Written by: Tanya Milano, Guest Writer Brainz Magazine Going from reactive to relaxed requires mindfulness and embodiment. This doesn’t mean rolling your mat or stopping to go for a jog. In the activated moments of parenting, you can create pause and build your own capacity to feel vulnerable so your kids can feel it all without shame. The way we were parented had a profound impact on our life and how we parent our own kids. Parenting has a way of illuminating our pain. Our children hold a mirror up to the parts of us that we found unsafe to fully express. When a behavior is presented to us , we often have an internal response--or a trigger. We often skip the internal process and instead react externally. For years, I was reacting to my children from my childhood strategies. I never had a chance to build emotional safety and boundaries growing up. When stressed, I would enter my primitive brain, the fight, flight, and freeze response. My tendency would be to fight, which would look like lots of yelling and out of control body movements like stomping or slamming doors. Other people may access the flight response just to leave the situation or freeze doing nothing. Our role as parents is to mirror healthy emotional responses and provide a healthy boundary for our children. Hard to do when we haven’t developed these skills ourselves!! There are 4 parts of the trigger to recognize and transmute your reaction to it to prevent the cycle of shame and guilt. When we can disrupt this behavioral pattern, we build new adult capacities and our reaction to these triggers can transform. Try these 4 things next time your child exhibits a behavior that causes a trigger (ie. talking back, complaining/crying, having lots of desires, being on the computer a long time, not coming to dinner when called, etc). Pick one behavior and sit in a comfy place. Look at the behavior as separate from you but with curiosity and empathy. This is a behavior that you yourself have had in the past or may have wanted to have, but you were made to feel bad or unsafe in your own childhood. Then, check in with your body sensations, breathe into the chest, feel the weight of your body in the chair, and feel the rise and fall of the chest. Think of that triggering behavior and sit with it for a few breaths, noticing any new sensations in the body maybe tightness in the jaw or chest, a stomachache, heat, shallow breathing, etc. Get curious and really allow the sensations some time and space to be here. Ask yourself what belief or thought arises with this sensation. What story are you telling yourself? For example, “I’m not important, or I’m not a good enough parent.” Just let it come without judgment. Finally, what feeling is there? Often anger or frustration will be first. This is a secondary emotion though. Let’s keep sitting in awareness to find out what may be underneath. Do you feel fear, powerless, abandoned, rejected? The more you practice, the more this becomes easier to access. This process can be quite painful, but it’s so worth the healing that comes. My work is to end generational stress response and I’m here to do just that! Want to break the stress response cycle with your kids? There are several ways to work with me. I love helping parents relocate their inner wisdom. I have a free challenge Reactive to Relaxed in 90 Days in my FB group. Find me on Instagram and Youtube .

Written by: Fareen Ash, 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. How can romance exist if we’re so focused on being equal? Romance percolates from the intense desire and organic buildup that naturally forms from the play between the two sexes. Romance is, by definition, the dance between two opposing forces. It’s the passion that exists from the dynamics of pursuer-pursued. Without this, there cannot be romance. There just can’t. Passion isn’t a natural byproduct of friendship and sameness. Passion is derived from tension and a natural push-pull dance that is so extremely tantalizing. It’s what we came here for. Life without the feeling of romance, sensuality, and deep pleasure is a life devoid of true fulfillment. Femininity, in essence, is the acceptance and deep embrace of one’s womanhood. Without the acceptance and desire to embrace one's gender, romance will be and is challenging to come by. By very nature, one must accept their true core essence. Today, too many have idealized the masculine aspects of themselves and have dismissed their feminine nature. Both genders have masculine and feminine energy. However, for passion and romance to exist in any relationship and for the long term, there must be one that is comfortable and welcoming of their masculinity while the other in their femininity. The level of security one feels will directly tie into whether one can express their true nature. Insecurity and unhealed aspects of self will deny our true nature, therefore the denial of true love. One can be highly feminine and yet embody masculine aspects. Her masculine elements will appear in her work and her boundaries. The level of her internal security is in direct proportion to her empowered masculine. Healthy, empowered men desire a woman that is strong yet soft. That softness is the pull that draws a man near, and the boundaries are the love that she possesses within. Her self-love will not allow her to abandon herself for anyone, including him. This strength pulls him to her. This is masculinity in form. The insecure woman will feel weak internally and, therefore, control, pressure, and people please to meet her needs. She internally lacks a sense of who she is and must lead with her masculine energy because otherwise, nothing will come to her. This naturally pushes away masculine energy men as now they’ve lost their place in the dynamic. His role is now taken, and usually, he’s so confused by this that he pulls away. Because we don’t understand these dynamics at play, there is much confusion. We desire romance, yet we can’t seem to experience it. Love is not romance. Two people can love each other but not be sexually drawn to each other. Sexual chemistry and attraction can only come from polarity. The more we can accept ourselves as who we are and embrace our desire to be romanced, the more fulfilled our lives will be. Romance is the feeling we all deeply crave to have when we see our partner. That doesn’t and won’t go away in an extremely polarized pair. This doesn’t mean that there is no balance. Balance comes from embracing our core essence and developing our non-dominant energy in the right way. With love, Fareen Follow me on Facebook , Instagram and visit my website for more info! Read more from Fareen! Fareen Ash, Executive Contributor, Brainz Magazine Fareen is an Intimacy, Relationship, and Attraction Strategist. She has a Graduate Degree in Honours Sociology, a Post-Graduate Degree in Law, and is certified in Gender Intelligence and NeuroLinguistic/Timeline Therapy. For a period in her life, Fareen lived in government housing on welfare with her mom, who suffered from depression. She spent much of her time caring for her mom, working three jobs while also attending school due to their lack of financial resources. She worked tirelessly to earn scholarships to help subsidize her education and was the recipient of the Women in Doctoral Studies Grant and recipient of the Alden-Baldy Scholarship. Fareen practiced as a litigation lawyer for nearly ten years, where she gathered information on the dynamics between men and women and the inherent energies that govern human behavior. She has since dedicated her life to helping accomplished women unleash their feminine power, heal the emotional body, and rewire the survival mind that keeps them from embodying their authentic essence. She is passionate about Feminine Energy Embodiment in both love and leadership. Fareen has developed a unique and specialized method for mastering the mind, overcoming emotional blocks, and relieving habitual negative patterning. Her mission: Femininity is a woman's superpower.

