Written by: Suki Collins, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Imposter syndrome lurks deep within us, triggering feelings of self-doubt and casting a shadow over our thoughts. It leads us to undervalue our true competencies and downplay our fitness for the roles we are playing or could play. Yet, it’s all in the mind. For anyone grappling with the impact of imposter syndrome the question is, ‘who do I think I am?’ Reasonable self-doubt is normal and good. It brings a sense of perspective, helping us to avoid implausible plans that will not support our goals. Like jumping from the top of a cliff with homemade wings, hoping to fly. Questioning myself helps me to focus my thoughts and to achieve what I set out to do. But it’s a fine line. Healthy self-doubt can drift into the unconstructive realm of imposter syndrome. In this third article, I look at what we can do to manage and reduce the impact of imposter syndrome in our lives. The syndrome can hide away in various guises. Once we realise how it affects our thoughts and our choices, and if we believe we have the power to change those thoughts and choices, we can look at possible strategies. Practising mindfulness and meditation It’s important to take a few moments out of our busy schedules each day to focus on ourselves, cutting out distractions and negative influences. Practising mindfulness and meditation helps me to improve my resilience, calm my nerves and recentre my sense of self. Even if my mind refuses to settle down, which can happen quite often, I still invest a few minutes. I know from experience that this is an effective way to prepare the ground for the next stage. Question yourself with a purpose Often, you are so used to thinking badly about yourself you will not even notice that you are doing it. But imposter syndrome can start to fall apart if you put it under the spotlight of your reasoning. When I first tried this, I was surprised by how effective constructive questioning can be. First, stop dwelling on your self-doubt. When I feel overwhelmed because I cannot do it all, I say to myself that this is not a productive way to think, and I tell myself to ‘get it done’. I replace my imposter thoughts with alternative interpretations. I ask myself, is this true? Or is this real? Eventually, your clarity will take over, and you will build more resilience, and become more effective at finding ways to overcome unwarranted self-doubt. Change the way you think If you can trace your feelings of inadequacy, you can find ways to reprogram your thought patterns. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) techniques can achieve positive outcomes. Check out your thoughts if you feel like a fake. What exact statements are running through your head? What evidence can you find to support those thoughts? Even if there might be a germ of truth in your feelings, how could you reframe your thoughts? One option is to evaluate your thinking – attempt to look at yourself objectively, from a dispassionate, outside perspective. Almost as if you were assessing experimental data. Force yourself to list down three ways in which you are effective in the role you are playing. Then list two ways in which you think you could improve. Finally, decide on one key action. Mistakes are part of learning Remember that no one is perfect all the time. It is not physically possible. To err is human. I try not to spend too long dwelling on my mistakes and instead seek to learn from them. It’s vital not to err on the side of caution in every decision we take. Life is a learning opportunity. To survive and thrive, organisations must be open to change, too. This means that they need employees and teams, who are willing to try new things. Fear of failure is no recipe for success. You cannot build an innovative team or organisation if unwarranted self-doubt holds you back. I ask my clients to accept their mistakes and forgive themselves when things do not go as expected. And I ask them to reframe their thinking. People often dwell on what went less than perfectly. Instead, be like Eddison, who conducted hundreds of experiments on the way to inventing his electric lightbulb. Ask yourself what you can learn from your latest experience, and how you can improve your results next time. Talk to your coach or your mentor One of the reasons imposter syndrome is so disruptive is that people tend to keep their emotions to themselves. This can lead to a worsening of thought patterns: ever-decreasing circles. We all need a sounding board. My clients find it useful to share their feelings and experiences with me. It’s an opportunity for them to look inside, to examine the causes of their self-doubt. Then we look at changing their behaviours. For example, when I work with ‘naturally talented’ clients – a group who often experience imposter syndrome – I ask them to keep a journal of their past achievements. This is objective evidence that helps them keep a sense of perspective. Motivation and reward Daily affirmations can be an excellent way to motivate yourself. If your imposter syndrome prevents you from enjoying yourselves, find a way to validate your achievements. I encourage my clients to reward themselves each time they succeed in the task they set. Long-term incentives are good but, if possible, find ways to celebrate success in the moment – as soon as you take the action you planned. In conclusion To overcome imposter syndrome, we need to be able to recognise when our negative thoughts and feelings have gone way beyond useful boundaries. Many of us fail to realise that we suffer from undue self-doubt and, indeed, how common it is, affecting nearly seven out of ten people. Please take time to talk with your family, friends, and co-workers about how they are feeling. You may find that they suffer from similar thoughts and anxieties. The more we can bring our thought patterns to awareness, the easier it will be to put strategies into place. Equally important is the timing of these conversations. in my experience the earlier the better. Individuals at all levels must act with goodwill and humanity. Professional growth does not need to be traumatic. One-upmanship in the form of toxic competition between colleagues is not productive. It stifles personal and collective progress by creating a community in which people are afraid to ask questions and afraid to fail. Tackling imposter syndrome can bring us a greater sense of fulfilment and a more enjoyable life. It can also help our relationships with those with whom we interact and add to the success of the organisations in which we work. The author would like to thank copywriter, Stuart Warner, for his valuable comments on a draft of this article. Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Suki! Suki Collins, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Suki Collins is a leading Business Coach and an accredited Executive Coach. She has over 20 years of experience at the senior HR management level. She practices a coaching style of management and has seen the difference coaching can make to an individual, a team, and the organization. On an organizational level, she was responsible for establishing a Medical School in the United Kingdom. Currently, the School is in the top 5 Medical Schools in the UK. She coached senior leadership to utilize HR tools to ensure performance and foster a culture of continuous improvement. Equity, Diversity, Inclusivity (EDI), and belonging are at the heart of everything Suki does. Suki is the Founder/Director of Pebbles Coaching and Wellbeing Consultancy, established in 2020. Her company aims to provide coaching to individuals, teams, and organizations, leveraging the insight of over two decades of senior management experience within two top Universities and extensive executive coaching experience. Suki is passionate about new challenges, has a positive outlook on life, and this is carried through everything she does. She strongly believes that a positive mindset can take her through any challenges she faces in life. Suki’s mission: spread the word about the positive impact of coaching.

