Brainz Magazine Do you feel that you are stomping your feet in everyday life? Has your personal development slowed down? Have you not yet achieved your goals for 2021? Or do you need new motivation and inspiration? Brainz Magazine has put together 10 of the best TEDx talks just for you! Inspirational speech that addresses everything from coaching, business, to the practice of mindfulness. They are both educational, touching, and fun. These 10 TEDx talk videos are the perfect source of inspiration to take small steps towards living your best life and fulfilling your dreams! How to discover your "why" in difficult times - Simon Sinek Watch Simon's TEDx Talk here! What has the coronavirus pandemic taught us about ourselves and our relationships? In a deeply personal and wide-ranging conversation, leadership expert Simon Sinek shares his own experience caring for his mental health as the world shut down. He discusses why we need to nurture friendships (in both good times and bad), explains why anyone can be a leader -- and reveals the secret to discovering your "why" in life. (This virtual conversation, hosted by head of TED Chris Anderson, was part of an exclusive TED Membership event. Visit ted.com/membership to become a TED Member.) Read more about Simon here! Reclaiming social media through the authentic self - Kimberly Olson Watch Kimberly's TEDx Talk here! Social media usage is constantly on the rise. In fact, Facebook has almost 3 billion users worldwide. So many people use social media - so why is it that social media is also a leading cause of depression and anxiety in many age groups? Well, a lot of content that is posted is not 100% truthful. There are people out there who hide behind their computers to make vicious comments and set unrealistic standards for other users. In this TedX Talk, I’m going to share with you how I decided to reclaim social media and use it for good in my business. I challenged myself and set goals to use these online platforms to make an impact and encourage others to do the same. You will hear me talk about some alarming statistics that social media has brought on to pre-teens and teenagers, but you will also see me shouting out some people on social media who use it to lift others up, express their vulnerability, and show genuinity for themselves and others. The way it SHOULD be! Kimberly Olson’s most prominent and resounding advice to women learning to build their personal brand from the ground up is to, “Learn. Implement. Take action. That is how you will crush your goals and set your soul on fire.” Read more about Kimberly here! Own Your Story, Change Your Life - Karen McDermott Watch Karen's TEDx Talk here! Karen is a publisher, author, Law of Attraction Practitioner and believes passionately in the power of storytelling. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Read more about Karen here! The skill of self-confidence - Dr. Ivan Joseph Watch Ivan's TEDx Talk here! Dr. Ivan Joseph was the Athletic Director and head coach of the Varsity Soccer team at Ryerson University. Today he is the VP: Students at Wilfrid Laurier University and Head Coach of the Guyana Football Federation's Women's soccer team heading into the World Cup qualifiers. Dr. Joseph is often asked what skills he is searching for as a recruiter: is it speed? Strength? Agility? In Dr. Joseph's TEDx Talk, he explores self-confidence and how it is not just the most important skill in athletics, but in our lives. Read more about Ivan here! Professionalism is Destroying Creativity - Rachel Pedersen Watch Rachel's TEDx Talk here! We live in a society that emphasizes corporate language, etiquette, and blazers. Sure, we’re training up the next workforce to become professionals… But at what cost? Also known as “The Queen of Social Media”, Rachel Pedersen is the Founder & CEO of an award-winning social media marketing agency, The Viral Touch, and the Founder & CEO of Social Media United. Rachel is a top social media marketer and consultant, worldwide viral sensation, leading authority on story-telling through social media and Facebook ads. Rachel’s journey began in 2016 while working in her 9-5 (actually, it was an 8-5) day job. Within 6 months she replaced her income and built a clientele that she loved working with. Read more about Rachel here! How to Become a Millionaire in 3 Years - Daniel Ally Watch Daniel's TEDx Talk here! When most people say they want to be a millionaire, they’re really saying that they want to spend one million dollars. Besides winning the lotto or inheriting money, you’ll learn three key elements used by the most successful people who have ever lived. You’ll not only be able to learn how to become a millionaire, but you’ll learn the real reason of why it helps our society to alleviate poverty. This valuable session offers the solutions that you’ll need to be successful for the rest of your life, whether you want to be a millionaire or not. Read more about Daniel here! Change your mindset, change the game - Dr. Alia Crum Watch Dr. Crum's TEDx Talk here! This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Dr. Crum says the biggest game-changer is “YOU, by harnessing the power of your mind." She explores scientific results that show the influence of the mindset on the body, and how changing the subjective mindset produced different outcomes. Dr. Crum's work is inspired in part by the placebo effect, and has implications that stretch far beyond the realm of medicine. Dr. Crum is a professor, psychologist, and researcher investigating how mindsets affect health and behavior. Dr. Crum's research focuses on how changes in subjective mindsets—the lenses through which information is perceived, organized, and interpreted—can alter objective reality through behavioral, psychological, and physiological mechanisms. Her work is, in part, inspired by research on the placebo effect, a notable and consistent demonstration of the ability of the mindset to elicit healing properties in the body. She is interested in understanding how mindsets affect important outcomes outside the realm of medicine, in the domains of behavioral health and organizational behavior. Read more about Dr. Alia Crum here! To be different is good - Jon Jandai Watch Jon's TEDx Talk here! Jon Jandai is foremost a farmer, secondly a widely known earthen builder in Thailand. He is from Yasothorn province in Thailand and has been farming all of his life. He also began building earthen homes on his family farm in 1997. He began doing workshops on earthen building in 2002, initially traveling the country and voluntarily teaching farmers, villager groups, and NGO, creating what is now a widespread earthen building movement in Thailand. He co-founded Pun Pun in July 2003 and is most interested in preserving our heritage in seeds. Read more about Jon Jandai here! After watching this, your brain will not be the same - Lara Boyd Watch Lara's TEDx Talk here! In a classic research-based TEDx Talk, Dr. Lara Boyd describes how neuroplasticity gives you the power to shape the brain you want. Our knowledge of the brain is evolving at a breathtaking pace, and Dr. Lara Boyd is positioned at the cutting edge of these discoveries. In 2006, she was recruited by the University of British Columbia to become the Canada Research Chair in Neurobiology and Motor Learning. Since that time she has established the Brain Behaviour Lab, recruited and trained over 40 graduate students, published more than 80 papers and been awarded over $5 million in funding. Dr. Boyd’s efforts are leading to the development of novel, and more effective, therapeutics for individuals with brain damage, but they are also shedding light on broader applications. By learning new concepts, taking advantage of opportunities, and participating in new activities, you are physically changing who you are, and opening up a world of endless possibilities. Read more about Lara here! The surprising secret to speaking with confidence - Caroline Goyder Watch Caroline's TEDx Talk here! This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. In this fun and personal talk, Caroline shares a story of moving from stage paralysis to expressive self. Accompanied by an unusual prop, she encourages us to use our voice as an instrument and really find the confidence within. Caroline Goyder is an author and voice coach, with a lifelong curiosity in the question of how we find the courage to think for ourselves: aloud. Caroline trained as an actor, and then as a voice coach at Central School of Speech and Drama (CSSD), where she worked for ten years. She now runs a business that helps people find confidence and calm in the theatre of life. Caroline is the author of Gravitas: Communicate with Confidence, Influence and Authority (Ebury) and can be found on Twitter @carolinegoyder Read more about Caroline here!

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 decision to take the leap is the hardest part. Stepping into your soul’s work is the bravest thing you can do- We are often silenced, told that what lights us up won’t be how we can move forward. “We have to get serious and stop fooling around”- how many of my fellow creatives, healers and thought leaders have heard something similar to this? That we need to get serious and push aside the one thing that lights us up in order to be apart of the status quo of society, I say pushing aside the thing that lights us up is foolish. We currently live in a world that is turned off, dimmed & silenced. So many are lost and confused because all that they’ve been told to follow the “safe” way forward of working a career that “makes sense”, following the societal structures of how life should look- how many more stories do we need to hear of people quitting their high-level corporate jobs because they are miserable & burnt out? How many more stories of celebrities saying they have felt empty even with all the fame & money? How many more stories? I want to share a secret with you- none of those people who may seem like they have “made it” are better than you or even know more than you. The illusion of someone “ahead” of you knowing more, is one I am here to crumble. You do know what is right for you. You do know what you’d rather do that lights you up. You do know that there is more for you in this life. That power that you feel within you reading these words is that exact power that will drive you forward. But that power is fueled with joy, ease & grace not burn out, lack & struggle. Your soul incarnated on this earth to do follow that mission that lights you up, yes that thing that everyone else told you is “not realistic”. Now more than ever we need more beings on this earth that are filled with purpose & joy- those who are shining their light. Because the more people we have shining their light, the more we are able to show others they can also turn their light on. Here’s the catch- you have to decide if you want to follow the path of your joy. It is just that simple while equally complex. Maybe you are thinking yes I’m going to lean into my wildest dreams and step into the leader of my life I know I am. But you may feel this buzz of excitement but then all those voices that have been silencing you all of your life start to arise. If that is the case for you, dive into this journaling questions to support you in reclaiming your power & remembering your ability to choose while co-creating a wildly magical life for yourself. When I think of following my soul’s highest joy, who’s voice do I hear in my mind? If you could say one thing to that person/group- what would it be? Switching into their perspective, why do you think they have told you this? How has it also affected their life? If you didn’t have those internal beliefs stopping you any longer- what would it look like for you to follow your soul’s highest joy in this life? These are beautiful questions to ask yourself as you dive deeper into living what lights you up in this world. When we start to unravel the beliefs that aren’t ours within- we start to see who we really are under all the conditioning of others. This isn’t making others wrong, they are doing the best they could with what they knew at that moment- But you have the power to re-write these stories for yourself. You have the power to make your wildest dreams possible. You are deeply worthy of feeling alive and vibrant within this very moment simply for breathing. What will you choose to follow your joy or follow what you’ve been told? Either is beautiful- but the choice is yours to make. This work can be done through many healing modalities. I support soul-led entrepreneurs through somatic healing, energy work & channeled meditations to reclaim their inner knowing & develop self-trust in knowing you are able to co-create the life that lights you up! Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, & Linkedin 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: Jenn Drakes, 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. Fall is here and it is a reflective and thankful season. Does the structure of that statement seem weird? Many would have said, “Fall is here and it’s a season of reflection and thankfulness”. While most may consider those two sentences to be saying the same thing, for me they are quite different, but by now, you know I am a bit peculiar in how I see things. The latter sentence presumes concurrence, and also supposes that you are practicing reflection and thankfulness. The opening statement does not make such assumptions, and this article is aimed at getting you to appreciate the merit in seeing Fall or Autumn as I do - as an opportune time to become reflective and thankful. So, let’s take a step back to acknowledge that on Wednesday, September 22nd, and one day following World Gratitude Day, we officially transitioned from Summer to Fall. The transition is usually marred by cooler weather, shorter days that lead to waking up in darkness and by 4:30 PM, darkness surrounds us again. For some, it is a time of reprieve from the heated days of summer, and for others, the departure is dreaded. Yet, on the other side of all of that, is the fact of autumn being one of the most beautiful seasons with its vibrant colours. The leaves of summer eventually cascade to the ground in natural or windy splendor. Once accumulated, they form a cushioned base to walk amongst, with the leaves tumbling around your feet and flowing alongside your strides. Photographers are kept busy accommodating newlyweds, who adore the backdrop of autumn colours to enhance their wedding pictures. The cool air truly delivers crisp and lively images to complement those within the lens of the camera. For sure, we can all claim moments of strife, but even as those challenges unfold, we have things warranting our gratitude. There is always an opportunity to sit and take in our surroundings. There is always an opportunity to direct our focus; even if in short bursts of time, to what we see in those surroundings that make us thankful. The foremost being that we have our eyes to see the miracle of nature evolving and preparing for its Winter hibernation. Those not having their sight, may find solace in the smells, and caress of the cooler air, and will in all likeliness hear, over and above those with sight, minute changes in the sounds that occur from one season to the other. Not everyone in the world gets to experience such drastic weather and ecological changes, but if you do, it is truly something to be appreciated. Just take a look at the following picture courtesy of Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash. Yes, it can be argued that we can reflect and be grateful all-year-round, but in my opinion, the season most encouraging of it, is Fall. Fall being a season for reflecting and abundant appreciation is a viewpoint that can be substantiated. After all, in October, Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving Day, in November Americans celebrate their Thanksgiving Day, and in December most of the world celebrates Christmas, another day to be thankful. Additionally, at the world level, in the same period of September to December, other celebrations are plentiful, and it is justified that World Gratitude Day kicks off the new season. Subsequently, we head into celebratory and awareness days related to heart, international music, temperance, inventors, internet, food, eradication of poverty, day of tolerance, toilet, television, mental health, elimination of violence against women, abolition of slavery, volunteers, human rights, Diwali, Hanukkah, Indigenous Faith Day, and so many others. What is in that list not to be reflective and/or thankful for? I don’t know about you, but I am certainly reflective of mental health, and thankful for toilets! Let’s face it, the consciousness of humanity is on an ascending trajectory. Many are evaluating their lives, and are crying out for more substance, more balance, and more fulfillment. For sure, work in some form is necessary. Work enables us to cater to our essential needs. Doing so puts food on the table, a roof over our heads, etc. Except that we sometimes forget that one of those essential needs is having overall fitness (a.k.a. physical, mental, and spiritual health). This is required all year round, but autumn as a season really does encourage us to embrace the mental and spiritual aspects of our health. Fall is a season of tranquility that contrasts with the heightened physical activity of the Summer months. As such, it is an optimal period to consider the journey you are on, where you wish to be, any changes that may be needed, and create a plan of action for now and for the coming year. It is a season where alone time feels comfortable. In contrast, summer is about gathering and connecting. In autumn, much like nature, we tone down to a somewhat hibernated state. We go indoors more. We socialise less. We sit more often than not. Taking in the pictures in this article triggers your mind into serenity. Indulge me by leveraging the calm that it evokes to pause and quietly breathe. Now commit to small reflective moments without TV, phone, social media or non-essential disturbances. Commit to having some of those moments outside amongst nature. Find a walking path or hiking trail to stroll and explore. Find a farm from which to pick fresh produce, be it apples, pears, pumpkins, beets, etc. Do so without time commitment pressures forcing a speedy return. Life is short, and the older one gets, time seems to speed up. Finding new ways and viewpoints from which to unwind is a key aspect of living fully. With a changed perspective, the Fall period can be relied upon to support any efforts aimed to relax, reflect, and appreciate our blessings – small or large. Fall or autumn is a season, but so is Thankful, or it can be. The difference is that thankful can run year-round, and if year-round gets away from you in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, then a natural fit to regain traction is slotting it in with Fall and each of its celebratory occasions. In pursuing one’s career and/or business, the aim was to build a life. That life includes all of You – personal and professional. Taking on every hat, working long hours, and spreading yourselves thin is not the life you should envision. So, think differently, act differently, structure differently, and achieve different but greater outcomes. Use this season to start orchestrating for the life you want and the type of year you will need to move closer to the life you desire… Jenn Drakes is a Life Strategist and one of THE ACCELERATORS, a team of business-savvy coaches who work with SMBs to propel them forward. In addition to reading this article, take in one of the Employ to Innovate shows for insights on a number of relevant topics or schedule a call to discuss your growth needs – personal or business. Follow me on Facebook, connect with me on LinkedIn and visit my website for more info! Read more from Jenn! Jenn Drakes, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Jenn is a mom, serial entrepreneur, and life advocate who hosts the podcast Arrays of Living. She is also the creator and co-host of the Get Awesome Show, author of the book Aladdin Carpets - Change your Perspective, Change your Life. In addition to Brainz Magazine, she is also a Featured Author on Plumose.co for her poetry and stories and Contributing Author on Boss Ladies Mindset. Jenn is a hidden gem in a desert of gems, and everyone who discovers her is forever changed by her personality and presence. Over the years of working with youths and young adults, she was crowned The Original Goddess to acknowledge the shared feeling that "Jenn is wise beyond her years. I find her to be almost an "old soul" type of spirit." Her voice and writings are powerful, impactful, and life-changing because they trigger thought and promote tantalizing, intelligent conversations. Today, she uses that wisdom to shatter glass ceilings and power up the purpose she believes everyone holds within. A belief that is foundationally based on all of us being born with a gift and a responsibility to use and share that gift to achieve sustainable happiness. Her mission is to improve how people feel about themselves and empower their sense of self-worth to achieve more personally and professionally than they imagined.

Written by: Irena Grofelnik, 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. Leadership as a skill has been criticized and everyone is expecting leaders to be motivators, parents, colleagues, confidants, excellent strategists, and great performers. Honestly, you can not find all these treats in just one person. The fact is that we are training and educating people to be doctors, scientists, IT developers, no one is training people to be true leaders. The gap when someone is promoted to a leader is usually left to individuals to deal with. And chances to end up in failure are quite big. Looking at the failure more closely in my dealings with leaders I identified there are 3 common pitfalls where things turn wrong. 1. Micromanagement Have you ever been promoted and taking on a new role but still doing the same job as before? Micromanagement can be tight to two main feelings – safety and control. As new leader, we get under higher pressure of responsibility and expectations. Doing the same job as before gives us a sense of security and stability. We go back to known environment, height in self-confidence and routine. We are on a solid ground, while new role is still in exploration. The second main reason for micromanagement is control. While we can delegate 90% of work to be done, we do not do it. Issues with trust that someone else cannot perform the job as good as I, not letting some jobs because we like to do them or regard them as highly important. Not trusting our colleagues that timeline will be followed can be a reason too, or not wanting to disclose information vital for task to be concluded. There is a point where we have to make a step away to be closer. Away from our tasks and closer to our team members. It is crucial to do it soon and not to miss the momentum of failure. 2. Lack of people-orientation As a human and under meta-programs we tend to be differently oriented. More or less into humans, activities, or information. Some jobs demand activity or information orientation from us to be able to end the task and perform well. But as a leader, it is suggested to be primarily people-oriented and only after people, activities, and information are on a plate. The new normal is pushing us into technology and physical separation which suggests that leaders’ focus must be on people and their wellbeing. If you are a person-oriented to tasks and gals, dedicate time for talking to your team members, put down some rules when you are available for them, run quick meetings, establish some coffee routine, and safe space for sharing, just be available. When dealing with people – listen actively and respond wisely. But just take time with no interruptions so you can be present for team members. Explore what is important to each member of the team and lead them upon their values and aspirations. In my career, I could simply avoid micromanagement and be more people-oriented as soon I got an overview of what is currently happening in the business. 3. Missing critical control points Having an overview and in every moment knowing the numbers where the company is heading, is taking off the pressure of neediness to control. It can eliminate the micromanagement and put you in a seat of self-confidence. Know what your goals are, know your metrics and follow them on a daily basis. Building your metrics dashboard is not easy and must be done with precision but take time to set it up because the effort will payout quickly. There are different tools for building dashboards, use whatever is integrated into your ERP system, so you will be able to access the results at any times. If you are an entrepreneur, see what is offered in your customer management system or build something from scratch in excel. As long as you know your metrics and are able to make decisions upon them, you are on the right track. Please comment using my contacts. If you need any assistance or support, feel free to send me a note. Irena Grofelnik, EMBA irena@spiriton.si Phone: +386 8 205 94 63 GSM: +386 41 247 554 Follow me on Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn , or visit my website for more info! Read more from Irena! Irena Grofelnik, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Irena is a graduate of the Faculty of Business and Economics. She enrolled in a master's degree in Tax law at the Faculty of Law and later in the Executive MBA at the Cotrugla Business School in Zagreb, where she graduated in 2009. She gained experience in the companies like Atlantic Grupa, Steklarna Hrastnik, Monsadria, where she led sales teams for the international markets or held the position of a general manager. For the last 7 years, as the owner of Spiriton, she has trained sales teams and organized leadership workshops. She specializes in sales and participates in business transformation projects, opening sales channels, and developing advanced business strategies. Irena is particularly focused on increasing employee engagement and sales profitability. In addition, she helps foreign companies entering and developing the local market (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina). As a sales coach, she develops competencies for sales teams and trains sales managers in developing and leading the teams. She is a visiting professor at the Altius Business School in Zagreb in the subject »Team Leadership and Development. « She is also a certified trainer of the L.1 and L.2 Points of you® Academy for the use of advanced tools and coaching facilitation. She has been working with the brand Modra Akademija for two years, where she speaks as a lecturer on the topic of how to bring coaching into schools. Irena is a founding member of the WomenH2H international organization, which helps women build their own businesses. She is also a board member of Business Intelligence Center, a business club for entrepreneurs. In the past, she was an active Cherie Blair Women Foundation Mentor.