Written by: Dawn Kennedy, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. I have only really become aware of the “other side” of running a business over the last 21 months. The side of the business is a mix of intangibles such as energetics, alignment, and intuition. We’ve all heard of the CEO with the good “business sense” or “gut” but did you know that all of us actually have this power? I don’t remember anyone taking the time to describe the intangibles in business until I hired a coach. Over the last while, I have observed business growth experts that sit on one side of the strategy or alignment divide or the other. The mechanics or the magic, if you will. Depending on who you want to work with, you can get a business coach who focuses on manifesting and mindset, but not much in the way of growth strategy and process. They aren’t about to get into your margins and help you figure out why you are losing profit this quarter. On the flip side, you can find many a business coach who is all about the numbers, looking at the systems and supply chain, which isn’t really going to support you with manifesting. The truth is, it is time that businesses began to focus on both sides of the spectrum. I have a background in project management and strategic planning. I am a “map that thing out” kind of girl. But for all of the ideas in my head or the strategies I planned, when I am disconnected from the intangibles in business, my efforts seem to fall short or downright fail. I’ve become a student of the Universal Laws and energy, and I am finally getting it embodied. Being cerebral is my thing, so it takes a while to take what I know and turn it into what I “KNOW.” But it has made all the difference in my life and business. Alignment and Intuition The thing about being in alignment and the following intuition is that it makes business easier. You make decisions easier. The anxiety is lessened because there is a, pardon the cliché, “a feeling in your gut” that you made the right call, even if it doesn’t seem obvious or involves some risk. A recent example had to do with purchasing a commercial coffee grinder for our coffee roasting business back in May. We are a start-up, and at the time, Convoy Road Coffee Roasters was only four months old. Up until that point, we had made about $1800.00 in our top revenue month. While it is true that we were doubling in revenue every month, that commercial grinder was $1,000.00, which is a lot of money. That “intuitive” decision to purchase the grinder was made in an instant on a Tuesday afternoon. We were getting ready for a local festival event, and we would never have finished the production we needed to do without it. We had been filling bags of coffee to that point with small home use grinders we bought at a local Walmart. We made over $2,000.00 over that two-day event. We added over 100 new customers as well, so the business growth absolutely required the equipment. The thing is that the numbers didn’t quite make sense on paper at that moment. I was expecting to have to make some decisions about moving to commercial equipment later in the year. In fact, that was planned for the fourth quarter. If I had stuck to my plan and only looked at the numbers as they were to that point, I wouldn’t have made the right decision, and we would have missed a huge opportunity for business magic. Growing our customer list by a third over a weekend. The reorders that have come from that event have helped sustain the growth we have made. Trusting intuition isn’t easy, but developing it for business can allow for amazing things to happen in your business. Strategy and Planning So, what about the planning side of things? I believe that winging it to your business will generate very inconsistent results. You need a map of where you are going- but the “how” the “route” isn’t always going to go exactly according to your plan. The strategy must be there, but the execution has to be flexible. I have another recent example. We planned all of our summer events for the coffee business back in April. We sat down and planned as much as we knew, and we started to create this map to guide our business decisions. This included festivals and farmers' markets, as well as a four-day event called the 127-yard sale. Now, the “127-yard sale” is 690 miles long and runs up “Route 127” from Alabama all the way to Michigan. It is a huge event and draws people from all over the place. We happen to be on the corner of 127. How cool is that? We decided that during the sale, we would offer brewed hot or iced coffee for sale. We don’t generally offer anything but samples, and only on our designated “Retail Days,” but we figured, why not? What a cool little additional line of revenue. The problem is that we didn’t have the equipment for serving volumes of coffee. We only had the little 100-ounce “airpots” that caterers use because we only offered samples before that weekend. Undeterred, we decided that we were moving forward, and we just might have to brew coffee every half hour to meet demand. Well. Three days before the event, somehow, two 1 ½ gallon Bunn coffee servers, with the warming platform, became available to us for about 75% off what we would have paid for the new. BOOM. The Universe knows what it is doing, and that was just another confirmation of our being in business alignment. Also, the equipment showed up exactly on time. Not before we needed it, not after. But we planned for this event. We planned all of our events. It was a part of our overall strategy for the quarter and the growth strategy for 2021. We are executing according to plan. This equipment just makes it easier and less complicated to offer this new line of revenue. These servers will be great for an event we have in September and one in October. Plus, each of these planned events has to be carefully planned out and managed to ensure there’s enough product on hand, the roasting is done, etc. When you stay in alignment, the strategy is executed with more ease and flow. Not that there aren’t issues. I had to drive 45 minutes to another town in Ohio the day before the yard sale began to exchange the lids for the cold cups because I grabbed the wrong ones. Not having any strategy at all just makes things confusing and inconsistent. Strategy in alignment is the goal. Follow me on Facebook , Instagram , and visit my website for more info! Dawn Kennedy, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Dawn Kennedy is an attorney, business consultant and mentor, author, and CEO of Convoy Road Coffee Roasters. She has an extensive background in program management and strategic planning, working for the U.S. Army and for companies in both government and private sectors. Dawn began business consulting in 2011 and, since 2017, has focused on small business growth and profitability. She works in a variety of industries, including attorneys, coaches, spas, restaurants, retail boutiques, and e-commerce businesses. She is the CEO of Convoy Road Coffee Roasters, a company she started with her husband in January of 2021 and has grown over 3500% by the end of July. Dawn is the author of "The Profit Accelerator for Small Business" and hosts the Profit Accelerator podcast. She believes above all else that all entrepreneurs have a unique gift to bring to the world, and they should be profitable doing it.