Written by: Nadija Bajrami, Senior Level Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Let’s talk about the festive season, about the importance of self-care during this time of the year and how to make the best of this very special time of year. Personally, I just love this time of year, the buzz in the air, the twinkling of lights wherever we go, the whole lot really. It really is such a magical time of year. But to be honest, I know that it can also be an overwhelming time during which we try to get organized, to have everything perfectly set, a time during which we might overspend and feel under pressure, as well as a time during which we remember our loved ones who are no longer with us. And a time during which we put ourselves last. With so much going on and so many demands on our time and attention, and with the festive season being a time of high expectations and even higher emotions it is no surprise that many of us find the festive period to be a tough time. It is not unusual for people to feel overwhelmed by the festivities. Many things that are part of our routines that we take for granted become disrupted by the change of pace in our lives during this time of year. So, whilst Christmas can be a magical time for many, it can also be a really stressful time for many others. Worries about money, loneliness, grief, feeling surrounded and more are just some of the emotions that Christmas and the festive season can trigger in many of us. And that’s perfectly okay. Just remember that Christmas can be difficult for anyone, at any point in their life. You might be struggling this year for the first time. Or you may have found Christmas difficult in the past, and you are dreading it again this year. You may also enjoy Christmas, but not be able to celebrate it how you would like. Or you might find some parts enjoyable, but other parts stressful. Whether or not Christmas is part of your life, your mental health might be affected by it happening around you. It is a time of year that often puts extra pressure on us and can affect our mental health in lots of different ways. For example, if you: Feel alone or left out because everyone else seems happy when you are not Wish you did not have to deal with Christmas at all or find it stressful because of other more important events going on in your life. Have to spend Christmas with some of your family members who might trigger strong emotions Feel frustrated by other people’s views of a ‘perfect’ Christmas, if these feel different to your own Sorely missing a loved one who passed away Christmas is a great time to ramp up your self-care whilst also raising awareness with our loved ones, family, friends, and colleagues. As much as we want to please our loved ones and keep on top of things, we must all prioritise our mental health, self-care and wellbeing over this festive period. Remember that you are good to no one if you are not in the right headspace and it is absolutely ok to prioritise what is best for you, even if others do not seem to understand. So now let’s build your self-care toolbox and talk about some tips to help your mental health over this festive period. Your self-care toolbox is a set of predetermined tools you can draw on whenever you feel you are not coping during this time of year. Be realistic with your expectations The festive season does not have to be perfect or just like in previous years. Every year is an opportunity to do something different. Select a few traditions to hold on to, and be open to embracing new ones. Although your festive plans may look different this year, you can find new ways to celebrate. Plan ahead Prepare and plan how your time is going to be spent. Schedule specific days and times to complete shopping, prepare meals, connect with family and friends, and do other activities. Planning ahead will help ease the pressure and avoid overwhelm. Think also about what might be difficult about Christmas for you, and if there is anything that might help you cope. Think about whether you really need to do things if you are not looking forward to them. Can you do them differently or for less time? Delegate YOU do not have to do everything. Think strategically and see where other people could (or should) help, delegate. Share the work; share the fun too. Stick to a budget and spend wisely Make a budget and stick to it. Overspending for the sake of it will only give you another thing to worry about, will increase your stress levels in the long run and make you feel even more overwhelmed and will most probably prevent you from being present and enjoy the moment. Be kind with yourself and look after yourself It is okay to prioritise what is best for you, even if others do not seem to understand. Think about what you need and how you might be able to get it. Consider talking to someone you trust about what you need to cope. Set a ‘start’ and ‘finish’ time for what you count as Christmas. Remind yourself that it will not last forever. Acknowledge your feelings If you have recently lost a loved one or are unable to be with loved ones for other reasons, realize that it is perfectly normal to feel sadness and grief. It is ok to take time to cry or express your feelings. You cannot put your feeling on hold and force yourself to be happy just because it is the holiday season. Let yourself experience your own feelings. Even if they do not match what is going on around you, they are still real and valid. You might not be able to make others understand. That is okay. It is not your responsibility to convince other people or get their permission to look after yourself. Do not give up on your healthy habits Christmas is a time to enjoy ourselves, but it is also a time during which we need to set some limits. Stick with a routine, eat healthy meals, stay hydrated, get plenty of rest, include regular exercise and avoid over-indulging on food and alcohol. Do not let the holidays become a free-for-all. Overindulgence will only add to your stress and guilt and make you feel more overwhelmed. Set your boundaries and learn to say no If you can’t avoid something difficult, plan something for yourself afterwards to help reduce the stress or discomfort you might feel. Saying yes when you really want to say no can leave you feeling resentful and overwhelmed. Your loved ones will understand if you cannot get involved in every project or activity. Remember that saying yes to someone when you just want to say no, is saying no to yourself and denying your own feelings. Slow down and take a break Whatever you do during the festive season, make some time for yourself. Find an activity you enjoy. Take a break by yourself. Spending just a few minutes alone, without distractions, may refresh you enough to handle everything you need to do and face your loved ones. Take these few minutes to clear your mind, do some breathing exercises and tap into your inner resources to keep going. Get outside The shorter daylight hours and lack of sunshine can negatively impact our mood. And over Christmas it is very easy to spend whole days indoors. Exercise and daylight can help ease anxious and stimulate ‘feel good’ endorphins. Reach out and get support Remember that you are not alone. If you are struggling this festive season, you may want to find support for your mental health and wellbeing. Support is available every day. Remember the old saying “a problem shared is a problem halved”; talking things through can definitely help to reduce your anxiety. But if you do not feel you can open up to those around you, there is also the option to reach out to professionals such as counsellors or therapists. Professionals can put things you may be overthinking into perspective and teach you coping strategies to help you through the festive season. My last but not least tip is the use of self-hypnosis Hypnosis is a safe and natural state of relaxation with an increased level of awareness during which you are not asleep and are fully in control. You will experience a pleasant state of mind with increased attention and focus. The hypnotic state is similar to some moments in your life when you are daydreaming or fully absorbed in a specific activity like reading for example. While in a relaxed state of mind, new information can make its way into the subconscious which transforms old beliefs and thought patterns. Hypnosis delves into your subconscious mind to plant positive thoughts and suggestions, which can create meaningful and lasting changes in your thought process. Hypnosis replaces the old with the new. Changing your thinking will change your beliefs, fears, desires, habits, and anything that creates resistance when achieving new things. Hypnosis will be used to replace these negative thoughts by more positive ones, boost your sense of worthiness and confidence and help you enjoy the festive season feeling calmer and more at peace with yourself and others around you. You can even practice hypnosis on yourself, using self-hypnosis. You have probably done it hundreds of times but just were not aware of it. Have you ever found yourself deeply engrossed in a book? Or so caught up in a film that time seemed to pass effortlessly? If so, you may have experienced a form of hypnosis, what many practitioners refer to as the “everyday trance.” That might be an oversimplification, but the truth is that you already know how to hypnotize yourself. Self-hypnosis is quite easy to master and all you need is a quiet and safe space where you can relax and will not be disturbed. Self-hypnosis involves becoming highly focused and absorbed in the experience while giving yourself positive suggestions about ways to reach your goals. In those instances, your conscious mind switches off. You stop overthinking and analysing everything and go to an inner and more peaceful place. Self-hypnosis is an individual practice, unlike when you are working with a therapist. It can be a most empowering practice as you learn to have better control of your thoughts and behaviours while enjoying the physical and emotional benefits of the relaxation that is typical of self-hypnosis techniques. How to start self-hypnosis Find a quiet and safe place where you will not be disturbed and where your full attention is not required. Take a few deep breaths, then just enjoy relaxing and letting go of any daily worries, anxieties, or tensions. Start thinking about what you want to achieve, visualize yourself achieving it and give yourself positive suggestions about ways to reach your goals. For example, visualize yourself acting in a calm and composed way during the Christmas and give yourself suggestions about what you can do to enjoy the meal and the company of the people present. As a hypnotherapist I believe I work in a profession which is fantastically placed to help people feel calm, manage their anxious feelings, and align with what they really desire in life, appreciate themselves and see their true potential. While for some of us Christmas can be something of an endurance test, the season can also provide a sense of hope and new beginnings. This has certainly been another difficult year, but it has shown us all the importance of supporting and reaching out to others – not to mention being kind to yourself and asking for help when you need it. With the new year around the corner, it’s good to reflect on these things and look towards a more positive 2023. I wish you all a very blessed, wonderful, and peaceful festive season. Follow Nadija on her Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin and visit her website for more info. Read more from Nadija! Nadija Bajrami, Senior Level Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine French by birth, Nadija has lived in Scotland for 7 years and has traveled the world. After recovering from some serious health issues, Nadija had a wake-up call and came to Ireland to find her path. She has been living in Dublin since 2017. Nadija is an empowerment specialist and holds a double diploma in Hypnotherapy, Mind Coaching, and online therapy. She is dedicated to helping her clients get empowered, supercharge their confidence and self-esteem, overcome their limiting beliefs as well as manage anxiety, and symptoms of traumatic experiences and help people on their grief and healing journey through her therapy, coaching, and spiritual work.

