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. What is it that makes people want to change? How do you feel about the title? Does it make you uncomfortable to even think it is true, or do you embrace it as the truth? I could not recall who said it initially, but then I looked it up; I was not surprised to find it was Heraclitus of Ephesus (535 BC – 475 BC). Ahh, 5th Century Athens. Of course, one of the most prolific and profound periods of philosophy. I once took an entire semester in just that period of history as an undergraduate. The ideals we hold today in many areas of politics, life and love still hold true. Genius, truly. Doing the work that I do now, and even while training as a therapist, this was always a huge question. In general, people do not like change. Most people prefer to stay with what is known, even if miserable. They know they are not happy, but due to childhood trauma, deeply held beliefs, and conditioning, they think this is just the way things are. They are not able to shift the apparent pattern. There may be fear of the unknown or not knowing what is healthy. I recently worked with a client in a deeply abusive relationship that had begun many years prior. Through many attempts to leave, she’d found herself unable to get out. It was a bad situation. On average, it takes a woman five times to leave an abusive situation. I asked her what she feared most; she said, “That I won’t heal.” While working in the judicial system, I worked on a docket that arraigned 300 domestic violence cases per month for two or more years. I recommended to the court what kind of restraining order needed to be in place and for how long. Then the docket moved to a more highly specialized one of repeat offenders. What became apparent was that abusers in these situations had a 95% treatment failure rate. Programs became defunded. I assured her she would heal, but he was unlikely to ever. Not impossible, but very, very unlikely. I believe anyone can change, given the right motivation. Unfortunately, it seems to be extreme emotional pain, loss of a career, a health crisis, loss of reputation, an arrest, a significant relationship ending, or a combination of the above. I think part of the issue has to do with control or perceived control over one’s life. We really can’t control other people—those who try to manipulate others often find their lives embroiled in conflict and drama, but they see the source as outside of them. They feel victimized when their tactics no longer work. The only thing we can control is our behavior and responses. That is where the key to change lies. But, it requires work, self-awareness, and insight into your own behavior and its impact on others. No one likes to do that work. It’s hard. We all have things that we can change. There are so many quotes. This one fits here: “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” ‒James Baldwin Change is painful, and growth can be painful, but is it more painful than being stuck where you are now? One perhaps more straightforward example is that of quitting smoking. Nicotine is as addictive as crack. It is the perfect drug; if you are down, it lifts you; want to celebrate? Light up. But we all know it is destructive. This issue has three components: habit, physical addiction, and psychological. It takes 27 days to break or develop a habit pattern; the biological effects of nicotine are out of the body in four days. Then there are the perceived psychological benefits. I smoked for years. When did I quit? After getting sick with pneumonia, bronchitis, being on an inhaler and two antibiotics, and being unable to walk from my bedroom to my kitchen without being short of breath. My doctor told me to keep it up. I would be on oxygen within five years. Please take a deep breath, hold it, and then try to take another on top of that; that is how every breath will feel. Try it. Wow. No thanks. I started to think; you did this to yourself. I decided that no matter what happened, I was quitting, happy, mad, or sad, and I would not smoke. I can tell you the exact day. I relapsed once; that was over 25 years ago. It was hard. Worth it, absolutely; I never even think about it now. I was scared and ready. I have seen many people change over the years. I had a repeat client, he called me in crisis, and his girlfriend had ended the relationship. He was frantic. I was booked solid, and he was desperate. I said I could do 15 minutes. That is all I can fit in, and I will give it to you straight; I will not mince words, “Can you handle that?” He said, “Yes.” So, I looked at what was happening; I said she was tired of the mood swings and the overspending. I told him I thought he was Bipolar; he needed to be in therapy and on medication. He had broken trust one too many times. She was fed up. He had a therapy appointment that day. I said he would need to follow through over and over and prove to her that she could trust him again and do that for as long as she needed, and then yes, I thought she would take him back. He did, and they got engaged on New Year’s. I often get feedback sometimes from the client but also in other unexpected ways. One day a woman booked with me, and when I started to read her, she said, I just wanted to look at the woman who finally got my ex-husband to change. She told me his name. I said I could not discuss other clients due to confidentiality. She told me she heard the whole story; I read him “the riot act,” and he had a “come to Jesus moment.” She came to thank me. She told me he was so much better with her, with the kids. Was it me? No, but I did recognize that this was an opportunity for him to really hear the truth about how his actions hurt others and he was genuinely ready to change. It was a 15-minute call that helped change his life. I had a 10-minute call that changed my course of mine. I will never forget it. Change can happen very fast. It does not have to be painful. With the New Year approaching, it is an excellent time to take a step back and assess what needs to change, what you want, and whether it is not within your power to do anything about it. Get inspired. Don’t fear change. 'Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.' ‒ Harriet Tubman 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.