Written by: Roderick Mason, 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 consequences of unethical corporate activities and higher cognitive processes have gained media attention during the last two decades. From 2004 to 2013, over $ 7.8 trillion was illicitly transferred from growing economies through unethical behavior and procedures in the United States (Global Financial Integrity, 2019). This figure excludes illegal acts such as importation and concealing, implying that the total is far greater. This figure also excludes prices associated with the loss of the employer's name and full and current prices due to lower production and productivity due to lower morale, engagement, and motivation among the workforce. Furthermore, client boycotts, fines, litigation, and government scrutiny of structure practices will all be significant consequences of a broad culture of unethical activity. An organization's "culture" could be a complex concept. Company culture is unquestionably essential to every organization, but defining it isn't easy. It's more difficult to successfully and purposefully steer this culture in one direction or the other, especially during a crisis." Corporate culture refers to a set of behavioral and procedural standards found within a company, including its rules, procedures, ethics, values, employee behavior and attitudes, goals, and codes of conduct. It also defines the company's "personality" and the work environment (e.g., skilled, informal, fast-paced) (Nguyen, 2021). Perceptions of Big Pharma, Pre, and Post the Pandemic According to a Harris study released earlier this year, consumers' perceptions of large pharmaceutical businesses improved by four hundredths after the pandemic due to the collective efforts of pharmaceutical corporations to respond to COVID19. This, however, is not always the case. At least in the United States, pharmaceutical company name concerns are primarily due to inflation and the opioid crisis, both of which have contributed to poor public impressions in the United States. Any highly regulated and capital-intensive industry, such as the pharmaceutical industry, has the potential to become a hotbed of unethical behavior and corporate misconduct. There are tensions at the core of the pharmaceutical industry's business model because it is troubling. For one thing, investors are constantly pressuring the company to increase revenue and share value. The high cost and high failure rate of modern drug research, which is often in the later stages of development, is, on the other hand, a current risk. The universality of "bad guy" explanations of unethical behavior and corporate misbehavior arises from the fact that most moral decision models presume that people make rational decisions and can evaluate those decisions from a moral standpoint (Swanepoel, 2020). Though it'll be acceptable to blame bad actors for some of the most egregious examples of unethical behavior in the pharmaceutical industry (one example is Martin Shkreli, who bought a former deworming drug production license and increased its worth by 5,000 percent), when we began to investigate company scandals more thoroughly, it was by no means the case. Moral behavior is more critical now than ever because if the COVID19 situation represents a new opportunity for pharmaceutical businesses to improve their public reputations, it also represents an excellent opportunity if something goes wrong. It's no coincidence that the CEOs of nine companies working on COVID19 vaccines have publicly stated their commitment to "maintaining the integrity of the scientific process" during the development and testing of vaccinations. They understand the significance of trust in the overall business. As a result, once public expectations and the degree of governmental inspection are in sync, the pharmaceutical industry will play a critical role (Horná, 2020). Organizational Culture and Ethics Pre-COVID Of course, the most effective way to make the company's post-COVID culture as similar as possible to its pre-COVID culture is never to lose it in the first place. However, maintaining a corporate culture that supports regular face-to-face meetings and informal relationships and nonverbal communication, and informal and accidental dialogues allowed by person face-to-face, is extremely difficult. Confronting the scene, Would you believe that a few extensive selections of civilized cultures, such as yank culture, would be trusted company culture? Imagine the fifty states are suddenly divided by physical boundaries. Once employees are in the workplace, they usually speak with one another and represent the entire "nation. “With time, this cohesive national culture may deteriorate, and regional culture may become increasingly important. The cultures of American states differ from those of Wyoming, New York, and California. The small size of the workspace shrank when the company moved to remote labor. These businesses are transitioning to permanent remote work or developing hybrid workplaces. Employees generally enter the workplace and work remotely, with increased flexibility once and wherever they do (Llopis, Gonzalez, & Gasco, 2007). New Considerations for Post COVID Organizational Culture: Trust Closures and housing limitations have resulted in vacating office buildings worldwide, which is particularly shocking for large firms. However, the influence of the current state of affairs on the structure culture has a surprise benefit for SMEs and start-ups. Several respondents mentioned forming a "spirit of war" within the community and the business community: resilience and a substitute feeling of commonality. Despite the physical distance created by the pandemic, personnel felt as though they were all together at the same time and developed a solid dedication to the organization's goal and vision. However, after introducing the immunizing agent, things have changed again, and the economy has begun to recover slowly. Some firms require that their employees come to work wearing a mask and having a hand disinfectant on every table, even if they are only 2 meters away. Responses to the current kind of