Written by: Annette Maria , 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. The common thought of the publishing world is that you need to be someone famous or with a large following for your book to be seen as important to be published. I believe that your story is worthy to be shared in the world without any of that. Through my publishing house- Sanctuary Publishing- I have merged healing with publishing together. Another common thought of the publishing world is that it is a process of deadlines being met- forcing your words to be written and then going through the process of making the book come out. It has a very bland taste. But what I see when someone writes a book is they poured their soul into their work, they have finally written the book of their dreams- that does not deserve a bland experience. That deserves a deeply sacred process of birthing your book out into the world. It is very different writing our creative stories versus being seen for it out in the world. It is a deeply vulnerable experience, especially if your book relates to your personal journey. When we write our story, it is a moment to redefine all that has happened to us- meaning a lot comes up! Memories we have forgotten about, moments we thought we healed from, beautiful moments of celebration- they arise to the surface. It invites us into a deeper level of healing from our past and allows us to anchor into who we are becoming. The book going out into the world is a symbol for who you are becoming. You are being seen for your creation- which means you open yourself up to all of the possibilities- the celebrations and the criticism. Owning our sacred words being out in the world allows us to claim that our story matters, we matter. We may have experienced moments like this when it feels edgy, vulnerable but needed to share something while we are posting to social media. Imagine having a book filled with your vulnerability- it is a moment to claim your power in a deeper way. When authors work through Sanctuary Publishing, they are energetically prepared to hold this next level of expansion. I encourage all authors who dream to get published or have a book that they are working on to ask themselves, how can I make this sacred? How can I celebrate birthing my book into the world? Also, be honest with yourself if there are any fears and worries arising to the surface- allow them to be heard & acknowledged. They are deeply important in your journey. Being seen for your published story is deeply healing for everyone- for the author it allows your creation to be tangibly out in the world making an impact, for others, it shows them what is possible- that their story is equally important and for some, it may be deeply triggering to see you shine your light so bright. Either way, you have the opportunity to make your publishing process what you desire. The world of publishing has opened up to self-publishing, hybrid publishing which is Sanctuary Publishing or traditional publishing. Through Sanctuary Publishing, we publish authors who are spiritually driven, making a massive impact in the world and want to shine their light even brighter. We work with solo-authors, multi-author books and oracle/tarot card decks. The world of publishing has opened up, ask yourself how do I want my book to be published in the world. If you are called to a sacred birthing process- send us an email at hello@activationsbyannette.com to support you deeper. Follow me on Facebook, Inst agram, & Li nkedin for more info! Read more from Annette ! Annette Maria, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Annette Maria is Founder of Sanctuary Publishing, Best Selling Author, Host of Sacred Dance Podcast & Intuitive Facilitator of Healing. Through Sanctuary Publishing she supports entrepreneurs in becoming published authors to make a greater impact. Annette believes through storytelling, you can show others what is possible for their lives. She wants to see the planet as a place that supports each individual in feeling wildly expressed while living out their soul’s purpose. She resides in New Jersey with her artist partner, George & rescue dog, Max.

Written by: Tamar Medford, 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. I am sure you have heard the saying “Big girls/boys don’t cry” or, “Suck it up buttercup.” Why is it that at a young age we are taught to suppress our emotions? It sets in motion a fear that if we were to show how we feel we are perceived as weak or overly emotional. In my adolescent years, I felt out of place and awkward. A feeling I think many teenagers experience as they get grow up. Although I had a loving home, I was still one of those kids that did not want to share how I felt in fear that people may not like or accept me. So I sought out other solutions. I drank because of my inability to handle my emotions. The numbing effect that alcohol and drugs provided never allowed me to identify what I felt and why. Essentially that moment I started to drink was the moment I stopped growing mentally and emotionally. Anytime something terrible happened in my life, all I had to do was drink some of that liquid gold, and for a few moments, all those nasty feelings went away. Dealing with life this way became my go-to for the next twenty-two years. So I can not help but wonder what would have happened had I been taught emotional intelligence and awareness at a younger age. What if I had been able to identify where my emotions were showing up in my body, and having that knowledge would allow me to pause and express what I was feeling in a healthy manner? I am sure you can imagine the consequences of what masking your emotions for twenty-two years does to someone. When I decided to get sober, I was terrified. I had no idea how I would handle life because I had taught myself that sucking it up and trying to be strong was healthy. Little did I realize that the emotions I had built up over the years had not gone away, and the flood gates were about to open. When I first shared how out of control my life was with another person, a strange salty liquid began leaking uncontrollably out of my eyes. I felt awkward and uncomfortable. In fact, from that moment on, it was hard to stop or even control the flow of tears. I had never been so sensitive before, and I felt as though I was that innocent fourteen-year-old girl again. The reality was that I had never learned how to handle my emotions, and so I did what I thought was right. I hide them. Sobriety taught me that sharing my feelings and having a good cry once in a while was a positive thing, and it was encouraged. Although it took some time, and it is still something I work on today, I have learned that when I identify how I am feeling and move through those emotions rather than suppress them. I can handle myself better, not only personally but also professionally. How many times have you caught yourself getting upset and reacting in a way that you later wished you had not? Maybe this shows up with your partner? Friends? Or even at work? Has an emotion ever caused you to react in a way that later on you were morbidly embarrassed about? One of the ways you can start to develop a higher level of emotional intelligence, (also known as EQ) is to develop emotional awareness. Emotional awareness is a simple process in which you focus on one emotion and understand how that emotion shows up in your body. Sit in a quiet location and close your eyes. Take some deep breaths and relax. Think of a time when you felt a specific emotion. (Sad, Angry, Annoyed, Happy, Excited) Now relive that moment and feel where that emotion shows up in your body. Does it show up in your chest, gut, or maybe even your head? Does your face go red, or does your body start to get hot? Feel and experience it all! Then take a minute and journal about how it showed up in your body and how it made you feel. Continue this process with different emotions until you have covered the most common ones you experience. This knowledge can also come in handy if you are experiencing a so-called negative emotion. For example, if you are about to do a major presentation or speech. Understanding that anxiety or nervousness can show up the same as excitement, you may shift your mindset and tell yourself that you are not nervous but instead, you are excited for what is about to happen. Changing your thinking can change your whole experience and improve your confidence. Therefore, learning to develop a higher emotional intelligence is the key to unlocking your untapped potential, and for leaders, this is not an optional extra. Sobriety encouraged me to build a strong foundation in my life, and one of the keys was to tap into my EQ. I learned that being able to express how I felt showed courage and strength. Developing a higher EQ has also spared me the embarrassment of flying off the handle due to a comment or situation in which I felt offended, threatened, or hurt. Learning to identify and express how I feel allows me to pause and handle life with more grace. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Tamar! Tamar Medford, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Tamar Medford is a National Director with Life In Balance Careers, Founder of The Road Forward and host of The Road Beyond Recovery Podcast. Since overcoming a 20-year battle with drugs and alcohol, she has dedicated her life to helping entrepreneurs in recovery master their minds so they can grow their businesses and lead authentically fulfilling lives. Tamar is a Neuro Change Master Practitioner, Performance Consultant and Life Coach and uses evidence-based frameworks to help her clients live purpose-driven lives. She is the author of two Amazon bestselling books, Hope Elevated and Beyond Recovery. Tamar has almost a decade of experience helping individuals in recovery, and she desires to bring more awareness to addiction, recovery, and mental health. Her mission is to help those in recovery create a life so good for themselves that they never want to go back to their old way of living.