Written by: Christine Luken, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Does your New Year’s resolution list include improving your personal finances? If so, you’re not alone! Traditionally, goal-setting gurus assert that “SMART” goals are more likely to be achieved. SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Timebound. But over the past year, I’ve realized there’s a problem with SMART goals, especially when it pertains to money. I’m not saying we should throw the entire formula in the trash. By making some tweaks to this classic model, you’ll increase the chances of achieving your personal finance goals… and have fun in the process. SMART Money Goals Retooled S – Specific Being specific about your money goals is good, just not too specific. For example, a goal of “$10,000 in my savings account,” is better than a goal of “A lot of money in the bank.” Defining your target helps you know when you’ve hit the mark. You’re certain that you’ve achieved your goal when you see a balance of $10k or more in your savings account. Let’s say you made a super specific money goal like “$10,000 in my savings account as a result of my side hustle income.” Why is this a problem? Because you’re being too specific about how the goal is going to happen. There are plenty of ways you could accomplish the goal of $10k in savings: getting a raise or bonus at work, receiving a gift or inheritance, a surprise tax refund, a lottery win, or an investment that takes off. If you receive $10k as a gift, you technically haven’t achieved the goal of “$10,000 in my savings account as a result of my side hustle income.” It might make it feel as though it doesn’t count because you were gifted the money, and you didn’t work for it. The tweak: Define the financial result you want, and leave “the how” open for possibilities. M – Measuring Measuring helps us to gauge our progress on our money goals. What’s the problem with that? Money doesn’t always behave in predictable patterns and straight lines. If we measure something today, it might look like a failure. If we measure it next month, we see exponential growth. Have you heard the story of how Chinese bamboo grows? Once planted, it must be watered and fertilized consistently. There’s very little growth for five years. Then suddenly, the bamboo grows up to 90 feet tall in five weeks! Some financial goals, like small business growth and investment performance, can be like bamboo. You invest attention and resources over a long period of time. It seems to take forever to see results. But all of a sudden, it’s an “overnight success.” Sure, some money goals show steady progress month after month, but not all of them. The tweak: Remember that some money goals take longer to come to fruition than others. Don’t give up before your “bamboo” shoots up exponentially! A – Actionable Action is amazing and it’s certainly a key component to achieving your financial goals. But not just any action will do! It needs to be aligned action, not action for the sake of being busy. What’s aligned action? It’s the next step that gets you closer to your money goal. Sometimes those steps can feel scary because they’re outside of your comfort zone, like hiring a business or financial coach. If you experience a mix of fear and excitement, you’re probably on the right track! The other issue I see with my clients is they become so committed to a course of action that they’re not open to suggestions. If you think there’s only one way to pay off debt, grow your retirement assets, or make sales in your business, you might miss out on golden opportunities. The tweak: Make your plan of aligned action AND be open to suggestions and opportunities! R – Realistic I probably dislike the R in SMART goals the most! When someone says to me, “Be realistic!” it feels like they’ve thrown a wet blanket over my head. And really, what does “realistic” even mean? It’s subjective, based on each person’s experience. I prefer to make 3 levels of money goals: good, better, and best (a.k.a. holy moly goals)! Let’s use annual income as an example. Based on my current income and the patterns I’ve observed, it’s easy to come up with a good, predictable income goal for next year. It’s based on the facts and, barring some unforeseen financial disaster, is extremely likely to happen. 95% of this goal is under my direct control. If I factor in business deals on the horizon, collaborations, and opportunities, I come up with a better and higher income goal. This goal is possible, but not entirely dependent on factors under my control. The best and highest (holy moly) version of this goal is crazy good and honestly, I have no idea how it’s going to happen. That’s okay! The purpose of the “holy moly” money goal is to inspire me and stretch my vision. The tweak: Ditch “realistic” money goals for ones that are Good/Better/Best! T – Timebound The purpose of putting a timeline to your money goals is to prevent procrastination. There’s nothing like a looming deadline to light a fire under your tooshie to get you motivated. However, there is a dark side to time deadlines when it comes to money goals. They create an arbitrary line in the sand that defines success and “failure.” Let’s say it’s your goal to achieve a $10,000 month in your coaching business. You’re super excited because it’s the 25th of the month, and you’re so close at $9,500. But for the next five days, you have only $400 in sales, and finish the month at $9,900. The coveted $10k month has eluded you again! But has it? A calendar month is just an arbitrary label we’ve slapped on a series of 30ish days. You might find that you actually did achieve $10k in 30 days, from the 26th of the previous month to the 25th of this month! And even if you didn’t, is a $9,900 month really a failure? My husband and I set an ambitious goal when we bought our house. Although we financed it with a 30-year mortgage, we set the intention to pay it off in 15 years. We bought the house in April 2004 and made our final payment in February 2021. Did we fail at our goal because it took us 17 years to pay off our house instead of 15? Absolutely not! There are some financial goals you must be committed to until they are accomplished. How silly would it have been if we threw up our hands in April of 2019 and said, “Oh well! We failed our goal to pay off the house in 15 years. Boy, do we suck!” The tweak: Use time as motivation, not as a weapon to punish yourself. So now you know the problem with SMART money goals and the solution. Use the tweaks you discovered here to create motivating and exciting financial goals for the New Year! And if you want to share with me for encouragement and accountability, join me in my free Facebook group, the Financial Dignity® Movement! Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Christine! Christine Luken, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Ready for money to support your happiness, rather than stress you out? Then you need Christine Luken, Financial Dignity® Coach in your corner! As the Founder of the Financial Dignity® Movement, Christine has coached hundreds of high-earning professionals, business owners, and divorcing women to pay off staggering amounts of debt and massively increase their net worth. The author of several books, including Money is Emotional and Financial Dignity® After Divorce, Christine blends wise money management with emotional intelligence.

Written by: Vikas Arora, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. It is that most magical time of the year..., as we start to think of how we are going to celebrate the holidays, some are also thinking about the year ahead. Many questions come to mind as we reflect on the year gone by " have I fulfilled what I set out to achieve, have I made a real difference? what should I focus on in the new year?" Setting New Year resolutions tends to be a common theme at the end of any year that we all seem to set and they tend to follow a common theme as we come back from the overindulgence of the seasonal holidays; Getting to the Gym, Getting organized Desire to learn a new skill, Greater focus on finances and saving money for a new car, house, etc., wishing to live life to the fullest, travel more... the list is endless. We typically blurt out the same resolutions in some form or another each year with no imagination. Research has shown that 80% of New Year resolutions fail to start or even if they do start they fall flat mid-way through the month of February. There are several reasons why resolutions fail: Lack of deep thought into resolutions No alignment to purpose Goals and resolutions lack clarity Why are they important? What impact would they have on your life You are not ready for change as there is a clear WHY in your goals (not being ready we tend to create excuses) Negative mindset and self-belief in fulfilling the goals. Feeling of overwhelm as any change can be seen as scary if not fulfilled (reflection of past unfulfilled goals) The biggest issues with why resolutions and goals fail can be down to several reasons as indicated above but the main reason seems to be that any goals or resolutions that we go out to set to fulfil lack a true purpose and if they are set with purpose there is no deep or meaningful intention behind the purpose. The two go hand in hand and do not stand alone. To know how we can set a set of goals with a purpose that has deep and meaningful intention we need to have a clear definition of the two. Purpose ‒ this is the "why" ‒ an object to be reached - this is set defined clearly. Intention ‒ this is "how" ‒ the goal or purpose behind a specific action or set of actions ‒ this can evolve, grow, and change as we follow the path to our purpose. A purpose is the inner reasoning or feeling we place behind what we do. Our intention is the process we adopt fully that allows us to pursue our purpose to success. In many cases, the two can be interchangeable. So, if our purpose is to focus on my mental and physical well-being then my intention would be to live a healthier lifestyle, not just going to the gym, but with action focussing on respecting my body by healthier eating, regular exercise, good sleep, meditation, etc. With a real intention to pursue something, we can begin to find a strong purpose that will enable us to fulfil that purpose. On the flip side with a clearly defined purpose, we can begin to put the building blocks together that will provide us, with the intention, to take action toward our purpose. Our approach can be defined in the following steps. 1. Grab a journal Get comfortable and begin to either define what your purpose is for the year ahead. Take time to hear, do not rush, and put real thought behind your purpose. Setting a purpose is not something that comes to you to aim at. There must be a deep underlying reason behind the purpose. As Simon Sinek says “Achievement happens when we pursue and attain what we want. Success comes when we are in clear pursuit of Why we want it.” What is the deep desire that will give you the greatest fulfilment once achieved? How will this purpose make your life more meaningful? How will your purpose truly impact your life and those around you? If it is a business you are starting ‒ what will this give you, what will your business ultimately provide for you - how will your business and the service you provide impact society? If it is to find a new home ‒ what comforts will it provide your family ‒ is the location desirable? 