Maria-Paz is a digital marketing strategist. She has a heart that beats a little extra for moms trying to become entrepreneurs, or as Maria-Paz calls them - mompreneurs. Read the full interview with the passionated founder of The Digital Madl! Hi Maria-Paz! Could you introduce yourself a little bit to our readers? - I am originally from Santiago de Chile but living since 2014 in Munich, Germany, after living in Paris and Berlin. Following 12 years of corporate experience, in early 2020, I founded an online marketing agency called "The Digital Madl", where I help mompreneurs with branding and digital marketing strategies to have a rock-solid online presence and skyrocket their sales. You can find me having some walks or bike rides along the Isar, enjoying long walks with my Bavarian husband and my 1 1/2-year-old son in the Bavarian alps, or enjoying some lunch or happy hours in Munich's city center with friends. You've said that the idea of starting your own business came during your maternity leave. Did you finally have the time to reflect on what you wanted to do in life? - Yes, the idea of starting my own business came during my maternity leave, but it was kind of an unplanned decision. I had a stable job, but during maternity leave, the company went bankrupt, so I had to work on a plan B. I started looking for jobs, but nothing was filling my expectations. Then, it finally came to me that I needed to stop looking for a job and start creating my own business. A business where I could do the things I loved, have 100% time flexibility, and be able to pick up my son from daycare without feeling guilty that I wasn't present at the office. This was actually a dream of mine since I was very young, as I wanted to spend more time with my children when becoming a mom. You have worked in many different countries. For example, Chile, France, and Germany. Have you picked up different knowledge from each country? - Oh, definitely! From Chile, I highlight fellowship and solidarity. Whenever someone is in a hard situation, everyone automatically is there to help. As a country, we've been through many painful experiences —earthquakes, tsunamis, economic and political issues, poverty, among others— and it never ceases to amaze me how people are always there to give a hand. - From France, I admired the art of looking your best at every time and every occasion. Even in the simple act of going out to buy a baguette, Parisians look amazing, wear cool attires, women are always wearing high heels and lipstick, and everyone seems so refined. I loved it! - From Germany, I've learned how good bureaucracy can be. After a rather bad experience with the topic in France, I feel that Germany has mastered the art of paperwork and efficiency. Every application for any document, working visa, wedding application, etc. has been done with the most refined procedure and accuracy, with excellent service and results. You say "I help ambitious Mompreneurs" - What is a Mompreneur, and is the reason you focus on moms that you can relate to your own life? - A mompreneur is a mother who's also an entrepreneur. A mompreneur is a woman who has children and, at the same time, is working on creating and developing her independent business. She's juggling being a mom, maybe also trying to be a good partner, trying to financially support her family, picking up her kids from daycare or school, homeschooling them, and trying to succeed with her business by working much more than a 9-5… It's such a challenging task, and since I've been there myself, I know the struggles they face. - I want to support these ladies by giving them all the tools they need to avoid the stress, the loss of precious energy and time figuring it out all by themselves, as I did at the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey. I don't want them to go through that. In my early days as a mompreneur, I wished so bad to have someone by my side with the expertise on founding an online business. Someone who could advise me on which tools to use, which strategy to take, and how to organize everything so I could be more productive, and that's exactly what I want to be for them. Why should anyone hire/work with you? - Entrepreneurship is hard, and adding the fact of being a mom, it can be overwhelming. People should work with me because I fully understand the needs of entrepreneurs and have all the tools to help to build up their businesses online. I've got a lot of expertise after working for many years in e-commerce and online marketing. I've also studied a lot to be in the position I am today and invested thousands of Euros in Coaches, so I have all the knowledge to help mompreneurs build their dreamed digital business. If they need branding or a website for their business, to develop a social media strategy or grow using email marketing, or even analyze their customer base and target them in the best way possible, I'll be there for them. What's your big goal with your business? Where is The Digital Madl in 10 years from now?   - My big goal with my business is to work smarter, not harder. In 10 years, I see myself with a consolidated company, and why not, with other ones as well. I see myself working less as I automate more, providing online courses, having employees, impacting more and more in the entrepreneurial world, and having many success stories.  What kind of content can our readers expect from you? - Brainz readers can expect reading about mompreneurship, learn about branding, web design, e-commerce, social media, email marketing, and customer analysis. These are things that I do for my clients daily, and often there have been questions about topics they want to understand more about or beliefs they had about something, and I've been able to clarify. Now, I want to bring these topics and share them in my articles so more people can understand a bit more about digital marketing and the impact it can make in their businesses and daily life. Are you interested in working with Maria-Paz and see what she can do for your business? Take a look at her services on her  website . Follow me on Facebook ,  Instagram ,  LinkedIn  or visit my website . Read more from Maria-Paz: Why Having a Social Media Marketing Strategy is so Important? Maria-Paz Hornisch, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Maria-Paz Hornisch is the Digital Marketing Strategist behind The Digital Madl, dedicated to helping ambitious mompreneurs with branding and digital marketing strategies to create a rock-solid presence online and skyrocket sales. Maria-Paz is a bachelor in Business Administration and holds an MBA in Luxury Business from ISC Paris École de Commerce. For twelve years, she developed her career in Chile, France, and Germany, working for a Spanish multinational commercial bank and two German luxury and fashion e-commerce companies. Originally from Santiago de Chile, she now lives in Munich, Germany.

Written by: Bandana Jain, 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. While it might be tempting to try to shelter your child from any discussion about coronavirus or COVID-19, you could be doing them a disservice. On the contrary, parents should sit down with their children and explain the global pandemic in a way they will understand. Parents cannot simply ignore the situation as children and adolescents are aware that the world around them is changing. In addition to the fact that their daycare, nursery or schools have closed, they have heard their peers or adults discussing it, or have been exposed to it on social media and television. It is vital to talk to your child to ensure they have understood the message about protective hygiene protocols and to ease their anxiety and correct misinformation. Children are extremely perceptive, and if adults are not talking about something, it can make them worry more. They could also be distressed by hearing messages they do not fully understand or that are taken out of context, particularly if it comes from sources such as social media rather than experts. The conversation does not have to be an in-depth discussion, it should rather be focused on finding out what they already know, and providing reassurance. Ensure that even while practicing social distancing, you still do fun things and don’t focus on the virus. Even though your child is at home, keep days structured, with regular mealtimes and bedtimes. It is also an ideal time to focus on indoor activities such as crafts, board games, or video-chatting to their grandparents. Here’s some friendly advice on How to Give Comforting, Yet Clear Messages to our Younger Generation: 1. Take cues from your child; find out how they are feeling and encourage them to talk to you if they have any questions or hear something that worries them. You can do this by asking open-ended questions to find out what they already know and dispel any fears they might have. Above all, watch their reactions and body language and be sensitive to their level of anxiety. 2. Answer your child’s questions honestly and in a simple way. Remember, it’s all right if you can’t answer everything; the main idea is to let your child know they can ask you anything. If you don’t know the answer, don’t guess, just explain that this is a new virus and that not everything about it is known, but as soon as it is, you will let them know. 3. While you don’t want to create alarm, also don’t minimize or dismiss their concerns. Acknowledge their feelings, and let them know that it is natural to feel nervous, but that there is no need for panic. 4. Your child will pick up on how you are feeling, so remain calm. Reassure them that doctors, scientists and governments all over the world are working together to make everything better, and to keep everyone safe. 5. It can help children to make them realize they are not powerless, and that they can play their part by practicing good hygiene habits such as handwashing, not touching their faces, and sneezing or coughing into their armpits. Explain that by following these rules, they are helping to keep other people safe as well by not spreading disease. 6. Help to put things into context by reassuring your children that they themselves are not likely to get sick from the disease, but that they should still be careful to make sure they don’t spread it as it can make adults sick. Make sure that they know schools and leisure activities are being curtailed not out of immediate danger, but rather as a special precaution to protect people and make sure people stay healthy. 7. The virus is such a media focus at the moment, and more worryingly, alarming and incorrect messages can be spread easily through social media. Explain to your child that some information isn’t true and that it is best to rely only on experts. 8. Adapt your message for their age group, and emphasize how germs can make us sick, but not in an overly alarming way that could encourage an obsessive fear of germs. If your child is very young, you can simply explain that germs can make people sick, and that washing your hands can help you stay healthy. Supplement this with fun activities such as singing a song together for 20 seconds (for example, two rounds of ‘Happy Birthday’) while handwashing to demonstrate how long this activity should take. 9. It is important that while you should speak to your children about the virus, you should also limit the time spent talking and thinking about it, and try to keep life as normal as possible. Follow me on Facebook , Instagram and visit my website ! Read more from Bandana Jain Singing for well-being! 3 Things Fast-Growing Businesses do Right 6 Must-Try Sports for Adventure Seekers at Canton DeVaud Lake Geneva Region, Switzerland Bandana Jain, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Bandana Jain is a Dubai based lifestyle and travel journalist for the past two decades. She’s also a passionate lifestyle blogger, photographer and loves pursuing modelling as a hobby. One of the aspects of her journalistic life that she thoroughly enjoys is rubbing shoulders with Bollywood celebrities. Having said this, her community journalist status ensures that she loves interacting with people from different strata of the society. She loves the limelight on stage sometimes as an anchor, whilst on other occasions as a public speaker. When she is not pursuing any of the above, you can find her shopping in Dubai’s famous malls or chilling by the beach with her favorite cup of tea. Travel is her passion, creativity her morale booster and enriching conversations are enough to give her the necessary thrust in life.