Written by: Amy Attenborough, 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. Over the last twelve years, I have guided thousands of people on safari in Africa. Regardless of where the guests are from, I have seen the transformation go the same way, time and time again. As people touch down in their small, fixed-wing aircraft and put their feet on African soil they feel that they’ve arrived home for the first time in their lives. The roots of this lie in the same interesting mix of overwhelm and relief I see in the teary eyes of a guest being dwarfed by the enormity of an elephant for the first time. I believe we’re going to need to cultivate more experiences like this for ourselves in order to become happier, healthier, more successful business people, parents, and cohabiters of this planet. There is something in our genetic code that remembers that Africa is where all of our earliest human ancestors first evolved 2 million years ago. Wilderness guide and psychiatrist Ian McCallum puts it so well when he says, “We have to remember that our identity is intimately tied to the earth itself. To lose one's sense of union with wild places is to pre-empt what I believe is one of the most overlooked conditions in modern psychiatry – homesickness. Often presenting as a restless depression, homesickness and a loss of wildness are the same thing. The cure to homesickness is to remember where we came from and where we belong.” And once we know where we belong it is our task to return to these places to receive their medicine. I’ve seen people come alive again whilst tracking the footsteps of a prehistoric rhinoceros or locking eyes with a wild leopard. I’ve seen serious professionals laughing with child-like hilarity whilst caught in an African thunderstorm or completely silenced by the expanse of the Milky Way or a gorilla’s glance. Despite living in this modern era, we are best adapted to living in a natural environment. It’s likely because 99,9% of our evolutionary passage was spent as hunter-gatherers and our minds and bodies are not sufficiently prepared for what the technological era expects of us. Despite the increasingly technologically connected world we live in, it seems modern humans feel more disconnected from others every day. The results are not difficult to see. Depression, anxiety and feelings of hopelessness plague the modern human. And the cure to this lies in healing the human-nature split. It’s not as difficult or drastic as one might think; rather it lies in returning to the places you belong and rekindling this sense of homecoming. In the African wilderness we disconnect in order to reconnect and welcome in the qualities so easily afforded to us in nature. Solitude, awe, wildness, silence, tracking. The results of which are exceptional and undeniable. We all know from experience that we feel better in nature and finally the science is catching up. Researches are finding evidence that being in nature has a profound impact on our brains and our behaviour, helping us to reduce anxiety, brooding, and stress, and to increase our attention capacity, creativity, and ability to connect with other people. The studies suggest time in nature even makes us kinder and more generous! link. I have seen these research results play out thousands of times first-hand where people return home visibly happier, more relaxed and more joyful than when they arrived. Nature is what returns us to our best selves. It is reassuring to know this but anything other than experiencing this effect is purely intellectual and has no lasting impact. In order to heal the human-nature divide, and live better lives, we need to actually get back out there. It is important that we put Homo sapiens back into natural environments that benefit the individual as well as the land, animals and communities in that area too. Ian McCallum says “Our sense of self and our sense of place is linked – our identity is intimately associated with a deep historical sense of kinship with wild places and wild animals and we are dependent on them for our psychological health. How we care for them is a measure of how we care for each other.” If taking care of the other begins with caring for ourselves, how will you choose to rekindle your relationship with the wilderness? Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Amy Attenborough, Brainz Magazine Executive Contributor Amy Attenborough is a South African safari guide and wilderness coach who has guided thousands of guests worldwide through Africa. These guided experiences intend to connect people with nature and a more natural way of being again. Her company, Wild Again, expands the traditional scope of a safari and facilitates wilderness experiences that heal the human-nature divide and restore wellbeing. In 2020 she lived with her brother in a Big 5 wilderness for 19 nights with no tents, no vehicle, minimal food and no other human contact, walking over 400km to raise funds for wildlife and glean wisdom from nature. Through traditional, photographic, walking, yoga and meditative safaris in wilderness areas, her mission is to restore internal wilderness and re-awaken the inherent belonging we feel in nature.

Written by: Connie Costa, 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. According to a Harris Interactive 2021 survey, only 20% of Americans are passionate about their jobs. Only 20%, let that sink in. The rest either hate their job or are just "satisfied" with their job. Being merely satisfied with your career is not good enough for me. Hence, where I come in. As a Holistic Transformational Coach for over 14 years, one of my specialties has been helping my clients find their life's purpose while getting handsomely paid. Most of my clients come to me claiming they have no idea what their purpose is, but I know this isn't true. Deep inside, we all know what we want to do, but we live in a society that does not encourage us to follow our dreams. For some odd reason, we are led to believe that we need to live a life of sacrifice and struggle to get food on the table and that loving what we do and making tons of money from it is too good to be true. I disagree. We are born with specific gifts and talents. Somewhere along the way, due to the environment, parents, teachers, friends, and family, we stop listening to our internal guidance and the outside noise becomes louder and louder. We listen to everyone else's opinion on what we "should" do rather than what we want to do. Often, our parents want us to choose "a safe path" where can receive a "safe paycheck" every two weeks. Next thing you know, you are at a job you can't stand, living a life you do not recognize, staring at the clock, wishing you were anywhere else but there. We start dreading Mondays and long for Fridays. The weekends are our escape from reality. Drinking often numbs the pain. Sunday nights we start feeling sick all over again. Perhaps your life isn't as dramatic as this, but unfortunately, this is a common scenario in most of the world. So, what can we do? Can we have our cake and eat it too? After years of experience, the answer is ABSO-FREAKING-LUTELY! First, we need to re-discover what it is that we were put on earth for. Surely, we were not put on earth to waste oxygen. The Universe, Spirit, God (whatever you prefer) has a mission for each of us, and all we need to do is follow our path. But how do we know what our path is? Here are some questions that will help you with this. What did you want to do as a child? Close your eyes and breathe deeply. Remember yourself as a child. What did you want to be when you grew up? What did you love to play? What were you naturally good at? Think of the most painful time you had in your life. What did you learn? How can you prevent others from experiencing the same pain? While it might not seem fun to reminisce about painful experiences, this exercise has been most useful to my clients. I believe that everything that happens has a purpose, and I believe these experiences are there for us to grow and help others. If we can see the blessing, we can not only transform our lives but the lives of others. Painful experiences are there to help evolve our souls and to be able to bless others with our newfound knowledge. I have many examples in my own life, but one great example is my relationship to money. There were months in my career where I did not make a single penny, but it forced me to learn about money, and think outside the box. Today, I can teach and coach my clients on the subject of money and assist them in getting handsomely paid doing what they love. If you had all the money in the world, what would you do? Besides the obvious (pay debt, travel, buy a huge house, etc.) after you have done all the fun stuff, now what? How do you see yourself filling your days? How would you like to contribute to society? What energizes and excites you? What are you doing when time simply flies by? Think about what activities bring you the most joy. The ones that come most naturally. The ones you can do for hours on end that make you feel elated. What do you love to talk about? What are you constantly trying to bring up in conversations? What are you most praised about? What are your hobbies and passions? This is where your purpose lies. If you had one week left on this earth, and you could do anything you wanted, what would you do in that final week? What if there are several things you want to do? Then do them all. Explore, explore, and then explore some more. My only suggestion is that you start with one thing at a time. Give your all to one project at a time. You don't want your energy scattered all over the place. Once you have become successful at one project, start the next one, and then the next. You will learn what you love and be surprised at what you do not enjoy. What if it seems impossible? If I have learned anything, it's that the Universe loves to test us. How bad do you want something? I tell my clients to forget about a plan B, and that no matter what, they should only focus on plan A. Why? Because when the going gets tough, and believe me, it will, we will automatically choose to go with plan B. But the Universe loves to see determination. So, although something might seem impossible, it's not. Just keep going no matter what. Just take one step at a time and have patience. What if you lack self-confidence? Listen, everyone lacks self-confidence in one thing or another. Even those who seem super confident. All of us are naturally better at some things than others. What I know brings massive confidence, is just doing the damn thing. Feeling fear, and doing it despite the fear, gets us to a different level of self-confidence. When I think about the fellow coaches who started with me, and I see how far I've come along compared to them, the ONLY difference is that I started despite not feeling ready. Truth is, you will never feel ready. But once you jump in, you just do what you got to do and continue with it until the end. When you keep practicing and honing your skill, you will feel more and more confident as well. The secret is to just do it! How do I start my life's purpose? You. Literally. Just. Start. You are enough. I've had countless clients believe they needed more classes, more degrees, or to go study with a Spiritual guru at the top of the Himalayas, but none of that is true. I am not saying you should not constantly learn and grow. A day does not go by where I am not reading, listening to podcasts, or where I am not learning from mentors and coaches. I am obsessed with always becoming a better coach and overall better human being. But I didn't make this an excuse as to why I could not start. The reason I am such an effective coach today is that I simply started and got tons of experience. The secret is to focus on baby steps. The reason why most of my clients initially come to me overwhelmed is that they feel that they need to go from where they are to becoming the next Oprah or Tony Robbins by the next week. Neither Oprah, nor Tony Robbins, nor any other phenomenal mentor became a sensation overnight. It took years of dedication, work, persistence, faith, and trust. I have my clients focus on what they can do today. As you take one step, the Universe will show you the next, and then the next. I promise. The Universe simply wants to see that you are committed and then, as if by magic, doors open, the right people come into our lives, and we are shown the way. My clients always ask me if they should simply quit their jobs while they are pursuing their purpose and trust that they will be taken care of. That's one way to do it, but not one I would recommend. That's a lot of unnecessary stress, especially in such a delicate moment. Rather, I have my clients stay at their current job and work daily (even if only for 30 minutes a day) on their purpose. Once they are making enough money for their purpose, they can let go of their current job. What if you hate your current job? Perhaps a reframe is in order. Can you focus on what you DO enjoy about your work? There is always something to be grateful for. Perhaps your co-workers? Helping people? Getting a stable paycheck that pays the bills? I always tell my clients that no matter how much they dislike their current job, they need to give 200% of themselves, show up, and reframe their current situation. Complaining, having an attitude, not giving your all, only worsens the situation. Reframe, change your attitude, KNOW that even though this is only temporary it's serving a bigger purpose. It is taking you where you want to go. So, what about mindset? Having the right mindset is even more important than any business strategy you can learn. It's one of the main things I work on with my clients. Your thoughts become your reality. Thus, it's crucial to understand both your conscious and unconscious programming. I will explore this in greater detail in my next article since there is so much to be said about mindset. What I will say is this, "You are worthy of having the life and career you dream of. You are worthy simply because you are a child of the creator. Period." The main difference between those achieving high levels of success in their careers and those who aren't is simply because they believe they can. Believe in yourself. Rise up. Share your message. Take massive action. The world is waiting. Ignoring the call is blasphemy. You can do this. My main advice is to have fun! Manifesting your dream life and career comes from feeling good. You won't manifest what you truly desire from stress and anxiety. Every day, focus on what you would love to do that day. Who can you serve? Whose life can you improve? By doing what? How can you leave the world a better place? Think of activities that would make you jump out of bed with excitement. Do them. Living your life's purpose is fun, fulfilling, and rewarding. So, what are you waiting for? Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Connie Costa, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Connie Costa is a Holistic Life Coach, Sicily Wellness Retreat Leader, International Speaker, and Published Writer who assists people in pursuing their life's purpose. She graduated from Antioch University with a Master's Degree in Clinical Psychology and is a certified Life Coach by the Holistic Life Coaching Foundation. Connie is an expert at identifying her client's passions, gifts, and talents and converting them into the career of their dreams! She has coached countless clients in taking risks in order to pursue their life's purpose and become powerful manifestors in their life. Connie has produced and hosted major transformational events, coached numerous holistic business groups, and has spoken in front of thousands. Connie leads Spiritual & Wellness Retreats in both the U.S and Sicily, Italy. Connie's motto is "fall in-love with fear so you can marry success!"