near-normal work-life are mixed. Some employees appear to be happier working from home and recognize that they'll be there even if it means sacrificing efficiency or possibly more, while others are concerned. And that they can't wait to get it started. They were returning to the workplace's social environment (Kujala, Lehtimäki, & Pučėtaitė, 2016). Trust is not just a result of rational considerations; it's also a decisive emotional issue. Employees will expect to be revered rather than pissed off by things on the other side of their management if they believe the organization's management or one line manager is "on their side" exhibiting emotion. When a leader can establish an emotional bond with his team, even if the outcome is uncertain, the latter are more likely to trust his decision. They'll believe that if you say you're going to do something, you'll do it. Even though some structure cultures are clearly and purposefully formed, others will grow organically and without being publicly defined. Workplace environment, company mission, leadership style, values, ethics, expectations, and goals are all part of company culture. Institutionalizing ethical ideals is a never-ending approach for maintaining a strong culture, and it significantly relies on successful communication. It's also important to note that senior management should be in charge: the corporate CEO and senior management. When an organization's values and behavior become susceptible, it is the leader's responsibility to make ethical consciousness "happen." CEOs and other top executives don't work in a vacuum, and they'll need internal solid and packaging assistance to build an ethics-centric culture. In several circumstances, the highest-ranking packaging officers receive honest recommendations. They must have a good understanding of the values of the organization's strategically important community and be able to foresee the consequences (Nguyen, 2021). Conclusions: Stepping Up Efforts to Rebuild an Ethic-centric Organizational Culture The COVID19 epidemic has had a massive and quick influence on regional point culture. People's perceptions of the nature of labor and business interactions have been flipped upside down due to global locks and travel bans. People realize that they don't have to be in the office to complete their jobs; they can do most of them from home. They are not supposed to scroll. Others have shifted from flying to flying from home, although this has did not influence their business. Structure leaders should consider what cultural changes they need to keep and what cultural changes they need to oppose as they adapt to operations during the epidemic and gird themselves for recovery. COVID19 has posed a significant challenge to society, the environment, and humanity, and institutions are still responding, adapting, and addressing the new difficulties resulting from the crisis. Developing an Associate in Nursing moral culture and executing moral behavior can be disheartening even in the most stable operative environment. The exciting issue for accountable corporations is that in a crisis, organizations rely primarily on their values to go above and beyond their legal and regulatory requirements (Llopis, Gonzalez, & Gasco, 2007). So much so that, according to a new LRN study, 79% of respondents indicated their organization's moral culture is more potent as a result of their knowledge of COVID19. Overall, the data indicate that, while COVID19 may serve as a check for moral culture and ethics and compliance programs, the company's cultural and moral framework serves as a real-world ethics compass, assisting leaders, managers, employees, and other stakeholders in dealing with the unexpected and unknown. There's no denying that we live in uncertain times, where present and future crises can strike at the exact moment. Simultaneously, stakeholders are increasingly expecting corporations to achieve performance by adhering to high norms of corporate behavior. The data shows that mission, purpose, and values are not just words on a wall but also practical tools that provide crucial guidance and timely direction. They are essentially semi-permanent and property. There may or may not be rules, laws, or procedures that apply to every situation, but there is always a price that dictates behavior, whether respect, honesty, justice, or truth (Horná, 2020). Want to learn more from Roderick? Follow him on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin or visit his website. Read more from Roderick! Roderick Mason, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Roderick M. Mason is a Certified John Maxwell Speaker Trainer Coach and the founder of Holistic Coaching Solutions. A platform focused on delivering high-end corporate training services. He is a Certified Bucket List Coach, a Certified CBMC Leadership Coach, a Certified Primal Health Coach, and a Licensed Diversity & Inclusion Trainer. He is an avid seeker of knowledge who highly appreciates the notion of continuous improvement and growth. References: Global Financial Integrity. (2019). Illicit Financial Flows to and from 148 developing countries: 2006-2015. Washington, DC: Global Financial Integrity. Accessed May, 12. Horná, P. T. (2020). The Post-COVID-19 Challenges in ethical leadership. Journal of Global Science. Llopis, J., Gonzalez, M. R., & Gasco, J. L. (2007). Corporate governance and organizational culture: The role of ethics officers. International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, 4(2), 96-105. Nguyen, L. A., Dellaportas, S., Vesty, G. M., Jandug, L., & Tsahuridu, E. (2021). The influence of organizational culture on corporate accountants' ethical judgment and ethical intention in Vietnam. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal. Swanepoel, E. H. (2020). From Covid-19 to 4IR: Exploring the influence of Emotional and Cultural intelligence on modern organizational structures and leadership. Journal for Cultural Studies, 41. Kujala, J., Lehtimäki, H., & Pučėtaitė, R. (2016). Trust and distrust constructing unity and fragmentation of organizational culture. Journal of Business Ethics, 139(4), 701-716.