Written by: Martha Lewis, 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. Do you struggle to sleep? Have you tried everything from sleep hygiene to supplements to sleeping pills to gadgets just to get a good night’s sleep? But nothing works for long or at all? You’re not alone. At least 10% of the population and possibly up to 50% experience chronic insomnia. That’s millions of people! I had this problem, too. My insomnia started in late pregnancy but didn’t go away after my son was born, even after he was sleeping through the night and I had become a pediatric sleep consultant. It would take me forever to fall asleep. And then I would wake up at 3 or 4 am and not be able to get back to sleep until 6 when my son was waking up. I tried the basics: no screens before bed, no caffeine after noon, exercise every day. It didn’t help. It wasn’t until I found out I had a parasite, hormone imbalance, food sensitivities and copper toxicity and corrected those that I started sleeping better. If you’re tried everything and nothing has worked, there’s something deeper going on that is keeping you awake. There are 2 things keeping you from sleeping: Your body Your mind In your body, these things that you don’t know about could be sabotaging your sleep: A pathogen in your gut Food sensitivities Liver detox issues Mineral imbalance Hormone imbalance Food sensitivities I use functional lab testing to find what’s going on in your body that’s keeping you awake at night. In your mind, these things can keep you awake: Chronic mental stress Negative thoughts and anxiety about sleep Being unhappy in your job, relationship, life Living without purpose If you look only at what's going on in your body, your mind will still ruin your sleep. And constant stress will keep your body from healing like it should. If you look only at your mind, your body will still keep you from sleeping. You can meditate and journal and do yoga and laugh and relax, but the imbalances in your body won’t correct themselves. You have to find out what’s going on physically and work to fix anything out of whack. You want to look at both your body and your mind in a holistic way to permanently fix your sleep. If I can sleep well after 2 years of insomnia, you can, too. I’m wishing you a good night’s sleep. Follow Martha on her Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin and visit her website for more info. Martha Lewis, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Martha Lewis is a sleep consultant to people who want have tried everything and still can't sleep. As a certified sleep expert and Functional Diagnostic Nutrition practitioner, she addresses both body and mind with stress resilience techniques and testing for hidden health issues to get to the root cause of her clients’ insomnia. She goes beyond the basic sleep advice you read about everywhere else and addresses what’s happening in the body that causes insomnia. She has been featured in numerous publications, such as Thrive Global and the Jackson Hole News & Guide, and various podcasts around the world and is also a passionate speaker on the topic of sleep.

Written by: Anastasia Lind, 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. Have you ever wanted to learn a foreign language but didn't know how to go about it? Or maybe you even tried many different things that didn't give the result? Did you push the desire to learn a language back because of other priorities? The thing is, it is still there, hidden deep inside and covered with dust. So let's bring it back to life now! Last week I talked to a friend of mine. We haven't seen each other in a while and had a lot to discuss. So we had a very engaging conversation right up until I asked how she was doing with her Spanish. What happened next was interesting. My friend immediately wrapped up the conversation and started physically moving away from me! She almost escaped! I thought: wow, there must be a lot of pain around that subject! And I understand why. There is a reason for each desire born in your heart: you want to expand your life and experience certain emotions through that desire—love, connection, joy, freedom, etc. And when there is a belief that this can't be achieved for whatever reason, it feels awful. So now, I am on a mission to demystify foreign languages and show that everybody can do it easily with a simple mindset shift. My project is a part of a bigger vision: unity on our planet no matter where we come from and what languages we speak. During my practice as a language teacher and coach, I identified seven main reasons why it is hard to learn foreign languages. We are going to look at them now and then turn them around. 1. A negative experience in the past Maybe you had a terrible teacher at school, an incident while traveling, or somebody gave you a rude comment. Those memories create an association with pain, and of course, you don't want to go through this again. Try this affirmation: my past does not equal my future. What happened does not define me, and today, I choose a new start. 2. You see it as an enormous goal Speaking a foreign language might seem to be something overly significant and unachievable, or like there is a massive gap between you and "those who are good at languages." I like to focus on the bigger goals and the opportunities that will open up when you are fluent, for example, having friends in another country, taking a course, starting a business, etc. Go deep. What else will be possible for you? In that way, learning a language is just a small step towards bigger goals, which takes the pressure off your shoulders and makes it easier to progress. 3. No strategy It can be overwhelming to figure out where to start and what to focus on. There are so many available tools, like apps, YouTube videos, books, courses, private lessons, etc. However, most of them do not lead to fluency. No wonder it is frustrating to try out all those things and still not be able to speak. My advice is simple: choose one strategy and stick with it. I have my own system that I use to learn languages and that I find most effective. To find out more about this strategy, please visit my website. I run workshops where I talk about it in detail. 4. No support People questioning the validity of your goal or your ability to succeed is not especially motivating. Remember that people are giving advice from their perspective, past experiences, and beliefs, which has nothing to do with you. You want to surround yourself with people who have already mastered a foreign language or at least who have a similar goal. There are many ways to find such people, and I talk about it in detail in my workshops. 5. Misbeliefs Maybe you have one of the most common misbeliefs about learning foreign languages; for example, you need to have a lot of time, money, talent, travel to another country, etc. All this is blocking your progress. There are always ways to make something work regardless of your circumstances. So rather than focusing on the limitations, try to ask yourself: what can I do now to make it happen? Here is one of the most powerful exercises that I do with my clients. First, write down a list of all your beliefs and concerns. Then rewrite them in a way, so they sound like empowering statements; for example, "I am not good at grammar" can be changed to "Grammar gives me freedom and confidence to express my thoughts." 