Written by: Stephanie Parris, 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. Many of you are entrepreneurs. You have your own business and you work, day in and day out, to make your business a success. We start with an idea because we either saw a need or had a passion for something. How many of you thought through all the moving parts it takes to run a successful business before you got started? What about the staff and specialty consultants? What about the budgets and forecasts? Most of us have been right where you are or were. This is the part of every story that is not new. It is the common theme. We underestimate how much time we would spend on administrative tasks and bookkeeping. We may have underestimated the time it would take to do the marketing and promotional side of business. What about the networking? Did any of you think about how many hours would be involved in building connections with your ideal client? Many of us , just balance it all and try to “keep the plates spinning” all at once. When we are not focusing on our business, we can lose sight of our intent and our goals. We may feel overwhelmed or worse yet, we may put some of the key components of a successful business to the side and deal with it when we must, rather than creating a routine with it. Without a strong foundation, just like a building, businesses will collapse. How many of you dread the pieces of business, like marketing or bookkeeping? When I started Guardian Accounting Services, LLC, I dreaded sales and marketing. I would make myself sick over the thought of networking to generate leads. I would spend substantial amounts of money to attend networking events only to tuck myself into the corner. I knew I needed these opportunities to grow my business, but I hated them because I did not have any training in that area, and I did not know how to do it successfully. I relied on my reputation, small events, and referrals to gain business. My business growth was flat. I knew I provided a great service package but just didn’t grow and I didn’t know how to promote it. From this challenge, I created one of my favorite offerings at my firm. I knew enough to know that I needed help in sales and marketing but didn’t know what that looked like. I found someone who inspired me daily with her online presence and she taught me what I needed to know to go into events and own them. I now network, market, and promote my business and offerings with ease. In three months, I increased my monthly revenue by more than forty-five percent. I had the proper training to do these things without the anxiety and dread I had before. They are now part of my routine. I share this because, this lesson and growth were what prompted me to create my training course. Accounting for Real Life is a course I created to teach people how to do their bookkeeping with ease. I kept seeing a common theme that people had a great dislike for doing their bookkeeping. The more I researched and interviewed people, the more I found that their accounting was working against them. I have created content in manageable chunks without “accountant speak”. I teach how to utilize the software that you already pay for. I teach how to manage the processes and set up the system to work for your business. When you use your software in the manner that accountants and bookkeepers use it, you will find it less intimidating and be more likely to use it. Why would you invest money into something you won’t use or that you hate using? Would you keep a car that you hated to drive or didn’t know how to drive? Probably not. Your accounting should not be any different. With the COVID-19 pandemic, many business owners have scaled back outsourcing their bookkeeping. They have taken it in the house, whether they are doing it themselves as the business owner or adding it to another staff member’s workload. With the proper training, businesses can have transparent and accurate financials to allow them to leverage opportunities. In times like these, it is now more important than ever to position yourself to take advantage of opportunities for your business. For organizations that want more than the initial course, I also created a completely customized and recorded training for their accounting system. This has proven to be beneficial, and the most popular, for the business owner who wants a deeper dive in training for their specific company. These systems have been created to help business owners, just like you, overcome the challenges of not knowing. It enables and empowers entrepreneurs to work on their business rather than in it. When we work on our businesses, we can plan and grow. We achieve and exceed the goals we set just by using the resources we already have available. To learn more about Accounting for Real Life, and to take the dread out of your bookkeeping visit Guardian Accounting Services. We are all in this together. The world was built on small business because someone had an idea and a dream. Feel free to follow me on Facebook , LinkedIn or Instagram , and visit my website ! Read more from Stephanie Parris: Keep Your Business Alive Amid COVID-2019 Is it Time to Rethink Your Business Due to COVID-19? Stephanie Parris,Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Stephanie Parris has a Masters’ Degree, in Accounting and Financial Management. She writes about accounting and business for today’s world. She has extensive knowledge of the non-profit, construction, real estate and service industries which she serves. Stephanie has become a leading expert in QuickBooks as well as outsourced accounting services. Stephanie lives in Missouri and volunteers and cooks for her local rescue mission, serves with Made to Serve as well as Race for Rett, mentors local female high school students, has a passion for wine and cooking, and loves spending time with her family and close friends.