2. Find a word Something you can focus on for the year, a word that sums up your purpose. It will not just come to you. Whilst going through the above focussing on your purpose will become more evident for you. Think deep into the purpose, what you truly want to achieve, making life more meaningful, and find a word that sums up all you wish to achieve and make your chosen word a focus point that fuels your actions in every aspect of your life- work, family, love, wellbeing, growth, etc. 3. With a purpose in mind It is now time to create the intentions that will allow you to fulfil what you have set out to achieve. Three questions need to be asked here. a. "Who am I now and whom do I wish to become?" Creating a future vision of you provides a clear picture of how your actions behind your purpose will impact you once fulfilled. This is the future “you” that you can embody in everyday life today. b. Reflect and ask yourself ‒ "What is going well for me?" Only focus on what has gone well for you, the milestones that you have reached, and the successes that have led to where you are today. Refrain from focussing on bringing attention to the setbacks, thoughts of scarcity, or lack. c. "Where in my life will progress be so much more meaningful?" Personal or Professional or even both knowing where the impact will be created will provide a stronger conviction for your why. Intentions give us direction; they focus on the result that you desire to create and the impact you are likely to make. It fuels behavioural change with a growth mindset. Your intentions will become your alignment pillar for the months to become. They will provide clarity for the vision you have created, empowering you to create actionable goals, and creating deeper harmony within you. Evaluate where in your life are you struggling that is holding you back from growth and fulfilling your true potential. For example, if you are constantly battling the stresses of day-to-day life, then self-care should be your clear intention. Following the process outlined above, it’s important to perform regular self-check-ins with yourself. These check-ins will demonstrate how aligned you are to your intentions and how fulfilled you are to achieving what you set out at the beginning of the year. When you bring your intentions and your purpose to the forefront of each day, it gives you a gentle nudge on how to live each day raising your emotional energy and providing you with psychological safety. So, throw away the old ‒ " what's my new year’s resolution" and start the year with " What are my intentions for the year that allows me to fulfil my Purpose". Make your deepest desire your true north star and start to live a life with greater meaning and enrichment. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and visit my website for more info! Read more from Vikas! Vikas Arora, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Vikas Arora has a long-standing Corporate Career with some of the biggest names in Telco and Technology industry. Midway through his career Vikas began to focus heavily on personal development which awakened a purpose and mission to help, guide and support people in uncovering their true potential and purpose as a Mindset Transformation Coach. As a certified NLP practitioner, Quantum Manifestation, a Member of the International Coaching Federation and through Instagram as well as hosting "Conscious Conversations" Podcast, Vikas is committed to helping others uncover the best version of themselves.

Written by: Mark Hoogewerf Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Right, after some discussion the senior management team agrees: we’re going to invest in a better strategic narrative. In authenticity next to instrumentality. In mental and material value. But how do you tackle that? How do you merge the good old with the vital new? How do you build a solid new communication foundation for a purpose-driven organization? Welcome to the conclusion of this trilogy – in which we connect the fascinating concepts of strategy and storytelling. This time we’ll be super concrete: you get a pragmatic approach to boost your strategic narrative – the inspiring high-level story about the essence and impact of your organization. Developing your strategic narrative Here’s my go-to method to the madness: Understand the context. Behold the setting. Be honest and clear about the framing, the process and the desired outcomes. Create a core team. Gather a group of representatives from all disciplines/departments, plus an objective, qualified moderator (because she/he can facilitate the process and co-create the content). Establish and monitor ownership throughout the process. Find your collective self. Identity comes from the past and manifests in the present. Collect stories about the origins and the life and times of your organization. Understand the essentials. And describe the meaning, the existential license to operate, of your organization. Go exploring together. See the world through your sharpened identity lens. Make mental round trips to Utopia. Hold against the light what you already have. Confront. Iterate. Start over if necessary. Bring it all together in a Vision Matrix (see this article). Think and feel your visionary creations through, until it’s right. Communicate the process and (partial) results. As the content coagulates, each participant has to take his/her role, drive it further in the various sub-groups in the organization. By keeping everyone connected and engaged, this positive virus will infect the entire culture. Implement where possible. Momentum and agility are crucial to success. Decide together which things can be made regular – and do it. Because the result comes with realization. Reflect and repeat. Don't keep running all the time. Slow down, contemplate, consider – so you can breathe and speed up again. Regularly look in the personal and collective mirror and learn from it. Reassess your course periodically and test (against) the strategic essentials. And rerun the process when relevant. This resembles the process of change management, as John Kotter once described it (credit where credit is due). That is not surprising, because stories and change go together like yin and yang. Content with a soul, expressed with charisma Here’s an example story structure: We believe... (= our purpose) So that... (= our vision) But... (= situation) That causes… (= major problem and implications) Therefore... (= our collaborative solution approach) So that... (= impact and value) And now… (= call-to-action) There are of course other recipes, but this one ticks quite some boxes and can easily be tailored to suit various occasions and goals. You can juggle the elements and content depth to fit your communication objective. The story in a commercial pitch differs from an internal meeting. It’s different in a policy plan than on the website. Sometimes you’ll use a quick and simple structure, sometimes you’ll turn your story into a badass Hero's Journey. That's up to you. As long as your strategic narrative inspires people – and yourself. Leveraging on the mechanics of change Change is elastic; a new state tends to jump back to its previous state. Realistically, people don't change that fundamentally, and neither do organizations. We like to say it, but we usually don't sustain it (or just for a while). This is actually quite helpful in upgrading the strategic narrative. The “genes” created when the organization was founded can almost always be retrieved later. In the behavior of experienced people. In customer or employee reviews. In the archives. In the core values. In anecdotes about success, failure or learning, such as: “You guys and girls always make it happen”, “Remember when everyone thought we weren't going to make it but then we pulled it off in the very last minute?”, “Oh man, things went more than a bit south then. But on the outside, nobody noticed”, “The defining moment was when…”. (Re)writing the history of the future As we know, contextual forces continue to impact the organization. The problem is often that the brand DNA dilutes and mutates due to circumstances. This happens to many organizations, large and small. It starts with the little things, the feeling that something’s missing, something’s off, something’s chafing in the culture and/or in the communication. Sometimes it's obvious, sometimes insidious, sometimes a gut feeling. Anyway, if you notice it, take it further. “Search your feelings, you know it to be true,” as Darth Vader said to Luke Skywalker. Now ask yourself… What’s the purpose of your organization? Are you excited about the vision? Your colleagues too? Can you tell an inspiring story about it? Do customers or business partners get it? Really? Just like in nature, new life is created by combining the right elements. The history of the future is not set. A better strategic narrative might very well start with you. >> The end of this episode and this trilogy. << Mark Hoogewerf loves stories. To him, the ultimate story is the legend: a time-traveling tale that connects dream and reality. What makes him professionally happy, is working on building those living legends: kick-ass stories about people and brands that create memories and movement. Mark combines passion with strategy and idealism with results. He’s also an inspiration junkie. Inspired by the people he meets, the organizations he works with, and science (and) fiction. Despite – or because of – 25 years of expertise in communication, marketing and management, Mark is still learning every day. While he helps clients write – and authentically present – the history of the future. Follow Noblahblah on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit their website for more info! Read more from Noblahblah! Noblahblah, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine We are on a mission to save the world from blah blah blah. Noblahblah was founded in 2018 as a training company to support better public speaking. Today we offer a broad range of trainings and coaching that help our customers develop their full potential by communicating with more confidence and more fun, on stage, online and in person. Noblahblah trainings provide professionals with new skills to present more persuasively, to define and communicate their unique personal brand with more impact, and to literally shine online by building and engaging their LinkedIn network. A special focal point is harnessing the power of diversity and inclusion by cross-cultural trainings and through our Women Shine with Personal Branding workshops and our Women Raising Women interviews. Our customers include Fortune 500 companies, universities, start-ups and scale-ups. Based in the Netherlands, our five executive trainers, from the United States, the Netherlands and Germany, bring a diversity of skills and experience. While our core activity is communication trainings, we offer a range of related services, from speechwriting and copywriting to executive speaker coaching to corporate events design and moderation.