Written by: Robin M. Wilson, 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. If you have watched the 1965 film The Sound of Music, you are bound to remember the classic song “Do-Re-Mi.” Recently, my husband and I took my niece to the park. As we walked to the house, she pointed to a deer in the distance. Therefore, I began singing the song to her. It was the first time that she heard Do-Re-Mi. After repeating the lyrics three times, she began to sing the song with lyrical accuracy. As with my niece, music was a portal to learning for me as a child. In second grade, I learned how to spell respect by listening to Aretha Franklin's 1967 hit “Respect.” I jammed to that song countless times until the words were imprinted in my memory. Now, as a teacher, I use music and movement to teach kindergarten scholars. Before our daily French language lesson, I invite scholars to dance to Belgian pop artist Stromae’s “Papaoutai” and “Alors On Danse.” I teach them the meaning of keywords in the chorus, and we sing and dance together. For classroom transitions, I sing “It’s Time to be Quiet,” a song that I created that follows the melody of the nursery rhyme “Frère Jacques.” We sing in a call-and-response fashion. Scholars mimic my tone. They become silent so that we can begin our lesson. At the end of the school day, I play classical sounds such as Debussy’s “Réverie” or Chopin’s “Nocturnes, Op. 9: No. 2 in E-Flat Major” to create a calm atmosphere in our classroom to prepare for nap time. According to Chris Brewer, an authority on curriculum music integration, the use of music in teaching can have the following benefits for children’s learning: Increases sustained attention and concentration Reduces stress levels and frustration Encourages interaction and builds classroom community Creates an emotional connection to information and provides a trigger for memory recall Increases the joys of learning (Source: Songs for Teaching) In our classroom, I have seen scholars become more engaged in learning when they move and sing. When I am reading books, I include singing, especially if there are musical references. These are practices that can be done in a classroom or at home. Here are three wonderful books to share with children: Why not share jazz music with children? Jazz is still in style! It’s hot as “fire and brimstone.” If you agree, you should read Trombone Shorty by Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, a Caldecott Honor and Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award-winning picture book. Children between the ages of 4-8 will enjoy learning about the life and music of Grammy Award-winning trombonist Troy Andrews, who hails from New Orleans, where the soul of jazz still resides. In listening to his music, you will even get a healthy dose of light rock and R & B―these are sound blends that he skillfully infuses in his jazz music. He began his professional career before he graduated from high school. Trombone Shorty is a wonderful book to inspire your child to learn about jazz music. Who knows? The sounds of Troy Andrews’ music may inspire your child to learn how to play an instrument, too. If you are a Hamilton fan, consider sharing A Kids' Guide to Hamilton the Musical by Amanda Bjerkan Hennessy with your young reader (s). This book is ideal for children between the ages of 6-10. The text gives readers an opportunity to learn about words and historical references mentioned in the musical Hamilton. Play the Hamilton soundtrack before or after reading the book with your child. Have a family jam session in your house to combine reading, dancing, and singing. For many, the day that the word r-e-s-p-e-c-t became an anthem was the day that the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin sang her classic hit in 1967. RESPECT: Aretha Franklin, Queen of Soul by Carole Boston Weatherford is a winner of the Coretta Scott King Illustration Award. Weatherford introduces a new generation to the music and life of the late songstress Aretha Franklin. Talk about the meaning of the word respect and give examples. Consider singing the lyrics while reading parts of the book and listen to the song. This can add joy to your child’s reading experience. From pop to jazz, music and movement can be a portal to learning for children. It can transport young scholars to a place of imagination, engagement, and understanding. If you want to increase your child’s learning, as Julie Andrews beautifully sang, “let's start at the very beginning―a very good place to start―when you read, you begin with A, B, C. When you sing, you begin with Do-Re-Mi.” To learn more about how you can use music and movement to foster learning, visit Zero to Three. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Robin! Robin M. Wilson, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Robin M. Wilson is the founder and CEO of Robin Wilson Educational Consulting LLC, where she combines her research knowledge and professional experience to guide nonprofit organizations in developing effective strategies for serving youth, especially young girls and women. With more than 10 years of experience working on literacy initiatives and in the nonprofit sector, Robin has worked directly with people from various cultural and ethnic backgrounds locally and abroad. She has trained youth and adults to become leaders and responsible citizens. Robin is a compassionate leader with a passion for uplifting and inspiring young people to lead and thrive. References: Chris Brewer, 2005. Soundtracks for Learning: Using Music in the Classroom. Benefits of Using Music in the Classroom by Chris Brewer, M.A. (songsforteaching.com). The Sound of Music. Directed by Robert Wise, performances by Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Richard Haydn, Peggy Wood, Charmian Carr, Eleanor Parker, 20th Century Fox, 1965.

Ailsa is a trained intimacy Educator and Somatic Therapist and has been working in the field of hands on bodywork, somatic coaching and healing for over a decade. Ailsa Keppie brings aspects from her background in circus arts, physical theatre, music, dance, myofascial release, bioenergetic processes, archetypes and spirituality to her work with clients. She is a published author of her compelling memoir entitled "By the Light of the Crescent Moon" which describes her incredible journey into Islam and polygamy and how it lead to her awakening and reclamation of her own Eros and power. Ailsa works with individuals, couples and groups both online and in person at her retreat centre Our Celtic Hearth, in Nova Scotia, Canada where she resides with her current life partner. Interview With Intimacy Educator And Somatic Therapist, Ailsa Keppie Hi Ailsa, great to meet you, how would you describe yourself to someone who didn’t know you? I would say I am a lifelong student of self-awareness and spiritual connection. I express my personal view on life and relationships through writing, coaching, and working with the body. Expanding the feeling of aliveness both in myself and the people I come into contact with is something I find enriching and fulfilling. In my younger days, I desperately sought fulfillment and inner peace. I studied music, science, dance, and the performing arts in an attempt to find my place and a way to contribute to the world. During this time of expansion and exploration, there was an underlying fear. Fear that I was not enough, fear of not being perfect, and a fear of being seen. At the age of twenty-five, these fears consumed me and I retreated into Fundamentalist Islam, and a polygamous marriage. I started wearing a burka in an effort to regain some sense of myself. Over the years, as I nursed my mother-in-law and raised four daughters, the containment of my chosen life became too constricting and I began to wonder if this path was truly the one for me. Finally, the overwhelming desire to once again be seen in the wider world prevailed and I left my life in Morocco to return home to Canada. I continued to raise my daughters on my own and spent a decade learning and practicing the healing arts, which has finally led to a readiness to share my story and work with others, from a place of self-knowing. Through the process of diving deeply into the religion of Islam and living that way of life for many years, I have learned to embody the diversity of another culture as well as the ‘way of peace’ that is Islam. I continue to work these days with somatic coaching, teaching, and writing. I focus on healing relationships—with ourselves, others, and the planet. What is it that you do for your clients? As human beings, I believe we have a need for touch, connection, and intimacy that goes beyond the superficial material constructs of today’s western culture. I weave aspects of embodied ethics, integrative views on transforming the patriarchal power structure inherent in our world, and use pleasure and the power of choice and voice to help guide my clients to recreate a life they are in love with. Incorporating body wisdom, re-calibrating our nervous systems, and engaging our souls and spirits in our healing are the fundamentals of my work. My method can be especially effective for trauma recovery, reconnection with our true self, and expanding the possibilities for desire, joy and ecstasy to be more present in our everyday experience. Who should work with you? Working with me is not for the faint of heart. If you are ready to embrace change, face your shadow, and rise above your old, subconscious patterns so that you can empower yourself to live your best life, then this work is for you. I offer in person and online coaching, therapy and workshop/ retreats for individuals, couples, and groups. What is your big goal? Where do you see yourself in 10 years from now? I am currently building a retreat and healing space in the beautiful Annapolis Valley with my current partner, where we will be holding space for radical and responsible healing and community. I look forward to teaching and hosting other like-minded teachers and running many kinds of creative and healing workshops/ retreats and gatherings. The world is in need of safe spaces to come together and share our collective wisdom. I aim to provide such a space and experience. I look forward to welcoming whoever is called to this path. Want to learn more from Ailsa? Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and visit her website. Read more from Ailsa!

