Written by Dr. Leslie Davis, Clinical Counselor and Relationship Expert Dr. Leslie Davis is the heart behind Eva Empowered—a movement dedicated to helping women around the world to break free from the cycle of toxic relationships and reclaim their worth.  Leaving a toxic partner is rarely a clean break. While you might expect emotional freedom, relief, and clarity, the reality can feel quite different. For some, walking away triggers a spiral of confusion rather than peace in your solitude. You may find yourself facing rejection, isolation, or loneliness from the ones who you thought would be there to catch you once you finally left the chaos. Let’s not forget there is grief as you mourn the loss of a connection with someone who once meant everything to you. Ending a relationship does not erase attachment, and missing someone who was unhealthy for you does not mean you made the wrong decision. It simply means you are human. If you have found yourself in this painful and confusing space after leaving a toxic relationship, here are five ways to get through it. 1. Understand that grief comes when you disconnect No one enters a relationship with the expectation of being emotionally harmed by the person they love. Most people choose a relationship with a sense of hope and trust that the person will protect and love them. When emotional abuse enters the relationship, it is confusing. Not only are you confused, but your loved ones may struggle to understand why you are still hurting when the source of pain has been removed. But let’s be real, you are not grieving the loss of the person you were with, you are grieving the loss of attachment. Acknowledging this truth can help you end the cycle of judging your grief and start healing as you mourn what you lost without questioning why it still hurts. You ended a trauma bond In the midst of the chaos, it is likely that you developed a trauma bond with your abuser, always finding ways to seek connection to the person who mentally, physically, or emotionally abused you out of fear of losing connection and as a means of survival. A trauma bond may have kept you in the relationship longer than you wanted to be, so now that it is over, you might find yourself seeking opportunities to reconnect even when you are safe. The loss of attachment hurts According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, our need for belonging is a basic human need, not a weakness or flaw. We are wired to seek connection, and this does not disappear when we are in a toxic relationship. We will cling to any sense of belonging from a toxic partner, even when it is inconsistent. Attachment wounds can arise even when leaving was your choice. Not only did you lose a partner and the dream of sharing life together, you also lost a sense of identity. 2. Expect loneliness but know you don’t have to be alone You are single again, and it can feel overwhelming at times. The chaos of the relationship was noisy, unpredictable at times, and distracting, but now you find yourself sitting in silence with your own thoughts. The silence can feel unbearable as you begin to process what happened and how it really feels. The loneliness you might experience is a natural reaction, but you do not have to be alone. Be intentional about connecting with safe and supportive individuals who can surround you with love as you rebuild the fragile parts of you that would have broken if you had stayed. Friends come and go, and that hurts too It is possible that you lost connections with friends and family because your partner isolated you, which is a common tactic of power and control. It is also possible that some of your friends no longer knew what to say or how to help, so they turned away at some point during your relationship. Others may have grown frustrated, especially if they watched you remain in a relationship that hurt you when they offered help. The loss of friendship causes deep pain, but this does not define your worthiness of love. Take this time to rebuild relationships with people who can provide the empathy you need. Find your tribe Healing from a toxic relationship often requires a step of faith in finding healthy connections. This is a great time to find your tribe, the ones who provide emotional safety, consistency, and the support you need. Be open to creating a new circle of support. Get involved in a community, whether that means joining a gym, a club, or any group that provides the emotional safety you need by allowing you to show up as your authentic self, even the broken parts of you. Volunteer One way to heal a broken heart is by giving back to your community. Volunteering for a cause that aligns with your values can aid in restoring a sense of self and purpose. You could also find unexpected connections with someone in this new space. It is possible to create beauty from the ashes of a toxic relationship by discovering, or rediscovering, your passion that connects you to not only who you were before the relationship, but also who you are becoming. 3. Avoid the cycle of self-blame Self-blame is part of the toxic aftermath of choosing yourself after a significant time of mental and emotional abuse. While you should be walking in your freedom, you might find a silent killer of connection called blame creeping in. Blame is another common tactic of power and control. Your partner may have blamed you for everything that went wrong in the relationship, but this is your time to recognize the patterns you experienced and reframe the pain. Don’t gaslight yourself Toxic relationships will have you gaslighting yourself, and some of this is learned behavior from your toxic partner, who often gaslit you as a means of manipulation and control. After leaving a toxic relationship, it is common to question your own reality. You might find yourself replaying past conversations, obsessing over old messages, or seeking clarity in spaces you will never get it. Do not invalidate your pain to try to make sense of the loss. This is the time to learn to trust your inner voice again. Don’t blame yourself for the loss of friendship You might blame yourself for the loss of connection with loved ones. You silently tell yourself, “If only I would have listened to them and ended the relationship sooner, maybe they would still be here for me.” You cannot control how others respond to your situation. You can only control your attempts to make healthy connections. Remind yourself of the truth You might second-guess your decision to leave, formulating lies you tell yourself about why you should have stayed. Beware that your ex might reach out to confirm these lies. Always lean toward the truth. The truth is, the relationship hurt. The truth is, you changed as you lost a piece of yourself and had to survive under the pressure of chaos. The truth is, you deserve love that does not break you. 4. Avoid returning to the relationship or starting a new one for relief A toxic ex who was afraid to lose you, or the control they had over you, is highly likely to return. You can expect a text, a call, or some form of communication from your ex as a checkpoint to see if you are truly over the relationship. You left for a reason. Remember the pain you endured. Just because the day changed does not mean they have. Returning to chaos will keep you stuck It is easy to go back to what feels familiar. You know how to operate with the person who hurt you, but being unpartnered and truly alone feels unfamiliar. Returning to a partner who remains unhealthy, one who refuses to acknowledge or take responsibility for their behavior and change, is like renting a car with flat tires. It does not belong to you, and you will never get anywhere. Avoid moving on too soon Some people may encourage you to find a new partner as quickly as possible to distract yourself from the pain or to prove to your ex, or yourself, that you have moved on. While the intentions behind this advice may be pure, this is not always helpful. When you move on too soon without truly processing the past relationship, survival methods learned in chaos may return. This can show up as hypervigilance as you interpret your partner’s behaviors. Not only does this risk the longevity of the relationship, but it can reopen wounds that caused you to question your worthiness of love and belonging. The three dot effect As you navigate this new sense of emotional freedom, you might find yourself experiencing what I call the Three Dot Effect. You know, the emotional response to digital communication we receive, or the lack thereof, that triggers a silent obsession. You might check your phone several times a day waiting for them to reach out. In the meantime, you are obsessing over every word they said. If you have ever found yourself experiencing this and want relief, watch my TEDx Talk entitled, “3 Ways To Stop Obsessing Over That Text.” 5. Avoid trying to make the past make sense We are wired to fill the holes of understanding by searching for closure, which will sometimes send us into a spiral of painful rumination. Of course, you want to know what went wrong. Of course, you want to make sense of the good days. Unfortunately, without creating boundaries for yourself during this time, you could find yourself becoming a victim of the mental loop of seeking closure as a means to regain control that was lost in the relationship. Why block when you can delete Some might say that blocking someone from contacting you provides a sense of control, but in reality, it is simply one way of control. To be honest, it keeps the door cracked open for the person to return. If you truly desire emotional freedom after ending a toxic relationship, deleting the person from your contacts and social media is more effective than blocking. When you have acknowledged that someone was unhealthy for you, closing the door completely allows you to regulate your heart and mind. You do not owe anyone continued access to you. Delete the memories We typically keep memories of the good times on our phones or on social media, but deep down, you know those moments were few. Rarely do we ever share the memories of our painful moments, the times we were manipulated, isolated, gaslit by our lover, or verbally and emotionally abused. Do not torture yourself while you are grieving the loss of the relationship. It takes courage to let go, but if you are not ready to let go of the memories completely, try processing these feelings with a licensed counselor. Stay in the present It is easy to sit with memories, especially if you are experiencing loneliness at the time. Instead of looking back at the pain, stay focused on the present truth of healing. This is your time. Practice mindfulness by taking note of all five of your senses. You are here, right now, for a purpose. Do not lose focus on the goal by looking back. If you are in the aftermath of leaving a toxic partner, grieving, questioning, or simply feeling lost and confused, you do not have to do this alone. I invite you to join me at EvA Empowered for EvA Rising: The Relationship Reset. This relationship coaching group for high-achieving women provides four weeks of intentional conversation and connection with me, and women like you who succeed everywhere but struggle with love. Watch my TEDx Talk here. Follow me on YouTube ,   Instagram,   LinkedIn,  and visit my website  for more info! Read more from Dr. Leslie Davis Dr. Leslie Davis, Clinical Counselor and Relationship Expert Dr. Leslie Davis is the heart behind Eva Empowered—a movement dedicated to helping women around the world to break free from the cycle of toxic relationships and reclaim their worth.  Dr. D is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and award-winning Relationship Therapist who specializes in guiding high-achieving women and single mothers toward emotional freedom, deep healing, and healthier connections.

