About Maria B. Bourke
Do you ever wish there could be more to life than the endless routine?
I am Maria B. Bourke (Brigid is my middle name!) and I have been officially on my personal development journey for over 25 years. Prior to that I can remember being really unhappy even though to many I had it all – the happy home, the beautiful healthy children and the executive career. Despite all this I was dying on the inside. My job was pressurized and meaningless, leaving me empty and drained. I felt guilty being at work and equally guilty if I had to take a day off and stay home with my kids. I had absolutely no life for myself. My whole day was consumed between work and home, with little variance year in, year out.
To the outside world I portrayed the mask of being happy and confident but despite my positive ‘can do’ bubbly demeanour I had a constant knot of dread in my stomach. What sort of ungrateful woman would I be to admit I wasn’t over the moon with my ‘perfect’ life?
At the height of my ‘corporate success’ I was a national finalist in the Young Business Woman of the Year Competition 2000, for my role as Co-Founder and International Marketing Director of a sock manufacturing company based in Mullingar, selling to niche international accounts. I realised in the days that followed I was climbing a ladder that was not only against the wrong wall…it was not even in the right building!
I was obviously a brilliant actress on many levels as when my whole world fell apart - my relationship ended and I had to walk away from my career - many people did not see it coming.
In truth the person I was acting most for…was ME!
“Maria is a true inspiration, an amazing woman who has helped many people change their lives. ”
It can be so hard to face the fact that the fairytale life you have created…is the WRONG fairytale. It’s even harder to admit that you care ‘how your life looks’ to your family and friends almost more than facing the truth and being brave enough to make necessary changes…even small ones.
Many of us were brought up not to be selfish. Ringing any bells? Selfishness is not a nice characteristic but SELF CARE IS ESSENTIAL and the sooner you learn to make YOU a priority the better for everyone in your life…ESPECIALLY YOURSELF! By the way…it has taken me a very very very long time to learn this lesson.
Would you like to live your life consciously, deliberately and on purpose?
“Maria’s energy and unfailing encouragement make it easy to open up and be honest with yourself.”
From years of searching and working on myself I have found a way to do just this i.e. wear many hats AND play the LEAD ROLE in my own life! I created a course in 2006 called Jumpstart Your Life to share the tools and techniques that work for me and that I use daily.
Back to ‘school’!
As part of my journey, in 2003 I started a Life & Business Coaching course for my own growth and healing, with a career plan to retrain as a Primary School Teacher - my childhood dream. By the end of the Coaching course I realised that my dream was to teach children to believe in themselves (not academic subjects) and what children need more help with this than the inner child of so many adults?
Shortly afterwards in 2005 & 2006, I completed the Louise Hay Heal Your Life Teacher and Advanced Teacher trainings. However, when asked to deliver a course in Summer 2006 I knew I had to compile my own material as my personal ‘tool kit’ contains processes and techniques from many courses, books and ‘gurus’ as well as material I have developed myself.
All these years later….the original Jumpstart Your Life course hasn’t changed and is as powerful as ever. I now offer it as a One-to-one both in person and online. (Note: At present I am not offering any 'in person' courses, workshops or retreats for groups. If you would like to be notified - before I make a public announcement - when I am planning any 'in person' events, feel free to add your name to this list.)
Sharing is caring…
In 2010 I finally listened to the nudge to write a book – My Kinda Magik! - to share my personal development journey with a larger audience. It was a stop start affair until I committed to blogging an instalment each Sunday night from August 2013. I also started blogging a weekly exercise later that year. My Kinda Magik is my story and the exercises became a companion book My Kinda Magik - The Workbook. I created a pack of My Kinda Magik affirmation cards in Winter 2017. You can order my books and cards directly from me. Click here for more information. Both books are also available to order from Amazon UK / Amazon.com for Kindle and in paperback.
Changing my mind…
In 2018 I finally listened to the good advice of so many friends and started to create online courses. I resisted this for several years as I have often found that online courses I have signed up for have been a bit hollow. My change of heart and attitude unfolded by following my nudge to create a free 30 day challenge in September. The outcomes for those who took part - including me! - were amazing. I relaunched 321 Focus in November 2018 as a paid programme. Again the results were wonderful, especially for those who were using the materials and processes for the second time. 321 Focus is now a regular feature several times each year, empowering participants with tools, processes and ultimately new habits for day to day and week to week living.
Lifelong learning never ends…
During May 2019 I became very interested in Feng Shui and how I could use this ancient art to support me in moving forward in my life. The beginning of this new journey coincided with 321 Focus in May and I decided to be more brave and authentic than ever before and vlog my personal 321 story here on my website. Having seen the magical outcomes I enjoyed - including being gifted a car - I decided to study this officially so I could include this wisdom in my work when appropriate.
big changes in 2020
During Lockdown in the Summer of 2020 as part of upgrading my website and my online presence, I realised I had to stop being and doing what was ‘expected’ of me and be brave enough to show up in the world as I truly am! A huge part of this process was moving away from my old corporate style logo, business name (InspirAction) and branding. The truth is my FACELIFT was more of an unmasking as I moved to work as ME - MariaBourke.com.
This process has not changed my work. In fact, it has helped me see more clearly that our true purpose is to be ourselves.
“There is a place that you are to fill and no one else can fill, something you are to do, which no one else can do. ”
Keep up to date...
For the latest on all I’m doing feel free to check out me out on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. I’d be so grateful if you’d 'like' and 'follow' so you will be kept up to date at all times. This will also help me reach more people!
I also have a newsletter featuring a short video known as Tús Maith O’clock which I send out each Monday. You can sign up here. Feel free to check out the newsletter archive in my blog!
I look forward to connecting with you when the time is right! If the time is right now…click here to make contact.
Remember..have FUN!
Happy Days!