Written by: Barry Borgerson, 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. Abstract: We have tragically hit a systemic negative tipping point in the history of modern self-governing systems. Digital technologies now provide widespread communication channels, including cable television and easy-access Internet-based social media, that have unleashed an avalanche of voter manipulations. Journalist and political commentators repeatedly point out these escalating political dysfunctions and analyze them, and many NGOs focus their attention on trying to recover the viability of self-governing systems. However, the fundamental problem resides in a quirk of human nature that makes voters chronically vulnerable to the construction of political beliefs based on disinformation and Big Lies. No amount of rational argument or incremental progress can reverse the demise of democratic systems. We need transformational changes in the mental mechanism involved in succumbing to relentless manipulations that are causing increasing numbers of voters to unknowingly surrender their freedom to make informed choices. The checks and balances built into self-governing systems no longer provide sufficient safeguards to keep them viable. Our relentlessly increasing political dysfunction will inevitably impact the economy and therefore prospects for widespread growing prosperity through repeated business successes. Self-governing systems, including in the West, are in the process of self-surrendering our long-term competitive advantage to authoritarian systems, including China. To resurrect the effectiveness of moribund self-governing systems, we must overcome the pandemic of digital-era populist nihilism. To accomplish that, we need a new form of guardrails that mentally inoculates vulnerable voters. Review In case you are reading this Part 6 of the auto-context (Paradigms Lost) article without having read the previous Parts, I summarize some crucial concepts. This series of articles for Brainz Magazine builds upon on the assumption that we all operate in two modes – a thinking mode (our thinking-self) and an automatic mode (our auto-self). Parts 1-3 of this article introduced our realities-determining auto-contexts, showed how they are generalizations of Thomas Kuhn’s paradigms, and identified the accumulation of anomalies as the mechanism to determine the validity or invalidity of the internal realities created by auto-contexts. These Parts also described the Abilities Mismatch, which identifies that our thinking-self prowess now creates disruptions that overwhelm our previous capability to manage their auto-self ramifications. This mind-level mismatch creates the underlying reason why we have fundamentally hit the end of the more than two centuries of growing prosperity and well-being in the West that resulted from the Science/Enlightenment Revolution. Two automatic mental mechanisms block auto-context (cultures, worldviews, mindsets, paradigms, values, attitudes) reconstructions in the form of the certainty illusion (and delusion) and the Comfort Imperative. We identified that a necessary path to future successes is to Believe but Verify when dealing with our internal certainties. Part 4 presented an overview of how to transform “in here” certainties (buried in auto-contexts) when they don’t correspond with facts “out there” or align with our success needs. Part 5 moved from understanding general concepts and improvement processes to solving specific problems in crucial domains – starting with understanding and managing the mental mechanisms that control organizational cultures. We now continue our journey into solving specific, pressing problems by focusing on the necessity to manage the auto-context impacts on political, governing, and economic systems. An Alarming Amount of Manipulations You Should Be Alarmed: “We’re facing the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War. I’m not saying this to alarm you; I’m saying this because you should be alarmed.” President Biden at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on July 13 2021. Certainty Delusions Kill Democracies: Digital-technology-enhanced manipulations through cable TV but even more so through inexpensive and easy-to-use social-media channels including Facebook, Twitter, blogs, podcasts, and YouTube have led increasing numbers of people to descend into chronic pretending. This widespread auto-context-based pretending has constructed certainty delusions into so many citizens of countries in the West and elsewhere and spectacularly in the US, that the grand experiment in self-governance that started with the US is now on a death march. Abridgment of Freedom: “There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” – James Madison, speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 16, 1788. We Require New Types of Guardrails: The heroes we know as the “Founding Fathers” of the US were also children of the European Enlightenment. As a result, they built guardrails into our Constitution in the forms of checks and balances based on what they understood about the foibles of human nature. As we struggle through our digital era with the necessity to overcome the Abilities Mismatch, it has become manifestly clear that the existing guardrails bequeathed us by our founders are no longer adequate. As we strive to resurrect the viability of self-governing systems, that must include creating new types of guardrails, and that will require a new generation of Founding Parents to rise up and construct those for us based on our new more profound understanding of human nature that now includes the many ramifications of auto-contexts. If we fail to take decisive actions now to understand and manage auto-contexts, the January 6, 2021 insurrection could turn into America’s version of the Munich Putsch – a failed coup followed later by a successful one. The new guardrails we need must include arming voters and future voters with the ability to resist the nefarious construction of certainty delusions that destroy confidence in, and therefore undermine the viability of, self-governing systems. We Need to Stop Pretending that We Do Not Chronically Pretend Benign Certainty Illusions: Pretending in the form of rationalizing can be a useful mechanism to manage our discomfort (and help us cope) when something happens to us over which we have no practical control. Common examples include losing a job (“it was time to move on to the next phase of my career anyway”) or being jilted by a lover (“this relationship has been failing for some time; I am ready for a change”). Fantasies of grandeur can motivate people to greater achievement. Also, pretending can give us pleasure or at least comfort, but we need to learn to manage when we pretend or fantasize so we don’t end up undermining our successes, well-being, and positive values. When we fantasize we are solving a crucial complex problem using simplistic solutions, we end up relieving our short-term situational discomfort but often at the enormous cost of long-term failure pain. Thinking-Self Pretending vs. Auto-Context Pretending: We need to do a much better job of understanding and managing human nature across a broad spectrum of activities. For instance, we can now distinguish between thinking-self-based situational pretending and pretending that is so persistent that it migrates into an auto-context to become a certainty illusion or delusion. The distinction between these two types of pretending is that one is a transient thought process we use to defend ourselves against uncontrollable problems we encounter and the other is a belief that endures no matter how beneficial or detrimental. Delusional Beliefs: Situational pretending can be helpful, as with rationalizing above. Also, circumstances occasionally occur where auto-context-based certainty illusions can be helpful. In the US, we have long instilled the beliefs that “all men [which we render people these days] are created equal,” we have “inalienable rights to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” we are the “land of the free,” and we have “liberty and justice for all.” Throughout much of our history, that was verifiably a certainty delusion with respect to many classes of people. That created a massive number of very visible anomalies to those values beliefs that institutions systematically constructed into people of the US. Nevertheless, as you will see in a future article, these certainty illusions served as aspirational foundations to drive progress toward those values goals. However, certainty-illusion pretending is normally unhelpful and in the digital-disruptions-and-communications world we now live in, it has become a disaster to our successes and well-being in many ways. Dictionaries define “delusion” as believing something that is demonstrably untrue. It also has been commonly thought of as a mental illness. That may be true in many cases including with hallucinations. However, certainty delusions have probably existed from early phases of the evolution of humankind, but digital technologies now make possible constructing them increasingly often and more widespread. Misinformation, Disinformation, and Big Lies: As we move to deal effectively with many forms of technology-enhanced manipulations, we would do well to understand different forms of bad information. Misinformation: Information that inadvertently does not correspond with facts in the world or that is selectively skewed Disinformation: Information that deliberately and verifiably does not correspond with facts in the world Big Lie: Disinformation that is so stunningly egregious that most people would not believe anybody would ever make such an audacious lie The latter two will take center stage in our quest to understand at the mental level the devastating systemic descent of our self-governing systems and to launch the systematic ascent we now have the capability to foment that will resurrect and exceed the previous effectiveness of self-governing systems. Explicitly Formulating the Big Lie: Here is a direct quote from a politician and government leader who raised the “Big Lie” to an art form and used it repeatedly with devastating success. “In the Big Lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature [their auto-context] than consciously or voluntarily [their thinking-self]. Thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the Big Lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. The grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it [in auto-contexts], even after it has been nailed down” [by the thinking-self exposing anomalies]. I leave it to you to find out if the above quote comes from a current guilty Big Lie promulgator or from another politician who previously wrote about and successfully used the Big-Lie process. We now understand clearly how the Big Lie works – it constructs auto-context-based certainty delusions into the minds of its victims to where they become robotically enslaved. Absurdities the Most Monstrous: “Man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the spot of every wind. With such persons, gullibility, which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of reason and the mind becomes a wreck.” – Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Smith, December 8, 1822. That is actually a fairly good description of what is happening now as we descend into a manipulation chasm were politicians relentlessly construct certainty delusions into voters by exploiting ubiquitous digital-communications channels. A Certainty-Delusion Pandemic: The difference between what we have known as delusional beliefs and what we now understand about certainty delusions is that we have located these dysfunctional beliefs in a specific part of the mind (not the brain) – namely in the auto-self and more specifically in auto-contexts. Dictators or wannabe dictators, con artists, and cult leaders [can you identify anyone who fits all three of these categories?], and people in other domains have long known how to construct certainty delusions. The devastating problem now is that digital technologies have made this process so easy that it is becoming ubiquitous. Technology-enabled certainty-delusion constructions have reached the pandemic level, especially in Western political systems, through relentlessly repeated destructive disinformation and devastating Big Lies. Because of this massive amount of induced pretending, it is only their proud certainty illusions that block many people from recognizing we are in the midst of a terminal descent of self-governing systems. Surrendering Liberty: “They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759. Many people unknowingly surrender their liberties when they become so uncomfortable that they fall for simplistic solutions that temporarily relieve their discomfort. This approach has a high recidivism rate because simplistic solutions do not solve the problem causing the discomfort. Another way in which people have their freedoms stolen from them and they don’t recognize it is when some diabolical person or group deliberately and relentlessly constructs certainty delusions within them through disinformation and Big Lies. Checks and balances have enabled democracies to recover many times from simplistic solutions foisted on voters by populists during times of widespread discomfort. However, our digital era has now rendered those once adequate guardrails insufficient. Stop Pretending Our Self-Governing Systems Are Not Collapsing: Remember, our modern representative governments are not the first ones even in the West. The Greek and Roman republics had their heydays and then they collapsed. Here are a couple of quotes worth noting. “Remember democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself” – second US president John Adams, letter to John Taylor, April 15, 1814. When someone asked Benjamin Franklin, “What kind of a government have you given us?” He replied, “A Republic, if you can keep it.” In the United States, we fortuitously kept it for two and a half centuries. Now we are watching it waste, exhaust, and murder itself. The only way we are going to resurrect our dying Western political systems is to overcome the Abilities Mismatch. That will require that we explicitly understand and directly manage the auto-self, which includes conquering the Comfort Imperative, certainty illusions, and auto-contexts in their many other manifestations. We must construct the widespread capability to Believe but Verify! Methinks Thou Dost Protest Too Much (from Shakespeare's Hamlet): The king of disinformation and Big Lies calls the segment of the press that actually focuses on stories that correspond with facts “fake news” The person and the party now working relentlessly to rig elections accuses a fairly run 2020 presidential election of being rigged The person dragging the GOP into perdition labels the conservative, principled, policy-driven members of the Republican Party RINOs (Republicans in name only) and drives them out of the party or at least out of office. In reality, the party has now become a cult of personality that is unrecognizable as the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Reagan, and the Bush’s – the GOP has now become Republican in name only, and it is not currently grand. Learning to Manage Our Pretending for a Better Future: Yes, we now understand the certainty-illusion process and that it is