6. You are okay without it. It doesn't feel worth investing time and energy because you cannot see why you need this language and what benefits it can bring into your life. Think about it that way: a foreign language is just a tool, and it is more about creating a whole new lifestyle of adventure, joy, and connection worldwide. A lifestyle where you have friends and business partners worldwide, you feel at home wherever you go, experience unity with the whole planet, safety and freedom coming from the inside, a deep heart-to-heart connection with other human beings all over the Globe. What can you create when you are coming from that place? 7. Coming from a place of separation rather than unity The old paradigm is that we are only physical bodies, and we are different just because we speak another language or live in another country. And if we are different, we can't trust one another, so we get to stay guarded. This is causing fear of being judged, ridiculed, and excluded, which is why it can be hard to break the language barrier. And connection is one of the basic human needs. On the other hand, we can choose to adopt a perception of unity. It means that we are brothers and sisters sharing a home, planet Earth. We already have a heart-to-heart connection that goes far beyond any language barrier. In that way, you can feel safe traveling and speaking to other people because we are one and there is nothing to fear. What would it feel like to learn a foreign language coming from a place of unity? I help my clients create a lifestyle of adventure, joy, and connection worldwide, using languages as one of the vehicles. If you'd like to learn more, feel free to connect with me! Follow Anastasia on her Linkedin and visit her website for more info. Anastasia Lind, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Anastasia Lind is a language strategist and a lifestyle coach living in Sweden. While working as a teacher of Russian and Swedish, she started noticing specific patterns in the students' ways of thinking that affected their results. It was fascinating to see how certain people learned fast and with ease while others struggled. It became crystal clear that the results had nothing to do with the method, book, or teacher and that the answers lay deep inside students' minds. Then the idea of the first book about learning languages was born. It evolved and turned into a massive project that helps people create a lifestyle of adventure, joy, and connection worldwide. Anastasia holds a vision of unity on our planet where more individuals worldwide collaborate and create joy and abundance on Earth. Currently, she is hosting virtual events and courses about lifestyle, traveling, languages, making friends worldwide, and coming from the perception of oneness.

Written by: Rudi Ayden Riekstins, 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. From decades of experience coaching companies, executives, and high-performing individuals, I have discovered that the basis of nearly every goal is a desire to elevate to the next level. Regardless of what specific goal one is moving towards, increasing personal power is key to achieving it. Understanding the true nature of power is precisely the place we begin the work. Today, I'll begin with you asking the same simple question I would pose to my clients in our first meeting. "In any given room, who is the most powerful person in that room?" After a brief moment of silence, I typically get one of the two following responses: "It should be me, but it's not" or, "The person with the most money." What I continued hearing in these sessions were expressions of the deeply ingrained belief that power in business is contingent upon a title, status, or income level. I quickly realized that transforming this belief was the most impactful way to help these individuals expand their being and reach their specific goals. The understanding we would work towards was that power is one's ability to remain calm and centered, regardless of outside influence. This knowledge was followed by training exercises that helped create brain and body coherence by remaining neutral, allowing inspiration and intuition to flow, especially when others aren't holding this mindset. Think back to the last time you were stressed, nervous, or even argued with someone. Did you find that your tongue felt thick, dry and you struggled to complete your sentences? Only to later be in contemplation wishing that you had said so much more, frustrated that the words escaped you at the moment. The reason for this is that in moments of heightened emotion, like stress, nervousness, insecurity, fear, or anger, the body goes into a state of fight or flight. To self-preserve, the brain releases cortisol and goes through a series of reactions to protect the body. The brain compartmentalizes with the left and right brain no longer communicating, causing erratic thought impulses, drastically decreasing focus and concentration. The brain and body enter a state of incoherence with elevated heart rates, accumulating distrust between the mind and body. In states like these, it is impossible to have a rational, logical thought. This is why all those things you wish you'd said come flooding back once you've had time to calm down and think. Being in your personal power is remaining in a state where you are intentionally calm, creating optimal brain and body coherence. The most influential person in any room is always the person with the soundest mind - Rudi Ayden Riekstins. Intimately knowing how your body feels when calm and centered, without being emotionally charged, positive or negative, allows you to be consciously aware when emotionally shifting. Being mindful allows you to be in observer mode, thus controlling your thoughts and feelings, which organically drives behavior. The power is in staying neutral, level-headed, keeping inspiration and intuition flowing through a clear connection of mind and body. The experience of being in your own power is best identified by the ability to think clearly, receive inspiration and rationally filter all thoughts. Preparing your inner foundation will allow for personal power to grow and become unwavering. With consistent practice, you will feel it every day, in the moments of both calm and chaos. To begin developing mastery over your inner state, engage in the five following practices: Observe your thoughts and feelings daily. Make it a practice to question why you feel the way you do, when it began, how often you feel like this, and what you could do to shift that feeling to a lighter, more expansive feeling. Label your emotions: Scientific research shows that simply naming negative emotions reduces the emotion within the body. When you feel angry or frustrated, stating, "I am feeling angry" or "I am frustrated" decreases activity in the brain's emotional centers. This act of naming you or someone else's emotions allows for space between the event, the person experiencing the event, and the emotional reaction itself, bringing coherence back in the brain and body. Meditation: Purposefully calming your emotions each morning lets you know what you feel like without heightened emotion. Knowing, what I refer to as your center point, helps you get back there later when stresses are coming up throughout your day- a roadmap to get back to a calm and serene place regardless of outside influence. Assign emotional value: When you are at your center point, calm, you have optimal coherence and can thus view the world objectively. Understanding that all events are neutral and you get to assign positive or negative emotional value to the situation is truly powerful. An