Written by: Laura Di Franco, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. No matter what part of your life you’re ready to transform, there’s a simple 3-step formula to achieve that! Behold the three As of transformation, a trifecta of power strategy to make your dreams a reality: Awareness Aligned Action Accountability Foundations of transformation Awareness, the first step, is crucial. You must master this practice if you expect anything good to happen in the name of transformation. When you do, anything and everything is possible, and your shift will have already begun. When I woke up and started living in the moment, I made huge, hard decisions that included a divorce and a career change. If you ignore your soul, the whispers become screams, and you’ll be forced into awareness. My soul’s screams came in the form of chest pain, something I couldn’t ignore. If you’re new to awareness, it’s easy; start paying attention to what you think, feel, and sense. Practice observing your thoughts, beliefs, behaviors, and habits. With awareness, you have a choice, and what triggered you before becomes an opportunity for learning, growth, and an empowered response. When you’re present in the moment and aware of what you’re thinking and feeling, you connect to the most powerful GPS—the one that leads to your heart’s desires and life’s purpose. If you’ve practiced awareness for a while and are taking things to the next level, it’s about up-leveling two skills. How often can you remain in the moment and practice noticing? And how quickly can you flip the switch when you realize what you’re thinking, feeling, or sensing doesn’t serve your bigger vision for your life? These are ninja moves of awareness. As you practice and hone these skills, your transformation is expedited. Mastery is when the practice becomes a discipline. The catalyst for change Without aligned action, you’ll have a lot of feel-good inspiration without a lot of results. It’s the aligned action that creates the magic spark for transformation. Remember, you won’t feel clear, confident, or courageous first. You’ll need to move through your purpose-driven fears and take some action with the feelings of fear. I remember the day I made the words “I want a divorce” come out of my mouth. I was terrified. But it was the move I knew I needed to make. What action—small, medium, or large—could you take to bring you closer to your goal? What is stopping you? Go back to step one if you feel stuck because awareness is the key to moving through your fears and taking the action you need to take to get to the next step. Pay attention to overthinking and how it paralyzes you. Use a journal to sort out the old, unhelpful messages and create new, helpful, healthy ones. Write down your desires, goals, mission, vision, and passions. It doesn’t matter what stage you’re in; feeling the fear and doing it anyway will provide clarity, confidence, and courage. And then, you’ll be able to choose the next step. Commitment to accountability The thing about awareness and action is that they’re short-lived without a commitment to staying accountable to your desires, dreams, goals, and vision. This commitment to staying accountable to your mission and purpose makes you the favorite to win in the long game. It’s also the answer on the rough days when you feel like giving up. The journey of transformation can be painful. Ease isn’t promised. You can expect some difficult roads and impossible challenges. Those, however, will teach you what you’re made of. They will be why you feel so good about the victory and how you know you’ve earned the success. Ask yourself: Am I truly committed to my dreams? And then map out a strategy of accountability. What’s the daily routine, healthy habits, and inner circle of support look like? What do you know you’ll need to reach the vision? And what will you need on the hard days? Setting yourself up for success now will be how you overcome the challenges and choose to get up again the next morning and do it all over again. Don’t give yourself the option to quit. Stay accountable, no matter what the inner voice says, what other people say or think, or what the Universe throws your way. Declare your commitment, make a plan, and follow the plan every day. Find others doing that too, and create a community to help hold you to your plan. Ahas along the way If there was going to be a last “A," it might be the aha of discernment. When you have the awareness that allows you to discern between survival fears and purpose-driven fears and thoughts, and you’re able to feel those in your body and recognize their boring message, your transformation will speed up, and you’ll be unstoppable. Your transformation is three steps away. Are you ready to make your dreams happen? You got this! Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube or visit my website for more info! Read more from Laura! Laura Di Franco, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Laura Di Franco, CEO of Brave Healer Productions, an award-winning publisher for holistic health and wellness professionals. She has 30 years of expertise in holistic physical therapy, 14 years of training in the martial arts, and her company has published over 50 Amazon bestselling books. She's a spoken-word poet, lover of dark chocolate, and has a contagious passion for helping you share brave words that build your business. BraveHealer.com

Written by: Natasha Zo, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Narcissists are some of the most difficult personalities to be around. Their lack of empathy and self-centered personality can negatively impact people around them, and beat down anyone’s self-esteem. See the red flags Unfortunately, many people don’t see the red flags of a narcissist when they enter into a relationship, as they are being manipulated from the beginning. They continue living their lives trying to meet the needs of their narcissistic partner and end up losing themselves in the relationship. All too often, people who have lived in a toxic environment with a narcissist spend years trying to recover their mental health. Some succeed sooner than that, but it takes determination, courage, self-help, professional help, and a lot of practice. This is how Rebeca Elizabeth, a single mom of three boys and Trauma-informed Mindset Coach, got out of her own toxic relationship with a narcissist. Proof that victims of abuse can succeed Rebeca is proof that victims of narcissistic abuse can succeed and have the life they want and deserve. Despite having experienced trauma since childhood, a life full of financial and personal setbacks, and unhealthy relationships that caused her anxiety, depression and PTSD, Rebeca never stopped dreaming of a better life and working on herself. She learned that in order to improve her mental health she had first to empower her mindset. And that meant learning and practicing the Law of Attraction, reciting positive affirmations, using manifestations in her daily life and surrounding herself with positive people. Today, Rebeca is a successful entrepreneur and a happy and healthy mom who works tirelessly and selflessly to empower other single moms like her to heal their mindset, relationships, parenting, mental health and professional careers. When you've undergone Narcissistic Abuse and are living in survival mode day to day, it is very difficult to apply basic manifestation techniques. Find out how to overcome fear thoughts during your visualization process to speed up your manifestation following Rebeca’s advice. 5 tips to speed up your healing 1. Mirror talk In the journey of self-healing, Rebeca suggests putting your emotions or what you want to achieve on paper and sticking that piece of paper to a mirror. This is an important step because when you are talking to yourself in a mirror, you are directly talking to your subconscious mind, your soul and your spirit. Journaling also helps to reprogram the subconscious mind, but be careful not to write any negative thoughts. Rebeca also suggests reading or rewriting your goals before falling asleep or as soon as you wake up, as that is the time when the brain is more receptive. By writing things down repeatedly, you are reprogramming your subconscious mind and tricking it into believing that whatever you wrote down is possible to accomplish. 2. Visualize and feel When you add visualization techniques to your healing journey, you are already one step closer to manifesting abundance, love or positive thinking, or whatever it is you want to achieve. If you think negatively about visualization, just remember that many successful people have used it as a powerful manifesting tool to accomplish their goals and they are now blissed out. Once you’ve written down your goals, it's important to visualize and feel like you have already achieved them. The key to powerful manifestation is to create vivid images in your mind and feel like the change is already happening. Only when the brain starts registering the shift in your energy will you start seeing an improvement. However, you have to be careful when focusing on current reality because when you visualize “I wish” or “I want,” you are already suggesting to your brain that you don’t have it, which consequently attracts the lack of what you don’t have. Instead, the visualization should be about your new reality, like it’s happening now and you already have what you want. 3. Create boundaries All too often, people involved with narcissists find themselves always saying yes to the needs of the abuser. It is hard to set boundaries in such an environment for fear it may cause bigger problems. But it is only when you start creating boundaries that you are a step closer to becoming an abundant person, protected from being used and manipulated. By drawing the line you let people know what is and is not acceptable, helping you take charge of your life. 4. Practice self-love and self-care Practicing self-care leads to an abundant life. Self-care is not just about changing habits and trying to become a better person. Self-care is a long journey to learn and appreciate yourself more every day, by validating your feelings and emotions and taking care of your health. In the process of practicing self-care and self-love, you are manifesting growth and abundance. By loving yourself, you start making healthier choices in life, you choose what is good for your well-being. Start with eating nutritious food, getting enough sleep, forgiving yourself, or taking up a hobby you always wanted to do. Remember, since self-care is a long journey, you should practice it daily. 5. Feel gratitude In Rebeca’s transformation journey, she points out it’s necessary to focus on the good things you have in life and be grateful for everything, even the bad experiences that have made you stronger in the long run. You could be grateful for being financially stable, for your relationship with your children, or you could be grateful for being healthy. Even if you focus on the tiniest thing to be grateful for, in time you will notice that gratitude attracts more things to be thankful for. By practicing gratitude, you are more open and receptive to receive the good things that are coming towards you. Final thoughts The transformation journey from being a victim of narcissistic abuse to being healed and empowered is not an easy one. It takes time and effort to heal and to become the person you always wanted to be. Taking little steps at a time is key, which is why it’s necessary to take action and implement the above-mentioned steps in your daily life, just like Rebeca did. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, or visit my website for more info! Read more from Natasha! Natasha Zo, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Natasha Zo is a former journalist from Siberia turned international media relations specialist. She is a founder of Cosa Famosa media – a boutique PR agency on a mission to amplify messages of conscious leaders, health, and wellness entrepreneurs through earned media. Known for her connector skills, she guided a number of authors to Amazon bestseller status, booked national TV, top-tier media, and over 400 podcast interviews.