Written by: Eva Medilek, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise In our pursuit to have more success, more wealth, better health, and happier relationships, we are killing ourselves. We’ve been sold on the idea that we can have it all. And, in our quest to have it all, we are told we don’t have to compromise. We can be it all, do it all and have it all and not sacrifice a thing. We can essentially have our cake and eat it too, without getting fat in the process. Gosh, how I wish that were true. The pressure that we put on ourselves to balance wealth, health, and relationships has actually caused us to sacrifice those very things. In our effort to have it all, we are actually sacrificing it all. We don’t have to sacrifice everything, but we will have to sacrifice some things. The problem lies in what we are choosing to sacrifice. We are choosing to sacrifice the wrong things. We are sacrificing our wealth in an effort to appear wealthy. Think about all of the money you spend to have nice clothes, drive nice cars and go on the best vacations so that you can appear to have more money than you actually have. You are sacrificing your wealth to be wealthy. In an effort to be healthy, we are actually sacrificing our health. We lose too much weight, not enough weight, eat high protein, no carbs, workout to the point of pain and exhaustion, all to conform to a social media standard of what it looks like to be healthy. But do you know what we sacrifice the most in order to be successful? We sacrifice our relationships. We spend all of our time, effort and energy working so that our families and loved ones can have it all. And, as a result, we spend very little time, effort, and energy with our families and on our relationships. Yet, we claim that we are doing it all for them. Crazy, right? We sacrifice our relationships in order to appear that we have a great relationship. Look at social media, for example. In 2018, Inc. magazine published an article titled, “The more miserable you are, the happier your social media posts.” Apparently, someone posted on Twitter, asking folks to share a photo that they posted on social media when they were going through a tough time but appeared to be fine and happy in the photos. Thousands of people responded by sharing smiling photos of themselves, confessing that they were depressed, mentally ill, fighting with their spouse, broke, and even suicidal. In essence, their life was not what it appeared to be on social media. I’ve spoken to friends, family members, and clients about their happy, smiling posts, only to have them confess how truly unhappy they are. There is no love. No passion. No joy in their relationships. Honestly, I think it should be called “FAKEBOOK”. So, what should you do so that you can stop sacrificing the people and things that are important to you and start letting go of the things that don’t serve you? You can start by establishing clear priorities and setting clear boundaries. When you have clear priorities, you make better decisions, and you are 30% more likely to have higher success. It may be easier said than done, but stop trying to do it all. Make your decisions based on your values and priorities. Stop saying yes to everything that doesn’t support your priorities and values. If it doesn’t support moving your priorities forward, say no. You Don’t Have To Do It All In Order To Have It All. For more details on how to be influential at home, at work, and in your communities, follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube and visit my website. Read more from Eva! Eva Medilek, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Eva Medilek is a Certified High-Performance Coach and a Relationship Success Coach. She has coached both men and women in the areas of personal development, leadership and mastering habits for success. She specializes in helping powerful, successful women have happier, healthier, more intimate connections in their relationships without giving up their power. Eva knows firsthand how a driven personality type can leave you feeling lonely, disappointed, frustrated and resentful. You can achieve higher levels of success without sacrificing your health, well-being, and relationships. She uses her personal experiences along with her leadership, transformational and high performance training to teach you the pillars of high performance as well as showing you how to communicate in a way that fosters intimacy, influence and connection in your personal and professional life. High performance is succeeding consistently over the long term while maintaining a healthy life full of positive emotions and relationships.