Written by Aravind Sakthivel, CIO & Chief AI Officer Aravind Sakthivel is a global technology leader with 23+ years in IT and AI. Founder of London AI Studio and former CIO in Operating Companies of Veralto/Danaher. He now serves as a Fractional CIO/CAIO, helping CEOs, boards, and investors turn IT and AI into measurable growth engines. Aravind Sakthivel  is a technology and transformation leader, former CIO, and advisor to organizations navigating automation, governance pressure, and sustained performance demands. Over more than two decades, he has worked closely with executive teams across industries, helping them diagnose leadership breakdowns that rarely announce themselves until it is too late. In this article, Aravind explains why leadership failure is often misdiagnosed, how strong organizations quietly drift into danger, and how his book The Leadership Trap  gives leaders a framework to intervene early and deliberately. Where does leadership failure actually begin? Most leadership failures do not begin with scandal, incompetence, or bad intent. They begin quietly. In strong organizations, everything often looks fine from the outside. Strategies are sensible. Teams are capable. Performance metrics are reassuring. Yet leaders feel a subtle unease they struggle to articulate. Decisions take longer. Risks surface late. Engagement erodes without an obvious cause. The problem is not that leaders suddenly stop leading. It is that the systems around them slowly distort reality. Over time, truth reaches senior leaders later and later, not because people lie, but because the organization rewards reassurance and penalizes challenge. By the time failure becomes visible in outcomes, the conditions that caused it have usually been in place for years. Why do smart, experienced leaders struggle to see it coming? Because intelligence and experience increase trust in systems. Experienced leaders trust dashboards. Capable leaders delegate risk downward. High performers become protected in the name of continuity. Rational leaders optimise efficiency under pressure. None of this is irrational. But when systems quietly filter inconvenient information, leaders are surrounded by alignment instead of truth. At that point, leadership failure becomes structural, not personal. This is why replacing leaders so often fails. The same patterns reappear because the system remains unchanged. The early warning signs leaders often overlook They are subtle and easy to rationalize. Truth arrives late or sanitized. Difficult conversations are reframed as unhelpful or negative. Capability erodes quietly under efficiency initiatives. Innovation activity increases, but meaningful outcomes do not. Leaders become visible for milestones but are absent during moments of uncertainty. None of these signals looks alarming on its own. Together, they form what I call leadership traps. These traps feel professional, logical, and even successful while they are forming. That is what makes them dangerous. Leadership Traps: Why the name matters Because traps are not mistakes. They are patterns. A mistake can be corrected quickly. A trap reinforces itself. It rewards behavior that feels safe and sensible while quietly narrowing options. People inside the system believe they are doing the right thing. Framing these patterns as traps shifts the conversation away from blame and toward diagnosis. Leaders stop asking who failed and start asking what failed systemically. That shift is essential if you want prevention rather than damage control. How does The Leadership Trap approach leadership differently? Most leadership literature focuses on who leaders are. This book focuses on what leaders are operating inside. Leadership is not just a role. It is an environment shaped by incentives, cadence, signals, and consequences. That environment determines what information reaches leaders, how decisions are challenged, and whether accountability is real or symbolic. The Leadership Trap shifts the lens from personality to systems because systems can be observed, tested, and redesigned. Traits are much harder to change under pressure. The three core systems that drive leadership success Because every leadership failure I have seen ultimately traces back to them. Challenge determines whether truth can safely reach decision makers. Capability determines whether organizations protect the skills they depend on. Cadence determines whether leadership presence aligns with moments of uncertainty. When these systems degrade, traps emerge. When they function well, leadership becomes resilient even in volatile conditions. These are not abstract ideas. Leaders can observe them in meetings, decisions, and outcomes. How The Leadership Trap helps leaders navigate challenges It solves a visibility problem. Many leaders sense something is wrong long before results collapse, but they lack the language to describe it. The book gives leaders a way to name what they are seeing and feeling. It introduces six recurring traps, explains how they form, and provides diagnostic tools leaders can apply immediately. Most importantly, it offers a structured ninety-day roadmap to intervene early, before failure forces action. It replaces vague discomfort with clarity. The urgency behind this leadership discussion Because pressure is intensifying everywhere. Automation is accelerating. Cost scrutiny is relentless. Governance expectations are rising. Leaders are expected to move faster, decide earlier, and get it right more often. In this environment, filtered truth becomes dangerous. Alignment without challenge becomes fragile. Activity without outcomes becomes deceptive. Many modern leadership failures feel sudden because leaders are operating inside systems that suppress early warning signals. The window for correction is shrinking. A step-by-step look at the ninety-day action plan The ninety-day plan is designed to be practical, not theoretical. Days 1 to 30: Diagnose the system Leaders observe how truth flows. Who speaks up and who stays silent. Where decisions are challenged and where they are not. Which capabilities are being protected and which are being quietly hollowed out? This phase is about listening, not fixing. Days 31 to 60: Interrupt the traps Leaders intervene selectively. They invite challenge explicitly. They review where accountability has blurred. They test assumptions behind key metrics. The goal is recalibration, not disruption. Days 61 to 90: Redesign leadership cadence Leaders align their presence with uncertainty rather than ceremony. They adjust meeting structures, decision forums, and escalation paths so truth reaches them earlier. Small system changes at this stage produce an outsized impact. By the end of ninety days, leaders are not solving every problem. They are changing the conditions that create them. What every leader should remember from this book I hope leaders stop blaming themselves for problems that are systemic. Leadership failure is rarely sudden. Rarely personal. But it is almost always predictable. If leaders learn to recognize traps early and redesign the systems around them, they can prevent failure instead of managing its aftermath. That shift fundamentally changes how leadership feels and functions. Book Launch The Leadership Trap will be released on 3 February and will be available in Kindle and paperback formats on Amazon. If you are a senior leader, executive, or board member navigating transformation, governance complexity, or sustained performance pressure, this book was written to help you see what systems may be quietly shaping your outcomes. Because leadership does not fail loudly. It fails quietly first. Follow me on Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn , YouTube , and visit my website  for more info! Read more from Aravind Sakthivel Aravind Sakthivel, CIO & Chief AI Officer Aravind Sakthivel is a global technology leader and entrepreneur with over two decades of experience in enterprise IT, AI, and digital transformation. He served as Chief Information Officer at Esko Graphics and now leads London AI Studio while advising as a Fractional CIO and Chief AI Officer. Aravind has delivered complex M&A integrations, global ERP rollouts, and cloud transformations while driving measurable growth and resilience for CEOs, boards, and investors.