adverse event is an event that we give a negative value to. When you realize your power lies in how you decide to respond to that event, you tap into a higher, more robust awareness and approach. Intention: Everything in life started first with a thought. Whenever you want to achieve anything, first hold the vision of the desired outcome once achieved. Feeling the successful outcome before you've taken action aligns the mind, body, and energy (coherence) on a unified point of focus, which will align the thoughts, additional feelings, and then organically the appropriate actions towards the ultimate goal of successfully completing the outcome. I refer to this as mind-mapping. You are creating an emotional and mental roadmap within the mind to achieving the outcome. Having already experienced it within the mind exponentially increases your likeliness of achieving your goal as you take the appropriate steps that align with the feeling. Follow Rudi on his Instagram, Linkedin and visit his website for more info. Rudi Ayden Riekstins, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Rudi Ayden Riekstins is an entrepreneur, author, international speaker, and a Top 10 Business Coach and Mentor. Riekstins is known globally as a disrupter of old patterns by bringing spiritual truths into everyday life, especially business. He has spent the last twenty-five years building and developing high-performing teams, leaders, and whole organizations through transformational keynotes, training, and mentorship. In addition, he is the co-founder of InPower University, a platform that offers online training, courses, and coaching to individuals wanting to create purposeful businesses. Bloomberg and Business Insider considers Riekstins a Top Twenty Mindful Thought Leader to follow. His mission: Inspire everyone to thrive, not survive.

Written by: Monica Cox, 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. Like many women, you've been taught how NOT to get pregnant. But most likely not the importance of supporting your fertility health before you're ready to get pregnant, especially if you know a family will be something you build later in life. If you make it your goal to conceive in a healthy body, you'll make it well into your 30's and NOT feel like your clock is ticking or have a laundry list of must-dos to improve your chances of getting and staying pregnant. And don't worry too much about the old myth that your fertility dramatically decreases when you hit your 30's. The medical journal Human Reproduction got this data from church birth records and rural France between 1670 -1830. Recent medical studies show that ovarian ageing is more about cellular health than your age. What you want to focus on before you're ready to get pregnant is your day to day "normal" health issues, including headaches, gut issues, thyroid problems, PMS, hormonal imbalances, skin issues, anxiety and more. In many cases, all those minor "normal" health issues can become one big problem later, which can harm your chances of getting pregnant, including low egg quality. Everyone's bodies are different, so this means you have to find out how your body is acting right now. Look at your everyday health issues and see if anything, including environment, diet and lifestyle, may negatively impact your mental and physical health. When I started trying for a baby at the age of 27, I (and doctors) said/thought that I was healthy. I was fit and active; I ate better than most, never had an eating disorder, smoked or took drugs and drank what everyone else was drinking. So why wasn't I getting pregnant when everyone else living the same lifestyle around me was? After years of never getting pregnant, two failed IVF's and no other apparent signs; we discovered that my normal lifestyle was not only affecting my fertility but making me infertile. Remember, I had no obvious symptoms, just "normal" ones; gut issues (including IBS), ovarian cyst & hormonal issues (crazy PMS). My unexplained infertility exposed my silent autoimmune issue, which had been slowly developing over the years. Luckily, I was able to start taking steps to restore my fertility and achieve my dream family, but if I had been aware of some of the simple changes I could have made during my 20's, I could have saved myself a lot of time, effort, money and heartache. By making a few fundamental changes, you can support your body in mantling proper health & keeping your fertility strong for when you're ready to get pregnant (along with limiting the medical support). Here are the top five ways to support your fertility before you're ready to get pregnant: 1. Be Aware of Thyroid Health Thyroid dysfunction is relatively high in the general population. According to the American Thyroid Association (ATA), it is often undiagnosed - One in eight women will develop a thyroid disorder during her lifetime. Every cell in the body depends upon thyroid hormones released from the thyroid gland, including the body's metabolism, blood calcium levels, fat metabolism, energy production, oxygen utilization, the balance of other hormones & weight maintenance. So you can see why it's so important to keep it healthy. The best way to do this is by eating clean & discovering your food intolerances. Limit sugars, caffeine, hydrogenated oils, cigarette smoking, and alcohol & exposure to heavy metals, including mercury, fluoride, and bisphenols. Stress management is essential and moderate exercise is beneficial. 2. Take Care of your Gut It all starts in the gut – a healthy gut dramatically improves your health & fertility. Also, your growing babies' digestive tract will be colonized by the same bacteria in your gut - how amazing is that!?! This is done (again) by eating clean, being conscious about how much sugar you're having a day and supporting good bacteria by eating Lacto-Fermented Foods or taking a good probiotic (not those silly yoghurt drinks)! 3. Be Aware of your Birth Control As women, we're lucky to live in a time when we have control over our bodies- this includes the many different birth control options available to us. However, hormonal birth control can have unwanted side effects on a woman's body, including unwanted weight gain, depression, and oxidative stress- leading to chronic stress, hormone imbalance, and infertility. Being aware of how your body is affected by hormonal birth control is vital- listen to what your body is telling you. If you don't feel right about it, talk with your doctor and find a better alternative. 