Written by: Flora Bami, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Meditation originates from Hinduism and Buddhism and has grown in popularity worldwide in the last decades as we begin to wake up to the many benefits that have to offer. Meditation is the art of observing your thoughts and feelings without judging them. “Meditation is choosing not to engage in the drama of the mind but elevating the mind to its highest potential.” – Amit Ray I started meditating with Headspace in 2015 out of curiosity without even being aware of the benefits that a meditation practice can offer. Over the years, I tried different guided meditations (Calm, Headspace, Rising Higher Meditation) until 2021 when I started my PCC (Professional Coaching Course). One of the daily mandatory practices was a 30-45 min sitting practice, without any guidance, or music – simply sitting on my own, with my thoughts, body, and emotions – me and silence. Since then, my meditation practice has evolved a lot and became a basic need that I need to meet daily – it's like drinking water. Simply put, meditation changed my life — and it could change yours too. It helped me connect with myself and realize what I really want out of life and that life is short and there’s no time like the present to chase your dreams. It reminded me to slow down and breathe. And it reminded me that taking stock of my life as it is now, is the best way to take massive action on my dreams moving forward. It also helped me to take distance from unpleasant emotions and allow them to come and go without getting attached to them. But the biggest life-changing benefit I am experiencing is that during my meditation practice, I am creating my life and getting spiritual guidance – only in a state of silence and peace we can create a life we deserve and love and connect with our higher self, soul, and the Divine. Meditation, any kind, is one of the practices that I am inviting all my clients to embed in their life. The good thing is that you can’t fail at meditation and that anyone can do it. You don’t need to do it well, but like any other thing, it’s a skill that you build over time. The problem is that many of us want to see immediate benefits when doing something. We set a habit of going to the gym but quit after weeks of not seeing results or start to write a book and quit after we get frustrated. If you focus on the benefits that meditation can give you instead of focusing on the process of meditation itself, then you’re doomed to failure. Benefits of meditation Meditation has been proven to be helpful to our mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual wellbeing. 1. Inner peace Peace on the inside, peace on the outside. When tasks and deadlines are moving at a frenetic pace, you can’t always control how peaceful your life is. Thankfully, you can still cultivate peace from within by practicing meditation. “Peace doesn't mean things are not moving,” Jay Shetty said. “They're just moving at a natural pace. That's where we get peace. If we're not looking at connecting with peaceful things in our lives, how can we expect to experience peace?”. Meditation can give you a sense of calm, peace, and balance that can benefit both your emotional well-being and your overall health. Meditation can help you learn to stay centered and keep inner peace. 2. Recharge and Reduce stress By incorporating even a simple 5-minute meditation in your day, we can begin to calm the amygdala and go from surviving to thriving. Meditation is believed to influence the sympathetic nervous system, keeping blood pressure, respiration, and heart rate in check. When poorly controlled, these are the physical parameters that go hand in hand with feelings of stress and anxiety. By stressing less, we get our energy back. You can practice “STOP” throughout your day as a mindful reset when feeling stressed. There can be no doubt that meditation lowers stress. It reduces your heart rate and lowers the production of cortisol which is the hormone responsible for stressful feelings. What you’re doing when you meditate, in whatever form, is stepping out of your day long enough to reorient your mind and body. This allows you to return with renewed perspective, focus, and energy, instead of just being stuck in a cycle of stress. You can also use it to relax and cope with stress by refocusing your attention on something calming. Once the mind is relaxed, you're able to focus, concentrate, increase your attention span, and sleep better. 3. Create the life you want Meditation brings new clarity to the life you envision for yourself. It clears the clutter or noise each day and allows for your heart’s desire to come to mind. New ideas and more positive feelings come into play from your inner dialogue with the subconscious to a conscious mindset. Your mind also becomes more open, and you will see that the Universe wants to give you what you really desire. Accept and be in the flow. A better choice emerges that empowers you to step into a new reality. ​​By using meditation, you can create anything you want in your life! Dr. Joe Dispenza explains in his books and retreats what happens during meditation and how that process changes our brain, so we are able to create our desired future faster. As Joe Dispenza states, meditation is the easiest way to achieve our goals! 4. Healing Meditation can activate theta and delta brain waves. These brain waves are associated with heightened states of relaxation, enhanced intuition, and healing. Recent research has shown that meditation has the capacity to heal your brain and pump up your mood. A few minutes of meditation can work like an instant mood changer and help us see where the root cause of your challenge stems from. You will experience the same negative feelings or emotions through different situations over time until the root cause of your mindset barrier is fully released. When fully released from your mindset and body through the steps of awareness, acceptance, and forgiveness, the solution will present itself to fulfill your life’s desire or purpose going forward. Did you know that our emotions have a direct impact on the body? The way we feel inside reflects outside. That is why you might have noticed that the health of some people drastically goes down when they are stressed out or depressed for a long time. Stress is one of the primary reasons for poor health. When we meditate, the mind becomes calm and relaxed. Meditation helps release stress from the mind and body. When the mind is quiet, the emotions are balanced, and the effect shows on the body. We stay healthy and free of diseases. In fact, consistent practice of meditation for a period of time can even help cure certain prolonged health conditions. Meditation can transform the mind; mind can transform the body 5. Self-awareness One positive side effect of practicing meditation is that we begin to see ourselves more clearly through the process. By quieting the noise and witnessing our thoughts without judgment or inner commentary, we can become more intimate with ourselves, our needs, our desires, and our limitations. Self-awareness is about more than just paying attention to emotions and feelings – it’s also about using your discoveries to live more fully in the present moment. With self-awareness, you have a better sense of which situations and emotions leave you feeling drained or anxious, and which ones give you a sense of purpose and joy. Meditation naturally gives the mind space to discover itself: this is true self-awareness and shows you clearly that not every emotion or thought is worth reacting to. It helps you prioritize and use your energy and time wisely and efficiently. “You have a treasure within you that is infinitely greater than anything the world can offer” – Eckhart Tolle And this is your meditation practice, sitting, taking care, and discovering yourself. Meditation works best when it is performed regularly so try to find a regular time when you can meditate, even 5 min is enough to start with. And... the more you meditate, the more you experience the benefits. Enjoy the journey. Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Flora! Flora Bami, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Flora Bami is an optimist, an experienced and passionate integral coach, with expertise in life, mindset, relationships, and wellbeing coaching. Her main focus is on making your relationship with yourself healthier and reframing your inner voice based on self-love, acceptance, and compassion. Her mission in life is to support people in their life journey to reach their potential and feel better and happier through individual coaching and setting up wellbeing programs in big organizations. Better people, better world! Happier people, happier world! After going through a deep transformation herself and turning trauma into a gift, she dedicated her life to supporting people reconnecting with their true selves.