not only possible but fairly easy to construct dysfunctional worldviews that cause people to pretend (believe) that simplistic solutions can solve complex problems. As Phil Rosenzweig showed us in his Halo book, massive numbers of otherwise sophisticated business people fell for the simplistic-solution “best practices” books that caused them to pretend that the authors had found a magical potion for “sustainable success” through literature searches and retrospective interviews. That form of pretending created lost opportunities to solve growing and debilitating business “soft success factor” problems systematically and effectively. However, a much more devastating form of auto-context-based pretending now exists in terms of such infamous Big Lies as Stop the Steal and QAnon. These are very visible demonstrations about how easy it is with today’s digital-technology-enabled communications channels to construct certainty delusions in massive numbers of people. As a result, learning to recognize and then methodically manage our pretending will be one of the key mechanisms to resurrect the greatness aspects of the West and put us on a path to greater systematically and directly managed prosperity and well-being. An Absurd Number of Anomalies in Politics Runaway Disinformation: Technologies, particularly digital technologies, drive accelerating disruptive changes in the business environment, which requires increasingly rapid company-culture and business-problem-solving worldview reconstructions. These same digital technologies provide many communications benefits including democratizing information distribution. However, they have impacted our political systems in very destructive ways. Digital communications technologies have made disinformation and Big Lies so easy to promulgate that they are relentlessly destroying the viability of self-governance, which should terrify citizens of the West because our forms of government are structurally failing. Descent into Certainty Delusions: If we train people to search for anomalies in their certainties, it will become obvious that the Stop the Steal assertions provide a naked exemplar of constructing certainty delusions in massive numbers of voters. It’s not as if we have to break a sweat to try to identify anomalies here because over 60 courts in many states and at the federal level examined the accusations of voter fraud, and judges and justices from both political parties rejected them. In Georgia, the top statewide officials were of the same party as the losing candidate and actually ran three separate counts – two by machine and one by hand count that verified the results. We will not have a successful future in the West unless we learn to Believe but Verify! Not Alternative “Facts”: During a Meet the Press interview on January 22, 2017, U.S. counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway coined the now infamous phrase "alternative facts" when defending White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer's false statement about the attendance numbers of Donald Trump's inauguration as president. We need to grow up as citizens of the West and stop chronic dysfunctional pretending. That statement by Conway is not just a cute, benign quip. It is a visible archetype of a diabolical process not of arguing for “alternative facts” but of constructing a malignant alternative form of “truth,” which you already learned about. Big Lies are not alternative facts. They are deceptions designed to construct certainty delusions. That is not a path to the continuation of self-governance. It is another push toward an autocratic government. We have sunk into a manipulation chasm in the politics of many countries in the West and elsewhere, and that is stunningly true of the United States. This mental cancer that is currently spreading in many self-governing systems will metastasize to other forms of social-systems activities including business if we fail to take decisive actions to bring it under control. However, as you will see in Part 7, hope is on the way through creating the ability for the voting public to overcome the auto-context manipulations that increasing numbers of politicians are inflicting on them. This will empower voters to return to sober judgments on political/economic policies that affect their successes and well-being. We must take decisive steps to train our citizens to Believe but Verify! Certainty Delusions Kill Freedoms: “If a nation expects to be ignorant – and free – in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” – Thomas Jefferson, letter to Colonel Charles Yancey, January 6, 1816. The problem we face now is not just lack of knowledge because accurate information is readily available. The problem is that malicious actors are instilling certainty delusions into masses of voters. When that happens, these voters become oblivious to valid information. They become incapable of recognizing anomalies in beliefs constructed into their auto-contexts, so they are naïvely ignorant and have therefore lost crucial parts of their freedoms and don’t even realize it. This Party Now Relies on Manipulating and Constructing Certainty Delusions: Policy-based positions of political parties have their power because they reside in the same type of auto-context-based veneer that maintains positive values that I will identify in Part 7. Unfortunately, the current US Republican Party has reached the stage where it is ejecting those politicians who have managed to maintain the policy-based approach. The GOP is systematically degenerating into a cult that now relies on manipulating and constructing certainty delusions into voters rather than arguing for coherent conservative policies. Membership in this cult increasingly requires believing or at least espousing the Big Lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump. This conspiracy to propagate systematic certainty delusions into voters puts the US on a tragic path to destroy the two-and-a-half century experiment in self-governance heroically bequeath by its founders. You will see in Part 7 of this article a viable (and necessary!) way to resurrect the US’s currently dying Republic, which will apply to other nations that rely on self-governing systems. Auto-Context Impacts on Political/Economic Stability A Slippery Slope of Political-System Instability: The Comfort Imperative is playing a strong role in the demise of some Western political systems because many people are so uncomfortable that they are extremely vulnerable to simplistic solutions perpetrated by populists from the left and the right. As if that is not bad enough, some malicious populists deliberately stoke additional discomfort as a way of manipulating voters to fall for their simplistic solutions. Unfortunately, this is a negatively reinforcing process because as our political systems destabilize, discomfort grows. Additionally, as you are about to see, technology-enabled disinformation and Big Lies are now constructing widespread certainty delusions into huge numbers of voters to the point that pretending is become so prevalent that we have been pushed onto a slippery slope of political-system instability. Human Nature Will Strike Back When We Try to Violate It The Inescapable Interactions among Politics, the Economy, and Repeated Career/Business Successes: Many people reading this article are primarily interested in career and business successes. However, the business community cannot escape the political turmoil that is destabilizing our governing systems. Many political battles center on economic policies, and those policies impact prospects for repeated business successes and for reliable improvements of standards of living for so many people. It’s Not Wise to Try to Fool Mother Nature: We have reached the point that we now understand automatic human activities well enough to avoid making repeated human-nature blunders in our political/economic programs. The Abilities Mismatch has created widespread problems including in business and spectacularly in politics. These problems led to inadequate advances in standards of living for a huge number of people. As that happened, many people experienced such discomfort that they inadvertently became vulnerable to simplistic solutions that satisfy their desire for a success without producing the success they desire. These seduction traps are now compounded by widespread technology-enabled manipulations particularly in our political systems. That creates a formula for potentially wild thrashing between the hard right and the hard left in our political systems because both sides violate human nature and will fail over any extended time. That will create an opening for the simplistic solutions from the other far end of the political spectrum to gain traction. It’s not wise to try to fool Mother Nature! Managing Greed: Finding the Political/Economic Sweet Spot Human-Nature Danger Zones: The far-left socialism agenda systematically strangles economies because it fails to unleash the passion inherent in market economies with Venezuela being a dramatic current example. The far right of radical deregulation often leads to dramatic economic crashes with the 2008 Great Recession as a recent example. This far end of the political spectrum also leads to polluting our physical environment and usually produces discomfort-creating and therefore political/economic destabilizing stratification of economic well-being. We can look at this from a human-nature perspective by focusing on a potent human characteristic that we can usefully model as “greed.” The far left fails because it does not tap into human greed to unleash the passion to succeed. The far right fails because it unleashes unrestrained greed that inevitably leads to destabilizing abuses. Human-Nature Sweet Spot: Although the radical ends of the political/economic spectrum create a bad environment for widespread repeated business successes and systematic improvements of standards of living for many people, a very wide sweet spot exists. That is, politically managed top-level economic systems can operate effectively along a wide spectrum from progressive to conservative and still produce long-term viable business environments because they do not violate human nature. We now have the opportunity to confine the political/economic systems of the West into the human-nature sweet spot as part of conquering the auto-self and particularly our auto-contexts. Very High Economic Stratification Incompatible with Democracies: We do not want to rely on altruism to avoid excessive prosperity stratification because that does not produce reliable results. The passion, or greed if you like, that drives market economies is the human-nature mechanism that makes them so successful – along with distributed control. However, if they exist within a self-governing system, which is often the case and is now the case in the West, unchecked greed can lead to excessive economic hierarchies. This radical economic stratification eventually leads to too many people (read voters) becoming uncomfortable to the point that they become easy prey to populists who peddle simplistic solutions including disinformation that constructs certainty delusions. People who are driven to organize the political system to make it possible for them to acquire unlimited wealth at the expense of many others can now understand that is not in their best long-term interest. However, this is another example of the knowing-doing gap. We need more work to construct realities into the general populace and business leaders that create feelings associated with this issue. Sweet Spot for Government Control of Economy Wealth Gap is Not the Fatal Problem: The wealth gap is not the main problem – people expect that in a market economy. The problem comes from too many people not being well enough off to be comfortable, and they realize they are not on a path for a better future. For self-governing systems to sustain effective functioning, societies must take actions to avoid having too many people experiencing unacceptable discomfort and that includes losing realistic hope for better prosperity and well-being themselves and their progeny. Populism as Self-Governance Self-Destruction The Breakdown of Democracy Guardrails: Some aspects of human nature cause us to want to participate in self-governance and thereby enjoy many types of freedoms and have some control over the destiny of our country and therefore part of our own prospects. However, other parts of human nature make self-governing systems inherently unstable. Recognizing this vulnerability, the founders of self-governing systems, starting with establishing the Constitution of United States, created checks and balances to maintain their viability. Those guardrails enabled “liberal democracies” to recover from the periodic emergence of populists during times of widespread discomfort. However, some side effects of digital technologies have now created a new type of vulnerability that has rendered current guardrails increasingly insufficient to sustain the viability of Western self-governing systems. The only way we are going to maintain the effectiveness of self-governance in our digital era and to compete effectively with authoritarian regimes is to figure out how to overcome the destructive effects of the Abilities Mismatch, and 2Selfs Theory now provides the mechanism to accomplish that necessity. From Discomfort-Escape to Certainty Delusions Offering Simplistic Solutions to Escape Discomfort: When discomfort exceeds their tolerance thresholds, most people will automatically gravitate toward simplistic solutions that relieve their immediate angst without regard to whether these seduction traps actually solve the problem causing their discomfort. Economic depressions, recessions, and long-term prosperity stagnation always create widespread discomfort. Therefore, political populism (along with religious revivals and great “awakenings”) has periodically emerged throughout the era of self-governance – including the modern West over the last two and half centuries. When voters become vulnerable due to their discomfort, populists, who are always lurking on the fringes of the left and the right, suddenly get traction with their text, sound, and video snippets that promise pie-in-the-sky without burdening themselves with viable plans to achieve their hyperbolic promises. Populists work at the emotional level not the intellectual or policy levels. Voters need to cast a critical eye on populist politicians because they are exploiting your emotional vulnerabilities (usually some form of discomfort). You will retain better personal freedom if you view populists as manipulators and fall back on the principle of Belief but Verify when examining their seduction traps in the form of simplistic solutions. Stoked-Grievance Populism: Populists often exploit the initial discomfort, stoke it to create greater distress, and then often create a series of enemies. They make voters feel better by telling them they are the special people and in doing so often demonize other groups including racial, ethnic, religious, and sexual-orientation minorities. As part of the “special people” agenda, populists are often nationalistic and xenophobic in a world of growing economic globalism. Populists also tell voters that they will take over the power and prosperity of the economic and political “elites” or the “establishment,” and