Brainz Magazine Exclusive Interview Dr. Sharona Cohen is a psychologist redefining what effective mental health looks like in a high-pressure world. Known for cutting through outdated models and endless analysis, she helps high-functioning individuals build emotional regulation and decision-making capacity where it actually matters—under stress, in relationships, and in real life. Her work challenges the idea that insight alone creates change and points toward a more modern, responsible future for mental health care. As Dr. Sharona Cohen emphasizes throughout her work, real transformation happens when awareness meets action. “Insight without action keeps people stuck,” she notes, underscoring a central flaw in many traditional therapeutic approaches. Later, she reframes burnout with similar clarity: “Burnout isn’t a personal failure—it’s what happens when you keep operating at a pace your system can’t maintain.” Dr. Sharona Cohen "So, I cut through the BS. I tell you what I see. I ask you to look with me. And then I stay with you—not just for the insight, but through the actual work needed for transformation". What inspired your no-nonsense, cut-through-the-BS approach to therapy? I have been sitting on both sides of this system as a therapist and as a client. At the beginning, I truly believed that insight alone was what changed people—that if you understood the why, the how would follow. But the more people I worked with, the clearer it became that’s not how change actually happens. Most people can figure out their patterns. They can explain their history and analyze themselves endlessly. What they can’t do is interrupt those patterns in real time. Insight without action keeps people stuck. That’s where my approach comes from. Real change requires interruption, honesty, and someone willing to hold up an unbiased mirror—without judgment, without sugarcoating. Sometimes that mirror is uncomfortable. Sometimes you don’t like what you see. But that discomfort is often the moment change becomes possible. So, I cut through the BS. I tell you what I see. I ask you to look with me. And then I stay with you—not just for the insight, but through the actual work needed for transformation. What is the biggest misconception about mental health you wish people would drop? That if you talk about something long enough, it will resolve itself. That could not be further from the truth. It is not always true that if you make sense of your past, everything will fall into place. Real change doesn’t happen with insight alone. It happens in honesty. Growth happens when someone is willing to call you out and you are ready to hear them—when you’re avoiding the truth, repeating patterns you may or may not see, or lying to yourself about what’s really happening. Insight without challenge doesn’t lead to change. It leads to the illusion of change. Therapy isn’t meant to create dependency or make you live forever in the past. Its purpose is to help you function better—to think more clearly, move more efficiently, and build stronger relationships across the board. What needs to change in how mental health is practiced to meet the world we’re living in now? The pace. We’re still practicing mental health like it’s the 1960s—like people are reading a morning newspaper and then going about their day. That model doesn’t work anymore. Today, people live with constant stimulation. Phones are with us 24/7. Notifications are non-stop. News, updates, stories from across the globe and across the street are coming at us every second. Pressure is constant and relentless. Yet mental health care is still largely confined to once-a-week sessions. That creates a massive pace gap between how people live and how we support them. To close that gap, care must extend beyond the weekly sessions. People need support in between, ways to regulate, reflect, and course-correct in real time. Mental health must become more responsive, more accessible, and more integrated into daily life. That’s where technology and AI come in—not as replacements for human care, but as tools to support it. Used responsibly and ethically, they can help provide structure, continuity, and guidance between sessions. But people need education and boundaries around how to use them well, and unfortunately that is missing at the moment. I am hopeful that we can change course and correct that. The future of mental health depends on closing the pace gap between how people live and how they’re supported. It’s about showing up in smarter ways. It is about the augmentation of AI to close the pace gap and make mental health more accessible. What is the first step you recommend for high-performing clients on the edge of burnout? Stop trying to fix it—and slow the pace. High performers instinctively push harder when something feels off. They optimize, tighten systems, and add strategies. That instinct is often what creates burnout in the first place. Burnout happens when you keep asking your mind and body to operate at a speed they can’t sustain. When you’re overloaded, clarity disappears. Decisions feel heavier. Your tolerance shrinks. Adding more pressure only makes it worse. The first step is creating an intentional pause in room—reducing unnecessary demands and letting your nervous system settle before making changes. Once the system slows down, clarity returns. Here ’s the reframe most people miss: Burnout isn’t a personal failure—it’s what happens when you keep operating at a pace your system can’t maintain. What makes you different from other therapists out there? I don’t treat therapy as a place to vent—I treat it as a place to build real-world capability. My work integrates psychology with how the body and mind actually respond under pressure. I help people understand why they react the way they do, but more importantly, I teach them how to respond differently when it matters—at work, in relationships, and in high-stakes moments. I also bring a business-owner’s mindset into the therapy room. Time matters. Systems matter. Results matter. Progress should be visible. People don’t come to me to stay in therapy indefinitely. They come to learn how to run their lives better—and eventually, do that independently. What small daily habits make the biggest impact on emotional well-being? Creating a brief daily intentional pause that interrupts urgency. Most people move from task to task without letting their nervous system reset. A few minutes of intentional slowing—whether through breathing, a short walk, or simply sitting without stimulation—can shift how the entire day unfolds. This isn’t about productivity hacks. It’s about reminding the body that it’s not in constant threat mode. When urgency drops, clarity returns. Consistency matters more than intensity. What does good therapy look like in today’s world—and how do you define success when it’s working? Good therapy creates movement. It helps people change, not just understand. I define success as someone becoming unstuck. That means they can clearly identify the problem, understand what’s driving it, and respond differently when it shows up again. Most importantly, they leave therapy with tools they can use on their own—so they don’t need to come back every time life gets hard. Good therapy helps people regulate themselves under stress, communicate more effectively, and trust their ability to handle challenges. It allows them to feel more confident in who they are and more grounded in their decisions. And the clearest sign therapy is working? When it no longer needs to be the center of someone’s life. Dr. Sharona Cohen’s perspective reflects a growing demand for mental health care that keeps pace with modern life. As a concierge psych doc, she emphasizes interruption over insight alone and functionality over endless analysis, reframing therapy as a practical tool for real-world change—helping people think more clearly, regulate more effectively, and operate with greater intention under pressure. If this perspective resonated with you, follow Dr. Sharona´s work to explore what modern mental health can and should—look like in today’s world. Connect with Dr. Sharona Cohen: Instagram TikTok LinkedIn Facebook YouTube Website

Written by Britt-Mari Sykes, Career Counsellor Britt-Mari Sykes, Ph.D., CDP, is a career counsellor and founder of CANVAS Career Counselling, working remotely with clients across Canada. Intentionally creating time and space to pause, slow down, and reflect on our work and career experiences is a vital practice for career maintenance. Cultivating a regular reflective practice, specifically a career journaling practice, may seem antithetical to the rapid pace of our lives and the unprecedented change in the world. Slowing down to reflect may seem counter to the quick fixes or strategies we increasingly reach for to circumvent the changes our lives and careers continually face. However, developing a reflective career journaling practice is vital to strengthening our adaptive skills as we navigate an increasingly dynamic job market, now and in the future. Change in perspective Change is an inherent part of life, and our attitude towards it varies. Sometimes we intentionally seek or instigate change in our lives and careers, while at other times we resist it or feel unsettled by it. We can be open to change in certain areas of our lives and quite resistant to it in others. This is particularly true in our careers, where we are conditioned to develop and sustain a particular career path, seeking stability and security. Yet increasingly, careers are characterized by multiple work experiences, retraining, or time away from paid work. This reality, despite our continued desire and need for stability and security, has come face-to-face with the future of work, demanding acceptance of change and the skills to navigate it. The person who experiences change Our individual experiences of work and career always extend beyond strategy. While any given career strategy may be situation-appropriate, help us navigate the current job market, or be useful as part of a multifaceted approach to achieving a specific goal, we remain “the person” who experiences work throughout our working lives. We remain the multi-contextual person who also grows, develops, and changes throughout