First step to a radical change
We all have the power to succeed. It’s just that life sometimes gets in the way.
The secret of a fulfilling existence is there in our minds - if we can find out how to unlock it.
That unshakeable belief is what drives Amanda Hart.
She does not simply talk the talk. She has walked the walk of surviving trauma and life-threatening illness, and emerging stronger.
Helping others to do the same is now her mission in life. She calls it her legacy.
The effects of the meningitis that almost killed her linger on, and she takes nothing for granted.
“I live the best life I possibly can. I don’t know how long I’ve got,” she says.
“I want people to know it is wonderful what we can do when we face these challenges.
“Fate sometimes sends you down a very steep hill that enables you to dig deep and find lost resources.
“However dire life gets we have the resources within ourselves to do something about it.
“There is always a solution, a negative and a positive.”
Amanda, who lives in Hadleigh, describes herself as an intuitive consultant.
She looks for the root of people’s problems by picking up signs from their subconscious.
Then she uses her intuitive skill to interpret the clues that may be buried deep in what they tell her.
“We all have programs that create the life we lead,” she says.
“I work with the subconscious mind to find out why my clients are challenged by their negative programs.”
Amanda is about to tell the first part of her story in a book that comes out in November.
She will soon start seeing clients at Neal’s Yard holistic centre in Bury St Edmunds.
But first she is giving two talks there to explain her theories.
The introductory sessions are called ‘reprogramming your success mechanism’, and are followed by free intuitive readings. Her mentoring has spanned 20 years of discovery, research and study.
She has helped clients find their own power and voice, discover their purpose, conquer health problems, and enjoy loving relationships.
Ten years ago she was a finalist on Britain’s Psychic Challenge, a Channel 5 show hosted by Trisha Goddard.
Her intuition was heightened, she says, after surviving a near-fatal attack of meningitis in 2003.
“My three year-old daughter got the phone to me so I could call for help. If it had been one hour later I wouldn’t be here now.
“Afterwards I was told to go out and live life, because there would be problems.
“Five years ago I had to have brain surgery for a condition that stemmed from my illness.
“I’d been planning a book, but at that point I didn’t feel ready to do it.
“But after the operation I couldn’t work, couldn’t see clients, so I moved to Suffolk to write.
The book, which she has named The Guys Upstairs, has taken five years to complete.
Its title comes from her childhood which was desperately unhappy.
“When I was three I was taken away from my mother by my father.
“From then until I was 17 my life was torture. I lived in fear.
“I looked for solace in the way children do, and sensed angels around me. I thought of them as ‘the guys upstairs’.
“I assumed as an adult I would escape into a beautiful life, but I had developed this negative programming and attracted dire relationships.
“Then I realised that rather than look at the end result, if you look at the beginning you can wipe it out.
“It’s opening up this little box where we have the blueprint.”
It was a long a difficult journey. History repeated itself when her first husband took away her eldest daughter Georgina who was aged just four.
“I didn’t see her again until she found me when she was 21.
“Now she’s 24. We are very close and I have a three year-old granddaughter Lily.”
Amanda remarried and had two more children, Amelia, 16 and Anthony, 14. “They are the purpose of my life now,” she says.
But her move to Suffolk was far from the end of her traumas.
She met a new partner and they opened a vintage clothes shop, The Revival Exchange, at Kersey Mill.
The idea was he would run the business and she would use it as a base to see clients.
After they parted she carried on running the shop, and true to her philosophy pushed herself to live life to the full.
But last year it brought a frightening reminder not to concentrate on the mind at the expense of the body.
Her life spiralled to rock bottom after her health once again began to fail.
“I became very unwell last year with chronic fatigue, respiratory problems and nerve pain.
“I’d put everything into life but my health wasn’t capable of keeping up with my energy. I was slowly killing myself.
“By last September I was so unwell I had to have scans because they thought I might have a brain tumour.”
Doctors discovered the membranes, or meninges, around her brain and spinal cord had become so tight they were shutting down her whole system.
“Last summer I couldn’t work any more. I went bankrupt, and lost my business into which I had invested everything.
“I had to rehome my dogs, and sell my home in Herfordshire which I had kept while renting a house here.
“Everything of any value went, but it was the best thing to happen.
“Stripped of everything else the bond between me and my family and friends became stronger.
“And if I hadn’t gone through that particular route of working such long hours I wouldn’t have discovered how borderline my health was.
“I now have osteopathy from a cranial expert. I eat healthily, and drink lots of water.
“I’ve come out of it with a very healthy lifestyle. I still have symptoms, but I will always have to manage my condition.
“Now because I am listening to my body and every part of who I am I can realise my potential.”
Amanda is now looking forward to the launch of her book, and a sequel is on the cards.
She has linked up with high-profile PR consultant Kat Byles and they are planning a countrywide publicity campaign to inspire people to find their voice.
“She only manages people who make a difference in the world,” says Amanda. “We met at an event and both knew instantly we were meant to work together.”