they eliminate the free press when they can or else they undermine it by such relentless claims as “fake news.” The most tragic example of a populist in the modern West was Hitler who exploited the widespread discomfort associated with the worldwide Great Depression and Germany losing World War I. Hitler stoked anguish about this later event by focusing on the humiliation of the terms of surrender at Versailles. Using Digital Technologies to Construct Certainty Delusions: As you already saw, what starts out as exploiting voters’ discomfort usually morphs into constructing certainty delusions. Political “branding” is just a euphemism for what we have long known as “propaganda,” which was practiced most spectacularly in the modern West by Adolf Hitler – with catastrophic effects. He and his propagandist acolytes used radio to construct widespread certainty delusions. Now, the channels available to construct certainty delusions have multiplied to the point where too many voters are helpless to resist. It is now very easy for populists, whether innocently opportunistic or deliberately manipulative, to use digital communications channels to manipulate voters. The Rise of Illiberal Democracies: In his article, Narrowing Hearts and Minds: Diagnosing the Global Rise of Illiberal Democracy[i], Joel H. Rosenthal, president of Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs states, “There is no doubt that illiberalism is on the rise. Just as the world is becoming more connected, hearts and minds are constricting in ways that are sure to be self-defeating.” Here, Rosenthal uses the common metaphor of “hearts” (and minds) to refer to what we can now more powerfully model as auto-contexts (and the thinking-self), and in this particular case as certainty illusions and certainty delusions. He also says, “The populist playbook is now remarkably familiar: Retreat from globalism, embrace nationalism, stoke ethnic claims, and attack democratic norms and institutions.” Populists in Western Europe remain vibrant, but many have lost their luster, at least for now, after the defeat of populist Trump and his transparent aggressive attempt to remain in power after losing a free and fair election. However, many examples also exist elsewhere of democratically elected populists undermining or doing their best to undermine the institutions they were elected to serve so they can stay in power. Here are some examples, from the populist left and right: Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte, Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, Turkey’s Recep Erdogan, and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. If you are not familiar with the threats these populist hold for maintaining self-governance in their countries, you can easily look them up online. Rosenthal further says, “What makes this brand of autocrat particularly insidious is that these illiberal strongmen have been democratically elected. There was no single moment of fiery revolt or violent seizure of power. Instead, their authoritarian rule is ascending with the consent of the governed. In the hands of these leaders, power is being consolidated to serve a proudly illiberal vision of society and state. In this way, democracy is bending to their will.” It is worth remembering that Hitler rose to power through his Nazi party gaining slightly more than 1/3 of the seats in the Reichstag and then maneuvering to have President Hindenburg appoint him prime minister of the Weimer Republic in 1933. Shortly thereafter, Hitler consolidated power to became the infamous dictator we all remember. Resurrecting Self-Governance in Our Digital Era We Must Stop Ignoring the Automatic Aspects of Human Nature: The fundamental Abilities Mismatch problem of digital technologies overwhelming our current abilities to manage the culture changes they require is empowering many populists to construct widespread certainty delusions, which has fundamentally changed the success mechanisms for democracies including in the West. Relentlessly repeating disinformation and Big Lies through ubiquitous digital-communications channels constructs anti-democratic certainty illusions and delusions, which systematically destroys the auto-context “glue” that holds liberal democracies together. Accordingly, our future success and well-being require that now come to grips with elusive and illusive auto-context aspects of human nature that we previously had the luxury of ignoring. To do that, we need a theory that models how these automatic activities operate and provides processes to transform them when they don’t meet our success or well-being needs. A previous article in this series explained why the excellent work scientists are doing in modeling the brain will not provide the solutions we need. We must have a generalized model that operates at the mind level. 2Selfs Theory is currently the best mechanism to provide that capability. However, we must inform many people, including business leaders and voters, about the necessity to understand automatic human activities and train them to use our new robust understanding of human nature to resurrect self-governing systems in a digital era. This will include constructing the widespread ability to Believe but Verify! The Need for Discontinuous Improvements in Personal Responsibilities: In Part 7 of this article, we will segue from addressing the two major social systems of business and politics to focus on auto-context aspects of personal responsibilities including maintaining positive shared values. The goal there is to find ways to leverage our new understanding of a particular aspect of human nature – namely of the auto-context mental mechanism – to create ways to make discontinuous (i.e., based on auto-self transformations) improvements in personal responsibilities. Among the many benefits of addressing the mental underpinnings of personal responsibilities is to construct mental inoculations against voter certainty-dilution constructions as a necessary mechanism to resurrect the viability of self-governing systems. Links to the previous Parts of Article 3: Paradigms Lost – And Resurrected: A Systematic Path to Transform Culture and Worldview Habits: Part 1: Introduction: Conquering Auto-Contexts Is the Key to Restarting Widespread Prosperity and Well-Being Part 2: Fundamentals of Auto-Contexts – Starting with Kuhn’s Paradigms Part 3: Certainty Anomalies – We Need the Courage and the Wisdom to Notice Them Part 4: Auto-Context Transformations: Yes, We Can Periodically Change Who We Are Part 5: Business: Repeated Business Successes Now Require Conquering Auto-Contexts [i]https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/articles_papers_reports/narrowing-hearts-minds-global-rise-illiberal-democracy Connect with Barry on LinkedIn and visit his website for more information! Read more from Barry! Barry Borgerson, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Dr. Barry Borgerson graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a Ph.D. in computer science and one of his minors in the management of human resources. Barry co-led a multi-year DARPA-funded research project at the University and then went on to a highly successful career in the computer industry, starting as a lead computer architect and progressing through successive promotions to increasingly responsible leadership positions in technical management up to executive-level general management. When he took over a business that was failing and initiated actions to change some dysfunctional behaviors and the outdated culture of that business, he encountered so much counterproductive resistance that he started a long-term study into why very smart, highly educated, and extremely experienced people frequently cannot enact externally obvious changes they need to make to succeed. That study led him to discover that the underlying cause of so many dysfunctional activities and the tenacious, normally uncontrollable, resistance to deep changes reside in enigmatic automatic human activities that business leaders normally do not notice, cannot change on their own if others point out their dysfunctions, and often deny they even exist. Barry then developed 2Selfs Theory, a comprehensive, business-friendly, generalized theory of the mind that models the sometimes cooperation but often competition between our explicit problem-solving abilities (using our “thinking self”) and our previously mysterious involuntary activities (driven by our “automatic self”) and provides systematic, reliable processes to align our elusive automatic actions with our explicit intentions and needed success priorities. Dr. Borgerson has repeatedly verified the effectiveness of the pragmatic 2Selfs Theory by applying it in many venues including through transformation coaching to reconstruct counterproductive behavior habits of business leaders and to change obsolete or dysfunctional company cultures, where the transformation processes worked immediately and repeatedly as the theory predicted.

Written by: Andrew Cowie, 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's never too late to achieve your dreams. It might sound corny but it’s true. If you’d told me ten years ago that I’d ever been living the life I am now then I wouldn’t have believed you. And yet, after enduring years of rejections and knockbacks from publishers and literary agents, on Friday I finally celebrated the fulfillment of a lifetime’s ambition when my latest book became an overnight international 1 bestseller across numerous categories on Amazon. “Creating Impact: Changemakers Who Overcame Adversity To Create A Positive Impact In The World" is a multi-author collaborative venture which includes stories from 17 amazing entrepreneurs and business leaders from across the globe. All have one thing in common – they have overcome challenges including job loss, anxiety, depression, burnout, bereavement, heartbreak, and illness, but have come out the other side and are now making a positive impact in the world through the work they do. When I was first invited to participate by ex-journalist Dina Behrman, whose independent publishing company Inspired World Publishing masterminded the project, it was a complete no-brainer. I’m passionate about raising awareness of mental health issues and making people realise that it’s never too late to turn your life around and maximise your potential. I also recognise the power of storytelling and shared experiences as tools for inducing profound personal growth. I recognised instantly the potential for this book to be a major source of inspiration to anyone currently struggling with their own issues and life challenges. Anyone who’s read my previous Brainz article “Phoenix From the Ashes” will know that I underwent a catastrophic burnout myself a decade ago in my former life as a newspaper journalist and suffered a prolonged period of depression and stress-related ill-health as a result. In Creating Impact, I describe how I clawed my way back out of the abyss and underwent a complete regeneration to create a new and improved life for myself as a coach and therapist. I adopted the image of the phoenix for my business, Phoenix Coaching & Therapy, to symbolise not only my own return from the ashes but also as a powerful source of inspiration for my clients to demonstrate that they too could turn their lives around. As I’m fond of reminding my clients, some of the greatest names in history didn’t achieve glory without first having overcome significant challenges and adversity. Inventor Thomas Edison, when asked about his 10,000 unsuccessful attempts to create the electric light bulb, famously replied: “I have not failed 10,000 times – I’ve successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work”. Physicist Albert Einstein didn't speak until he was the age of four and didn't read until he was seven. His parents thought he was "sub-normal," and one of his teachers described him as "mentally slow, unsociable, and adrift forever in foolish dreams." He was expelled from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. Business magnate Henry Ford failed and went broke five times before he succeeded. Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas." He went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland. Beethoven handled the violin awkwardly and preferred playing his own compositions instead of improving his technique. His teacher called him "hopeless as a composer" and yet he wrote five of his greatest symphonies while completely deaf. Author J.K. Rowling was rejected by 12 publishers before finding one prepared to take on the manuscript of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. She had previously battled crippling depression following the death of her mother from multiple sclerosis, followed by a divorce, financial struggles, and the pressures of being a single mum. She refused to give up but instead channeled her emotions into writing the Harry Potter series. Eight films, one theme park, and countless video games, board games, and products later, Harry Potter is one of the highest-grossing franchises of all time. The lesson to be learned from all these inspirational stories is the importance of never giving up. No matter how bad things seem now, you never know when your greatest victory or success is just around the corner. American architect and inventor Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) once said: “Whatever humans have learned had to be learned as a consequence only of trial and error experience. Humans have learned only through mistakes.” Creating Impact, which hit number one in various categories on Amazon when it was published on 8th October, is full of similar inspiring stories from a diverse range of voices, and it’s our hope that the readers will gain inspiration, insight and wisdom from these chapters. All proceeds from sales during the launch are being donated to Book Aid International, a charity that provides books to refugees, schools, hospitals and prisons all over the world. Get your copy for just £0.99 / $0.99! For more info, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and visit my website! Read more from Andrew! Andrew Cowie, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Andrew Cowie is a transformational life coach, psychotherapist, and author dedicated to helping people overcome adversity and achieve their full potential. He came to the world of therapy after a 20-year career in newspaper journalism was brought to an abrupt end by severe burnout. In the course of his own recovery, he was introduced to meditation, mindfulness, hypnotherapy, yoga, martial arts, and NLP. He went on to retrain under some of the world's leading spiritual and personal development teachers to become an expert in these fields. Andrew has since dedicated his life to passing on this knowledge, synthesizing the various disciplines into one overarching system blending ancient spiritual practices with the latest cutting-edge techniques from the field of modern psychology. He is the owner of Phoenix Coaching & Therapy and the founder of its associated 'magical training school' The Ancient and Mystical Hermetic Order of the Phoenix (AMHOP). His debut book Rise Like a Phoenix was published in 2021 and is described as a manual for personal regeneration. Andrew works with clients worldwide and is passionate about mental health and exploring the latent potential of the human mind.