Written by: Jessie Wallaker, 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. For anyone feeling alone, pressured and like they're spiraling. I noticed a lot of people online are struggling with the right thing to do. In your mind is where things spiral, where the what-ifs, the fears and the inadequacies flourish. So in order to stop this cycle, you need to get away from them. No Pressure Or Expectations You are going to see many ways to go about this the right way. But if none of them feel good and doable for you, then don’t feel the pressure to go about things that way. There’s always more than one way to do things. To do life, to do health, to do relationships, to do love and to share what you feel. Of course some hard conversations are going to happen, of course things might get a little uncomfortable, but you still need to be in a good place to have those conversations. And in this article, that’s my hope to convey to you. Get Offline First thing’s first, get offline. You are in information overload. And if every time you log on, you are flooded with guilt, weight, frustration and feeling worse than when you went on - GET OFF. And this goes for any time that things are happening in the world. You aren’t ill-informed. You aren’t turning a blind eye. You are just taking care of your own soul, your own energy, so that when the time comes to show your support and voice your mind, you are doing so from a solid and secure place. Not one that is wavering and trying to prove you aren’t like “them”. Change happens from a solid and healthy heart. And you can’t do that if all that’s happening is you being bogged down with negativity and seeing how you are in the wrong. My guess is you already have some struggles with your own self-worth. I was the same way. And any time someone played down my own struggles and hardships, I would make my life worse to “prove” that I knew what pain was. We want to avoid that. Move My coach Genevieve Rackham and Dani Driusso both put into words what I always did but never realized. “You need to get out of your head and into your body”. In your mind is where things spiral, where the what ifs, the fears and the inadequacies flourish. So in order to stop this cycle, you need to get away from them. This can be with exercise that isn’t pressured, forced or used to punish yourself. Yes, this can be a negative thing used to “prove” you feel pain too. So I always encourage movement in different ways than you may exercise regularity, if forced punishment can be attached to your fitness. This can look like getting out in nature, walks have really helped me to work through my fears and inadequacies. Music is always important to me as well when doing this, but make sure you stay offline and put your phone on “do not disturb”. You need to be alone for this. Another way to get out of your head is by journaling and writing down what’s spiraling in your head. Because once it can’t move, once it’s set on paper, it no longer has as much power and say over you. You’re able to just look at it, really digest and work through what the problem is, and then come to terms with it is that is sending you into a spiral. But moving your body and/or writing down what’s going on will help immensely. Eat The next step is to eat. And this may seem odd, but I’m looking at you overly healthy and precise people. I know you use food as punishment, too, and have a negative attachment to it. You can use it to punish yourself, to make you feel pain, whether that’s over eating or skipping meals completely. Hunger pains and feelings of a gorged stomach will not help you. So just eat. Eat normally, eat what sounds good, and stop once you’ve had your fill. This also reconnects you to your body and how it’s feeling. It forces you to listen to what it really needs, craves and wants as far as nutrition goes. A lot of times, our bodies use hunger and cravings to cry out for something else it needs. But it knows that we are so hyper-focused on food, that it will get your attention that way. So by eating a good meal and fueling yourself up in a positive way, this will help bring to light what’s really going on under the surface. Center Yourself Now that you’ve logged off, moved your body, written down what you’re thinking and feeling, and has had something to eat to feel satiated, it’s time to dive a little deeper. If you’re feeling some sort of negative way, then there’s some self-worth issues that need to be addressed. Because you ARE a good person. You are just letting other people’s views and opinions get in the way of who you truly are. Because if you truly are here to live the life you want, create the difference you feel called to in your own way, everyone else’s opinions are just white noise; something you can take or leave. But you ultimately have the final say for what you want your life to look like. Here is where you set solid standards for what you do and don’t stand for in life. What narrative and voice are you going to spread, and are you truly ready to share that. Because sharing how you really feel should not be that hard. It really isn’t. But you’re too afraid of the unknown, the what-ifs, the scenarios that may or may not play out. You are smart. You are flexible. You are adaptive. And you do care about others feelings. You won’t always be perfect, but you are only human. You address it, understand yourself more, and move forward with more understanding. But knowing who you are at a core, allows you to feel a strength and peace you only dream of. But you have to let go of the weight you’ve been carrying around first. Listen Let’s be honest; that’s why everything is coming to a head right now. It is because people aren’t willing to listen and actually hear what people are saying and feeling. I noticed this today when I was writing this article and decided to share a quick perspective on this online. But if you’re feeling pressured and pushed into listening to what people of color have to say about things, I want to remind you of something. You do like listening and hearing what people have to say. You love learning and hearing from the source, from a real teacher that has lived and experienced what it is you’re looking into. Not just someone that has read a lot about it. That’s literally all that you’re doing. Right now, it’s just focused on people of color and their perspective and point of view. It’s nothing more complicated than that. And even with that, you choose and decide who you want to hear from, who you resonate with, what it is you really need to hear, and you find someone who is speaking that topic, that subject in a way you understand and feel good about. That’s all this is. Focusing on those who need and want to speak, and listening. Because you DO love listening to people. Grow From here, you open your heart and mind to the change that needs to happen in order for you to move forward in the way you feel best about. Life is ALL about growing and learning. I heard this from my dad, and who knows where he heard it from, but the moment you stop learning, you die. You are learning and growing as a soul every single day in big and small ways. And there’s nothing wrong with that, where you started, or how far you still have yet to go. Because we’re all in the same boat, we all have changes to make, even those we look up to for guidance and motivation. No one is perfect. So it’s time to take yourself off of that pedestal that you already tear yourself down from every single day, and accept your perfectly imperfect soul. Whatever higher power you believe in, remember that they brought you to this earth for a reason. Knowing the good and bad, struggles and triumphs that you would have, and still seeing good and worth in you. So if something bigger than all of us saw you as valuable in all your humanness, it’s time for you to see it too. Take Action And HERE is where you can take action. In the way you feel best about. Whether that’s out in the streets, around the kitchen table, with your dollars and/or your vote. Here, from this solid, healthy and knowing stance is where you take action. I don’t want you to stress and force this step just because people say that if you are silent you are adding to the hurt. YOU ARE NOT! "That’s all this is. Helping our fellow man." You are helping it more. Because this isn’t something that stops once it’s no longer the number one problem in the world. This is a change that will take time. That needs support over time. And if taking a few days, weeks, months or even years to unpack this is what it takes, then do it. Because yes. You have been hurt. You have been looked down. You do know what struggle and pain is like. But it’s also time to help those that are in the same boat, are feeling the same way, and are just crying out for help now. That’s all this is. Helping our fellow man. Proving that love and acceptance conquers all. And that we as a collective can do more than any one person can. Remember, you are a good person. Your silence, voice, struggles and fears don’t change that. But it’s time to address it so you stop making this pain about you, and start using it to fuel your support and help for others. You have bigger things to do in this world than your constant spiraling and lack of worth will allow. Do it messy. Do it in the growing pains. And do it for yourself and others. Because we all want a world that is better than it is now. And that starts with you. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram and visit my podcast and website! Jessie Wallaker, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Jessie Wallaker is an Athletic Mindset Coach helping groundbreaking leaders make big leaps toward their goals, by healing their emotional attachments to food and fitness, to start and continue to make massive change truly. Because feeling safe and confident in your knowledge and choices is what will propel you forward. Creating solid standards and a healthy foundation is what will keep you going. This is what I help my clients achieve. Because they have more important things to create than their limitations, and extreme views of health are allowing them to.