4. Movement and Sleep Keep moving – you're young and fit, you love to dance and beat the boys down the hill, so this should be no problem! Find what works best for you and do it 3 to 5 times a week! And then Sleep. Sleep is one of the most underrated habits you can do for your health. Find what works for you – I'm a 7 to 9 hours type of girl & that works great for me! I find that if I go to bed later than midnight, I feel like a zombie, even if I get 7 hours. If this sounds familiar, try to get to bed before 10 pm! 5. Take Control of your Emotions and De-Stress Two things that I learned about emotions during my journey: Take responsibility for your emotions- Sorry, but the excuse that someone made you feel that way is BS- no one can make you feel something. Acknowledge your emotions- Give them the support they need and then let them go. Once I embraced these two little nuggets of knowledge, my journey became a little less rocky, and I became a little less vulnerable. The knowledge that I had complete control over how I reacted to the events that have and will unfold in my life completely changed how I looked at the world around me. This helped me to reduce stress in my life and not sweat the small stuff. Whether you're planning on starting your family sooner or later in life, follow the tips above to increase your odds of getting pregnant and creating the family of your dreams. Follow Monica on her Instagram and visit her website for more info. Monica Cox, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Monica Cox is a top Functional Fertility Coach and Infertility Warrior. She helps women get to the bottom of their fertility issues, using science-based functional medicine to help increase their chances of getting and staying pregnant. She dealt with years of unexplained infertility, failed IVF's & survived several miscarriages before becoming an IVF mom & getting pregnant natural even though the doctors said there was nothing she could do to improve her situation. Author of the best-selling journals Boost Your Embryos, Baby & Me, and Fertility Food and host of the highly popular podcast Finding Fertility, Monica is dedicated to inspiring women to look beyond their infertility diagnosis and take control of their health through clean eating and simplifying their lifestyle. Her signature online program, The Fertility Formula & personal Fertility Focused Coaching, has helped woman increase their chances of creating the family of their dreams.

Written by: Kamini Wood, 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. I have heard that several times over the past few weeks. “You have to put your oxygen mask on before you can help others”. It makes sense, right? I mean how can you truly help other people if you cannot even breathe? Intellectually it is very easy to understand the concept. However, when you have trained your mind, and it has become second nature to do for others first, you almost feel selfish if you, dare I say it, take care of yourself first. Thinking about it…from my perspective, as a mom and wife, this happens a lot even in small daily occurrences. Meals: I always plate their food before my own Clothes: I buy their clothes and shoes before I buy for myself Work: I help them with what they have to work on before completing my own work for the day. Sleep: They are all tucked in and to bed before I go to sleep. These are just a few everyday examples. Now multiply that by the ingrained mindset to take care of their needs and wants. Being an overachiever, and also a people pleaser…I find myself adding to my plate, in order to avoid any burden on them. Over and over again. This happens all day, every day. Of course, until the tank is empty. But it’s not just moms and wives. I see it in women, in men and even in teens. So many of us have this need to please. This need to be perfect. This need to get it all done and then do some more because we do not want to disappoint others. That’s all well and good… IF… big IF here…. You take care of yourself so you have something left to give. So maybe, just maybe the universe is simply sending a reminder, first self-care. Then help others. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or visit my website for more info! Read more from Kamini! Kamini Wood, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Kamini Wood is the founder and CEO of Live Joy Your Way and the AuthenticMe® RiseUp program. An international best-selling author Kamini is driven to support people of all ages to heal their relationship with themselves and to stop outsourcing their self-worth. As a result, her clients become their own confident, resilient self-leader with healthier relationships. Kamini is a certified life coach, board-certified by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners, holds specialty certifications in Calling in the One®, Conscious Uncoupling®, NewMoney Story®, and teen life coaching. Also trained in conscious parenting, Kamini aims to meet her clients where they are, supporting and guiding them on their journey to where they want to be, both personally and professionally. Her mission: create space for each person to see the unique gifts they bring to this world.

Written by: Kris de Jong, 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. Still, searching for your “passion” in life? I’m sure you’ve often heard or read about how you should be looking for your one, true passion, and how you’ll be fulfilled and happy once you do. Self-help gurus and social influencers love to tell you about how they’re living their best life because they’ve found their passion. Good for them, but what if you can’t seem to find yours? Maybe you’ve been searching for this elusive diamond of passion for years with no luck. “If only I could find my passion”, I could work in my dream job, or make a ton of money, or have everything fall into place. You don’t need to “find your passion” The truth is, you don’t need a “passion” to live a full and rewarding life. If you do have a passion, good for you! If you don’t, there’s no need to panic – think purpose and intention instead. Your passion may appear later as you live with purpose and have intention, or it may not. It doesn’t matter – the main thing is you’re doing what you enjoy and getting satisfaction from it. Purpose is the reason for doing what you do, and intention is the action you take to move toward what you really want in your life. Find your purpose Purpose is more powerful than passion, as it resides within your soul. Passion is developed and takes practice. Purpose amplifies passion. Having a sense of purpose helps to align your actions and behaviors with a core aspiration, or “lodestar” if you will. Your sense of purpose comes from striving to be the best version of who you are and living according to your core values. Core values are the tenets you tend to live by and don’t usually compromise. Examples can be things such as freedom, integrity, love, family, money, kindness, justice, success, respect. Everyone’s set of values are different, so I encourage you to take some time to think about what values are most important to you. Try to pare them down to 5 or 6, so you can remember them when you need to make a big decision, respond to a significant event, or plan for the future. Aligning your work and your life as closely as possible with your core values helps you to create a sense of purpose. A powerful exercise you can try is to think about and write down an overarching purpose, or personal mission statement. Here are some examples to get you thinking: “To have as many wonderful experiences in my life as possible” “For my business to make a real and positive difference to people’s lives” “To inspire young people to reach their goals” “To create innovative tech solutions to combat climate change” “To provide and care for my family as best I can” Your purpose will be your own, based on who you are and what you want to be doing in your life. Build your intention Intention involves living a deliberate life and doing things that align with your purpose. It means taking specific actions that move you toward your goals. This involves using your natural talents. Try writing down what you’re objectively good at. These could be the skills others have told you you’re great at, or have even won awards for. Then write down the things you enjoy doing, both in and outside of work. Now try to find some intersectional points or commonalities. This is the “sweet spot” where fulfillment lives. Living and working in your genius zone gives you a deep