Written by: Karen Peddie, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. As the year is coming to a close, now is the time to reflect on the last 12 months. Today, December 21st is the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, the shortest day and from today the days will start to gradually get longer and Spring will be here soon. However dark and dreary things may feel right now, we know this will pass as the wheel of nature turns. It is a time to be patient, slow down and take a breather just like nature, go into hibernation. Looking back If you started the year by setting some positive intentions, take a few moments to remember them and reflect on them. Ask yourself… What did I learn about myself this year? What was difficult for me? What did I really enjoy? What (or who) do I need to let go of? Who do I need to forgive? What am I grateful for? Winter Solstice is a time to make space for the new, think of it as clearing out stuff you no longer need, use or even like so you can replace it with something much better. We can release anything that does not serve our best interests. Some people or situations simply drain our energy and make us feel rubbish, but you can easily let these go. Be grateful for the lessons they have taught you, send them unconditional love from your heart to theirs and wish them well. This then allows you to fill that space with things or people we actually want in our lives. It will also allow you to give yourself some love too. Self-care is not selfish, it’s important. Be your own best friend! Looking forward Be sure to give yourself the gift of time and quiet space to think about the next 12 months. Ask yourself… What do I REALLY want to do or be in the coming months? What can I do differently? What steps can I take to achieve that? How can I get out of my own way? How will if feel when I achieve it? Make a note of your thoughts and feelings in your journal and as you begin to emerge from hibernation, set a few intentions. Make them real by writing them down, imagine them coming to fruition and feeling into it. Book a Reiki session to help you relax or, tap away any fears that may have come up with EFT, meditate or just get out in nature. Follow me on Instagram and Facebook for more tips and daily positivity. Remember, there is no right or wrong. Do what you feel is right for you and trust your intuition! Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Karen! Karen Peddie, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Karen is a natural, intuitive Energy Healer who uses Reiki, Emotional Freedom Techniques, and Meditation to help her clients improve their health and well-being. She works with them to identify and heal the root cause of any dis-ease which could be blocking the flow of energy either physically, mentally, or emotionally. As someone who suffered from anxiety, stress, and depression for many years, Karen's experience makes her a genuine, empathetic therapist who creates a safe, calm space in which to start the healing process

Written by: Diane Hiller, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. One day one of my favorite teenagers was visiting my house and reading through all of my articles to date. She kept looking up at me while reading and asking crucial questions. I told her to get a piece of paper and write them down, and I was going to make them into an article. I will list them off and then see where to go with them. I don’t have the answers to all of these questions. I do think that asking them is really what is essential. Why are we here? Did we choose to be here? How do you get “unstuck,” and how did you get there in the first place? What are they doing “over there,” and where is it? Can you disappear? Reincarnation? Can you come back? “to prior owners” (interesting choice of words) Why would you need to come back? Didn’t you learn what you needed to learn? What are we here to learn? If you have been here many times, does that make you more psychic? What about near-death experiences? Principles of energy transformation (can’t be created or destroyed, only can change from one form to another.) How was it created? Do you know “everything” when you are dead or die? How was the universe created, and are there parallel universes? Do some people not change or learn even on the other side? Why are animals, birds, and insects here? Is it tiring to exist forever? Do you die when you have learned and completed what you are here for? Then reincarnate when not finished learning? What do we need to learn? Is it different for everyone? Why do we need to be here anyway? Why might you appear younger or older when you die at a certain age? What are we going to do next? When you die, what do you look like and why? After reading the list, I had to walk away for a few days. I did not ask many of these questions for a long time, certainly not as a teen. I did not find the answers through therapy or in training as a therapist. I was in graduate school the first time I had the thought, “Why are we here?” I was in my den by my desk, looking around. I had a beautiful home, the marriage was good, and everyone was healthy, yet I felt something was missing. The question can only lead in one direction, and that is spiritual. I don’t mean religious. I shut off my TV for ten years and began to read every religion. I began to see that they all said the same thing but with different symbols. I started to see religion as a bridge to the spiritual. I had to do a deep inward dive several times, but not alone. An old Zen phrase says, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” I was guided to some books on Feng Shui. This led me to a three-year spiritual journey in that program that is hard to describe. No, this form of Feng Shui was not about interior design. It was more about internal alignment. Once you are serious about the question, the doors will open. That program was and is not the end of my study or questions. I can speak to near-death experiences, though I am unclear why some people have them and not others. For me the third one was instrumental in knowing that consciousness exists outside the physical body. The implications, for me, now tie into realms of higher consciousness and quantum psychics. I do not know the answer to questions 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, or 18. While there may be theories, I think only God knows for sure. For many of these, faith plays a huge part. My experience as a medium has given me some insight into 3, 4, 5 and 6, and 11 and 21, and I have written on these topics in prior articles. For the remainder of the questions, I believe we need to all learn a similar lesson: unconditional love for self and others. There are other lessons of the spirit that are written into our own unique soul contracts. I have access at times to these for clients. Of late, I have at least three clients a week seeking the answer to “What is my life purpose?” It was exciting for me to watch her light up as she asked these questions. She will be my only one-on-one student unless some unforeseen event changes my mind. Entirely possible. I do hope many of you will ponder the questions and perhaps seek to find your answers. In upcoming articles, I will try to do justice to the questions of Unconditional Love, Soul Contracts, and Soul Mates. Some of these answers will likely remain a mystery. I do love quotes, and this is one of my favorites: “Never regard study as a duty but as an enviable opportunity to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the community to which your later works belong." ‒ Albert Einstein Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Diane! Diane Hiller, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Diane is a Licensed Psychotherapist, Psychic Medium, Certified Feng Shui Master, and Medical Intuitive. She has been tested for accuracy. After working in the nursing field as an LPN for 13 years, she returned to college and received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa. She then went on to earn her Master's (MSW) with a Major in Clinical and a Minor in Research, both from the University of Connecticut. She is licensed by State examination as an LCSW. In 2005 she founded Elemental Empowerments, LLC. She is noted in the book “The Top 100 Psychics and Astrologers in America.” She is one of the most well-researched psychics In North America.

Jennifer McClendon is a licensed professional counselor and licensed clinical alcohol and drug counselor with over twenty years of experience in the mental health field. Early childhood and young adult experiences led her to counseling for personal growth and created an opportunity for her to become a counselor helping others recover from similar challenges. She specializes in care for substance use, trauma, anxiety, stress, depression, and co-occurring conditions. Jennifer McClendon, LPC, LCADC Introduce yourself! Please tell us about you and your life, so we can get to know you better. Jennifer McClendon, born and raised in Atlantic City, New Jersey and the youngest of my parent’s seven children. Favs... spaghetti, plants/exotic flowers, r&b music, late 80s-90s hip hop era, iced ☕️ Beliefs...sneakers go with everything, iced coffee should be free, and everyone needs healing and love in their life! I love writing and wouldn’t mind having a featured column in a major magazine. My career as a counselor turned 21 this year. What is your business name and how do you help your clients? The name of the business is Renew Counseling, Consulting, and Wellness Services, a private counseling practice that centers wellness and autonomy in its services to treat substance use, mental health conditions, and justice system impacted persons. People meet me when they are experiencing emotional or psychological discomfort. Counseling is a safe space for people to renew their wellness. It’s a professional relationship that simplifies the process of self-awareness, self-acceptance, and identifying goals. It’s a supportive space that allows people to build or restore their self-confidence and experience healthy change in one or several areas of their life. The expected outcome of our short or long-term work together is renewed wellness and autonomy. Counseling can then become welcomed and not required. Consulting is provided to businesses who want to improve their quality assurance. The focus is on identifying service gaps, creating services specific to their client’s needs, and measuring the outcomes of the services. Next, reviewing employee workplace practices to learn how wellness is incorporated into the business structure. Then providing strategies that will center employee wellness in the business model. The goal is to prevent burnout and compassion fatigue, while retaining employees. What kind of audience do you target your business towards? Counseling is provided to adults 23 and older. Consulting is provided to businesses who provide a combination of behavioral health, substance use, and mental health services to teens and adults. What are your current goals for your business? To use a media platform to bring healthy exposure to the brand. The goal is to inform new people and businesses about the services provided, grow the customer base, and build a great team. What would you like to achieve for yourself and your business in the future? Personal-Maintain my health, wellness, and commitment to learning and growing as a human being. Continue leading with grace and humility. Business-Establishing the brand as being committed to providing quality consulting and professional counseling services. Demonstrate commitment to using social media as a way for people to connect with the brand and the person behind the brand. Not knowing how to integrate social media with my work and adhere to the regulations for my field has been a learning curve. I look forward to understanding it better and using it for the business in a healthy way. Who inspires you to be the best that you can be? All the people who spoke to the good in me when I was trying to figure out my life. The people who encouraged me, prayed with me and for me, didn’t judge me, called out my strengths, and helped me improve in other areas. Those people inspire me to be the best I can be. What is your work inspired by? My work is inspired by the people who helped me get where I am today. I met a lot of people who were going through hell but at the same time gave me patience, compassion, and unconditional regard. I am in awe of their ability to have done that and owe them in a way that I don’t think I can ever repay. Their only request is for me to do for others what they did for me; return grace and compassion in a selfless way. My work is also inspired by my lived experiences. Tell us about your greatest career achievement so far. My greatest career achievement is still loading but if I had to choose one, starting Renew Counseling, Consulting, and Wellness Services in 2018 was a big career accomplishment. My intention after college was to become an entrepreneur in my field, but I froze once I achieved my credentials to work independently and stayed in a job relationship where we didn’t need each other anymore. To see myself actualize this goal was overwhelming, really thought I was dreaming at first. This was my first time celebrating a personal accomplishment and giving myself credit for my efforts. Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to where you are today. When I realized my empathy made me a good human being and great counselor, not the degrees or credentials. I don’t think you can learn empathy; it’s cultivated through life experiences. It’s a different outcome when you are speaking to someone who hears and understands what you are saying. Empathy has helped me achieve more in my personal and professional life than any class or test I took. Others saw it and experienced it, but I didn’t realize it for a long time, and it made me curious. I wanted to know what others knew about me that I did not yet know about myself. Why did people say I was a good friend or did my job well? I learned it was the way I treated people and helped others that mattered to them most and empathy allowed me to do that consistently. Follow me on Instagram for more info! Read more from Jennifer!