Written by: Kamil Shah, 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. Challenging situations can be notoriously difficult for anyone going through it, especially for the first time. The current COVID-19 pandemic is definitely one of the ‘firsts’ seen in recent history, affecting almost all facets of the lives of the global population. As more and more people are affected, the after-effects are yet to be seen. As such, the current situation at the time of writing can be seen as a big ‘blur’. We are in the thick of it, yet unable to be certain of what lies ahead. This period of confusion can have many implications, more so on one’s mental health. It can easily lead to the feeling of being overwhelmed by it all. The inability to control the situation can make one anxious, which in turn can lead to frustration, anger and inevitably feeling victimized by the situation. The question then is: ‘How can one navigate through the current situation and thrive?’ . One of the key answers is to develop Mental Resilience. So, what is Mental Resilience, and why is it important? In order to answer these questions, we’ll need to understand what ‘Resilience’ means in the first instance. It is defined as the ‘ the ability of people or things to recover quickly after something unpleasant, such as shock, injury, etc.’ (Oxford Dictionary). In the wider context of cultures and civilizations, Resilience refers to the ability of that culture or civilization to survive, adapt & grow when faced with adversity or crisis. Essentially it means the ability to ‘bounce back’ quickly from challenging situations and to thrive. Thus, having ‘Mental Resilience’ refers to the capacity to mentally cope with crisis & quickly recover oneself to the ‘pre-crisis’ status. It is also the ability to protect oneself from the negative effects of stressors. Examples of situations where Mental Resilience is useful include dealing with personal crises such as financial challenges, job loss, or even personal loss or grievances. The benefits of having Mental Resilience include the ability to: Shift one’s perspective from focusing on the negatives of the situation to a more positive outlook Develop and strengthen one’s self-esteem Promote personal development and growth Provide strategies in dealing with similar challenging situations Help manage risks and open the opportunity to try new things Provide a pathway to a happier life As we know , life will throw us ‘curveballs’ from time to time. The question is, are we prepared and ready to hit them? The good news is that the ability to develop Mental Resilience can be learned, nurtured and strengthened by everyone. However, it requires an awareness, understanding and application of certain components in order to become mentally strong and unstoppable! Read on to find out the 5 ways to develop Mental Resilience. Step 1: Give Gratitude As the saying goes, ‘Gratitude is the Best Attitude’ . Being grateful sits at the very foundation of Mental Resilience and can be seen as a ‘cure-all’ for emotional and even physical well being. Saying ‘Thank you’ to whatever life has thrown at you elevates your mindset and sets you on a path of recovery. As mentioned previously, if left unchecked, challenging situations can easily lead a person towards being a victim of a situation. Shifting our thinking from the negative to the positive allows the beginnings of the development of Mental Resilience. Having Gratitude as a base or ‘Ground Zero’ allows us to be open to new possibilities that can help with being ‘stuck’ in a situation. Practicing gratitude also helps improve our self-esteem and build confidence; again, a trait which begins the journey out of being a ‘victim’ towards a ‘victor’. Feeling good about oneself and the prospect of a brighter future also has ripple effects on our physical well-being , which then ultimately strengthens our mental well-being . ‘Gratitude was a major contributor to resilience following the terrorist attacks on September 11’ - Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (2003) Practices such as meditation, practicing mindfulness, daily journaling, simple acts of kindness as well as expressing yourself all contribute towards developing self-care and sets us up for the following components to developing Mental Resilience. 'Gratitude meditation can reliably increase feelings of gratitude’ - Online Training in Specific Meditation Practices Improves Gratitude, Well-Being, Self-Compassion, and Confidence in Providing Compassionate Care Among Health Professionals (2016) Step 2: Develop Your Belief Complementing Gratitude as a foundation for Mental Resilience is Belief. Finding out the ‘WHY’ is important. Asking the tough questions like ‘Why do I need to get back on my feet?’ , ‘Who am I doing it for?’ or ‘Why is it important?’ gives you your own set of fundamental answers which later will provide you the drive to move forward with. At the same time, looking at thoughts that may be holding you back can help you uncover your ‘Dis-Beliefs’. Understanding what they are in turn will help you begin to build your self-confidence, by assessing what you’re good at, what you think you might not be good at, and ways you think you can improve on different aspects of your life. This then can help reinforce your own self-belief . As the saying goes, ‘ It’s hard for others to believe in you if you don’t believe in yourself’ . Having self-belief gives you back the ownership and control over how you react to situations. Believing that everything will be better, that you know you can make it through the ‘sticky patch’ and that you have it in you to make it work begins the process of strengthening your mind. Spiritual belief can also help reinforce self-belief through practices such as prayers, meditations, affirmations, ceremonies or even rituals. This provides an outward connection from the internal to the external. Together all the above contribute to consolidating a positive outlook on things. As mentioned, changing our mindset by seeing challenges as opportunities for learning, sharing experiences and removing negative elements in our lives can help us focus our positive thinking process further. ‘Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right.’ - Henry Ford Step 3: Start To Strategize Observe the situation objectively and begin to re-orientate our perspective towards solutions rather than dwelling on the problems. Finding solutions or ‘ways forward’ requires us to strategize. Fundamental to developing strategies is to be resourceful . That is to use any available resources we have to hand, rather than focus on the lack of resources. Starting off with leveraging the skills that you already have to hand helps you build momentum. At the same time, it may require us to be humble enough to accept that we may need to ‘re-tool’ . For example, it may require us to learn new skills that are more adaptable to the current economic climate. At the same time, seeking help when needed is not a sign of weakness but one of strength. So, recognize that family, friends and even professionals can provide some assistance. Another major component of strategizing your way is to plan ahead . Start working up your next move to get back on track and on your feet again. Setting goals has many benefits in acting as a guidance mechanism for our lives and can be a major contributor to its success. Another simple yet effective way of strategizing is to observe how other people have done it. Yes! Learn from others . Someone else has likely gone through a similar situation. Observing how they’ve managed to overcome the challenges could give clues to overcoming your own ones. Finally, it will likely be some of the strategies you adopt may not work. Nothing wrong there. It’s part of the process. You haven’t failed, you’ve only figured out another way in which it didn’t work. That’s part of the process. The key thing is to keep trying until you find one that works for you. ‘Research has established a strong connection between goal-setting and success’ - Matthews, 2015 Step 4: Nurture Your Attitude Developing the right attitude will significantly increase your Mental Resilience. It’s time to develop new habits , and by this I mean positive ones. Removing unproductive and even negative ones will help you sustain only habits which are aligned and beneficial in reaching your goals. At the same time, energizing yourself will provide the strength to get through the challenges. This can be split between physical energy (exercise and healthy eating) and mental energy (learning, surrounding yourself with positivity and avoiding negative situations and people). We also need to understand the value of resting in order to recharge the body and mind. Maintaining our focus is sometimes challenging as we can get distracted with many things. Having a laser-sharp focus on the important and significant things allows us to identify and eliminate those which may hamper our progress. Another key element is to develop a ‘never-say-die’ attitude in becoming tenacious . Use setbacks you encounter as your incentive to move further forward and understand that you will get through the challenges. At the same time, enhance and nurture your curiosity . Developing a thirst for curiosity by being open to ideas, new ways of working and connecting with like-minded people gives you the opportunity to collaborate and share experiences. Finally, one element which can propel you forward is to guard your self-talk. What we say to yourself matters more than what others say. Remind yourself daily of your innate ability to achieve your goals and that you can achieve them by ‘sticking to the plan’. When setbacks occur, say ‘This is a minor setback and I will get myself back on track.’ Also strengthen your thoughts by simple, yet profound thoughts like ‘I can do it’. At the same time, also look at the flip side of not taking positive action. The possibility of being in the same situation a week, month or year from now should be a good enough reason to take action to change your Life! ‘I haven’t failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work’ - Thomas Edison Step 5: Action You’ve come this far in being aware of your situation, developed a strong belief, strategizing your path and developed a great attitude to strengthen your resolve. All that’s left is to take action ! ‘Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.’ - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Taking immediate action gives you the power to start the ball rolling towards your goals. The time of thinking and strategizing is done and it’s the time to start executing and ‘walk the walk’. It may be daunting as you might still be questioning yourself if it’s the right thing to do. Everyone is different. Tackle small items first to get quick wins that can build momentum, or do the more challenging ones if you’re more confident. Whatever it is, start now! Once you’re up and running, take the time to check your progress at intervals. Getting feedback is an excellent way to track your growth. What went well and what can be improved? Are the strategies making progress? Make a note and assess. Also, don't forget to celebrate your wins, however small they may be! The final stage is to re-calibrate your approach if fine-tuning is required. Revisit your strategies and start to finetune them if needed. Remember, a 1-degree shift in a ship's course may not show much improvement in the short term, but it will get you to a different destination in the long run! Once you're done, repeat the process again through execution. ‘Don't wait. The time will never be just right.’ - Napoleon Hill Bringing it all together In essence, developing Mental Resilience can help improve our Life by making us more resilient as individuals to challenges and changes that may happen. The 5 Key Steps to creating a Mentally Resilient mind and are: Developing a sense of Gratitude as a foundation Strengthen your Self-Belief because if you don’t believe in yourself, it’s difficult for others to believe in you Create an action plan through concise Strategies Develop a set of Attitudes to brave through challenging situations Take immediate Action of your plan! For more details follow me on Facebook , Instagram , YouTube and visit my website and Podcast . You can download my free E-book here! Read more from Kamil: 6 Reasons Why Now is THE Best Time to Set Your Goals 6 Ways to Peaceful Parenting in Challenging Times Kamil Shah, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Coming from a professional background in design, Kamil previously practiced in both the Education & Corporate Sectors. One life-changing event in his 20s saw Kamil's life plummet from having a progressing career in design, to living on $2 a day virtually overnight. This painful experience has taught him valuable lessons in Life, which he has used advantageously in regaining his feet and ultimately achieving Personal and Professional Success. He now shares his experience and knowledge in helping others achieve their own success through bringing on their own Personal Genius.