a career, who makes choices and decisions, who identifies with their work, job, or profession, who is affected by changes in the world that affect the job market, who confronts challenges and experiences fulfillment, who experiences doubt, regret, and misgivings, who questions and pushes back, who adapts, accepts, and even conforms, whose motivation soars and plummets, who gets bored and disillusioned, who gets creative and pushes boundaries, who experiences burnout, who seeks stability and security, and who aspires to belong, contribute, and have a place in the world. In short, a human being, not a strategy. Strengthening our adaptive skills for change So how can we begin to strengthen our adaptive skills in the face of so much change in our careers and in the future of work? Setting aside a few minutes each day or week to slow down, reflect, and journal, and this takes practice, can help us: Examine and become more attuned to our daily work experiences. Foster deeper self-awareness and a clearer understanding of our relationship with work and our career journey. Broaden our perspectives. Create space for our imagination, creativity, and exploration. Become more aware of the rhythm of movement and change in our lives, and how we experience and approach it. Starting a reflective career journaling practice Helps us stay present with our experiences. It gives us space to notice our attitudes and our engagement with work more fully. It brings into greater focus specific standouts in a day or a week and how we engaged, contributed, or generally “showed up”. Helps us recognize and articulate our key questions, concerns, or decisions. Helps us develop a deeper understanding and perspective on our expectations, assumptions, and aspirations related to work and career. It also highlights how these factors influence our overall career journey and our specific choices and decisions. Helps us identify underlying and recurring themes in our careers, their impact, and any choices or decisions influenced by them. Helps us monitor our motivation, energy levels, and general well being. Helps us track our developing interests, ideas, and changing goals and aspirations. Helps us monitor changes in our careers more closely and our adaptation to or resistance to them. Helps us identify and describe both meaningful and challenging moments in our day or week, embrace them, learn from them, and integrate and leverage these experiences as we continue to build our careers. Helps us embrace the trajectory of our careers more holistically, rather than being confined to specific roles, job titles, or professional identities. Developing a reflective career journaling practice is a powerful tool for career maintenance that we can initiate at any stage of our careers to deepen self-discovery, gain clarity, spark creativity, and strengthen our adaptive skills for navigating change. Getting started: 7 suggestions for reflection Reflect on your overall relationship with work at this stage of your career. How would you describe it? Reflect on the changes you have experienced in your career, job changes, role changes, workplace changes, and educational or training changes. Reflect on how you have responded to, adapted to, been challenged by, or resisted these changes. Reflect on your personal growth and professional development. Reflect on how you have changed at different stages of your career. Reflect on how these changes have shaped your relationship with work. Reflect on attitudinal changes, changes in your goals, and/or your approach to your career. Reflect on how you have responded, adapted, or resisted. Reflect on how these changes may have influenced your choices and decisions. Reflect on times when change has been welcomed. Reflect on the circumstances. Reflect on how you approached and navigated that change. Reflect on times when change has been challenging, unwelcome, and possibly destabilizing. Reflect on how you approached and navigated these changes. Reflect on the changes or adjustments you would like to make in your career. Reflect on why these changes or adjustments are important at this stage. Britt-Mari Sykes is a career counsellor and consultant. Start a conversation on developing a reflective career journaling practice. Contact her here  for more information. Follow me on Instagram , LinkedIn , and visit my website for more info! Read more from Britt-Mari Sykes Britt-Mari Sykes, Career Counsellor Britt-Mari Sykes, Ph.D., is a Career Counsellor and founder of CANVAS Career Counselling, working remotely with clients across Canada. Britt-Mari offers a reflective and strategic process to clients, one that integrates their lived experiences, values, and aspirations. This experiential approach to career counselling helps clients gain greater clarity and perspective and design practical steps towards a more meaningful relationship with work and career.

Philip Kretsedemas has built a career by asking questions most people rush past. How do identities take shape? How do histories, personal and collective, quietly guide the choices people make today? His work in genealogy studies has followed these questions across academia, publishing, and now audio storytelling. The thread has stayed the same, even as the format has changed. This long view has made Kretsedemas a steady voice in a field that often struggles to balance rigor with relevance. Early academic roots in genealogy studies Kretsedemas came to genealogy through scholarship, not hobby. Early in his career, he was drawn to genealogy as a method rather than a simple record of ancestry. He saw it as a way to trace how ideas, values, and social practices evolve over time. “Genealogy was never just about family trees for me,” he says. “It was about how things become normalized, how they gain authority, and how they can also change.” This interest placed him at the intersection of sociology, philosophy, and cultural studies. His work engaged thinkers like Nietzsche, Deleuze, Foucault, and Darwin, but always with an eye toward real social life. He focused on how genealogy could explain our constantly changing ideas about race, kinship, identity, and power without treating history as a straight line. Launching the journal genealogy That perspective shaped one of the defining moments of his career. Kretsedemas became the inaugural editor in chief of the academic journal Genealogy. At the time, the field was fragmented. Family historians, philosophers, anthropologists, and social scientists were often talking past one another. “The journal was meant to create a shared space,” he explains. “Not to force agreement, but to allow different genealogies to sit side by side.” Under his leadership, the journal launched with a wide-ranging inaugural issue. It included essays on philosophy of science, family history, poststructuralism, and genetics. The goal was not to define genealogy narrowly, but to show its reach. Kretsedemas encouraged work that challenged fixed ideas of origin, truth, and inheritance. He supported scholarship that treated genealogy as both analytical and creative. That editorial vision helped establish Genealogy as a serious, interdisciplinary outlet. A career shaped by method, not trend As his career developed, Kretsedemas continued to work across fields rather than settle into one lane. His research examined migration, race, nationalism, and family narratives. He paid close attention to how people use stories of the past to explain who they are in the present. “One thing genealogy teaches you is humility,” he says. “You see how fragile our explanations are, and how much effort goes into holding them together.” This approach also made him skeptical of simple answers. He resisted ideas that claimed history had a single direction or final meaning. Instead, he focused on contingency. Things could have been otherwise. That insight shaped both his scholarship and his leadership style. Colleagues often describe him as methodical and patient. He favors careful framing over quick conclusions. In fields driven by debate, this has given his work staying power. Turning toward self-care and personal genealogies In recent years, Kretsedemas has brought genealogy into a more personal register. This shift is most visible in his Substack podcast series on genealogies of self-care, published under his own name, " https://philipkretsedemas.substack.com ". The podcast explores how practices like mindfulness, wellness, and self-improvement came to mean what they do today. Rather than offering advice, Kretsedemas traces the histories behind these ideas. He looks at how self-care moved from ancient ethics to modern productivity culture. “Self-care didn’t start as a lifestyle product,” he says. “It started as a way of shaping one’s character and responsibilities.” Each episode connects past frameworks of care to current habits. He draws on philosophy, social theory, and everyday examples. The tone is reflective, not prescriptive. Listeners are invited to think, not optimize. Leadership through context and clarity What links Kretsedemas’s early editorial work to his current podcast is a consistent leadership approach. He creates spaces for reflection. He clarifies complex ideas without flattening them. And he treats knowledge as something shaped by use, not just accuracy. “Genealogy asks what ideas are doing in the world,” he says. “Not just whether they are right or wrong.” This perspective has made him a trusted figure in genealogy studies. He understands both the power and the limits of historical explanation. He also understands that scholarship gains influence when it speaks clearly. Looking ahead Kretsedemas continues to work at the boundary between academic inquiry and public conversation. His career shows how a method can travel across formats and still retain depth. “Formats change,” he says. “The questions don’t.” From founding an academic journal to hosting a reflective podcast, Philip Kretsedemas has shaped genealogy studies by slowing the conversation down. In doing so, he has helped others see the hidden paths that connect past practices to present lives. If you want to follow his work, you can read his essays on Substack at philipkretsedemas.substack.com , listen to his podcast on Spotify, and follow him on X.