Kamladevi Sharma is an award-winning International Speaker and Coach on work-life balance, the co-founder of Revive. Coach, a Career Mentor at the University of Bradford, an Associate Coach at Randstad Risesmart, a wife, mom of 3 boys, and a valued friend to many. Highly intuitive and full of wisdom, her clients describe her as “pithy, witty and deep”. Her expertise in mindset and personal development strategy enables youths, leaders and entrepreneurs globally to get clear on their career aims, eliminate burnout, and achieve balance, fulfillment and success with ease in both their personal and professional lives. Born and grow in Guyana, South America, she is a Master of Business Administration (MBA) General with Bachelor degrees in Business, Social Psychology and Social Research Methods. Her work has benefitted over 4000 leaders globally in personal growth and over 250 businesses have jumped start a momentum for success in her signature momentum training at Revive. A known feature in magazines locally and internationally, her wisdom has been featured on several podcasts on Spotify, Apple, and Google. You’re an award-winning coach, co-founder of Revive.Coach and a Mindset genius! As people call you Mindset genius, how do you define a Mindset genius, and how do you become one? For me, a mindset genius is someone who intuitively recognizes the beliefs, thought patterns, and the contributing factors to these that lead to specific behaviors in people, subsequently perceiving future circumstances and personalities people are likely to attract in their lives. For example, if a manager says to me, "The young people nowadays don't like to work hard," as a justification to why the young staff is always leaving his company, it tells me that this manager believes that hard work is the only way to get work done in the office, he is probably always working hard and is constantly comparing himself and his journey of success to his staff. A manager with this mindset values hard work over self-care, so he would be impressed by the young staff who always put in extra hours and dedicate most of their time and energy to getting work done in the office. Any staff who takes frequent breaks, has boundaries in place or are likely to say no politely to this manager would not be the ideal staff. This belief, which is also a judgment of all young staff, would unconsciously lead to biased behavior to any young staff who is employed in the future. He’ll speak to newcomers as if he was talking to one of his past non-conforming staff which would make them feel misjudged and misplaced at work. Unconsciously, a manager of this kind would disempower young staff by speaking the story, "You all have it too good in here. Back in my day, we had to work hard to get to the top." He would keep himself separate from young staff, which would make them feel 'not good enough' or 'respected' to work with him- resulting in them leaving for better feelings elsewhere. I believe that my ability to perceive patterns in people to this extent comes from my natural intuitive ability, studies in Social Psychology, and consistent inner work to learn about myself and develop my intuition more. I commit to a growth mindset, and it helps me see opportunities in every challenge I face- even if it is an opportunity to learn about a different feeling within me and grow past it. Therefore, I believe that someone can become a mindset genius by really embracing who they are and striving to improve the way they think, feel, and behave daily- witnessing themselves and being curious about where that thought or feeling or behavior came from and how they can improve it or use it to their advantage in the future. But it’s not only about mindset, right? You have a great combination of knowledge and expertise. You’ve helped over 4000 leaders with mental, spiritual, and financial growth and over 250 businesses to kickstart their journeys. Why do people choose to work with you? Leaders, coaches, youths, and entrepreneurs choose to work with me because they need clarity and growth in their careers. They need a practical approach to moving forward in their career with the resources they have at their disposal so that they can achieve the career of their dreams and feel fulfilled in their lives. Whether it's aligning with a career suitable to their personal life, switching careers to experience a new path, trying to move up the career ladder at their current place of work, or exiting Corporate to start Entrepreneurship, I help them to align and plan their transition strategy for execution in their desired direction. Oftentimes persons come to me when they begin to feel uncomfortable in their career and/or no longer fit in. They may want to quit being overwhelmed, burnout, frustrated, stressed, or depressed on their job. They are drawn to my objectivity, authenticity, positivity, and solutions thinking to guide them on exactly what they need to do to move forward- even if their barrier is a personal attachment affecting their career decisions. For example, not obtaining approval of their career desires from a close family member because of the uncertainty in a new career as compared to the financial security in the present one. My clients often describe me as "pithy, witty, and deep" because of the depths I can take anyone feeling confused, stuck, or dejected in their career or personal life in a single session, for them to achieve clarity, balance, and fulfillment easily. You’re based in a South American country, but you work internationally with people. Is that a challenge? Working internationally with people even though I am in Guyana is not a challenge. People's issues are the same worldwide. The details of those issues are different. I am not focused on the details. I am focused on the general issue and its solution. That is, the thoughts, feelings, words and actions, and what needs to be done to bring ease and peace to one's inner world. In Guyana, we have sufficient technology here to work online and there options available to us for receiving monies from abroad, although there are international restrictions to our financial capabilities. For example, we can only pay out money with platforms such as PayPal rather than receive and pay. However, I generally rely on my expertise, energy and being to help my clients in their journey. My qualifications from Universities in the UK, my connection with Ranstand Risesmart as an Associate Coach and my presence on social media help me to continuously network, build connections with people globally, and claim my authority in the field. Although Guyana has been regarded as a third world or developing country for a long time and it's about to change as we move to an oil economy, I've never allowed this to stop me from elevating and offering my services to the international community. The truth is, being from Guyana in this field, a developing country, can be a significant deterrent to a client's perception of the quality of service that can possibly be offered to them, especially if they are from a first world country. But another truth to that is, if you believe in yourself and you stand out with your authenticity, you will connect to those who need you despite where you're from. My biggest challenge being in Guyana though was overcoming the mindset of "what will people say," especially at the thought that I was a stay-at-home MBA mom. This kicked in more after having my last son where I felt conflicted that my responsibilities were a lot more at home but I needed that mental escape to do something for myself. I wasn't sure if I should have continued coaching or let it go and focus on the kids only. Not only that, I didn't have a clearly defined career