Written by: Hoda Elsobky, 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. A reflection pop up into my mind since the very first day of the Lockdown. The COVID-19 and me: Everybody should ruminate with that. How was I before and after the hit of the Coronavirus? Am I the same person, or in other words, will I ever be the same person again. We have been sitting at home significant time, and never in our age will we have this chance again, yes a chance! Moreover, never will we be given this opportunity again. People have been four times more active at home than ever. They have been studying, earning Certificates, working from home, exercising, trying new recipes. They have been meditating, contemplating, reading books, watching documentaries, watching movies. Most importantly, People have sat with their families more than any other time, people have called their parents, who are distanced from them more than any other time. We have been messaging friends, interacting with them, we have used all available technology just to be there and to connect with one another. Above all, most elderly were enthusiastic to catch up with the new technology and means of communication, in order to stay connected with their children and grandchildren through zoom meetings, and other virtual platforms. Same exactly we all did to be up to date with remote work requirements, from digital transformation and online Market to presence in the new virtual world, simply we all updated our technical skills; and yes, the Virus proved to be a tough teacher, and we learnt the hard way! Who said Social Distancing? Who said “Social Distancing”, was wrong. It is only physical distance, we connected with each other like no other time. I would say, it was a social approach, a social closeness and an overall sense of Connection , Compassion and Empathy . We are wired to be social, and it is Scientifically proven that our connections with other people are instrumental to our happiness. Research links social connections to Happiness, and social isolation to Pain. Very happy people tend to have rich and satisfying relationships and they spend little time alone, versus the average level of Happy people. This also has to do with the level and quality of connections with other people. Brene-Brown once stated that: ”Connection is why we are here, it is what gives us meaning and Purpose in life” . A milestone study at Harvard University followed 268 men for their entire lives, to assess why some of them turned to be happier than others. It uncovered evidence that success in relationships was strongly tied to Mental, Physical and Economic well-being. The bottom line is that we are social human being, and our tendency towards connections and friendships activates the Oxytocin level ( The Happiness Hormone) in our bodies and counterattacks stress. To sum it up, the virus has defined a more humane world, we learnt that to be safe, other people should be safe. It has given us the vigorous Alert of how to take care of our mental, physical and emotional health, and to consider that as our number one priority and furthermore to take it seriously! We learnt how to stay hydrated, how to eat well, how to have efficient night sleep, how to exercise, how to work hard on eliminating stress and leading a healthy lifestyle, to enhance and increase our immunity system; and all this was done from the comfort of our home. To learn more about Hoda and Happiness follow her on Facebook , Instagram and visit her website . You can buy her book "Dare to happy" here ! Read more about Hoda: Meet Hoda Elsobky - The Happiness-Guru Gives Tips on How to Become Happy Hoda Elsobky, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Hoda was born in Cairo, Egypt. Graduated from the American University in Cairo in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, majored in Economics and minor in Business Administration. Later, She received her MBA in Marketing. Her greatest interest lies in the fields of philosophy and positive psychology, with a focus on self help and wellness. Above all, she is passionated about happiness as a way of living! She have worked in multinational IT companies in Egypt, like IBM and Oracle, in sales, marketing and business development capacity, from 1994 till 2005. At that point she flew with her husband to live in Vienna for three years and then to Dubai. There she discovered her passion for writing.

Written by: Laura Lee Harrison, 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. This is a once in a life-time situation. It is unprecedented and the world is changing fast. As humans we have been taught to live a life where we rely on our money to come from sources like a job. A person tells us what we are worth and how much of our time every day we will trade for that money. With the age of Millennials, the shift of working online started to pick up popularity. The paradigm of working on trading time for money has changed drastically. As an entrepreneur you trade your knowledge and skill for money. You save time and in turn potentially work more, however you have more control over your time and how you space out your day. That’s usually the goal anyways. So, I ask this question: Whether you are already an entrepreneur, or you are just looking to see if it’s the right decision for you, are you currently Waiting or Creating? Creation is a beautiful thing to experience. Alignment and flow happen, and your projects take off. You don’t even have to be creating for the sole purpose of earning money. Maybe you are indulging in passions and hobbies. Waiting, on the other hand, is stagnant energy. It just sits there, nothing happens. You are waiting for someone else in the world to say you can work again. Or, maybe you are an essential worker and you are waiting for the pandemic to end so you can take a break from stress. But if you are an entrepreneur and you are waiting, you are literally killing your business. What are you waiting for? For someone else to say you can? Well, here it is - You can! "Your journey isn’t about you." The fact is, you may not be able to charge $10 000 a month per coaching client right now, though some do. That is okay. That doesn’t mean you stop and wait until you can. That means you get innovative. You choose to grow. Maybe you learn new skills that you can then apply to your fees after these uncertain times. You can create recurring revenue in so many ways and all this information is at your fingertips. Hello Google! You can give value to the world and create an online presence, so people know you, see you and trust you. Once you have trust, then you can ask for the clients to work with you. Your journey isn’t about you. It is about what you provide to your potential clients - What do they need? And frankly if you aren’t sharing your light, voice, knowledge and journey with the world, you are robbing everyone of your great value. The more you give, the more you get back, and that is not selfish. So, add the value and show up for your audience. Show them, that even though hard times are upon us you can still grow. Show them there is another way to live life, beyond waiting. Go inspire and empower people to get off the couch and stop binge-watching Netflix. No judgment, the best of us do it. But what do you do if you aren’t surrounded by people that are creators? You join groups of people that think like you or that you want to think like. Find groups of people that inspire you! We are the sum of the five people we surround ourselves with, so look around and see who you are surrounded by and change it if you don’t like it. Then learn and grow from the ones you do want to be around. You can get a job anytime, anywhere. If you want one, you will find one. You can also start a new business anytime: Turnkey businesses like Network Marketing or a business that evolved right from your own mind, from a hobby you love to do or a random idea. It isn’t easy, but it is doable, and you have the power to create instead of wait. So, have you been taking advantage of this unprecedented time? Or have you been waiting for someone to tell you that you can resume life, a life you were probably unhappy with anyways? I personally chose to create! I hope you have too. Join my Facebook community , follow me on Instagram and visit my Linktree and website for more information! Laura Lee Harrison, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Laura Lee Harrison is a Confidence & Beauty Strategist who works with professional women to help them deliver their message on stage or on camera effortlessly, by assisting them with their beauty regimens, so they feel beautiful as they are with their unique features. She also guides business owners to their first 6 figures in business with her business partner and their Social Media Agency, Media Exclusive. The agency and scheduling platform help entrepreneurs to show up and scale business with ease and consistency. As a sole parent, multi-business owner and International Best-Selling Co-Author, Laura Lee has had to overcome many obstacles in her life and within her own mindset to get where she is today. Daily she uses her story to inspire and empower entrepreneurs globally, showing them no matter their circumstance in life they can achieve their goals, if they choose to never give up on themselves.