Jason Goldberg  has built his career in a field where precision matters and trust is earned over time. As a partner at MLT Aikins, the largest law firm in Manitoba and Western Canada, he works at the centre of complex business decisions. His focus is tax law, corporate planning and commercial transactions. His approach is calm, structured, and grounded in long-term thinking. “I’ve always believed that clarity and precision is critical,” Jason says. “When people understand what they’re doing, better decisions follow.” Early years and a Winnipeg Foundation Jason is a lifelong Winnipeg resident. Growing up in the city shaped how he views work and community. Sports and culture were always close at hand, from the old Winnipeg Arena to what is now Canada Life Centre. “Winnipeg has a way of teaching you commitment,” he says. “You stay loyal. You put the work in.” That mindset showed up early. In 1989, Jason received a YTV Achievement Award for Entrepreneurship. While still a student, he was already interested in how ideas turn into lasting ventures. He earned a BA from the University of Manitoba in 1993. He then completed his law degree at the University of Western Ontario in 1997 and was called to the Manitoba Bar in 1998. Choosing tax and corporate law Early in his legal career, Jason was drawn to tax law because it provides an opportunity to provide clients lasting value and helps shape transactions efficiently.  “Tax touches almost every major business decision,” he says. “If you ignore it, you miss how the whole system fits together.” He pursued advanced training to deepen his expertise. In 2006, he completed the CICA In-Depth Tax Course, along with programs focused on corporate reorganizations and tax law for lawyers. “These programs teach discipline,” Jason says. “You learn that small details can change the outcome in big ways."   In 2020 and 2022, Lexpert recognized Jason as a prominent tax practitioner in Manitoba. Building a practice around real decisions Jason’s work today focuses on corporate tax planning, acquisitions and divestitures, reorganizations, and estate and succession planning. Much of it involves closely held and family-owned businesses. These clients are often facing moments of transition. A sale. A restructuring. A generational change. He is known for helping clients translate complex structures into clear frameworks. The goal is not to overwhelm, but to align intent with structure. “When everyone understands the plan, execution becomes easier,” he says. Leadership at MLT Aikins As a tax partner at MLT Aikins, Jason works in a collaborative environment. Large transactions require coordination across legal, tax, and advisory teams. “No one does this work alone,” he says. “Leadership is about making sure the right voices are heard at the right time across a variety of disciplines.” He is also active in professional education. Jason has written and presented for the Canadian Tax Foundation and CLE and has presented to groups such as the Business Development Bank of Canada. “Preparing a paper forces you to stay sharp,” he says. “If you can explain something simply, it helps to fully understand it.” Life beyond the office Outside of work, Jason remains deeply engaged with sports and the arts. He is a lifelong fan of the NHL and NBA. At home, he supports the Winnipeg Jets. When watching from afar, he follows the New York Rangers. He also keeps an eye on the Phoenix Suns and the Vancouver Canucks. “Sports are a shared language,” he says. “They connect people across generations.” Jason is also an active supporter of the arts. He regularly attends the Vancouver International Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. He enjoys discovering new voices and stories. He supports cultural institutions including the Vancouver Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Vancouver Art Gallery, Phoenix Art Museum, and the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. “The arts remind you that there are many ways to see the world,” he says. “That perspective helps in business too.” Commitment to education and community Jason is an advocate for education and youth development. He supports Balmoral Hall School and programs that focus on leadership, curiosity, and character. “Education shapes how people think long before they make career choices,” he says. “It’s one of the most meaningful ways to support a community.” A career defined by consistency Jason Goldberg’s career is defined by steady progress and ongoing continuing legal education. He has built a reputation for thoughtful execution and clear judgment.

Written by Dharma Rebecca Funder, Executive Reinventionist & Leadership Strategist Dharma Funder is an Executive Reinventionist and Leadership Strategist who guides high-performing executives to achieve sustainable success through nervous-system-led leadership and embodied transformation. In periods of rapid growth, it is not uncommon to see high-performing executives begin to fracture precisely when outward indicators suggest success. Revenue is rising. Visibility is increasing. Scope and responsibility are expanding. Yet decision quality deteriorates, reactivity increases, and previously reliable leaders begin to stall, burn out, or destabilize. This pattern is often misdiagnosed as a failure of discipline, focus, or strategy. In reality, it reflects a more fundamental constraint, internal capacity under pressure. Growth does not first register on a balance sheet. It registers internally. Before expansion produces external results, it increases internal load, cognitive demand, emotional strain, decisional complexity, and responsibility density. When this internal load exceeds a leader's capacity to contain it, performance degrades regardless of intelligence, experience, or work ethic. "Growth does not first register on a balance sheet. It registers internally." Most growth cultures do not account for this. They assume that effort scales cleanly, that mindset compensates for strain, and that systems will absorb pressure if designed correctly. These assumptions hold only until internal capacity is exceeded. At that point, the human system becomes the limiting factor. Why strategy fails under load Traditional growth strategies focus almost exclusively on external levers, market expansion, operational efficiency, capital deployment, and organizational design. These are necessary, but insufficient. They presume a stable operator, someone whose internal state remains coherent as demand escalates. In practice, leaders scale pressure faster than capacity. As responsibilities multiply, decision cycles compress. Stakes rise. Ambiguity increases. The leader's internal system, attention, nervous regulation, and emotional bandwidth, absorbs this pressure long before the organization does. When that system reaches saturation, familiar tools stop working. Discipline becomes brittle. Mindset techniques feel forced. Processes are bypassed in favor of urgency. What appears from the outside as poor execution is, from the inside, a system under strain. The issue is not a lack of will. It is a lack of internal containment. Pressure as a diagnostic signal Pressure does not create failure, it reveals constraints. Under escalating demand, latent limitations become visible. Reaction replaces response. Short-term relief strategies override long-term judgment. Leaders begin to operate in a constant state of urgency, mistaking speed for effectiveness and motion for progress. "Pressure does not create failure, it reveals constraints." In growth phases, leaders often notice a subtle but consistent pattern, decision confidence erodes despite increased experience, tolerance for ambiguity narrows, and previously manageable complexity begins to feel destabilizing. This is frequently misattributed to poor prioritization or leadership fatigue. In reality, it reflects an internal system operating without margin. Urgency is rarely a virtue in leadership. It is almost always a signal. Specifically, it signals overload, an internal system operating beyond its capacity to remain stable. In this state, leaders may still perform, but the cost accumulates. Sleep degrades. Relationships narrow. Decision making becomes reactive. The organization may continue to grow, but it does so on an increasingly fragile foundation. This is the invisible ceiling many high achievers encounter. It is not imposed by market conditions or competitive dynamics. It is imposed by the limits of internal capacity. Without addressing this constraint, additional effort only accelerates instability. Performance versus authority High performers are trained to perform. They are rewarded for output, responsiveness, and results under pressure. Over time, performance becomes conflated with authority. Yet the two are not the same. Performance relies on exertion. Authority relies on stability. A leader operating from performance can achieve impressive outcomes, but those outcomes require continuous effort to sustain. Authority, by contrast, emerges when a leader can remain internally stable as demand increases. Decisions become cleaner. Presence becomes more decisive. Influence expands without force. "Performance relies on exertion. Authority relies on stability." This distinction matters because performance degrades under chronic strain. Authority does not. In fact, authority becomes more visible under pressure. When leaders maintain internal coherence amid complexity, they become anchors for their organizations. When they do not, instability propagates outward. The cost of chronic internal strain Operating beyond internal capacity carries consequences that are often normalized in high achievement environments. Irritability is reframed as intensity. Exhaustion is mistaken for commitment. Reactivity is justified as decisiveness. Over time, these adaptations erode both personal health and organizational effectiveness. Chronic internal strain narrows perception. Leaders become less able to tolerate ambiguity, less receptive to dissenting information, and more dependent on control. Innovation slows. Talent retention suffers. The organization may continue to function, but it does so with diminishing resilience. Importantly, these costs are not always visible in traditional metrics. They surface as subtle degradation, increased turnover at senior levels, delayed strategic pivots, or a persistent sense that growth feels harder than it should. These are not strategic failures. They are capacity failures. Reframing sustainable growth Sustainable leadership is not a matter of working harder or optimizing further. It is a matter of expanding internal capacity to meet external demand. Capacity, in this context, refers to the ability to hold increasing levels of complexity, pressure, and responsibility without destabilization. This reframing shifts the conversation. Growth is no longer about how much can be produced, but about how much can be contained. Leaders who invest in capacity expansion create surplus, margin within themselves that allows for clarity, restraint, and long-range thinking. Those who do not eventually hit limits that no strategy can bypass. Capacity expansion is not glamorous. It does not announce itself with dramatic breakthroughs. It manifests as steadiness. As the ability to pause without losing momentum. As the capacity to decide without urgency. These qualities are difficult to quantify, but they are immediately recognizable in leaders who possess them. Leadership stability as competitive advantage In volatile environments, stability becomes a differentiator. Organizations led by internally stable leaders navigate disruption with less friction. They absorb shocks without overcorrecting. They maintain direction without rigidity. This is not because they avoid pressure, but because they can hold it. Leadership stability under escalating demand is the real competitive advantage most growth cultures overlook. It cannot be outsourced, automated, or acquired through acquisition. It must be developed within the leader. "Growth tests the human system before it rewards the business system." As markets continue to reward speed and scale, the leaders who endure will not be those who push hardest, but those who expand capacity fastest. They will be the ones who recognize that growth tests the human system before it rewards the business system, and who build accordingly. The future of sustainable leadership belongs to those who understand this constraint and address it directly. Not through more effort, but through greater internal containment. Not through urgency, but through stability. Follow me on Facebook , Instagram , and LinkedIn for more info! Read more from Dharma Rebecca Funder Dharma Rebecca Funder, Executive Reinventionist & Leadership Strategist Dharma Funder is an Executive Reinventionist dedicated to helping successful leaders reclaim clarity, confidence, and calm under pressure. Drawing on principles of neuroscience, emotional regulation, and embodied leadership, she guides CEOs and senior executives through the transformation from overdrive to sustainable performance. Her work, The Resilience Code™, blends science, strategy, and soul to create leaders who thrive from the inside out.

