Maria Khalife, The Super MOM

Maria Khalife is an author, coach, inspirational producer and host of TV and radio programs.

Exclusive interview with Maria Khalife

 

 

Omtimes: Maria, Tell us something about yourself, who is Maria Khalife, the mother, entrepreneur, writer, TV personality?

Maria Khalife: Well, my name is Maria Khalife. I am a businesswoman, a coach, a mother, a writer, and I guess I am a whole lot of other things, (smiles); I live in Beirut, Lebanon, but I prefer to think of myself as a citizen/ woman of the world.  I’ve been blessed with the experience of traveling and learning in many countries and it has been a wonderful gift to my life. I so appreciate being with you today. I love the quote from Einstein “I am not genius; I am passionately curious.”   I don’t see myself as any different from any other person in this planet, except perhaps in my determination to provide the best for my son whatever I had to do to provide the very best example of obtaining that.

My transformation journey started 24 years ago when I became a mother and I felt the responsibility to raise my son. It was an eye-opener to see him as a reflection of me.

• I wanted to protect him
• I wanted him to be happy
• I wanted him to be healthy
• I wanted him to be safe
• I wanted him to be the embodiment of everything he is capable of being.
• I wanted him to be free…

But I wasn’t any of that at the time…

So I thought: how can I offer him a space to be all of that when I am not living and acting from that space myself?  It was a real puzzlement!

Because of my love of Mohandas Gandhi, I became committed to the idea of “Be the Change” and to become the person / the future I want my son to be. So much has grown from that one idea!

So I did everything that was needed to do the transformational job from the inside out.

• I did 4 years of psychoanalysis
• Studied coaching with Debbie Ford and became a coach myself
• I have attended workshops/ courses etc…
• Read books
• Listened to thousands of hours from many inspirational speakers
• Hired great coaches
• I continue to study, to learn, and to unfold more good about myself and about all others.

And of course, I started to become what I’d placed my focus on. With the right help and support, I saw that I had plenty of room for creative work and great accomplishments.

• I started my own company in 1996 and created the first food media network in the middle. this was my first success story and it is called Soufra Daimeh, which means “Bon Appetit” in English
• • Continued to create more with my coaching school and I have created the first coaching school in Lebanon in 2009. Soon we will be launching the Change Coach Association for the school’s graduates
  • And now I have the first coaching TV program, I am the producer and host. It is called the Super Mom show, and it is aired on an Arabic satellite channel.

   

Omtimes:  How was your personal journey in becoming an accomplished writer that you are today?

Maria Khalife: I wanted to share my path and journey and I wanted to get my experience out to the world and writing in life and about life is one of the best and most cost-effective ways to get the word out. That’s been proved across many centuries, wouldn’t you agree?

When your head is whirling with ideas, you’ve got to first, get them out of your head and down on paper, just so you can get some rest at night!  Haha   And then, you have to take those ideas one at a time and begin to examine them in detail.

The writing process is very similar to the process I teach my coaching students about their Big Dream.  You have one huge dream – let’s say to build the largest ice cream factory in the world – and you have no idea what all the details are about doing that work.  So you ask yourself, what are the five main things I can see about building my ice cream factory, and you write those down.

Next, you step away for a while to let the Big Dream idea “cook” as it were, and when you come back to the project that you’re writing about, you take each one of those five key ideas and you ask yourself, what are the next five steps I can take for the first idea, and then the second idea…. Like that.  You discover that inside you are ALL of the requisite steps, and before you know it, an article is written, school curriculum is completed, coaches are trained, and you’re busy thinking of a new book!

Writing has been an avenue for me to discover myself, to trust the good intrinsic within my own ideas, and mainly to discover what – due to my own studies and readings – had gotten embedded inside myself that I could bring out and give to other people.  I truly believe that my writing, and my subsequent coaching, and the subsequent Television shows are my way of bringing Peace to the Middle East.

 

Omtimes: Maria, when was the first time you felt that you were born to bring empowerment and change to the life of others?

Maria Khalife: In 1991, when I had to say enough to the abusive and toxic environment I was living in, I petitioned for divorce with only 20$ in my hand. I left everything behind – including wealth and financial security. This is a very scary and yet courageous step to take, now that I look back on it.

I had a deep sense of faith and power within me that was beyond any fear and limitation and since I had already created wealth for someone else – my former husband – I had a full trust that I could do the same thing for myself and here I am: a successful entrepreneur, creating business with meaning that supports both me and hundreds, perhaps thousands, of others with my message.

I believe in the concept of “the greatest good for the greatest number.”  I determined long ago, that to reach out to help others – to be of the greatest service to others – was one of the best ideas inside of me. If the Dalai Lama and Mother Theresa could preach about the value of living a life of service to others, there must be something to it. Audrey Hepburn said: “As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands; one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” I love that. I have experienced great fulfillment to have seen that in practice in my life.

I’ve heard it said that in a marital relationship, if each individual gives 100%, and thinks of the other before the self, the marriage will be successful.  Well, I applied that to my relationship with all others:  if I look for ways to point out what’s good in another’s life, it makes my life successful.  It’s funny how that works out, you know?

So my message to our listeners is this: if I can do it, you can do it!! The only thing that truly supports you is your right thinking and perseverance, and the only thing that will stop you is your own fear and doubt. Think of a way to be of service to others, and this driving force plus your own hard work initiatives, will create success for both you and others.

 

Omtimes: Tell our readers what are your new projects for the near future.

Maria Khalife: I am in the preparation of Supermom TV show season 3 – it is a format I have developed and it is about coaching moms about HOW to become a supermom as she juggles the demands of career, family, and child rearing.  And who best suited to do this but someone like me, who has already lived through this experience. I am continuously amazed at the huge number of ideas that surround this Supermom concept, and how my experiences allow me to lend wisdom to our topics for the greater good of all who watch.  This show is fun, a lot of hard work, and has become very popular.  Oh, I must tell you one thing that has been challenging in creating the series:  for each season, I get to change my clothes over 52 times!  Mercy, but that is really something to live through. (Smiles)

I am in the process of developing Supermom electronic magazine in English & Arabic. It will parallel the show but will have fresh content each month for my Moms.  I am busy lining up the talent to bring the Supermom Magazine to the public in a few months.

I am working to translate and implement The Change Coaching Institute online certification courses in Arabic to reach a wider audience.  Our first course via Skype will begin in November.

I am developing graduate courses for the graduate Change Coaches and our first guest teacher will be from the Byron Katie “The Work” discipline. I’m excited that Grace Bell can bring us her expertise.

I am also working with a dear colleague of mine named Joumana Rizk to launch the Debbie Ford Institute here in the Middle East in September with the beginning program called Heal Your Heart Coaching Training.

 

Omtimes: If you have one intention that you could manifest right now, what would this wish be?

Maria Khalife: I like to think of it as: Citizen/ population/ country swap.  I have been so blessed to have had the opportunity to travel and learn.

I would love it if all the people from Lebanon could go and live in another country in the world and get people from the US to come and consider Lebanon as their country –

I think it would be a superb way to unfold the “one world – one love” idea. We could exchange the energy, the love, respect and appreciation that everybody shows outside his country and grow to appreciate diversity first hand, not just as a theory in some schoolbook.

I’d love this idea because I can see that it would give the earth, the planet, the country, the people a break from what they think they know and want, to what might be a blessing for all as oneness.

 

You will also enjoy Maria Khalife: My Life is My Message

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Connect with Maria Khalife on her website mariakhalife.com