Written by: Bernice Fabi, 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. What’s holding you back from (fill in the blank)? I’ll take a guess that when you really look deep, it’s a six-letter word spelled E X C U S E, and most likely it’s a plural seven-letter word spelled E X C U S E S. By its power, it wreaks havoc on all of us. It wreaks havoc on the world. Does the following resonate with you in any way? Excuses I should have I could have I would have But I didn’t This short piece I wrote carries a lot of underlying punch for me. I can’t help but think of opportunities missed or times I really messed up because I made up excuses. Occasionally, I let others down by making excuses. Mostly, I’ve let myself down. Perhaps you feel the same. Perhaps you even carry regret or guilt as a result of not pursuing responsibilities and opportunities that could have led to great possibilities for you. It’s really a shame to hang on to any regret or guilt as a result of anything in life and when we do let go, we can certainly move ahead in life more freely. There are four ways I’ve identified how excuses rule over us: Excuses are fabricated lies we tell ourselves and try to make others and ourselves believe to be true. We attempt to explain or justify our behavior or attitude with inadequate reasons. We all know these excuses. I’m too busy. I’m too tired. I don’t have time. I don’t have support. I don’t know how. I’m too young. I’m too old. I don’t feel up to it. The list is endless. Listen to how you talk to yourself and others. We’re simply avoiding what we don’t want to do or covering up our poor behavior. They’re lies and until we face the truth within ourselves, we will continue telling ourselves these lies. Excuses are an easy road and we deceive ourselves by taking that easy road. We need to enable truth and discipline within ourselves to overcome this destructive communication. Only then will we recognize these lies we make up and be able to confront them. Giving power to the truth will also give power to discipline and behavior to help move us forward to do what we need and want to do. Excuses are mental replays that render us motionless and keep us isolated. We play these same lines over and over as they become a subconscious way of thinking, believing and living. We become trapped and until we break free of that trap, we’re held a victim to continual destructive or unmotivated patterns which include making excuses. We isolate ourselves from opportunities, possibilities and connections in the world because we avoid, we procrastinate, we don’t do anything. These excuses we make up negate any positive intentions we have. We need to break the pattern of the continual negative movie script we play over and over in our minds and instead activate positive momentum. Excuses are pitfalls that hold us back from experiencing the joy of life. We don’t easily recognize the unsuspecting danger of making these excuses until we desire changes and we’re frustrated because we’re at a standstill. Sometimes this standstill can last years. Fear of failure is often the foundation of this pit. We don’t even realize the accomplishment, satisfaction, fulfillment and joy that can exist for us because we’re caught in the trap that excuses create. Excuses are reasons we die with regret of not truly having lived. The good news is that this does not need to be your reality. Truth, connection, and joy exist on the other side of actually realizing you are making excuses and a commitment to change your behavior. Along with taking this forward step it’s necessary to turn the conversations you have with yourself into affirming, loving, positive self-talk. Try these statements instead. I’m confident I can do this. There is no better time than now. I know support is available to me. I will find out how. I will do this. In the midst of truth there are always answers to help you move forward. Discipline, hard work, forgiveness and time may be part of the process. Accompanying that effort, will likely be a very rewarding journey. Freedom starts as a new beginning once you step away from making excuses and focus instead on your motivation to change. This will also mean stepping out of your comfort zone and challenging any fear of failure you have. And when you are challenged in return by fear, visualize where you want to be at the end of your life and decide how you wish to take your last breath. If you decide that it will be as having lived life to the fullest, excuses need to go to the wayside now. Life is not a pile of excuses anymore. It needs to be a choice to live differently. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Bernice! Bernice Fabi, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Bernice Fabi is a certified Life and Empowerment Coach for women. She also applies mental fitness into her programs for a truly life changing experience. Always an eager life student, Bernice brings an array of experience to her coaching practice including a lengthy financial career and as an entrepreneur in real estate investment and management. Bernice helps women overcome limiting beliefs and realize their potential. In doing so, they make choices to live an extraordinary and purposeful life.

Written by: Erlinda Vo, 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. We are a soul. We are angels inside a carefully designed body waiting to set ourselves free. That doesn’t mean the body is a prison for the soul – the body is a fundamental part of our being that will flourish proportionally to our soul’s growth. Prioritizing our inner well-being brings many benefits to our overall health and creates a high frequency so contagious that it changes other people’s lives. Western culture pushes us into this workaholic race where everybody finds their identity in what they do or plan to become in the future. Having ambition is good, of course, but neglecting other parts of your life such as relationships, family, or health to achieve material goals, does not necessarily increase your well-being. First, you might be working toward achieving fame or fortune without being aligned with your highest soul’s purpose. That’s a tremendous waste of potential, not only for yourself but for the planet. We need to allow ourselves the freedom to practice meaningful work. The burnout crisis, long working hours, and isolation caused by the pandemic are awakening people to new ways of thinking about success and what it means to be happy and fulfilled. The soul-care movement invites us to stop resisting these changes by switching our mindset to a more holistic path that is aligned with our soul’s purpose. The soul: more than the ‘rider’ of the body Western theology has taught us for many years that the soul is our inner substance, the ‘rider’ of the body, our ‘true self. In our culture, we often hear that we are mind, body, and soul; or a soul within a body. This compartmentalized notion of our humanity has made us believe that if we separate our lives ‒ and ourselves ‒ into different categories, everything would be easier to handle. The fact is that living a life so fragmented leads us to prioritize one aspect of ourselves over the others. For instance, some people believe that the soul is the most important part of our being. In reality, if we neglect our bodies by not taking care of our health, it could have negative consequences. In Hebrew, ‘soul’ translates as nephesh which can also translate as ‘life,’ ‘me,’ ‘heart,’ or ‘people.’ In the Ancient Hebraic mentality, there was no separation between mind, body, and soul. People used to live lives in congruence with their whole being. So nephesh was the word they used to describe this mindset in which they strived to live in wholeness. That’s the reason why we don’t have a soul, we are a soul. Soul and body integration is key to the soul-care movement We must think of ourselves as an entire and complete entity. Integrating and embracing all aspects and dimensions of our being is essential if we want to make soul-care a daily habit. We don’t need to neglect our bodies to achieve spiritual enlightenment or vice versa. We are not compartmentalized fragmented beings. Every aspect of ourselves, inner or external like the mind, the body, the soul, family, relationships, hobbies, and work, are related to one another. We are much more like ecosystems than a group of separate independent departments. That’s why we need to integrate and care for our whole being. Honoring our wholeness is key to the soul-care movement because we are embracing and celebrating ourselves as fully complete beings. Raising our frequency will lead us to live a life in congruence with ourselves and our soul’s purpose. The soul-care movement in the awakening for a high-vibe future These days, we have more opportunities than ever before to cultivate a spiritual life. Many choices are available to us: yoga, meditation, astrology, and so on… Taking care of our souls has never been so accessible as it is today. However, some of us still resist and get distracted by things we feel are more important, so we neglect our inner life and forget to nurture that part of ourselves. Culturally, we are all going through an awakening process. Even though some people are flowing and embracing these transformations, others don't know how to deal with them. This can lead to people feeling anxious, depressed, or sad. We need to channel our spiritual guides to help us navigate these energetic shifts so we can get in alignment with our soul purpose. This is about integrating all parts of ourselves and about integrating ourselves as vital parts of the planet. Vibing up and cultivating an inner spiritual life is key to this process. If you want to learn more about how you can achieve your spiritual goals and up-level your soul’s frequency join the soul-care movement with us and start a new transformational journey! Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Erlinda! Erlinda Vo, Senior Level Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Erlinda Vo, the Energy Alchemist, is a visionary leader. A leading expert in personal motivation and breakthrough technology. As an experienced business and success coach, aka an Energy Vibe coach, she has developed a new modality called "Energy Alchemy" — a tool to empower others to produce life-changing results and to live a life that lights them up. Her mission is to Vibe Up the Planet. Join her community today to actualize career, romantic, financial, and self-expression goals using business and spiritual techniques.