Written by: Georgie Maroudas, 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 love really? Is it that warm fuzzy feeling we feel inside when we are around the people we love? Is it joy and happiness being expressed? Or is it present in all of those amazing experiences we’ve had in life that we will never forget? Love is energy. And this energy of love can be felt and expressed in an endless amount of ways. We can feel that energy exchange of love through our relationships (with others and with ourselves), we can find it in an inanimate object that has been cherished and adored by its owner. Love is present in trees, healings, notebooks, animals, children, crystals, our loved ones and the list goes on! It really can be found in anything and anyone. So if this energy of love is present in all people and in all things, why don’t we experience it in every moment of every single day? Most of the time when we look at something like a tree, we just look at it and place a label on it and move on. We think that’s a tree and that’s the end of it. We don’t think about the fact that tree is very much alive and full of love, knowledge and wisdom. So our perception of that tree then creates our feelings and experience of it. And if our perception is limited, then our experience of it will also be very limited. Not only do we do we create this type of thinking with things such as trees but we also do it with people! We might meet someone for the first time and label them as mean, and that’s all we see and experience from them. We can even label ourselves and continue to think things like: “everyone is smarter than me”, “I’m unlovable”, “I don’t know how to do this”, “I can’t manifest” and as you continue to think these thoughts you continue to manifest and experience these perceptions in your day to day life. So what has this got to do with love? Everything that we have observed and learned through our childhood, combined with our own life experiences have created our current belief systems about love and how we experience it. It is our beliefs about love and what it means to us that can create that resistance to love, especially if love has a negative meaning to us. The meaning we have given love has skewed our experience and perception of love. So when love is skewed so are our receptors and the energy we emit to the universe. The energy we emit, has a direct impact on what we then call into our life; including people, experiences, the type of success, the type of opportunities that come your way, how much love we allow ourselves to receive and they ways in which we receive it. And as I mentioned earlier love can be found in anything and anyone, so when we block love we not only block ourselves from receiving love from one person but we also block ourselves from receiving love from everything within the universe. How do we change our resistance to love? Awareness is the key to change. You can’t change what you don’t know! So the first step to take is identifying what love means to you! Here are some questions you can ask yourself that will help you to identify what love means to you. When you were little how did the prominent people in your life express love? - How did they express love to you? - How did they express love to their partner? - How did they express love to their parents? What does love mean to you? And who taught you this meaning of love? - The person who taught you this meaning of love, what was their childhood like? - How did their parents express love to them? - What did they observe as a child that made them create this meaning? In which ways do you resist/block love in your life? Why? - How has blocking love, affected your life and your relationships? - How would your life be different if you allowed all love into your life? - What are your fears about love? My resistance to love is teaching me? What have I learned from blocking love? - E.g. maybe blocking love has taught you to feel safe. And so you push away love to continue to feel safe. So it’s about learning and understanding that you can feel safe even with love. Then list all the times you have felt safe and loved at the same time! You have the ability to create change Now that you have a deeper understanding of what meaning you had given love in the past and how it was created, as well as how you have blocked love in the past you can begin to make adjustments in your life to allow for more love. Be kind to yourself during this process of change. These past programs have been running for many many years, so allow yourself the time you need to make the proper adjustments. This new level of awareness you have gained by simply answering the questions above will allow you to notice when you begin to block or resist love in your life. Each time you notice this resistance this new level of awareness you have gained by simply answering the questions above will allow you to notice when you begin to block or resist love in your life. Each time you notice this resistance it is an opportunity for you to choose to respond differently in the present moment! The more you act and think in these news ways, the more automatic it will become, and soon love will be your new habit! Follow me on Facebook, Instagram and visit my website for more info! Georgie Maroudas, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Georgie Maroudas, founder of www.georgiemaroudas.com is a certified ThetaHealer Practitioner and Instructor. Using the Theta Brainwave, Georgie helps men and women release any fears, limiting beliefs, self-sabotaging behaviors and/or trauma that are limiting and no longer serving them. She is a big believer that our inner world of thoughts, beliefs and emotions create every aspect of our outer world and is passionate about helping and empowering every human being. Her mission is to empower individuals by teaching them the skills and abilities they need to be able to release what is no longer serving them, so that they can create a life they love!

Written by: Tau Rebecca Mikkelsen, 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. For many people, the corona time is a negative and challenging time full of isolation, anxiety and abandoned plans. But for me, it's also an exciting time—a time of opportunity. When doors close somewhere, it awakens a curiosity in me. What new doors can I open? I need to find new ways to be with people. I have to find new ways in my business. It is not to trivialize the corona. Many people are deeply affected and people are dying. I have great respect for their grief and frustration. At the same time, I would also like to invite you to look at the possibilities of this different time. Because it has given many of us a temporary respite, a free space with room for reflection. An opportunity to note: Am I living the life I want? Does the life I live make me happy? Is there room for what I want in my life? Do I have the freedom I want? The health, the relationships, the job and the economy? If you had a magic wand ... I work professionally to help people look at these issues. Many people can not answer the question, "What does your dream life look like? What kind of life would you love to live?" Our way of life doesn't give us the opportunity and space to notice and ask ourselves that question. We are so used to life being something that lives us rather than the opposite and pulls us in whatever direction that allows us to get through the day. I always ask my clients: If you thought anything was possible. If you had a magic wand, all the money in the world and knew that you would succeed with everything you do. What kind of life would you love to live? What does your dream life look like? And the answer is ALWAYS that their lives would look different than it does now. You can do what you want But why don't we live the life we would love to live? How hard can it be? It's actually really hard. Because we don't believe that it is possible. We have learned that it is our external circumstances that determine our possibilities. I can't work with what I really love, because I don't have the education. I can't travel the world with my family, because I don't have the money. I can't find a girlfriend, because I live in a small town. We are stuck in our beliefs about ourselves and the world, and we are guided by some learned patterns that tell us what we can and cannot do. And as Henry Ford said, "Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right." And if you notice, there is a huge energy and drive in that statement. It makes a difference whether I think I can, or I think I can't. Think like an elite athlete This is well known in elite sports. Here you work very consciously with the mental power that lies in an authentic belief that I CAN. All athletes are in sublime shape, so where the real competition is really going on is in the mindset. The vision about the victory. She who has visualized herself running across the finishing line as number one, she who has received the audience's storming applause in her imagination and has felt the victory in her body before the start. She is the one winning. And she knows that if she has the slightest doubt, the slightest "if only I can", then she has lost. Get out of your comfortzone Pippi Longstocking says: "I have not done this before, I should definitely be able to do this." And Pippi has probably failed a couple of times with that attitude. But it is also the reason why she has succeeded in doing a lot of things that she didn't have any guarantees would succeed before doing them. Still, most of us want a guarantee that things will turn out well before we do them. We want to know in advance that we will succeed. That we can. We would prefer that there is a fire in the fireplace before we feed it with wood. We want the success, the money-flow before we start the business. But it doesn't really work that way. If we want a guarantee that what we do works, we can only do what we have already done before. The things that we know. And then we have to stay in our comfort zone and repeat what we usually do. But this is not where the new things are created. A wise person once said: "Some people live 90 years. Others live one year 90 times". And to be honest, many of us do the last thing. We stay in our comfort zone and repeat the life we know. Even though that zone is not necessarily the most comfortable. But at least we know it. And our brain tells us it's important to stay in that safety Goodbye to the fear, brain "That is why we must begin to explore and discover ourselves." After all, our brain continues to operate like our primordial brain. It is still encoded in the same way as when we used to live in caves thousands of years ago, and its purpose was to keep us alive. Literally: Will I be eaten by a tiger, or am I safe. And everything we haven't done before our brain reacts to as a potential "tiger". If we become aware that this is actually what is happening, then we can begin to take control, instead of letting our fear brain dominate. As we live in our modern world, it is rarely a matter of life or death when we want to move outside of our comfort zone. Once we begin to open up to the new, we will also face other obstacles within ourselves. Because as human beings, we tend to sabotage ourselves all the time. We are our own worst enemies when it comes to growing and move ourselves from where we are to where we want to be. That is why we must begin to explore and discover ourselves. It's not just us who are going to make our lives and dreams grow. Creating our dream life also requires us to be ready to grow as human beings. And it is an inner process that requires curiosity, love, courage and determination. Welcome to your dream life When I work with my clients, I introduce them to a mindset and tools that give them insight and the power to achieve the life they dream of. They learn to focus on WHAT they want. And WHY they want it. They learn how to discover where they are sabotaging themselves. How their learned patterns and believes prevent them from going in the direction of their dreams. And instead of damaging themselves, they learn how to become their own best support on the journey towards their dream life. With self-insight and the right tools, we can all accelerate our dreams. It feels like a catapult that creates flow and opportunities and leads us to where we feel most alive So what do you dream about? Howard Thurman, who was Martin Luther King's mentor, once said these wise and inspiring words: "Don't ask what the world needs, ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive." So try this: Close your eyes for a moment. Take a deep breath and imagine what your life looks like when you do what makes you feel most happy, energetic and alive. What makes you feel free, abundant and in love with your life. Mmm, can you feel it? It's a great place to be. Welcome to your dream life. Go do it! For more information visit my website and join my Facebook community! Tau Rebecca Mikkelsen, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Tau Rebecca Mikkelsen is a certified holistic life and business coach. With her vision driven approach to life and business, she helps entrepreneurs grow their full potential business. This is what she says about herself and her work: "I am an expert in following my heart. I love my coaching business and I practice what I preach. In order to grow a successful business, you have to be willing to grow yourself. Exploring and expanding every single day. This creates flow, coherence, happiness and abundance in all areas of your life. This is my own personal experience and this is what I see happening in all of my clients' lives."