Written by: Annette Densham, 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 live in an age in business where the focus on the customer’s and client’s needs and wants is more important than ever to stay competitive. Inundated with thousands of bits of information every day, consumers are spoilt for choice. If they don’t like something, they’ll vocally shout exactly how they feel from the rooftops on social media platforms. This means the push and pull for market share is highly competitive and companies who want to thrive are searching for strategies to give them an edge. The edge they are looking for lies within their organisation and the approach they take to decision making, product creation, customer service, and how they deliver what they do. What they are looking for is a proven and repeatable design and problem-solving methodology any business can use to achieve big results and expand their market share. This methodology is called design thinking. Design thinking is a human-centric approach to innovation, cemented in a deep understanding of consumers’ needs. Rebecca Fuchs has an impressive success record of achieving transformational change for her clients globally and across industries. She is the founder and director of the coaching and consulting business ‘Tomorrow Is Now’ and the Client Experience Officer at Hugo Alexander Property Group, and recently won gold globally as Innovator of the Year in Industries at the prestigious Stevie Awards. She embraces design thinking in her work with organisations who believe close enough is never good enough. She wants businesses to know that design thinking is for everyone, rather than just for big businesses. “Big companies like Google and Apple use design thinking in their day-to-day operations, and many small businesses then think it is too complicated for them. However, design thinking can be used for any people-centric problem or opportunity, and any sized company--especially those who wish to innovate and improve their customers’ experience,” she said. “It is a learnable process and one you must commit to for you to benefit from the potential outcomes. When genuinely applied, design thinking helps build an enthusiastic fan base that comes back to buy from you time and time again and becomes the most influential and unpaid group of brand promoters. And an emotionally engaged customer base leads to greater bottom-line results.” Rebecca outlined key steps that a business needs to undertake when employing design thinking in their venture, for a clearer roadmap for the future. “Creating anything new from a new process or higher performing team to a new product or service has to start with empathy. If you fail to understand the opportunity or problem you are trying to solve for your customer, then how can you find the solution?” Rebecca said. This means assumptions and preconceived perceptions must be cast aside. By handing onto old beliefs hinders growth and expansion. Rebecca said it is important for businesses, organisations, and leaders to get to know their customers/ clients to better connect with them. “Take the time to engage and understand their motivations, their current disappointments and desired experience with you, as a foundation for everything else. And to learn from the best, do some mystery online and offline shopping with leading brands whom you admire - regardless of their industry,” she said. “The knowledge and ideas you gain can then inform a systemic way of improving and innovating what you do, when you do it, who does it, where and how you do it.” The heart of any product and service should be client-centricity. According to Rebecca this is the be all and end all for design thinking. “Using design thinking, organisations can reverse engineer how they attract, engage and retain clients. This means laying out client-centric values as roots to identify client’s needs and wants and clearly articulating the client promise, and then developing organisational capabilities that meet and exceed them,” she said. “This methodology can be applied to exceeding employee, customer, client, and referral partner experiences alike.” The insights accumulated through this process can be used to innovate. Innovation doesn’t have to be a ground-breaking new app or platform; it just needs to solve a client or customer’s problem and stand out from the crowd. “Find a way to add value to your clients and customers that makes them feel valued and shows you are going above and beyond for them,” Rebecca said. This is how Hugo Alexander Property Group has received state, national and international recognition for many ‘best in industry’ awards. When design thinking entered the business vernacular, it was primarily used to develop physical product designs. Rebecca advocates also applying it to service-based businesses and says understanding the pain points and problems to solve is key. Rebecca coaches and consults businesses in how to identify these and then innovate solutions. “In the real estate industry, for instance, it was the common stereotype of property managers being too transactional, reactive, and slack. We set out to tackle this head-on and developed a strategic, proactive, and value-added service that would blow our clients away, because they couldn’t help but know how deeply we understand and care for them,” she said. “Using design thinking puts businesses and organisations ahead of competitors. It helps build a reputation for putting customers first. And when customers become vocal advocates and do the PR for you, that is good business. “The solutions you build, based on your deep understanding of your customers, their goals, behaviours and motivations are the special sauce for businesses who want to thrive and grow.” Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and visit my website for more info! Read more from Annette! Annette Densham, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Multi-award-winning PR specialist Annette Densham is considered the go-to for all things business storytelling, award submission writing, and assisting business leaders in establishing themselves as authorities in their field. She has shared her insights into storytelling, media, and business across Australia, UK, and the US speaking for Professional Speakers Association, Stevie Awards, Queensland Government, and many more. Three times winner of the Grand Stevie Award for Women in Business, gold Stevie International Business Award, and a finalist in Australian Small Business Champion awards, Annette audaciously challenges anyone in small business to cast aside modesty, embrace their genius and share their stories.

Written by: Ellen Lorraine Niemeier, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. As you're trying to hold your breath in your puke-smelling car, you make way to the first thing that wasn't even on your own to-do list in the first place... Oh wait, that part comes later... You wake up, and whoops you looked at your phone before your eyes were even adjusted to the daylight, and you see tons of messages needing something from you. Research this, respond about that, do this, take care of...whatever. You try to get out of bed, but your kiddo has climbed in next to you, is sound asleep and pulling your hair over him like it's a blanket... You try to refocus, but you're met with more distraction, more things pulling you away from yourself. And you aren't even out of bed! You notice you're kind of on edge, but you do your best to stick to the plan of the day and get things done and just move through the challenges. But of course, when you're having a sh*t day, that stuff you're trying to get done, tends to give you more shiz to deal with! Not to mention, the entire day is suddenly about putting out fires everyone else has deemed urgent, not your priorities to begin with! You get in the car, and even though the milkshake spilled 4 days ago in the back seat, and you've spent many intimate hours scrubbing and steaming and enzyme cleaning the entire interior of your car, you're hit with sour milk smell. And you want to barf. Then, you head to the store, to handle that first item that wasn't even from your own to-do list, and the thing you were there to buy, isn't even the thing anyone thought it was, so now you're researching like crazy to try to make the perfect selection, terrified of making a mistake. Like really? But hey, this is the day, it's on the new list, let's do it. And the shiz keeps rolling downhill from there. Been there, done that. Then, as you continue your path to get it all done, keep going even though you started out exasperated and exhausted, you become more and more like a pot ready to boil over. Forget the image of potatoes cooked to perfection with the water delightfully and easily strained out. NO. Potatoes are total mush, the kitchen is a disaster and the pot is boiling over everywhere. While the demands on you keep coming. Then, no matter how great of a job you were doing trying to stuff them down to get through the day, the emotions ALL come up at ONCE. You literally have no choice but to feel them, let the primal screams out, cry out the sobbing cry, have a stern talk with the Universe while shaking your fists about your needs that aren't met. Sucks, right?! You're all committed to creating a Soul-Led Lifestyle. One that fulfills you. One that creates more EASE. So, what is this crap showing up?!!! This is the very crap that needs to be noticed so that you can feel it and move beyond it by moving through it. What can you do to be in it, yet shift from the victim mentality that inevitably comes up during these times, to a more empowered, neutral space? Feel the feelings. Have the cry. Scream the scream. Make every effort to avoid doing this toward your loved ones! DO apologize to anyone who may have gotten caught in the crossfire. Say the forgiveness prayers for how you feel about yourself and others. Sit in those yucky feelings. Do some gentle yoga to breathe through it if that is appealing to you. Notice the needs that come up that have not been met. Speak them, think them, have a convo with your Guides and Angels about them. When you feel ready to move out of this feeling space, choose one need that hasn't been met and meet it. Are you hungry? Do you need to take a break? Do you need a minute to yourself? Do you need a break from your phone? A bath? A walk? What calls to you? Notice the biggest trigger that came up before the blow-up/boil over/sh*t got fanned. Chances are it stems from something you feel you don't have enough of. Something needed that isn't there yet, or a need not yet sufficiently met. Be it money, or some kind of support, or the tools for a project, or help with childcare, or whatever it may be. These feelings, these needs that suddenly SCREAM to get your attention are your GUIDEPOSTS to guide you deeper into YOU. Sometimes something has to make you REALLY uncomfortable to get your attention in such a way that you TAKE ACTION. That you demand more for yourself. That you notice yourself, and nurture the Divine Being you are, so that this gorgeous Soul inside you can shine through. They often come through, rather, slam into your face to notice when you are already feeling worn down. Around moon time, or the new moon, or when the baby's been up all night teething, or you've been working all hours on a project, or during a big transition... Write down what you need. Grab a journal or a notebook or paper or hop on your computer. Write down what you need. What you want. What you feel you don't have. Then think of all the tiny ways you have received it, either in the past or more recently. Or currently. Even if it's a trickle compared to what you truly need, notice it, and write it down. Tell the Universe how much you loved receiving it. How much you loved it when it showed up. How you loved the way it came in. How you appreciated it. You might at first notice one tiny thing but if you stick with it, notice how much that list grows. Notice what this does to how you feel. Does it stop the boiling pot? Maybe to a slow roll? Does it allow some neutrality? Does it shift your thinking and pull you out of the downward spiral of despair going on all day before? Is there a part of you that you need to say goodbye to, in order to allow in a new way of being? A new way of being where this repeated struggle is no longer the star of the show? Write a goodbye letter to that part of you. Thank it for doing its best. Thank it for trying to keep things the same. Thank it for trying to stay safe by avoiding fresh new experiences. Write it a love letter. And then take that part of you by the hand and call in the experience you want. Tell that part of you it's coming with you now through a door to an experience where your needs and desires are met with ease. Where you feel fulfilled. Where you have the support and relationships that nourish you. Call in what you need in this new space. Call it all in. Anything you think of, call it in. At the end, 'Thank you Thank you Thank you, and So It Is'. Take a deep breath in and release, knowing and trusting that you have just taken the first step into this new beginning. Trust the next steps will come at perfect timing. Know that you are supported and loved. In all versions of you from the past, present, and yet to be. Grab your FREE download Workbook: Shift out of Your Sh*t Day FAST - In 7 Easy Steps here Your partner in creating the Soul-Led Lifestyle of your dreams, Ellen <3 Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Ellen! Ellen Lorraine Niemeier, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Ellen Lorraine Niemeier is an Advanced Soul Realignment® Practitioner, Master Akashic Records Reader, Expert Intuitive, and Channel. She first learned about the Akashic Records when she was seeking support for herself on her surprise journey into single motherhood 8 years ago. Shortly after the birth of her son, she became a certified practitioner and Soul-Level Healing LLC was born. Clients from around the world share their soul's deepest pains and deepest longings as she supports them to discover their divine gifts, clear their energy, and create the Soul-Led Lifestyle of their dreams. Ellen is a professional member of the Holistic Chamber of Commerce, Healers Magazine and Heal. Me.