Written by: Sharina Perry, 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 morning I decided to take donuts to the office. The goal, purchase half a dozen donuts. Upon checking out, I was told purchasing a dozen would only cost me $2 more. That seemed like a no-brainer, so off I went with my dozen donuts. Everyone interested in having a donut ate one. The habit in the office is to make sure the refrigerator is cleaned out and "old” items are thrown away at the end of each week. Well, the discarded items included half of the dozen of donuts I purchased earlier in the week. I have a partner who often makes light humor of my "hey, that's a good deal, we only need one but let's buy two” behavior. Until this particular clean-out-the-fridge day, my response had always been dismissive with light laughter. But that day sparked a broader conversation in our office about how a good deal leads to unnecessary waste and overconsumption. So we began an intentional conversation around "rethinking” our company views on marketing and spending. According to the Environment America Research and Policy Center: "The U.S. produces more than 12% of the planet's trash but is home to only 4% of the world's population. Americans throw out 4.9 pounds of trash per person every day. That's 1,800 pounds of material per American every year.” How do we fix this statistic? Since the term sustainability made its way into almost every industry sector and household, I have made it a point to put my certification in Sustainable Strategies and Circular Economics to use by educating on all platforms I engage. Now, back to my donut purchase. Even though I “only” paid $2 more for a dozen, was it a "good deal”? At the time I thought "absolutely”. But in retrospect, it was a "bad deal”. Not only did I throw out more food waste, but I also paid extra for the benefit of doing so. So the bigger question is, do we feel "cheated" when paying for exactly what we will consume? An honest assessment would indicate we are not cheated at all. As a company guided by a sustainable ecosystem business model, we work with manufacturers seeking sustainable solutions for their clients. What we have found quite perplexing is while there is market demand for eco-friendly solutions, many corporations and consumers fall short when it comes to the willingness to pay the cost. I believe this is linked to thought processes that focus so much on the upfront cost without calculating the overall savings and benefits on the back end. For instance, a manufacturer will pay more for Utopia Plastix than traditional petroleum-based resins. However, by choosing Utopia Plastix, they will reduce their carbon footprint, save on energy costs, reduce waste, and contribute to local economies, just to name a few advantages. These benefits are precisely why we encourage producers and consumers to rethink how we use our natural resources through a broader lens. This means looking beyond the sticker price of a single product sold or purchased. Hopefully, my experience of a donut purchase will spark a conversation among members of your household and within your organization's offices causing people to rethink how they spend their money to help reduce waste and overconsumption. ‒ https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/national-overview-facts-and-figures-materials Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Sharina! Sharina Perry, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Sharina Perry is a serial entrepreneur and the Founder/Inventor of Utopia Plastix, a plant-based alternative to petroleum-based plastics. Sharina is also the creator and developer of The Utopia Model, a sustainable eco-system business model. She is viewed broadly as an innovator, strategist and out-of-the-box thinker. She is often recognized for her keen ability to encourage constructive thought and intentional leadership.

Written by: Dave Sewell, 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. In the business world, there is more and more talk about psychological safety and its importance in creating conditions where individuals and teams can excel in their areas of expertise. So, what is psychological safety and how would I know if it is present in my organisation? We define psychological safety as the ability of every individual to create an environment around them where others can share their ideas, share their criticisms, and even make mistakes free of ridicule and persecution. Essentially everyone should feel safe to share their thoughts and make mistakes without being shamed. When employees feel that their colleagues will not reject them for being themselves and saying what they think and there is mutual respect for each other’s competencies, everyone is able to engage in constructive conflict or confrontation and feel safe to experiment and take risks. This is the ideal environment to foster great ideas, collaboration, and cooperation. Psychological safety can only flourish in the absence of psychological aggression so what are some of the behaviours and approaches that will allow it to grow and thrive in an organisation: 1. Everyone contributes One of the biggest tells that psychological safety is present within any team is when every member of that team is happy to contribute to a discussion with each other. The topic of the discussion will not influence this e.g., it won’t matter whether the team has come together to plan out their next quarterly priorities or to figure out why they missed their production targets, everyone will feel safe in the presence of their colleagues to table their ideas and observations in an effort to come up with the plan or find a solution to the problem. 2. Nobody is left to struggle In psychologically safe teams, nobody is left behind. Team members know what makes each other tick, they know when their colleagues are having an ‘off’ day and they feel safe enough to approach them and ask them if they are ok and will readily offer their support. This is easy for each team member to do because there is implicit permission to ask someone if they need help but equally important there is also implicit permission to accept that help if it is needed. 3. Mistakes are learning opportunities Going back to our definition of psychological safety “…make mistakes free of ridicule and persecution” This allows all team members to accept that sometimes things go wrong, mistakes are made and that is ok. Mistakes are learning opportunities and as long as there is a willingness to understand how the mistake happened and how to avoid it in the future, then every team member benefits from someone’s mistake. When this approach is taken it is unlikely that mistakes will remain hidden to come back and bite us in the future. 4. Problems are not left to fester Working with most sized organisations, one approach seems to be more common than not; if an interpersonal issue arises, it is often left to sort itself out. In teams where there is psychological safety, this is not the case. Where there is tension between 2 or more people or teams, the tension is recognised, called out and then conversations are instigated to resolve the cause of the tension. Psychologically safe teams understand how stress (excessive) can be unhelpful to collaboration and cooperation and they will prioritise the resolution of that tension so that the impacted parties can come back together and perform at their best. 5. Everyone is held accountable In psychologically safe teams, everyone knows where the buck stops with them, they know what success looks like in a day/week/month and they actively hold each other accountable for achieving the outcomes that indicate success. These teams can do that because each member feels safe to have those (often) challenging conversations and also has been given implicit authority to challenge and offer support if it looks like those success outcomes are going to be missed. How does your organisation shape up to these 5 indicators? They are not the only indicators that psychological safety is present but if they all are, you are well and truly on the path to having a psychologically safe organisation. Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn or visit my website for more info! Read more from Dave! Dave Sewell, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine “Every child deserves a home where they feel safe and loved.” This is what drives Dave Sewell’s research and approach to executive education and facilitation. Sewell’s own life story has led him to question everything he understood about leadership, from the beatings and shame from his own father to the near-complete psychological breakdown at the hands of a ruthless Area Manager in his early twenties. The question burning inside him, “Why do people behave this way?” and “How do we change this?”. Sewell’s research built a deep understanding of human behavior and our need to feel physically and psychologically safe. None of us are at our best when we are under continued levels of stress beyond what we can comfortably cope with. It is when we are in this space that we are often not helpful to others, indeed we can be quite uncivil, causing us to be more aloof, more confrontational, and less tolerant of others. No one wants to be this person in the workplace or this type of parent when we get home, but it is all too common. Having published the learning of his research in his book Safe Leadership – beating stress to drive performance, Sewell is on a mission to make more workplaces psychologically safer so that every worker can go home with enough emotional and mental capacity to spend quality time with their family, creating that psychologically safe space in the home. He does this through a series of leadership workshops, a longitudinal program, and one on one executive coaching.