Written by: Olenka Cullinan, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Let’s face it, we all woke up in a world where our lives and businesses have been uprooted overnight. Most of us were not prepared to go into a virtual existence for months on end (physically or financially), to start homeschooling, to lose the social connections, or employment. None of it was predictable, and this new reality has stirred a whole slew of emotions – sadness, anger, loss, frustration, disbelief and the biggest one of all – fear. Fear is a basic primitive human emotion, which arises from the threat of physical or psychological harm, whether it’s real or imagined. Traditionally, it’s considered to be a negative emotion. But what if everything we knew about fear is wrong? Consider this – fear is not a “bad” emotion – it’s designed in your body to alert you against unpleasant situations. It’s an alarm mechanism that reminds you to make a move at the first sign of danger. I know you can argue with me here, “But why do we freeze when we are scared?” You only stop when the scare is perceived from certain beliefs! That’s when you get stuck. Think of two very distinctly different scenarios: if you see a dog charging at you out of nowhere, you might freeze for a few seconds but then you will move, likely run or jump to the side. But if you are scared of making a sales call (something of a perceived danger), you will often sit in this paralyzed state for hours, days, and weeks, avoiding it all together. That is why I’m inviting you to consider that fear is a great brain response that is actually alerting you that you need to take action! Our current situation can trigger fears on a daily or sometimes hourly basis: the news you are watching, being bombarded on social media, your work or school situation - all of these are the alerting to pay attention. Moreover, one of the most powerful qualities of fear: it’s contagious. I’m sure you have noticed that on some days you wake up in a great mood, and then you open up the Internet and before you know it, you just bought into everyone else’s worries and concerns. That is the reality of today’s situation. Unless you carefully curate the intake of your information, you are guaranteed to be sucked into everyone else’s emotions. "But a better question is: what do we do to transform during this “new normal” as the “old normal” may never come back." Now that the epidemic is declining in some areas of the world while still expanding in the others, these fears are causing a divide among us. No one is exactly sure what the right or wrong ways to behave are, but as humans, we do one thing well – we know how to judge. I see people projecting their emotions and their fears on others. It’s causing breaks in relationships, disconnect in companies, and havoc in our societies. And all of us are waiting on the “normal” to come back. But a better question is: what do we do to transform during this “new normal” as the “old normal” may never come back. Our transformation starts and ends with our mindset. The mind carries the limitations, the beliefs, and the realities of our lives. There’s no other way around it. So while the world may be in financial and psychological darkness, your responsibility lies in changing how you are reacting and processing these circumstances. We are all dealing with our own version of “scary” right now, but some people are choosing to be the light, while others are choosing to hide behind the darkness. You can choose to transform your angst into liberation. And no, I’m not saying that it is easy, as it requires work. But it is possible, and it is going to create a level of growth for you that will elevate your lifestyle. You see, the most successful people take action when others are scared to. Times of change are times for opportunity. Training your brain to react differently to the difficult situation is no different than training your muscles in the gym to get a six-pack. Consistency and monitoring progress move you forward through challenges of life. You need to get consistent on your positive habits. When clients tell me that they want to reach a certain goal, I ask them to show me their rituals. These are non-negotiable routines that you implement in your day whether the world stops or moves. In my case, it’s journaling, visualization and mediation every morning, then reading and mediation every night. What positive rituals keep you moving forward in these circumstances? If you don’t have any, start with one. Taking charge of your thoughts is the next important step to controlling your reality. Most of your thoughts are rooted in your beliefs, as your beliefs are just thoughts that have been repeated by you or others to you over and over. Bringing awareness to your thinking is where you can change your whole outlook on life. You decide how alive you get to be daily. Only your thoughts or buying into someone else’s is what stops you. In this uncertain world, it is your responsibility to start turning your thoughts into statements of growth and hope. You may stumble at first, and you will certainly catch yourself reverting to the negatives, but it’s ok – just keep practicing and re-stating every negative thought into positive out loud, and you will see the change. I use this “game of opposites” exercise with my clients for 30 days, and the results they notice are remarkable. This world might be in limbo for a while still, but you get to decide if you are going to add light or darkness to it and to your life. Your goal is to come out of this situation by freeing yourself from fear dictated by external circumstances. It’s going to require you to be brave and to take bold actions. Your thoughts don’t have power. You have power. And I promise you already have what it takes inside of you to transform that fear into freedom. Join Olenkas Facebook Community , follow her on Instagram and visit her website for more info! Olenka Cullinan, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Olenka Cullinan is a CEO of iStartFirst, Speaker, & Business Coach. She empowers women to up-Level their business and mindset via on-line Bootcamp, iStartFirst Women's Summit, and delivering keynotes and workshops for companies nationwide & globally. Olenka has developed a “Backbone of Success”™ method that helps female leaders to take action, get paid their worth and show up like a BOSS. Olenka’s work globally, combined with humor and personal experiences led to her recent appearances at TEDx (twice) and made her into one of the premier corporate consultants. She has worked with startups, corporate leaders and some of the top organizations across the world.