sense of satisfaction and meaning. Live your dream It’s always a good idea to think about what you want in the bigger picture before worrying about the shorter-term stuff. With this in mind, create a vision or lifestyle goal you want to achieve within the next 3, 5, 10 years, or whatever timeframe suits you. Write down what you want in your life, how you want to be feeling, what lifestyle you want, even what material things you desire. This is the start of your sense of clarity and direction – the start of your intention . Now make a plan to reach your goals. This may consist of creating shorter-term goals and strategies that will move you inexorably toward your big picture lifestyle goal. Embed good habits and routines, and stay true to your values along the way. Most of all, enjoy the journey! Passion is great, but don’t try to seek it out at the expense of intentional purpose. Visit Kris' website to book a free consultation, and follow him on Facebook and LinkedIn . Read more from Kris! Kris de Jong, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Kris de Jong is an experienced and certified Executive Life Coach living in Auckland, New Zealand. He studied at the University of Waikato, completing a BSc in Biology and Psychology, and was later certified in Cognitive Behavioural Coaching and Professional Life Coaching. He's also a Certified Practitioner of the Global Leadership Assessment 360 (GLA360). Recently he's become a co-founding ambassador for Prox.io, a global virtual knowledge exchange platform. Kris has managed large and diverse teams over the years while building his coaching and mentoring skills. His experience in HR, recruitment, performance, and people management allows him to optimize employee coaching for organizations looking to improve workplace wellbeing. He's written over 100 articles, published in national news outlets, and featured on national radio. After achieving financial freedom at 40, Kris started Eclipse Life Coaching and is passionate about coaching and helping people to get what they want in life.

Written by: Hamsah Smadi, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. It is said that hermit crabs live in abandoned shells that were left by sea snails to protect themselves from being easy prey for fishermen. They place themselves inside the shell that fits their size and continues carrying it with them. However, the same shell that is used for protection hinders the crab movement; it cannot respond quickly to any external threat while holding such weight, which in turn makes it an effortless hunt for fishermen. It is ironic how we as humans adapt similar behavior sometimes, by trapping ourselves within familiar but negative thoughts and beliefs for so long thinking they well protect us from going through hard experiences, not knowing that the real trap is the one we are putting ourselves in. “Limiting Beliefs” are represented in any idea that has an unpleasant effect on yourself. Any idea that makes you feel sad, hopeless, afraid, distrustful is a negative thought. Any idea that prevents you from progressing in achieving your goals, makes you fail to follow your dreams and makes you miss opportunities is negative and limiting. Any thought that keeps you spinning in a closed, endless and useless cycle is a negative thought. Usually, negative thoughts come as a result of previous hurtful life experiences that affected us negatively, which make us judge every similar situation in the present based on the old experience. Although in part, this can help us to some extent to not do the same past mistakes again, we need to pay attention when these thoughts turn from being good lessons to toxic beliefs. Thoughts like: "I'm a failure and I can't succeed" “The world is an awful place” “I was born nervous and cannot change that” “I am a bad mother” “People will like me only if I become rich” “I would never find good friends” Do these sentences sound familiar? These are just a few examples of the negative thoughts and beliefs with which we restrict ourselves and get used to their presence until they become part of our personalities and the way we view life and ourselves. So, how to protect our inner self and welcome new opportunities at the same time? Resilience instead of protective shells Based on positive psychology, resilience is the ability to cope with “whatever life throws at you”. Here are few steps in order to strengthen resilience: Accept that change is a normal part of life, nothing remains the same forever. If you keep yourself apart from change, change will come to you, whether you like it or not. Look for the good in the bad. We all agree on how hard and challenging some situations are, but we also need to see what advantages these situations might bring to us. For example, losing your current job “a stressful situation” might be the turning point for you to start your own business, follow your passion or live a completely different and better life. Keep learning. Learning is a continuous process; the world is changing and expanding in so many ways. Learning a variety of skills in different life or work domains can equip you to be ready to deal with unexpected situations. Get to know your own strengths. Identifying and activating your own strengths such as: bravery, hope, leadership, wisdom and love of learning and using them in the right time and manner can be a great aid to boost your self-confidence and hence your willingness to deal with risks. Imprisoning yourself inside negative thoughts shell might protect you on the short run, however, on the long run, you will not be happier, more comfortable, relieved or more resilient if you continue losing life opportunities and dismissing new experiences, new friends, new projects and even new hard lessons. An exercise for you – Think of a decision or a situation, or even an opportunity that came to you recently when you refused to seize the opportunity or make that decision and surrendered yourself to some dark thoughts and reasons. Now think about what arguments and reasons (limiting thoughts) you have told yourself and those around you to justify your inability to pursue that opportunity? Can you now think of alternative ideas that you would like to have had in that situation or opportunity? If you have that past opportunity again in the future, how will you react? Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Hamsah! Hamsah Smadi, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Hamsah Smadi is a certified positive psychology coach, who holds an MBA in Marketing and has worked as a university lecturer for several years. She has been always interested in studying human behavior and has given many workshops on positive psychology topics and coached dozens of people through individual coaching sessions, helping them identify their strengths and how to use them in the right balance to: achieve their goals, cope with difficulties, overcome obstacles and achieve their life goals. As a loving mother of three active kids and a survivor of Fibromyalgia, she coaches mothers - especially with chronic illnesses such as Fibromyalgia - and help them manage parenting stress and feelings of guilt and inadequacy by focusing on strength points rather than weaknesses and turning motherhood into a more enjoyable role. She has a published book titled: A Black Hole: The Journey of Self-Exploration from Chaos to Awakening in Arabic. In which she put the most important tools of positive psychology and ways to use them to improve life and achieve well-being.