Written by: Katie Scott, Business Reporter Global electronics brand Samsung has been announced as one of the winners of an international prize recognising leadership, innovation, and commitment to sustainable business practices. The company was one of the winners of the SEAL Sustainable Product Award, winning the title for upcycling discarded fishing nets into a recycled material for use in Galaxy devices. Samsung first used this material in its Galaxy S22 Series and since then, has used the material in designs in tablets, laptops and earbuds. “A staggering 640,000 tons of fishing equipment are abandoned in the ocean each year, trapping and entangling marine life and damaging coral reefs. We applaud Samsung for transforming the Galaxy smartphone series to combat this environmental challenge,” said Matt Harney, Founder of SEAL Awards. The Awards, which have been running since 2017, were split into four categories recognising initiatives; game-changing ideas; products and “innovative services that set a new standard for sustainability”. The organisation also presents awards for environmental journalism. Amongst the other winners were shoe manufacturer Teva for its ReFlip – “Sustainably-minded sandal”; Liverpool Football Club for its Home Bear, which is made with 100 percent recycled materials and Project Zero, a competition to find innovations to enable zero waste buildings at Disneyland.

Written by: Katie Scott, Business Reporter American technology giant Microsoft is buying a stake in the London Stock Exchange (LSEG), which runs the FTSE 100. Microsoft is buying the stake from a consortium of Blackstone and Thomson Reuters; and the news saw LSEG’s share price rise by 4 percent in early trading. The deal will see the two companies work together on data analytics and cloud technology. The deal comes at a time when the crown that LSEG proudly bore as Europe’s financial centre has been slipping according to analysts. Quoting Bloomberg data, The Guardian reports that “...the UK capital accounted for $1.8bn (£1.46bn) of the $20.9bn raised in European listings this year. Representing just 9 percent of the total.” This, it adds, is the lowest share since the 2007-08 financial crisis. In contrast, LSEG’s rival Euronext, has been expanding with the purchases of the Irish stock exchange in 2018 and the Italian stock exchange - Borsa Italiana - in 2021. Of the latter, Stéphane Boujnah, CEO and Chairman of the Managing Board of Euronext N.V. said: “This transaction marks a historic day in our ambition to build the backbone of the Capital Markets Union in Europe.” Just last week, Boujnah told Bloomberg News that London is no longer Europe’s financial centre because of Brexit. The deal seems to have buoyed LSEG. In a statement to the stock market on Monday 12th December, it said the deal was “expected to increase LSEG’s revenue growth meaningfully over time as new products come on-stream”. In a statement from Microsoft, the company’s chair and chief executive, Satya Nadella, promised huge changes: “Advances in the cloud and AI will fundamentally transform how financial institutions research, interact, and transact across asset classes, and adapt to changing market conditions.”

Jennifer French is a coercive control expert witness with an advanced degree in Coercive Control from Salford University, England. A survivor herself, she supports and educates those who have experienced coercive control in a variety of situations, including cults, harmful religions, and domestic environments. She offers services both within the US and Internationally. Jennifer is a Research Associate at Salford University where she conducts research on topics related to coercive control. She is also the host of the Project Hope Podcast, for families and friends with a loved one in a group of high control / high demand. Jennifer French Tomasic, Expert Witness for Coercive Control Cases What is your business name and how do you help your clients? Hello! Yes, my business name is Jennifer French and I have a private practice as a mental health professional. If we’re getting into credentials, I’m a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional and often work with clients using Internal Family Systems, or IFS, for those who may be familiar with that wonderful modality of psychotherapy. In my experience, the IFS model is empowering because it fosters continued connection with one’s most wise self. As we approach parts of ourselves with compassion and curiosity, we discover purpose and meaning behind these aspects of ourselves. This in turn supports the release of shame, self-judgment, and self-criticism. We naturally begin to discover that all parts of ourselves we once related to as ‘bad’ or negative in some way, actually have a purpose, an intelligent role to play within us, even if the manifestation looks extreme or unbalanced. When we pay attention to or give voice to parts of ourselves we’ve rejected, we begin to discover solutions that are very personal and particular to that individual. I also appreciate that this work is client driven and permission-based so those who have experienced feeling violated or manipulated, tend to feel safe and in control of their process. It sounds like that would be very important, especially if clients have a trauma history? That’s right. These qualities about IFS that I mention, while supportive for anyone, are why, I believe, we see the IFS research validating that it’s especially helpful for those who have PTSD or C-PTSD, which is Complex-Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. What inspired you to work with trauma survivors? That’s a great question and gets us into an area of personal expertise that is affected by my own history. I myself am a cult survivor. I had always been a spiritual seeker and in my early 20’s I encountered a mystical Christian group that I ended up in for eleven years of my life. The part of that story with the deepest impact was that I cut off communication from my family for 8 years of the eleven. It may also be helpful to put into context that I had been extremely close with my family, both my parents, and my brother who is 2.5 years younger than me. So this was very unnatural for me and not a choice I would have ever made, left to my own devices. You’re welcome to hear my story of how I got into the group and how I left, in episodes 1 and 2 of the Project Hope Podcast. This is a part of my business that’s a passion project. It’s for anyone curious about cults and has been designed for families and friends with a loved one in a group of high control, high demand. I invite survivors who want to share their stories and also experts in the field. Wow. So how does this factor into your client work? It’s actually a core part of my clinical and advocacy work. I have a Master’s in the Psychology of Coercive Control and this happens to be a phenomenon that is still not well understood by society at large. So part of my advocacy work is education around what coercive control actually is, how it happens, and what the impacts are. Also, these patterns of emotional and psychological abuse were initially acknowledged in domestic and family laws so we are beginning to see some changes there. But these same patterns of control and coercion are also found in gangs, in sex trafficking, and cults of all sorts which be a one to one relationship or can span from unhealthy political groups, to self help, meditation, and yoga groups, to certain multi level marketing groups, or even extremist religious groups. Do you have a particular way that you work with those recovering from cult or religious abuse? I do! I’m actually certified in a specialized approach that is rooted in the incredible work of Dr. Gillie Jenkinson. It’s based on decades of research with survivors and is the most thorough and flexible approach that I’ve come across in this field. Research has shown that there are two important aspects in this type of healing that need to be considered; trauma and psychoeducation. Many survivors have experienced trauma so that’s something