I sold them, to market their own businesses successfully.
\nLooking back on those 18 years, I see the real reason for liking the sales and marketing of promotional products \u2013 it was helping others to achieve their goals. It was not about me, it was all about them.<\/p>\n

Although I have always had an interest in business, particularly sales and marketing, underlying this was a strong interest in health and fitness plus personal development. I firmly believe this is all one package. I had done some study into nutrition and fitness, plus skirted around the edges of personal development.
\nI thought my life was going OK. In fact I thought I was doing really well. Then one day during a casual conversation with a business associate, I had the beginning of my biggest ever wake up call. He asked me this simple question \u201cAre you happy in your own skin?\u201d. Looking at my life and achievements I replied (too quickly) I was probably about 95% happy. How wrong I was.
\nThis simple question haunted me and was the catalyst which made me take a big look at myself. I saw some things I did not really like and right then decided to make some real changes. Although I had a reasonably good knowledge of health and fitness, I was overweight and getting out of shape because of a lack of exercise (had sold all my horses a year or so ago). I had an appreciation of personal development but was not doing enough to grow me. And although deep down I knew my calling was to teach, I wasn\u2019t doing anything much to cultivate this passion. So for the next 7 or 8 years I studied nutrition and fitness. Plus I really got going with my own personal development; I began to read more books starting with Napoleon Hill\u2019s Think and Grow Rich and then anything and everything I could lay my hands on. I went to as many workshops as I could and I bought home study courses. I worked on my spirituality and intuition, including several courses from Mindvalley.
\nAlso, I lost weight \u2013 13 kilos and have kept this weight off since my early fifties. I still walk every day and four times per week do strength training (I bought my own home gym equipment). I feel better now physically in my early sixties (at the time of writing this) than I think I ever have before.<\/p>\n

So the time came to move on and start teaching. I sold my business and decided to take a year off and actually complete the 3 books I had started and never got very far with writing (remember my Mum inspiring the love of books). I spent several months unwinding from the corporate world, which I needed to do \u2013 but still did not finish the books.
\nI procrastinated for another 12 months. I lost my direction and purpose. I just could not get going in any direction and started to beat myself up for that. Then something just clicked.<\/p>\n

They say \u201cwhen the pupil is ready, the teacher will come\u201d. This happened to me in a couple of ways.
\nFirstly, I have always liked T Harv Eker – I see similarities between his style of teaching and my own teaching style.
\nAnyway, I already had two of his courses (both brilliant!) and then a new one was launched called \u2018Getting Rich Doing What You Love\u2019 or better known as \u2018Passion, Purpose and Profits\u2019. My first thought was it would probably be not too different from the two courses I already had of his about business and marketing. But my inner voice would not be silenced and I bought the course. One of the two best decisions I have ever made.\u00a0Over the next couple of weeks doing the course, I learnt so much about myself \u2013 if there is one thing Harv can do well is to help you dig very deep! But only if you want to and are ready to! I thought I wanted to write, but learned what I really wanted<\/em>, or actually needed<\/em>, was to teach. I also figured out that I already knew enough from my studies to get going with my passion \u2013 to teach the whole package; health and fitness plus personal development.
\nThen the second impactful teacher entered my life \u2013 Marc David from The Institute for the Psychology of Eating.
\nI already owned a CD set of his called Mind \/ Body Nutrition. I had listened to that CD set so many times \u2013 it really resonated with me.\u00a0Honestly, to this day I don\u2019t know how I found out about Marc\u2019s course to study to be a Psychology of Eating Counsellor. But I did. I enrolled, studied and graduated (with a very good pass I\u2019m proud to say).\u00a0That was the second of my two best decisions ever.<\/p>\n

So, the question again; \u201cAm I happy in my own skin?\u201d Now I can say \u201cyes, I am getting there\u201d and mean it!
\nDo I want everyone to be able to say the same? Yes I do<\/strong>. My dedication now is to show a way to anyone who will listen, learn and most importantly, do.
\nThe world and internet is strewn with empty promises; get rich quick schemes, get 10,000 subscribers with just 2 clicks, lose weight fast diets, get rock hard abs in 10 minutes per day, eat this way and be healthy, and so on….<\/p>\n

There is so much information \u2018out there\u2019 and all too often it is coming from people who have never done what they are trying to sell to you and they don\u2019t really care. They mostly have dollar signs in their eyes.
\nI do care<\/strong>. Every time I learn something new or experience a new way of seeing or doing something, or find a new teacher, I want to stand on the roof and shout to the world \u2013 look at this, everyone should know this!<\/em><\/p>\n

My life\u2019s journey so far has been my own University – it still is and always will be as learning and growing never stops. It\u2019s not just what I have learned (and am putting into practice) but the seeing now how my life so far has prepared me for becoming a counsellor;<\/p>\n