path all along in my journey. I knew the basics- I wanted a career that I loved, one that allowed me to be myself and bloom, and one with a comfortable pay, but I didn't know by doing what exactly. That in itself depended a lot on whatever opportunity presented itself in Guyana because I always wanted to grow my kids here. But when I reflected on my life and my career choices, I realized that coaching was my dream career and it was time to take it to the next level- not to let it go and return to Corporate when the kids are in school. I didn't give up on myself and that was a big deal for me. I refused to choose one or the other, and I decided to have it all by striking a balance. Since that decision, there have been enormous opportunities available to me and now I am conducting management trainings at companies to help their leaders strike that balance in their lives by improving their mindset and emotional intelligence. So, it really took me a pause in my career journey, that is, from being in a successful leadership position when I was first pregnant, to feel the feels, assess my mindset, reset my beliefs, discover my focus and connect to my 'why' and strength in coaching. The thought of being a MBA graduate at home with 3 kids has certainly evolved to appreciating my superpower as a mom running a successful coaching business. The positive impact and influence I now have on youths, coaches, leaders, and entrepreneurs worldwide is reassuring and life saving for me. I have an extra purpose in my life and it is fun. You’re also a mother of three boys. What tips do you want to give to parents who want to run a successful business? 1. Go for it but plan for it. Identify why you want to run a business and what is your priority at this point in your life. Is it to have a flexible life as you grow your kids? Is it to develop your entrepreneurial mindset and skills? Is it to follow your passion and live your purpose? Is it to make a lot of money doing what you love doing? What is your ‘why’ to start this journey? I say this because I started coaching for the love of it. It didn’t consume much of my energy, I wanted to do something to remain financially independent and I wanted something that was flexible and suitable to my responsibility to my kids. I didn’t have a plan at the beginning so I played it small and worked with a client here and there for a while. I wasn’t ready to show myself in Guyana because of the criticism that I was a stay-at-home MBA mom. I felt that motherhood was a beautiful journey for me to start but the truth is, it brought huge changes to my career. I wasn’t ready for that shake up and I didn’t how to manage that identity crisis. It’s a common dilemma I find lots of working mothers face if they need to stop working. It happens because in Corporate, we keep our identities separate. Now I am working at home, switching between roles more than I used to in Corporate and it’s fulfilling. Now, I am criticized for not spending my time and energy on meaningless matters and I completely embrace that. I’ve prioritized my time and energy and when I begun to plan strategically for my business with the help of a coach, I had clearer direction and overcame my mindset blocks. I believed in myself more and the value I had to offer, using life for what it was in the moment. This helped me to scale my business online. Now, I can proudly tell the story of my success by including all aspects of my life. So if you don’t know how, work with a coach to help you make the impact you desire to make. You will learn the marketability skills you need to present yourself as an expert and you will develop yourself personally to keep believing in what you have to offer. If it’s in the online space which is limitless, flexible and so much more fulfilling, know where your ideal clients are hanging out and help them as much as you can. You will build your credibility and authority overtime because people know energy and when you work on keeping yours in alignment, you attract your ideal clients. 2. Take your skillset from Corporate with you. I found that any strategy I implemented in my business worked when I applied a growth mindset and used the skillset I obtained from Corporate. Skills such as people management, time management, emotional intelligence, budgeting, effective communication and negotiation, good organization and presentation, etc., are important in running a successful business with kids. We are trained better in these skills from being in a job, so look at all of the skills you obtained from Corporate and think of ways you can apply them in your business to bring order and structure to your everyday life, with kids being your co-workers. 3. Include your kids in your journey. Including your kids in your journey brings a significant balance to your work time and responsibilities at home. Have fun with them while you take some time to allow your creative energy to flow. Spend time outdoors and have vision-building sessions together. Teach them mindfulness and keep each other accountable. These are all ways to help you remain focused on your path while spending quality time with each other. Don’t underestimate the need for it too. Some days will be more predictable than some. You’ll need to be agile and resilient for unexpected changes. So to work with what is presenting itself to you at the moment, include them and prepare yourself energetically daily as you spend time with them. Even if the kids are throwing tantrums, who you are in those moments helps to escalate the situation or bring peace and ease to them. You are the leader of this journey. You use a lot of practical tools in your 1:1 Momentum training. What are the results that your clients have been getting from working with you? My clients are empowered to lead themselves, their families, and their staff to prosperity and fulfillment. They experience both personal and professional benefits, and I am super proud of this. They leave every session with me feeling empowered with clear directions on how to better align with their dream career and life. The most common results are: Improved confidence and presence every day in and out of work Improved job performance Success at challenging themselves to achieve more Readiness to persuade, influence, and negotiate for results Greater voice and visibility in and out of the workplace Enhanced authority and credibility in their fields Recognition and reward for accomplishments after a long wait Career advancement, including promotions, managing larger teams, and projects Enhanced organizational awareness and ease with navigating politics Objective decision making Improved mental, emotional and physical well-being Greater knowledge of their strengths and areas needing improvement A special love and zest for life and the roles they play Increased job satisfaction Feeling whole and fulfilled personally and professionally Feeling a sense of purpose and empowerment as an individual So, what’s the next big goal or project for Kamladevi Sharma, and how can someone get in contact with you? Growth is an everyday joy for me. I’m taking what I am currently doing to the next level, so I’ll be providing more management training for companies globally to help them develop their leaders faster, and I’ll be working with more individuals who are currently misaligned in their careers to find balance, fulfillment, and success in their lives with ease. Persons can contact me on Facebook, LinkedIn, my website or e-mail me at info@revive.coach. I also have an amazing online community of leaders, entrepreneurs, and persons who want to do, be, and have better in their work-life. Anyone interested can join through this link. Read more from Kamladevi!