Written by: Elizabeth Olujimi, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. We all have dreams at some point in our lives but unfortunately, we don’t all get to live out our dreams. This could be because of various reasons, or should I say excuses that we choose to accept. The path of least resistance will always be the one where we choose to settle where we are and do nothing. However, it is important to wake up to the fact that our dreams won’t just happen, we have a part to play in making them a reality. You are responsible for your dreams. 1. See It In case you are wondering what your dreams are, I would like you to take a moment and imagine the future you desire, what do you want your life to look like in 5 / 10 years’ time? This will help you to start putting together a picture of your dreams, write them down and put them on a vision board. Position your vision board somewhere visible so you are constantly reminding yourself of what your dreams are. Being able to see your dreams will enable you to start with the end in mind, as you plan your steps to making it a reality. 2. Believe it If you are going to confidently pursue your dreams, you need to believe in your dreams and believe in yourself. This is where some of us struggle because we have a negative narrative in our minds feeding us the lies that we will fail, or we don’t deserve it. Maybe you have shared your dreams with some people in the past and they laughed at you so now you have lost the confidence to pursue them. The environment you are in and the voices you are listening to can affect how confidently you pursue your dreams. If you need to make certain changes, do so because you need to give your dreams a chance. Believe that your dreams are possible, and you have what it takes to make them a reality. 3. Act on it Your dreams will remain wishful thinking or a picture on a vision board unless you start taking intentional steps to make them a reality. If I asked you, what is standing in the way of your dreams, it would be easy to draft a list of excuses, those excuses will largely be linked to a fear you have. If we embrace it, fear will always stand in the way but why not feel the fear and do it anyway. You will never know how successful your dreams can be if you don’t act on them. Your dreams are an opportunity for you to leave an imprint so if you don’t act on them, the world will never feel your impact. I will leave you with this mantra, “When I see it, believe it, act on it, my dreams can become a reality.” Elizabeth Olujimi, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Elizabeth Olujimi is a Coach, Speaker, Mentor, Wife, Mother, and Pastor. She is known as the Thriving Coach who helps women in their journey of self-discovery, confidence building, personal growth, and achieving their goals and dreams so that they can thrive in life. She is the CEO of Dare To Believe Coaching Ltd, and her mission is to see women transition from surviving to thriving. She has spoken on virtual stages, inspiring women and young people to maximize their potential. Elizabeth is also a Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team and has published articles for the Luminous Wisdom SOPHIA magazine.

Hilary Rowland founded Next Chapter Retreats with her business partner Peter Hyson following an accomplished career, with more than 30 years experience in business advice, professional speaking, coaching and HR. She has worked with senior executives across numerous companies including the BBC, PWC, Academy for Chief Executives, and a variety of SMEs.She's passionate about helping individuals find their sense of purpose and then live it. They have had considerable success with their unique retreats over many years working with senior executives in groups, witnessing how effective the power of people working together can be on their personal development. This approach allows the creation of an environment for true reflection and exploration by taking participants ‘off-grid’, free from the distractions of their professional and personal lives, and with the time to work at real depth. Hilary Rowland, Co-Founder Of Next Chapter Retreats 1. What does Next Chapter Retreats do? We work with successful people who may have lost a sense of purpose and direction, have run out of steam, gone off the boil and those who want to get back to their best. Our clients know the power of investing in their own personal growth and development, they are emotionally intelligent and self-aware. We help nurture that awareness into action, leading to a more fulfilled life, bringing focus, renewed energy and impact for themselves, their business and their family. 2. What led you to start Next Chapter Retreats? Two things: Someone once said, ‘Many people die with their best music un-played’ and we think that’s a tragedy. We’ve been running retreats for CEOs of SMEs in peer learning groups for some years and we were struck by the extent they were valued. New people joining the groups were told by other group members, ‘Listen up, you mustn’t miss this. This is the highlight of the year’. One person changed the dates of their surgery to be there. We thought to ourselves, ‘We’ve got something really important here and it’s too valuable to be restricted only to people who have signed up to a peer learning group.’ We wanted to take them to a wider audience. Both my business and life partner Peter Hyson and I had suffered our fair share of crossroads moments in our lives, including cancer diagnosis, divorce and redundancy. We didn’t want our best music to go un-played so we embarked on Next Chapter Retreats in 2019. 3. Who is it for? What would lead someone to think about going on one of your retreats? People get knocked off course in many different ways. Sometimes they suffer a traumatic event such as a relationship breakdown or a medical diagnosis or they might hit a brick wall like redundancy or looming retirement. It might have to do with the stages of their life, for example, a midlife crisis. Sometimes people have a chronic sense of dissatisfaction, a sense that something in their life isn’t working for them anymore and they need to make some changes, for example, a change of career. For example, people who came on our last retreat included a partner in an accountancy firm who wanted to change careers, an MD who wanted to take their leadership to the next level, someone in their early sixties who wanted to think about the last years of their working life and someone whose lifestyle was killing them. We were able to work with them all successfully, seeing some real breakthroughs. 4. How do the retreats work? We give people the opportunity to step back, have space and time to think, plan and write their next chapter. We offer structured activities which enable them to tell stories of themselves at their best, when things haven’t gone so well and what really matters to them. This enables them to connect or reconnect with a sense of purpose and direction. Our core product is a five-day retreat over three months. We have a break of ten or eleven weeks between the first part and the second part which gives people the opportunity to explore new opportunities and /or embed new mindsets and habits. We can cover the same ground in three months in a retreat as it might take in a year with one-to-one life coaching. We work in small groups as we find that is much more powerful than individual coaching, though we offer that if people need it. In groups, people support each other, provide a range of new perspectives and ideas. Obviously, confidentiality is crucial to building this kind of enabling environment. 