I’m aware of and noting as we begin to discover what the impact of the individual’s experience has been. What’s interesting is that we have found that it is not just incredibly helpful, healing, insightful and even grounding for survivors to discover the information that helps them sort through what happened to them and how it happened, it’s also critical to healing. In this process, some of the things we address include building and reclaiming one’s authentic identity as we sort through messages, beliefs, or behaviors from the group, and decide if we want to reject or reclaim them for ourselves. There is education and support in understanding principles such as spiritual abuse, thought reform, narcissism, undue influence, and even the basics of understanding trauma theory. We also address topics around shame and the allowance of feelings, needs, and desires. We provide tools that support personal explorations around these concepts so that survivors can revisit the work beyond our time together if they want to. Part of what’s so fulfilling for me is knowing that this information, while clarifying, also serves the purpose of protecting the individuals who receive it. This type of experience is not an easy thing to untangle. It’s fundamentally confusing when one’s entire belief system or life has been consumed by a particular viewpoint or way of being that they are now breaking from. In addition, most people don’t understand the dynamics of an unhealthy group environment, let alone the principles of psychological manipulation and influence that affect and infiltrate the psyche that’s exposed. It’s really eye-opening and empowering for survivors to understand these dynamics and then to also evaluate the ways they were personally affected. Many survivors have been abused within a hierarchical system, so we also acknowledge this dynamic and I encourage clients to question, challenge, or disagree. Essentially, I support them in a reclamation or return to themselves and that’s a collaborative process. What inspires your work? Firstly, my clients. It truly is an honor to work with individuals who are opening their precious lives to me. But another area of passion is around public and legislative advocacy work regarding coercive control. It’s my belief that the more we expose the public to an understanding of what coercive control is and the variety of environments in which it takes place, we help protect, especially the younger generations. So this is a big element of my public speaking work and also research that I conduct as a Research Associate at Salford University. I really do envision education as the path that can help us build a compassionate and safe world that recognizes and stands up to psychological and emotional abuse. This is key to deciding who we want to be as a society, and to thriving as empowered individuals. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Jennifer!

Written by: Dave Sewell, 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. In my previous article I defined what psychological safety is and its advantages to any organisation and talked about 5 distinct approaches that demonstrated it is functioning well. What I didn’t talk about is its more harmful opposite, psychological aggression. Psychological aggression comes from a place of fear, loneliness, shame, or ridicule, it is the outcome of an individual who is coming from a defensive position. They will often not feel supported by their peers or leaders or may be under levels of stress that they are struggling to cope with. It can be as subtle as feeling slighted over a poorly communicated statement or as obvious as being shouted at in front of others. The issue with psychological aggression is that if it is present within any team there can be no psychological safety, this isn’t an opinion, it is biology, let me explain. The Purpose of our Brain Nature designed our brain with one purpose, to ensure we see tomorrow. It is our inbuilt radar, constantly scanning the environment for threats to our life. When a threat is detected (this can be real or perceived) its stress response system (also called the sympathetic nervous system) kicks in and we go into what is commonly known as fight or flight. The problem that we have in this relatively safe but complex society that we live in is that the brain only has one stress response system. Whether you are staring down the jaws of a hungry grizzly bear or you are looking at an ever-growing to-do list, the brain will react in the same way (one is a threat to life, one could be a threat to status, neither has good outcomes for our long-term survival!), it will try to protect itself. When we are in this place, we are anything but nice (our ancestors didn’t survive by giving the cute grizzly bear a hug and a scratch behind its ears!), we get tense, agitated even aggressive depending on what we are facing, and we will generally fight our way out or run away from a threat. Implications for our modern society What this means in our safer but more complex society is that constant demands that are made of us often leave us with no time to recover, more specifically for our brain to recover, this over time increases our stress levels. Our excessive stress levels trigger our stress response system putting us into that fight or flight state which generally makes us more asocial towards each other. In organisations, this will manifest itself in many ways, here are the top 5 things to look out for. 1 Breakdown in Communication When two or more people or teams stop communicating irrespective of the reason for this it’s likely that their brains have gone into a defensive place. If the brain had its own voice, it would likely say something like “the last time I had a conversation with them it turned out bad, they are a threat, it won’t do my survival chances any favours if I repeat that process so let’s avoid them!” Now there will be many reasons why we will have more conversations with that individual/team (the leader says we must, it’s crucial to the success of a project…) but that will often lead to the next point, artificial harmony. 2 Artificial Harmony This phenomenon plaque many teams, artificial harmony often manifests itself in boring meetings, where there are no real issues to discuss and solve, everything is just ‘fine’. The reality is there are no real issues to solve because nobody in the meeting feels safe to table them for fear of a backlash from one or more people in the room. Again, the brain defaults to the same stance in point one “the last time a raised an issue I got shot down in flames, I’m not going to put myself in that position again, better to stay quiet and let someone else take the heat”. If there are meetings happening where nothing is being resolved or nothing is being raised to be solved, it’s a clear sign one or more members attending the meeting do not feel safe, which means one or more members of the team are behaving psychologically aggressively. 