Written by: Monica Yates Women today are climbing the career ladder at a rapid rate. Society, however, teaches you to hustle like a man to be just as successful. But what if that isn’t the case? In fact, I’m here to tell you that you don’t need to wear masculine armor as a female leader. Trying to do so will lead you down a long road toward burnout. Women are biologically built differently than men and should do things differently. The gender gap in leadership has been narrowing over the last decade as the number of women in the workforce and the number of women graduating with tertiary education supersede men. You belong to the first generation of women who have dismantled traditional gender roles of work-home-life balance. The fact that many women are now outearning their male partners is an incredible result of the gender-equality movement. Men and women should be treated equally, but that doesn’t mean that men and women have the same innate abilities or needs. There needs to be some differentiation. Women can earn the same amount (or more) as men so long as they act, perform, and express themselves like men. We’re still living in a man’s world. So much so that women subconsciously (sometimes consciously) reject their femininity. There needs to be a balance between masculine structure and feminine flow. It is common to have both; however, it can be unhealthy when there is a disbalance, especially over a prolonged period. I have numerous female clients in leadership positions who come to me with significant health issues due to living in their masculinity for too long. Red flags for women who are predominantly living in their masculine: Any kind of hormonal or period issues Gut issues (bloating is the most common) Headaches Skin issues, breakouts Anxiety Sleep issues Lower back pain Why do women, especially those in leadership roles, quickly adopt masculine armor? Taking control is much easier than trusting or letting go, especially regarding business and your career. Nobody praises you for being soft. You’re noticed and stand out if you go to the extreme. This means taking charge, working long hours, speaking up, and making a name for yourself. Be a girl boss, right? Many of you reading this will think, ‘Right!’ You’ve been hardwired and taught to believe this. Humans are also hardwired to survive, even when they’re no longer fighting for survival. This biology is engraved so deeply in your DNA that you were born with an addiction to adrenalin. The human race has evolved, yet we’re still addicted to this hundred-thousand-year-old fight-or-flight response. If you don’t believe me, try this exercise. Take a seat and don’t do anything for one hour. Don’t think. Don’t move. Just stare at a spot on the wall in front of you. Let me know how long it takes before you get restless and start to panic or feel crazed. Adrenalin is just as addicting as cocaine; what I just described is similar to withdrawal. Unless you’re a trained monk, most people would probably reach that feeling of withdrawal after a few minutes. It’s rare to see a woman in a leadership position who has mastered embracing her feminine energy within her leadership role. The pressure to boss up, coupled with the innate addiction to survival, is the perfect recipe for masculine armor in the workplace. Finding ways to shift and embrace your feminine energy in one aspect of your life, such as work, is easy. It becomes more difficult when you notice this happening in multiple areas of your life. In fact, it’s not uncommon for women to struggle to find an area of their life that truly embraces their feminine energy. Many women find it difficult to turn the masculine energy off entirely. Three ways you can immediately start embodying your feminine leadership energy 1. Listen to your body and assess your needs each day. As a woman, your needs are constantly changing. It’s not personal, it’s physical. It’s hormonal. It’s just the way you were born. Something as simple as paying attention to where you are on your cycle and noticing which needs come along with that part of your cycle can be life-altering in and of itself. A great way to tune into your daily needs is to start your day slowly. This might mean waking up thirty minutes earlier. Taking time to check in with yourself daily is a must if you want to live in a flow state. Rigid structure means putting demands on yourself that may not fit your needs. For example, if you’re tired or stressed, cater to that need and choose a low-impact workout like pilates instead of going to Barry’s on that day. Or, assess if there’s anything on your calendar that can be moved to another day. Find what methods work best for you, but knowing your mood and energy levels daily is crucial. 2. Ask yourself how you can bring more heart into your work and business. What part of your role makes your heart sing? If you struggle to identify anything, what brings you joy in general? What lifts you up? This can be as simple as having fresh flowers on your desk at all times. Feeling your best by looking your best each day. Don’t underestimate how your environment impacts how you feel. If you don’t feel sexy in your office, what can you do to make it feel sexy? Bringing more of your heart into your work means living more in your heart space. Bring things into your day that make you feel something. Another aspect of this is connection. How do you connect with your work? How do you connect with your colleagues, clients, or customers? Assess these connections and if there is room to deepen these relationships. Remember, think like a woman. You have the superpower of an intuitive brain. You innately see things from a different perspective than your male counterparts. How can you embrace this part of you at work? 3. Ensure that you have some time after work to allow your energy to shift. This transition from ending the workday and coming back home is something you can look forward to as your sacred ‘me time.’ It can be as simple as taking a walk, running a bath, laying on your bed listening to music, lighting some incense, making yourself a cup of tea, or giving yourself a hand massage with your favorite scented lotion. What you do is not as important as how it makes you feel. You can do something different every day, so long as you take the time to transition. This doesn’t have to be time-consuming, but it is something that you should strive to do on your own - at first, at least. You are strengthening your connection to your sensuality. Take five minutes if that’s all you have. Or combine it with something you already do, like showering or cooking. Put some vibey music on, and let your mind drift away to visualizations about being led, receiving, and letting go. These are all feelings that describe feminine energy. Find what takes you there. Let this time become your after-work ritual. The connection to your feminine energy might be a muscle you must first train. It will become self-sustainable and eventually very easily accessible. The more you connect to your sensuality, the easier it will become for you to intentionally choose when to show up in your feminine and when to show up in your masculine. For more info, follow Monica on Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube and visit her website! About the author: Monica Yates is a somatic trauma healer, feminine & masculine embodiment coach, period whisperer and podcast host. After struggling with her own health issues, multiple traumatic surgeries and a terrible relationship with men, she finally had to face the issues that she was blissfully unaware of. Her modalities that now help thousands of women and men around the world be free of their big and small trauma. She works with people from all walks of life that are determined to no longer be held back by beliefs, bad habits, health issues, inner child wounds, anxiety, fears etc. She is the CEO of Monica Yates Health and the host of the podcast, Feminine as F*ck.