5. What major challenges have you encountered and how did you overcome them? Our retreats are designed as residential breaks, so when the pandemic hit in our second year of trading it railroaded our growth plans. We had to try to switch to virtual delivery almost overnight and it took its toll on us. We didn’t embrace virtual because that’s not the nature of our retreats, we were strong enough to know our product and our audience and survived the pandemic by being true to ourselves and using it as time on the business to get everything business ready. We’re people and not being in front of our audiences was very difficult. But we were not defeated. We focused on business planning, growing and engaging with our target audience, business development, and personal brand growth. We spent a long time testing our concept, reiterating, preparing new content, stress testing it and refining what we do. What was particularly rewarding was running our first post-lockdown retreat in June which went extraordinarily well and completely surpassed our expectations. 6. What keeps you motivated? Just seeing the enormous changes in people’s lives. We work at depth but in a gentle, light touch kind of way. We never force people to go anywhere they don’t want to, but we find that people are prepared to open up and look at difficult areas of their lives that are holding them back. 7. What holds you back? Comparing myself with other entrepreneurs who look much more successful, trying to live up to my own unrealistic expectations, pushing myself too hard, not saying ‘no’ enough. 8. What’s next? We’re seeing many people in senior management teams who have been adversely affected by lockdowns and working from home. They have taken to working long hours and working in unproductive ways which have diminished their energy and contribution. What’s worse is that it’s happened slowly and unnoticeably to the point where burnout and languishing are ‘normal’ ways of being. Not only that but they’ve been cut off from each other. The endless Zoom meetings, which were certainly better than nothing, but now that we’re meeting face-to-face, it makes us realise how much we’ve missed. Senior management teams have become quite dislocated and disconnected from each other, operating at a transactional level rather than in an engaged committed way which would be required of them. We’re offering in-company team retreats which provide the opportunity for senior management teams to reconnect, a combination of reflection and discussion both at a personal and at a business level. Being able to be honest about their current state paves the way for further openness about what the real issues are. Retreats are a great opportunity for the team to spot the gaps, see what’s not working and start to sort it out there and then. Hilary Rowland November 2021 www.thenextchapter.guru hilary@nextchapterretreats.guru Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Hilary!

Written by: Amy Bondar, 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. Throughout my 18 years of practice, I have worked with so many women who struggle with their weight and changing bodies throughout menopause. The truth is, in the Menopausal phase your body changes, your metabolism slows and for many women weight gain occurs and becomes very difficult to release. Certainly, it is important to ensure your nutrition and exercise support these hormonal shifts and do what you can to have the healthiest body to carry you through your life, but in menopause, the body is meant to look different and be different because you as a woman are different. That’s right! Our body is a reflection of who we are and where we are at in our lives. The menopausal body is meant to look like a “Queen” body, not a “Princess” body. It is meant to look solid, feminine, softer, curvier, and fluid. This new body is meant to carry a woman’s message, her service, her love, her knowledge, her accumulated wisdom. It is meant to be the strength for her family, her work, her mission, her community and herself. This is also an important phase of life to make peace with food, body and self. It is absolutely important to find joyous movement and to eat incredibly well, but instead of doing that for the goal of fitting into a different dress size, rather move and eat for longevity, to slow the aging process, to prevent chronic disease, to feel amazing, to glow and to have energy and vibrancy so that you can do all the things you love to do. Leading up to menopause, many women lose themselves as they dedicate years to their families. They define themselves in one way – as a wife and mother. But as children become adults and leave the home and husbands phase into retirement, women are often left wondering, “Who am I now? What is my role and what do I want to do next?” Women often have to learn how to reclaim their lives and redefine who they are separate from being a mother and wife. Who they are in their roles is changing, their values are changing and so their body can be in a little (or a lot) of upheaval as a reflection of that. It is my experience that women who are unfulfilled in these roles or do not know how to shift out of these dynamics, can often manifest weight challenges, emotional eating behaviors and even illness. Often the biggest reason women have a hormonal imbalance and menopausal symptoms, such as aches and pains, brain fog, weight gain, fatigue, insomnia, hot flashes, etc., is because they are not doing what they love. In fact, these symptoms are often the body’s feedback and wake-up call trying to assist you to live authentically and to get you on a purposeful and fulfilling path. I believe this is what menopausal women are being called to explore. When we do what we love, we have energy, vitality, our eating regulates and our body begins to find its balance. When we don’t, the body regresses into illness. Women have to resolve the old stresses and unexpressed emotions, resentments, angers, guilt from the past in order for their bodies to shift the way they desire it to. In this phase of life, if women do not take the time to do their inner work and explore who they want to be, they end up focusing their thoughts, energy, feelings, around their waistline and continuing on the endless diet rollercoaster. The key is to stop the weight loss battle and put that energy and time into exploring who you are and what you are most meant to be doing now. When you do that your body shape will find its rightful place. Menopause provides women with the opportunity to make changes, clear out what no longer serves, decide who she wants to be, how she wants to live and what she would love to do in this phase of life. It is an opportunity for deep inner exploration . It has often been referred to as a time of life that women dread and signifies “being old,” but we must shift this mentality because it can be the most dynamic and profound time in a woman’s life. This is when women step into their Queendom and have the opportunity to truly do what they love with new purpose and meaning and share that with others. When you are who you are most meant to be and doing what you most love to do and releasing what no longer serves you, your body will find its rightful place as a Sage, a Wise woman, a Queen, a Warrior, a Strong Woman archetype you are meant to be throughout Menopause and beyond. Yours in health and vitality, Amy Bondar Want to learn more from Amy? Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin and visit her website. Read more from Amy! Amy Bondar, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Amy Bondar, Nutritional Therapist, Certified Eating Psychology Coach, Speaker, and Author, changes life! Amy brings two decades of experience in the field of nutrition and mind-body coaching and believes that nourishing our body with the power of food, resolving stresses that are blocking our physiology and hindering our full potential, and living a life with purpose are essential ingredients to optimizing our health. Amy offers virtual consults and lectures to clients around the world and will inspire, educate and guide you to transform your relationship with food, body, and self.