3 Lack of Accountability Accountability means that a person owns a particular role or task and if it goes well only they get a pat on the back, but if it goes wrong, only they should take the blame. Everyone has an element of accountability in their roles and should know what success looks like, so why do we find not achievers keeping their roles for long periods of time? Often the leaders do not feel safe having conversations about their inability to meet required outcomes. This could be because previous interactions with the person in question did not go well or it could be learned behaviour from past interactions with someone else that didn’t go well. In either case, the brain defaults to “maybe they will come right tomorrow, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt so I don’t have to have that awful conversation today!” As you can see, due to the perceived threat that this person could be to us, the brain defaults to a safer approach, in this case, avoidance so that it can feel safe now, in the moment, ever hopeful that it will be better tomorrow. The funny thing about that is, our rational brain knows that tomorrow will never come. 4 Excessive Absenteeism Unless someone is genuinely sick, any motivated and engaged person would never dream of taking a day off just because they felt like it, it’s not a great survival strategy if the tribe found out they let them down for no reason. This means there are other reasons why people pull sickies without actually being sick. There can be numerous reasons why people would be absent without illness but the most common by far are: They can’t face the leader or a specific colleague. In this case, the brain is viewing a specific individual as threatening, and the rules of the tribe win most of the time (turn up, do your best, be of value to the tribe, keep your job) but sometimes the brain gets to the point that the aggression coming from the specific individual becomes too much to cope with and it no longer has the energy to face the threat so it defaults to staying away, again hoping that if I rest today, tomorrow might be better and if it’s not I hopefully will have enough energy to deal with them. Excessive workload and demands are the other major cause of absenteeism. The brain has a finite amount of energy each day to cope with keeping safe and being of value to its tribe. When the demands of the role, the people around it and technology become more than the brain can cope with, it will take action to bring itself back to balance, to restore its energy reserves. Some people are under so much demand, they can’t switch off out with work, often impacting their ability to get a great night’s sleep further compounding the problem of the brain restoring itself. This ultimately leaves the person feeling exhausted, de-motivated and generally feeling down, the only way to recover is to take time out to rest. 5 Acceptance of Poor Behaviour In almost every organisation I have worked with in the last 13 years as an executive coach they all have double standards when it comes to acceptable behaviour and performance. What drives this double standard, is fear, fear of having a conversation about someone’s behaviour, fear of their reaction to the conversation, and fear of the person leaving because they are so skilled. Fear can cripple our ability to make the right decision at any given time, again our brains stress response system often defaults to “let’s not put ourselves in danger today because it might come right tomorrow” and this is never so relevant as it is when we have to question someone’s attitude or behaviour. Some of this fear is perceived, and some of it is real and based on past experiences but whether it is real or perceived, that threat may stop us from doing what is right and inadvertently create double standards as a result. Having a psychologically safe environment for your organisation is not a set goal, it is ever-shifting due to what is happening within it and how that impacts our people. If leaders can focus on identifying when people are slipping into a more aggressive approach, then they can acknowledge it and wrap support and interventions around those people to bring them back to a safe space as quickly as possible allowing psychological safety to thrive and our people with it. Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn or visit my website for more info! Read more from Dave! Dave Sewell, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine “Every child deserves a home where they feel safe and loved.” This is what drives Dave Sewell’s research and approach to executive education and facilitation. Sewell’s own life story has led him to question everything he understood about leadership, from the beatings and shame from his own father to the near-complete psychological breakdown at the hands of a ruthless Area Manager in his early twenties. The question burning inside him, “Why do people behave this way?” and “How do we change this?”. Sewell’s research built a deep understanding of human behavior and our need to feel physically and psychologically safe. None of us are at our best when we are under continued levels of stress beyond what we can comfortably cope with. It is when we are in this space that we are often not helpful to others, indeed we can be quite uncivil, causing us to be more aloof, more confrontational, and less tolerant of others. No one wants to be this person in the workplace or this type of parent when we get home, but it is all too common. Having published the learning of his research in his book Safe Leadership – beating stress to drive performance, Sewell is on a mission to make more workplaces psychologically safer so that every worker can go home with enough emotional and mental capacity to spend quality time with their family, creating that psychologically safe space in the home. He does this through a series of leadership workshops, a longitudinal program, and one on one executive coaching.

Written by: John Scott, 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. Most people thought the Great War that began in July 1914 would be over by Christmas. Instead, the fighting leading up to that December ended at a standstill. Both sides reinforced their positions by digging trenches along the Western Front to live, fight, and die. The trenches would extend for at least 25,000 miles if laid end to end. At some spots, the trenches were as close as 35 yards, a third of a football field. In France, on the morning of December 24th, 1914, there was a severe frost. The trenches were cold and muddy. By noon most shootings and shelling had oddly ceased. Letters home from both sides reported a "strange atmosphere" that developed. One side noticed a coloured lantern light becoming brighter in the other trenches as dusk arrived. In one section, as the cold night descended, a German Officer, Walter Kirchhoff, a tenor in the Berlin Opera before the war, began to sing Silent Night. The beautiful sound was striking against the devastation and darkness all around. Soon both sides joined in, inducing a sense of all things being calmer and a little brighter. Each side sang Christmas carols and shared words of encouragement, further brightening the atmosphere. On Christmas day, Sergeant Fredrick Brown was the first to step out of the trenches unarmed and walk into "no man's land." Brown and others' initial apprehension gave way to a sense of shared humanity and peace that saw about 100,000 soldiers from both sides rise from their trenches in various sections and join in the temporary ceasefire. A German and British soldier gladly traded buttons as souvenirs. A British barber trimmed the hair of a German soldier. A German and British soldier hustled to a farmhouse to find some wine to add to the festivities. A soccer ball appeared from the British side, and soon a friendly game ensued with no referee required. There were burial ceremonies and prisoner swaps. Soldiers exchanged gifts of chocolate and tobacco. Some soldiers wrote home describing the unbelievable truce and shared the celebration of Christmas that had occurred. “The greatness of humanity is not in being human, but in being humane.” – Mahatma Gandhi. Years ago, as a Branch Manager, I went through a very challenging period that led to burnout. It felt like the office of salespeople were mostly bullies and bandits. During that period, on the way to work, I would quietly recite the Lord's Prayer as the only comfort I could find that would keep me safe in what felt like a war zone. Then, upon arriving, I would go to my office and dig in; leaving to walk around the floor felt as risky as sticking my head over a parapet. Sometimes I would worry about something upcoming and think it would be difficult, go wrong, or be met with a challenge when there was almost nothing close to the imagined negative outcome: preparing for a battle when none existed. "I've had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened." ‒ Mark Twain Self-sabotage is little and big mental skirmishes that keep us from moving to our goals and aspirations faster. Negativity bias is a natural condition that makes negative experiences