Written by: Jamie Dooley, Life and Business Coach Repurposing—a trendy new phrase taking the interior design world by storm—turning something old and forgotten, into something new, and even better than the original. It’s easy to visualize a piece of furniture being dusted off and treasured again, but what about a relationship? Conscious uncoupling is trending, but how do you love someone before the hurt has healed? I have learned that only Repurposed Love can heal that hurt. Like an old beat up buffet sitting in your basement with a mouse nest in the drawer, your relationship took a lot of abuse. You wouldn’t be divorced if it was a walk in the park, right Maybe that buffet has seen 4 different coats of paint. Each time you and your spouse were at your wits end, you agreed to try again by covering the old with a fresh new coat, but you were never able to fully strip it down to its base to see where the problem was. That is your connection with your ex. It’s just sitting there, in a corner of your heart and soul, wishing it was still important. Wishing it had a purpose. Whether it got there due to lack of use, purchase of a “newer model” or some other catastrophe you’d rather not discuss, you cannot seem to throw it away because it is a part of you. Your daughter helped you set the table with that real silver. Your child’s first visit to the ER was due to jumping off it to try out the new cape you made him. It held every birthday, anniversary, and holiday cake you ever made. And it was the one piece you could not decide on when you split. It meant a lot to both of you. It’s a reminder of the lost love, so neither of you could bear to get rid of it or use it in your new abode. It is homeless, sad, and forgotten, but still yearning to carry out the mission it was created for. Bring that old love out of the basement. Dust it off, and sand it down. Get to the base of what you are really upset about. Feel the disappointment instead of hiding it. Once you have it fully stripped down, you should be able to see a glimpse of its original beauty. You no longer need to hide how you once felt, or how you may still feel. You are part of each other, and are reminded of your unique bond each and every time you look at one of your remarkable children. I love my ex-husband like a brother. I am not in love with him, but I still care about him, his health and safety, and want to see him happy. For many years, he was the most important person in the world to me. I think about his safety, well-being and happiness now as often as I did then. I hope he has the life, and the woman, of his dreams because I was unable to give that to him. Why is that so weird? His happiness and success in life benefits my children greatly! So, I love my ex-husband. Do I wish I was still married to him? No. We grew apart, not together, but what we have is irrevocable, because we created a life together. Our children will always be only ours. No one will understand them, their idiosyncrasies, or the past events which made them who they are, like we will. No one will care as deeply or advocate their brilliance as frantically like the two of us. That bond is unbreakable. No one will know the road of hope, pain, and then loss we traveled on but us. I am not uncomfortable with him, because I am not trying to hide any buried emotion. I have no bitterness, resentment, or jealously left because I have a process for letting go of the past. I teach my clients to write what they are ready to let go of (relationships, fat, debt, guilt, shame, etc) and burn it. There is great power in ceremony! It’s like telling the Universe you are ready to move forward again. All of that thinking and analyzing is stealing joy from your future. People don’t have their peace taken from them, they give it away with their thoughts about a person. It doesn’t matter who did what when, it’s in the past. Let it freaking go. Whether you like it or not, when you have children together, your ex is still your partner. The definition of the relationship has changed, but you are still the parental unit, and therefore your children are looking to you to see how to act. They are watching you and your interactions with each other so much closer than you realize! How you treat each other is important, if not more important, than when you were married. Kids of any age sense tension. They also absorb it. If you cannot repurpose that love for you, can you do it for your kids? Love and bitterness cannot occupy the same space. The more we forgive, the more we are able to receive forgiveness. The more we love, the more we are able to receive love. Loving your ex is the quickest way to loving yourself again. Soften your heart and open yourself up to the possibility. Ask God to help you. You don’t have to wait for them to agree to this. Just start sending them love from afar. You will be amazed at the difference in energy next time you interact. Join Jamie's Facebook community and visit her website for more information! Jamie Dooley Jamie Dooley is a highly intuitive, heart-based life and business coach, who teaches the art of expansion through energy healing and writing. She is the CEO of The Expansion Group, a collaborative for female dreamers, doers, bosses, and entrepreneurs. Jamie is also the author of Self-Coaching Mastery , and a manifesto expert who teaches women how to embody their sexiest, healthiest, wealthiest selves and have fun in the process.

Written by: Brenda Johnston, 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. So you have a “side-hustle” and you want to build it into a sustainable business so you can leave your corporate day job. I’ve been there and done that! I can tell you that growing your side-hustle into a successful business that allows you to say good-bye to your corporate job is an awesome feeling. I get a lot of questions from people with this same intention, but they find themselves struggling to make it happen. The truth is, a lot of side-hustles never turn into anything more because many people don’t have the mindset or the strategies to make it happen. Here are four reasons why growing your side-hustle may feel like a struggle: You’re in it for the wrong reasons These days it’s fairly easy to start a business with little to no money, especially in the Coaching or the MLM world. This makes the idea of the entrepreneur lifestyle even more appealing for many people who want to escape their corporate day job. The challenge is , if you want your business to grow and be successful, it needs to solve a problem, it needs to be scalable and you need to actually like what you are doing. That last point might seem logical but I’ve spoken to a LOT of people with the mindset that the single most important goal is to make enough money to leave their corporate job. They tell me that they started their side-hustle because they thought it would make them happy, it would be fun, and wouldn’t it be great to be able to work from anywhere and still make money? Not truly enjoying what you are doing or believing in what you are selling will cause your subconscious mind to create reasons for it not to work. You’ll find yourself self-sabotaging more often than not because your mind is telling you that you’re not in alignment with what you are trying to do. You don’t have a strategy If you really want to build a business that is a replacement for a corporate job, you need to have a strategy. How long will it take to replace your corporate income? How many clients do you need to have, how many can you actually take on while you still have your fulltime job? I highly recommend hiring a good business consultant/coach to help you navigate this. There are many coaches out there who make it seem like there is an easy, one-size-fits-all template or solution to taking your side-hustle and turning it into a thriving six or seven-figure business “just like that”. I recommend you do your research and invest in a business coach that understands your business as well as YOU as a person. And trust me , I know that investing in yourself and your business can seem overwhelming, especially if it’s not actually making much money. Hiring the right coach can sustainably accelerate your growth so you can create a business that takes you where you want to do something you love. You’re not nourishing your mindset "As important as strategies and systems are, your mindset should be an integral part of your business growth strategy." Building your side-hustle means you are going to be working after hours and finding pockets of time to get things done. In some cases it can feel like you are actually working two fulltime jobs instead of one. Being serious about success means you need also to be serious about taking care of your mindset as well as your physical health. Getting a good night’s sleep and moving your body is great, but having a healthy mindset is key. This starts by creating a business mindset, it means setting designated hours for when you are working and when you are not. It also includes setting boundaries for when clients can reach you and when they can expect a reply. Not doing this can leave you feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, and burnt out and maybe hating your side-hustle. You don’t have gratitude for your fulltime job No matter how much you might despise your day job, you need to have gratitude for that job. I’m telling you, even though it’s a lot of work to have two jobs, it’s a lot less stressful to build a side-hustle when you are not worried about how you are going to pay your bills. You also need to change your perspective, look at that job as a stepping stone to being able to do something you’re passionate about. It will make going in every day a lot less painful and you never know, you may realize there are some skills you can transfer into your own business. If growing your side-hustle is something you are passionate about, I highly encourage you to go for it. Take some time to think about why you are doing it, what impact you want to make in the lives of others, and start taking steps towards your goal. This doesn’t have to be a race, it took me 10 years to get serious about building my side-hustle. But when I got serious, changed my mindset, and created a strategy, it only took a year to make my great escape and I have never looked back! Let’s get social, connect with me on Instagram , visit my website or check out The Limitless Life Podcast . Read more from Brenda Johnston: 3 Tips to Help You Shift From Worry to Wealth Brenda Johnston, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine After being chained to the same corporate job for close to 14 years and living with debt for most of her adult life, Brenda decided it was time to stop playing small. She changed her relationship with money and success (and more importantly herself) to turn her passion into profit. Within 7 months of leaving her corporate job, she had built a successful 6-figure business. As a High-Performance Mindset Coach, and the host of The Limitless Life podcast Brenda helps other driven Women tap into the power of their subconscious minds so they can access their full manifesting potential. She does this by helping transform limiting beliefs and fears that are creating patterns of self-sabotage so they can create an abundance mindset and go from worry to wealth.