In a world full of polished logos and trendy aesthetics, the brands that stand out feel different. They have a pulse and a point of view.  A way of showing up that feels unmistakable. The feeling is not accidental, it is built from the inside out. With over 10 years of experience in the branding industry, Katie Holmes has helped founders and leadership teams build brands that are clear, aligned, and purpose-driven. As founder and CEO of Brand Studio Creative and Senior Executive Contributor at Brainz Magazine, she brings a grounded perspective to branding that goes beyond current trends and focuses on what actually builds connection. In this Q&A, Katie shares how core values shape a brand’s energy, guide decisions, and create alignment that lasts. This is about brand vices that actually mean something, not just look good on a temporary mood board. When you talk about “brand vibes,” what are you really referring to? Brand vibes are the emotional undertone of your brand. It is how people feel when they interact with you, even before they can explain why. Your visuals, voice, leadership style, and customer experience all contribute to that feeling.  If your brand were a person, the vibe is the presence they have when they walk into the room. Are they calm, confident, bold, or warm? That presence comes from clarity, not trends. It comes from knowing who you are and leading with it consistently. Why do core values matter so much in shaping that vibe? Core values are the anchor of your brand. Without them, your brand starts reacting instead of leading. When your values are clear, they guide how you communicate, how you make decisions, and how you show up when things get messy. For me, values are not just words, they are behaviors. They show up in how you respond to clients, how you handle feedback, and how you treat your team. When values are truly in place, the brand vibe becomes natural and trustworthy, not forced. Many brands list their values, but still feel disconnected. What is usually missing? Most brands stop naming their values and never do the work of bringing them to life. A value like “integrity” or “creativity” means nothing unless you define what it looks like in action. This is where leadership plays a huge role. Teams need a shared language and real examples. How does this value guide decisions? How does it show up in our work, messaging, or our boundaries? When values are lived, not just listened to, alignment follows. How can leaders start infusing values into their brand’s DNA in a practical way? Start internally. Before you worry about marketing or visuals, look at your culture and your processes. Ask yourself if your values are actually reflected in how your business operates day to day. From there, build consistency. Let your values shape your brand voice, offers, content, and your client experience. This is not about perfection, it is about intention and repetition. Over time, those choices add up, and your brand starts to feel cohesive and confident.  What impact does this kind of alignment have on growth? It creates clarity, and clarity creates momentum. When your brand vibe is rooted in values, decision-making becomes easier. You attract the right clients, repel the wrong ones, and build trust faster. Aligned brands also scale better because the team knows how to move without constant approval. Everyone understands why they work. That is when a brand stops relying on one person and starts operating as a strong, connected system. What would you say to entrepreneurs who feel stuck or disconnected from their brand right now? Go back to the core, strip away the noise, the comparison, the “shoulds,” and reconnect with what actually matters to you. Your brand should feel like an extension of your values, not a performance. When you lead with intention and self-awareness, your brand vibe becomes magnetic. People feel it, people trust it. And that is where real, sustainable impact begins. A strong brand is not designed overnight. It is built through clarity, consistency, and values that are truly lived. When your core values are infused into every layer of your brand, the impact is deeper, the connection is stronger, and the growth is far more meaningful. Follow me on Facebook , Instagram , and LinkedIn   for more info! Read more from Katie Holmes

Written by Sadé Schuurman, Visionary Entrepreneur Sadé Schuurman is the founder of Diamonds by Sadé, a jewellery brand redefining luxury by offering high-quality, customizable diamond pieces at accessible prices. Her passion for timeless elegance drives her mission to make exquisite jewellery a celebration for everyone. Valentine’s Day is a celebration of love, connection, and meaningful gestures. While traditional gifts like chocolates and flowers are always appreciated, they’re often short-lived. If you want to give your partner something that lasts far beyond Valentine’s Day itself, jewellery remains the ultimate expression of love, timeless, personal, and unforgettable. This year, elevate your Valentine’s gifting with thoughtfully designed jewellery from Diamonds By Sade, where elegant design meets accessible luxury. From perfectly paired jewellery sets to gemstone necklaces, earrings, and even men’s jewellery, there’s a piece for every kind of love story. Even better, there’s currently 20% off the entire jewellery range this Valentine’s Day. Jewellery sets that say “I chose this just for you” If you’re looking to truly impress, jewellery sets are one of the most powerful Valentine’s gifts you can give. Coordinated sets, often including a necklace and matching earrings, create a complete, polished look that feels intentional and luxurious. Popular pieces such as the Celestial Hearts Jewellery Set are perfect examples of why sets are so impactful. Rather than gifting a single item, you’re presenting a collection designed to be worn together, symbolising unity and connection. It’s a gift that feels elevated, romantic, and deeply thoughtful. Jewellery sets also offer versatility. She can wear them together for special occasions or style each piece separately for everyday elegance. Either way, every wear becomes a reminder of your love and the moment she received it. Gemstone necklaces: Personal, elegant, and timeless A gemstone necklace is one of the most romantic Valentine’s gifts you can choose, beautiful, symbolic, and effortlessly stylish. Whether it’s a delicate pendant or a statement piece, gemstone necklaces add colour, meaning, and personality to any outfit. Each gemstone carries its own emotional significance. Deep reds represent passion, cool blues symbolise loyalty and trust, and soft neutrals reflect balance and calm. Choosing a gemstone necklace shows thought beyond aesthetics, it shows intention. Gemstone necklaces are timelessly versatile. Pieces like our Emerald Grace or Sapphire Grace transition effortlessly from day to night, elevating both casual looks and formal occasions. They become jewellery she’ll reach for again and again, long after Valentine’s Day has passed. Earrings she’ll wear every day and think of you Earrings are one of the most worn jewellery pieces, which makes them an ideal Valentine’s gift. From classic studs to elegant drops, earrings frame the face and enhance natural beauty, subtle yet powerful. Statement earrings, such as our Stella earrings, add drama and sophistication, while minimalist designs offer timeless everyday wear. Either way, they’re a gift that becomes part of her routine, worn to work, to dinner, and on special occasions. Pairing earrings with a matching necklace or set takes your gift to the next level, creating a cohesive look that feels refined and intentionally chosen. Flowers and chocolates are lovely, but jewellery lasts There’s nothing wrong with classic Valentine’s gifts. Flowers are romantic, chocolates are indulgent, and both make beautiful additions to the day. But they’re temporary. Jewellery, on the other hand, becomes part of her story. It doesn’t fade, melt, or disappear. It stays with her for years. Every time she wears it, she remembers who gave it to her and why. That’s why jewellery consistently remains the most impressive Valentine’s gift. It carries emotional weight, longevity, and meaning that no bouquet ever could. Valentine’s gifts for him: Men’s jewellery that makes a statement Valentine’s Day isn’t just about gifts for her. Men’s jewellery has become increasingly popular, and it’s one of the most stylish and meaningful ways to gift something different. From refined rings to bold statement pieces, men’s jewellery provides a modern expression of love and commitment. A piece like the Kelvin Ring is understated yet confident, designed to feel personal and intentional. Whether he prefers minimalist designs or standout pieces, men’s jewellery makes a thoughtful Valentine’s gift that feels intentional and contemporary. 20% off the perfect Valentine’s gift This Valentine’s Day, there’s never been a better time to invest in a gift that truly lasts. With 20% off the entire jewellery range, you can choose something meaningful, luxurious, and unforgettable, without compromise. If you’re ready to choose a Valentine’s gift that truly lasts, explore our Valentine’s Collection here  and find the perfect piece, beautifully designed, thoughtfully chosen, and ready to be loved. Follow me on Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn , and visit my website for more info! Read more from Sadé Schuurman Sadé Schuurman, Visionary Entrepreneur As the founder of Diamonds by Sadé, Sadé Schuurman transforms her lifelong love for diamonds into a mission of accessibility and elegance. She leads a brand renowned for its customizable and affordable jewellery, empowering clients to celebrate their unique stories with timeless, high-quality creations.