more potent and "sticky" than positive experiences. Catastrophization is a cognitive distortion where we jump to the worst possible conclusion without all the facts. We make stuff up that snowballs into an assumed crisis or conflict. Sometimes we are even self-critical that we're self-critical. We must be vigilant about the mental saboteurs and adversaries that can raid and rob our birthright of health and happiness through their covert actions. So, if you see an opponent when you look in the mirror, consider calling a truce for the holidays. Here are some tips for the truce: Be alert for thoughts that don't help and turn to thoughts that do. Think and speak in a self-empowering way. Forgive yourself if you need forgiveness. Do things you love to do. Go out and play with your inspired self. Take an inner retreat of healthy rest, good fuel, lots of movement, and protect a positive mindset. Write a list of things for which you are grateful. If you are sad during the holidays, find someone to show kindness to, and you'll feel much better. Write out your very best and optimal outcomes for the New Year. And when the truce ends, try reframing the "battle," if it feels like that sometimes, to a celebration of every inch of ground you can hold closer to your goals and aspirations. There must be no standstill or digging in against an imagined foe. The only way out is through and forward, uplifting ourselves every step of the way. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from John! John Scott, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine John worked in sales and leadership in the financial industry for 30 years. For part of that time, he experienced a great deal of stress and didn't know the way back. As a result, John's health and well-being suffered. Becoming burnt out was the stimulus to wake up with a determination to do his life differently. John began a private journey to understand and overcome the negative stress he was experiencing. He found a formula for sustainable performance he now shares to help people move through common challenges to experience more great and less grind. John has completed Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR, U. of Massachusetts), Foundations of Applied Mindfulness Meditation (U. of Toronto), and the Certificate in Applied Positive Psychology (CAPP, Flourishing Center, NY). John's adventures include: Climbing Mount Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro. Two dog sledding trips to the Canadian Arctic. Two record-breaking swim crossings Lake Ontario (51km) The first to swim from Christian Island to Collingwood, in Georgian Bay (32km). John brings his experience in life, learning, and adventure to help people do life and work well through writing, speaking, and coaching.

Written by: Dr. Robert Ciprian , 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. Relationships are a magnified opportunity for our self-discovery and healing. It doesn’t matter if the relationships are family, romantic, business, or friendships, they are all going to cause heightened feelings for better or for worse. Traumas from not-so-pleasant relationship interactions can hold us back from our goals, love, and fulfillment. Just like a scar on your body can cause decreased mobility, and pain, and not look so pretty either, relationship scars can cause major problems in life. It is our choice to hold on to these feelings to get a juice of some sort of satisfaction, or to let them go. High-quality relationships are very important and they should be what we strive for. But sometimes problems still arise. Luckily there is a miracle cure for these relationship scars, for those who are ready to allow life to flow again. Allow me to give a personal example. Emotional Pain creates obstacles in life Years ago I invited a colleague to my city to teach a healing modality to my students. I encouraged an ex-girlfriend, whom I was recently talking to again after we did some healing together, to take the class. I told the colleague that she was my ex and informed him of our story. I wanted him to take care of her in class. Well, on the first day of the class, he took care of her. He went after her romantically and they started dating long-distance. I was furious for several reasons and the anger impacted my personal and business life. My business was suffering because of my distraction but also my dating life was like a desert over these months. I was struggling to meet anyone else, my romantic life was nonexistent. Of course, this was all blamed on “them,” and I was the victim. I felt blocked on many levels. One day I was reflecting on the pain I was putting myself through. I remembered a quote that said something similar: "holding on to anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die”. I realized how my resentment was making me unhappy daily, deteriorating my business, and my love life. I sat down one weekend afternoon and got into a very delicious meditation. When I was feeling in a very good place I visualized the coupe in front of me. From my heart, I sent them forgiveness and blessings as genuinely as I could. I had the intent to break free of this self-imposed curse and I was ready to do the work. I had to forgive them. I noticed something shift in a very big way while in this process. And after the mediation, I felt very good, like my heart was open and I was happy. The shift in my feelings and energy made it obvious that I was successful, at least in a subjective way. Within an hour I got a text from a beautiful young woman who worked at the hair salon I went to. I was very attracted to her and had been trying to talk to her for quite some time but gave up. We had a short interaction texting and I invited her to meet me for a show at a local art gallery that evening. She met me and we had a wonderful, fun, and romantic evening! I could not believe it was happening! This was not the only good news, by the beginning of the week, my business schedule started to fill up again too. It was miraculous! Here is what was going on When your mind has a constant set of thoughts combined with feelings, it will change how you feel and affect the energy you put into the world. The law of attraction will respond to these thoughts and feelings and you will magnetize what is on a similar frequency as you have in mind. Strong emotions will magnify what we are putting out into the universe and then what we magnetize back to us through the “law of attraction" will be greater. Forgiveness exercise steps. (Inspired by John RandolphPrice) 1. Picture the person, entity, or group in front of you in your mind’s eye with your imagination. 2. While observing them with your senses, say to them, “I forgive you totally and completely. I hold no unforgiveness back. Now I am free and you are free.” 3. Notice the changes in the visualization that you have of them with your imagination, notice the shift in any of your senses you may have noticed. Witnessing the visualization and feelings change is important for the energy shift. A step beyond forgiveness is to give the person a blessing also. Blessings can be beneficial not only in healing your emotions but also in protecting yourself against others energetically. It creates an offensive energy of good intent that can diffuse a situation. Offering a blessing exercise steps. (Inspired by Gregg Braden) 1. Picture the person, entity, or group in front of you in your mind’s eye with your imagination. 2. While observing them with your senses, say to them, “I bless you”, and notice any changes that have happened with your image of them or shift in your senses of them. 3. Then extend a blessing to yourself, “I bless me”, and notice any changes that have happened to your senses of you. 4. Then visualize a ring of people around you and the person you have in mind who are people you both know or may be witnesses to both of you in the situation that happened between you two. Say to the group of observers, “I bless all who are witness to us”, and notice any changes that have happened with your image of them or shift in your senses of them. Witnessing the visualization and feelings change is important for the energy shift. Both of these exercises use your imagination which is part of your intuition, this is very important in a “Letting Go” process that I frequently talk about with my clients. The shifts you witness in your imagination are reflective of a real energy shift. Witnessing the change and feeling a difference in the vibe are good indicators that you have made a change. Now notice how you feel about the situation that formally was not going well. Some of us are not ready to forgive but yet we want to move forward Do you feel like there is a situation you cannot forgive? I want to invite you to consider how this unforgiveness is holding your life back emotionally, physically, and spiritually and ask yourself if it is worth it. Your bad feelings toward someone else are most likely not going to make a shift for the better in your situation. And if revenge is what you are after, what better revenge is there than being happy and having a good life? These exercises are great for long-standing problems and those that may have just happened in your life. It is better to process fresh issues with forgiveness and blessings so that they don’t build up and start to wreak havoc in your life. In a holistic view of health , there are many other facets of well-being that have an impact on your behavioral health. Happiness is a dynamic thing. If we take care of the necessities, we will have more resilience to the stress of life. If you would like to learn more, feel free to opt into my email list to get a free video on my top five keys to well-being. Follow me on Facebook , Instagram , and visit my website for more info! Read more from Dr. Robert! Dr. Robert Ciprian, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Dr. Robert Ciprian grew up in a challenging childhood in Queens, NY. Through his transformational journey of healing and wellbeing, he became a doctor of chiropractic & holistic medicine, teacher, author, and executive coach. He has studied various energetic and spiritual healing methods over the past 25 years. Dr. Ciprian has taught across the country to healthcare professionals of multiple disciplines as well as the general public.

Written by: Misty Lucas, 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. What is a Negative Consciousness? A Negative Consciousness is a mindset where a person continually feels negative emotions like fear, greed, anger, hatred, revenge, and superstition. When the mind is constantly feeling these negative emotions nothing good comes into creation. This negative energy brings you more of what you don’t want into your life. A negative mindset makes you feel like you will never achieve any of your goals and you are doubtful that you will be successful. The negative mind has no empty space for any positive emotions. This mindset campaigns you to give up on your ambitions and dreams before you really get started on accomplishing them or even dillydally to the point that you never follow up on your goals. Most of the times you might not even know you are being negative once you are as a matter of fact negative. The negative awareness is easy to make since no “work is required to accomplish this mindset, it is almost human nature. Here is one sign that a negative mentality could be holding you back. Do you ever decide to take action on a goal then at once begin to think about all the ways you could not possibly come through? That is the easiest way to know you have a negative mentality. What is a Positive Consciousness? A Positive Consciousness is a mentality (mindset) where a person continually feels positive emotions like hope, love, faith, romance, ebullience, and hope. The positive mindset is thankful for all the people that have and will have, and they are faithful to the actions that will effect change and successfulness. The person who has a positive mindset doesn't have room in their beliefs for negative emotions. Somebody with a positive mindset all the time finds the good in every situation and acknowledges that goals aren't met overnight and are willing to trust the Universe and continue to move forward feeling fully supported in accomplishing their goals, positively. If you are actively controlling your thoughts in order to have your mind filled with positive emotions then you have a positive awareness. When you stay positive your aperture is open to see all that is available. So how do you change your mindset? First you become aware both negative and positive emotions. They exist and resisting one over the other will only create the resistance to be stronger and the negative to continually return. When the negative mindset is prevailing, slow down and notice. Allow yourself time to be with it and challenge the thoughts that are arising. Allow yourself to see the positive and the underlying message. It takes time to shift and the courage to be with the negative. You may be thinking to yourself "how can I concentrate on the positive when negativity is all around me?" You can learn how to change your mindset and begin living the life you want just by using: Affirmations Your imagination Meditation Vision boards Here is each tool set out for you in detail: Affirmation – Positive self-talk is a way to embed positive ideas and thoughts on your subconscious mind. The key here is to believe the affirmation you choose. If when you speak it you’re filled and you’re filled with doubt then it’s not your affirmation. If you don’t believe it, the affirmation will not land in your subconscious to shift your mindset. Meditation – Take a few moments at the end of every day to sit and relax your mind in a quiet place that you like. Imagination ‒ Imagine you are living a life exactly as you want. Believe that you are gonna have it soon. Vision Board – A poster board with pictures of what your life looks like when your goals are met, and after you made it put in a place that you can see it every day. There are many ways to change your mindset you just have to decide that you want to live better and you’re ready to make the shift. You will want to check in with your desire to have more, be more and do more no matter and know from the beginning it may challenge you as step into the process. The tools outlined above can be brought together in a way to meet your personal needs so that you can have that positive mindset that you need to have the success you desire. If you still struggle finding a coach ora person in your life that supports your growth. If any of these resonate with you and you’re ready to start the work to reframe your mind let’s connect. Maybe you’re just curious about coaching and it’s for you then join me for a FREE Consult Call and learn about what it is and how I can support you. Maybe you just want to dip your toe in, then I invite you to join me for a my Free 3-day workshop, What is Stress Costing You? Take Your Health Beyond Conventional Medicine. I host this FREE workshop once per month and each day we explore how to bring you back to your remembered wellness. You can register for my workshop HERE. You can also learn more about tools to Empower, Uplift& Transform your life on my PODCAST. Episodes are available on Spotify, Apple and Google Podcasts. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more information. Read more from Misty! Misty Lucas, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Misty Lucas is a Women's Life Coach and Restorative Yoga Educator. After a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis that left her depleted physically, emotionally, and spiritually she had to find a new path. She left her career in law and dedicated her life to supporting women navigating complicated health crises from chronic stress and autoimmune illnesses by blending her coaching skills and restorative yoga techniques. From this knowledge, she has created her signature coaching program to support her clients and work with them, releasing old patterns and holding them back from creating a life they want to live.