Written by Susan F. Moody, Intuitive Business, Life, and Success Coach As a Life Mastery Certified Coach®, Susan integrates spirituality with practicality, guiding women to discover their unique Soul Goal™ and chart a personal path to success and happiness. Unlock your inner wisdom, align your heart with your mind, and uncover actionable steps that resonate with your authentic self. In the journey of life, we often encounter unexpected twists and turns that challenge our plans and expectations. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a parent, or simply navigating the complexities of daily life, surprises can either bring joy and abundance or added expense and frustration. Recently, I pulled a wisdom card that resonated deeply with me, serving as a poignant reminder that how we handle the unexpected can shape our experiences. As someone who has ventured into the world of entrepreneurship and owned multiple businesses over the years, I've learned to anticipate the unexpected. Yet, like many, I prefer the surprises that bring positive outcomes rather than those that throw a wrench into my plans. However, life doesn't always adhere to our preferences, and sometimes the unexpected takes a less favorable turn. Upon pulling this particular card, I found myself reflecting on my initial reaction to unwelcome surprises. My instinctive response is often to scrutinize my actions, questioning whether I could have prevented or mitigated the situation. Was it something I did or didn't do that led to this outcome? While self reflection is valuable, it's essential to recognize that not every curveball is within our control. There are instances where external factors beyond our influence play a significant role in the unfolding of events. In such cases, blaming oneself serves little purpose other than to compound feelings of frustration and inadequacy. Instead, I've come to realize the importance of acceptance and letting go. Acknowledging that I've done the best I could with the knowledge and resources available at the time is a crucial step toward inner peace. It's a gentle reminder to extend compassion toward myself, recognizing that perfection is an unattainable standard. By releasing the need to assign blame or dwell on past actions, I free myself from the burden of unnecessary guilt and self doubt. Embrace the unexpected Embracing the unexpected isn't about resigning oneself to fate but rather adopting a mindset of resilience and adaptability. It's about finding the silver lining amidst the challenges and leveraging them as opportunities for growth. Every setback presents a chance to learn, evolve, and emerge stronger than before. Moreover, navigating the unpredictable nature of life requires a degree of trust in the universe or whatever higher power one believes in. Surrendering control doesn't signify weakness but rather a willingness to relinquish the illusion of control and embrace the inherent uncertainty of existence. In doing so, we open ourselves up to serendipitous moments and unforeseen blessings that enrich our lives in ways we couldn't have imagined. Ultimately, pulling this card served as a gentle nudge to recalibrate my perspective on the unexpected. It reminded me that while I can't always control external circumstances, I have the power to choose how I respond to them. By cultivating a mindset of acceptance, resilience, and trust, I navigate life's twists and turns with grace and equanimity. The wise woman says The next time life throws you a curveball, pause, take a deep breath, and remember that you're doing the best you can. Release the need to assign blame or dissect every decision, and instead, embrace the opportunity for growth and self discovery. Trust in the wisdom of the universe and have faith that everything happens for a reason, even if the rationale reveals itself in due time. In the grand tapestry of life, the unexpected threads add depth, texture, and richness to our experiences. Embrace them wholeheartedly, for therein lies the magic of living fully and authentically. Follow me on Facebook , Instagram ,   LinkedIn , and visit my website  for more info! Read more from Susan F. Moody Susan F. Moody, Intuitive Business, Life, and Success Coach Susan F. Moody, Wise Woman, is dedicated to empowering women to tap into their own inner wisdom and discover the power of intentional living. Along her personal journey, Susan became a wisdom seeker looking for ways to connect with the divine for inspiration and guidance. She started working with the I Ching, angel cards, wisdom cards, runes, and pendulum work over 20 years ago and now offers these spiritual insight tools as an option to her clients. She has also developed a tangible technique, the Soul Goal™ finder, to help clients answer the contemplative question “Why am I here?”

Written by Cherie Rivas, Transformational Therapies & Coaching Specialist Cherie Rivas is a Transformational Therapies and Coaching Specialist who guides her clients to reconnect with their purpose, reignite their passion, and reclaim their power. By blending psychology, breathwork, NLP, hypnotherapy, and somatic healing practices, her clients are able to break through limitations and unleash their highest potential. There is a stage in a woman’s leadership evolution where her inner work is no longer the problem. She is self-aware, emotionally literate, and intuitively connected. She understands her patterns, has processed much of her history, and has built a life that appears stable and functional. From the outside, she looks ready for more, yet momentum slows precisely at the point where her next step would carry real consequence. This hesitation is often labelled a ‘fear of power’, but that explanation misses the deeper truth. At this level of development, the issue is rarely power itself. The friction arises when power stops being internal and becomes consequential, when it must be expressed through decisions that affect other people, structures, and outcomes. She doesn’t lack clarity, she hesitates at the threshold of responsibility. Where inner work stops creating movement Eventually, insight reaches a point of diminishing return, a point where additional insight no longer produces behavioural change, not because self-awareness has failed, but because the developmental task has shifted. A woman can understand exactly why she delays, where her people-pleasing formed, and how her nervous system responds to pressure, yet still repeat the same behaviour when the stakes rise. Insight explains the mechanism, but it does not automatically create capacity. At this stage, the work is no longer about knowing more, it’s about whether the system that holds her power can tolerate consequence. When responsibility is integrated, something specific changes internally. Action no longer fragments the Self, and choice no longer creates internal negotiation or collapse. Authority becomes something the body can stay present with, rather than something the mind must manage around. When power becomes consequential Power feels expansive when it remains internal. In vision, intuition, or potential, it is clean and energising. Responsibility begins when that power must be expressed through choices that alter outcomes for others. Decisions now affect timelines, resources, relationships, and systems, and some consequences cannot be undone. This is where power acquires weight. Irreversibility enters. A boundary changes a dynamic. A decision closes one path while opening another. A woman often senses, correctly, that stepping fully into responsibility will restructure parts of her life and remove the option to stay provisional. This is the moment power becomes relational, ethical, and binding. It is also the moment where hesitation intensifies, not because she doubts herself, but because she can feel the weight of consequence landing in the body. The shadow dynamics of authority Unintegrated shadow around authority forms wherever impact once carried risk. Many women learned early that being too direct caused conflict, that leadership triggered punishment or withdrawal, or that taking up space cost belonging. Responsibility became unconsciously associated with danger. As a result, power is often split internally, it is desired consciously yet resisted unconsciously. This resistance rarely looks like fear. It looks like thoughtfulness, humility, or waiting for alignment. In reality, it is a protective system designed to minimise perceived fallout. Some women fear being seen as ‘too much’, others fear blame, envy, or moral exposure. These are not mindset issues, they are shadow dynamics that reside beneath conscious intention and activate precisely when consequences become real. Why awareness collapses under pressure Awareness creates understanding, but it does not govern behaviour under pressure. Leadership decisions are made in moments of intensity, not reflection. When responsibility increases, the nervous system responds faster than conscious choice. Sensation is interpreted through memory, and if the consequence is encoded as a threat, protective responses activate automatically. This is why highly self-aware women are often quietly disappointed in themselves. They know their patterns and still default to them when it matters most. That surprise carries a cost: erosion of self-trust, quiet credibility loss, and a subtle fracture of internal authority. Over time, the gap between who she knows herself to be and how she acts under pressure becomes destabilising, not dramatically, but persistently. Authority erodes quietly, long before it collapses visibly. The issue is not a lack of insight. It’s that responsibility that is being experienced as a physiological threat rather than a neutral condition of leadership. Integration as an embodied requirement When shadow remains unresolved at higher levels of influence, power does not disappear, it leaks sideways. It shows up as over-collaboration that avoids final authority, chronic refinement that delays action, or excessive explanation that softens impact. These behaviours are often socially rewarded because they look reasonable and considerate, but over time, they create instability that others can feel, even if they cannot name it. Integration changes this not by forcing confidence, but by altering what responsibility feels like internally. When the nervous system no longer contracts around consequence, authority becomes steady rather than charged. Decisions carry weight without urgency, and action feels inevitable rather than effortful. What disappears is the internal bargaining, the justification, and the need to soften the impact to remain safe. Leadership becomes cleaner, not louder. Coherent rather than performative. Power requires wholeness, not confidence Responsibility marks a developmental threshold where leadership is no longer measured by readiness or confidence, but by the ability to remain internally whole while choices create consequences. The question shifts from “Am I ready?” to “Can I stay coherent while this changes things?” You are not afraid of your power. You are standing at the point where power demands internal unity, and you can sense that anything unintegrated will be amplified. That awareness is not weakness. It is discernment. Responsibility is not the obstacle to power. It is the initiation that must be crossed, because power that remains unclaimed does not stay neutral. It erodes trust, fragments authority, and eventually demands reckoning anyway. Power is conceptual. Responsibility is where it acquires weight. Follow me on Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn , and visit my website for more info! Read more from Cherie Rivas Cherie Rivas, Transformational Therapies & Coaching Specialist Cherie Rivas is a Transformational Therapies and Coaching Specialist with a passion for shadow work. With nearly 20 years of corporate leadership experience and expertise in psychology, breathwork, NLP, and energetic healing, she helps her clients reclaim their power and purpose. Through her unique blend of traditional and complementary modalities, Cherie guides her clients to break free from limitations, step into their fullest potential, and create a deeply fulfilling life. She has also been a featured speaker for the Women Thrive Global Online Summit, sharing her insights on empowerment and transformation.

Thinking about launching your own business, but not sure where to begin? Our experts break down the essential first steps to help you move from idea to action with confidence. Expert Panelists 1. Start with purpose Start with purpose, not paperwork. Clarify why this business matters to you, how it aligns with your values, and which problems you are determined to solve. Visualise what success looks like in one and five years. Then turn vision into validation by taking one practical step, talking to ten potential customers about their challenges. Those conversations transform personal clarity into market insight. They build the confidence and momentum to begin. Sharon Banfield, HR Consultant | Strategic Coach 2. Stabilize before you optimize Before diving into biohacking, make sure your foundation is solid, because you can’t optimize a system that’s already overwhelmed. Start by stabilizing the basics: sleep, hydration, nutrition, movement, and stress regulation. Once those pillars are consistent, track your baseline so you know what’s actually changing when you introduce new tools or supplements. Biohacking should feel supportive, not stressful, so avoid stacking protocols just because they’re trending. When you approach it with curiosity instead of urgency, your body will tell you exactly what works and what doesn’t. Dr. Ariel McGrew, Founder, Business Psychologist 3. Align before you scale The first step is intentional clarity. Define the purpose, values, and impact your business is meant to create before deciding what you will sell. The second step is market resonance, where you observe and listen to real human needs rather than assuming demand. The third step is conscious design, translating insight into a simple, testable offer aligned with your capacity and resources. The fourth step is aligned action, taking focused, low-force steps while remaining adaptive to feedback as the business reality begins to take form. Jivi Saran, Quantum Business Consultant 4. Act before you perfect Starting a business is both a practical journey and a deeply personal one. The first step is not writing a business plan or building a website, it’s cultivating clarity. Ask yourself: Why do I want to build this? Your “why” will anchor you when self-doubt or imposter syndrome inevitably shows up. Once your purpose feels clear, focus on alignment. Identify the problem you’re solving and the people you most want to serve. This is the seed of every successful business. Many aspiring entrepreneurs jump straight into branding, but clarity about your audience and the transformation you deliver will shape every decision ahead. From there, take one small, tangible action. It could be speaking to a potential client, creating a simple outline of your offer, or testing an idea with a minimum viable product. Action dissolves fear, and momentum builds confidence. Above all, remember that entrepreneurship is not about having it all figured out from the start. It’s about vision, resilience, and the courage to take the first imperfect step forward. Mia Poulsen, Business Coach & Thought Leader 5. Turn purpose into practice The heart of any successful business is purpose. Before you think about products or profits, ask yourself: Why do I feel called to create this? What impact do I want to have on people’s lives? When your business grows out of a genuine desire to serve, it naturally attracts energy, opportunities, and the right people to support it. Write down your purpose in one clear sentence, and let it be the filter for every decision you make. From there, move into action with simple, grounded steps. Begin by clearly identifying your audience. These are the people whose lives you most want to touch. Have real conversations with them about their struggles and desires. Listen more than you speak, and let their stories shape your offering. Then, instead of waiting for the “perfect” launch, create the simplest version of your idea and share it with those same people. Gather feedback, refine, and improve. Finally, treat consistency as your ally. Block out regular time each week to take one concrete step. Whether it’s reaching out to a potential client, improving your skills, or building your online presence, baby steps make it real. When you marry purpose with steady, practical action, your business becomes more than a venture. Your business then transforms into a living expression of who you are and the change you want to see in the world. Dr. Kapil and Rupali Apshankar,   Award-Winning Board-Certified Clinical Hypnotists | Board-Certified Coaches 6. Chart your flight plan Starting a business is like standing at the edge of a runway. Your idea is the plane, but you’ll need the right checks, systems, and courage before takeoff. Every great entrepreneur begins with excitement, but it’s the structure behind that dream that keeps it flying. Before you rush to design logos or open social pages, take a moment to chart your flight plan, i.e., your purpose, your audience, and your process. These first steps are more than having paperwork; they’re the anchors that keep your vision steady when the winds of uncertainty blow. Whether you’re a results-driven go-getter, a careful planner, or a big-picture dreamer, clarity is your co-pilot on this journey. The foundation you build now determines how far your business can go tomorrow. Therefore, plan a clear and strategic way to help you move from idea to ignition with confidence. If you can do this by leveraging systems that'll give you a consistent, predictable and profitable growth then you're in for the best. Sariki Abungwo, Business Coach 7. Think like a financial founder Launching a successful business is adopting a financial mindset from the start. Instead of focusing only on branding or operations, begin with a clear budget, realistic cash flow projections, and scenario planning to understand how different choices may affect your future. This approach creates clarity, builds confidence, and helps you anticipate both opportunities and risks. With financial clarity guiding your decisions, you give your business the best chance to grow sustainably. Sandro Endler, Business Finance Specialist