Written by: Philip Airson, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. It is a tale as old as time, and the superhero defeats a whole host of devilish rouges only to find his real greatest enemy is themselves! Shock, horror! Is it an overplayed story? Yes! A bit of everyday truth in the message? Absolutely! So I sat there one day in my office that I worked so hard to get, in a job that I worked so hard to succeed in. I had my health, I had my family, I had everything on paper that I wanted to make me happy! But life isn’t lived on paper, and I was far from happy. I was empty. I thought maybe this is what life is. I grew up in a ship building town in the North of England and was told all too often that life and work are not there for you to enjoy, you get a job that makes you miserable, but it pays the bills, looks after your loved ones, and then you can eventually retire and live life drinking cheap pints of beer in the social club. Maybe they were right? After all, here I was. I had spent all of my life looking for an outside solution to an inside problem. I was looking for a job, a body, a car, an office, a suit, a certain number in the bank account, a certain level of success and recognition, a relationship or anything material (outside) to make me happy (inside) It was like me trying to cut the grass and planting new trees in my garden to improve my bedroom. It made no sense! But it took me nearly 30 years to understand this. I realised that if I was not happy, loving, and accepting of myself, then wherever I put myself in life, no matter if it was a success at work, being a loving father, or being a rock star, then I would be miserable. Even if you place a broken chair in front of the most beautiful view, you still have no place to sit. I canceled all other work and projects I was doing, and I had decided to go full selfish (in a good way). I dedicated my days to working on my relationship with myself. I became really inspired by a woman called Amber Krzys and the work of Dr. Robert Holden on self-love. I reached out, and to my shock, Amber agreed to talk to me and work with me, and it was amazing. This was it. This was my missing piece. All of my work made sense now. I became obsessed with learning all of the methods and techniques to grow my relationship and passing it on to others so that they may do the same. When I learned to create that relationship with myself, everything changed. I showed up differently. I could be fully present with my family and not spend the time judging myself; I could create a loving, joyful space knowing how to accept the good things I had. My work was filled with a new passion and purpose, showing others how to love themselves the way I knew how. The way I connected with strangers, the way I ate my food, the way I ran my Business all started to either change or started to mean something more. I felt connected and alive to my own life in a way I had always dreamed of. So today, I want to invite you to be a little more selfish, to stop all of your self-help, self-improvement, and other endeavors, and think, ‘how can I improve my relationship with me? How can I wake up loving who I am and what I do? Not what can I add to my life or what do I need, but how can I connect to myself and everything I have right now? My coach once said something to me, which I will share with you now, that I made the core of how I see the world. “Happiness is always a place to come from, not to get to.” Cheers, Phil Follow me on Facebook , LinkedIn , Youtube, and visit my website for more info! Philip Airson, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Phil Airson is a life and success coach, psychotherapist, and human behavioral expert. He has devoted his life to the study of human psychology and created PMA Life coaching with his mission to show over one million people how to develop a loving relationship with themselves. Phil has worked with entrepreneurs from all over the world, helping them not only grow their business but doing so by helping them grow and succeed as individuals. Phil believes that our relationship with our own being affects how we see and interact with everything in the world. From our relationships to our work to what we see in the mirror, it all stems from our perception of who we are and where we fit into society. By examining and working with this, Phil has changed lives and allowed some of the most successful people to connect to joy in their lives. Phil is a man from a wonderful but working-class mining town in the north of England. He has been bullied. He has been fired. He has struggled financially. He has been lonely. He has lost loved ones. He has also coached clients who have lost children, had life-threatening illnesses, been assaulted, been abused, and been through bankruptcy. But Phil has also been a leader, a coach, and an advisor to high-level clients for almost 17 years. He's faced many challenges (in life and business) and has coached many people through life-changing experiences. And Phil has been privy to the secret challenges of top-level clients (Hint: they have the same challenges as the rest of us!) Oh, and Phil's an introvert at heart who is secretly relieved when plans for a night out are canceled !

Written by: Guest Writer Valerie Fischer What image comes to mind when it comes to sales? I used to imagine sales as agents in malls pushing flyers into your hands or a random call from a stranger offering an upgrade to your credit card. Sales has gotten such a bad reputation that even some business owners dread the thought of it when sales is, in fact, what drives their business forward. How do we change this image of sales? How do we create new experiences for sales practitioners everywhere in the world? Valerie Fischer recognized this need and created a new method of sales and marketing, combining her Neuro-Linguistic Programming Certification, her 20 years background in advertising and marketing, and her experience running an e-commerce business. She calls it Brain Science Selling. This concept and method has recently been trademarked and is getting a lot of traction for the results it is giving new online business owners. Neuro-Linguistic Programming was specifically created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder to allow us to create new ways of understanding how verbal and non-verbal communication affect the human brain. Neuro refers to our brain, mind and thoughts, Linguistic is the language, both verbal and non-verbal, we use to define these thought, based on our Programming, which consists of our habits, memories, beliefs and traditions. NLP consists of many techniques that, when understood and implemented properly, is a powerful tool that helps influence a person’s buying behavior. Valerie shares the framework she uses based on Brain Science Selling. Priming - Or Subliminal Content Marketing. Marketers, business owners and sales practitioners often forget this very important concept of priming or preparing clients for their products or services. According to Tony Robbins, “In psychology, priming is a phenomenon in which a person is exposed to a first stimulus, then to a second related stimulus. The first stimulus affects the person’s response to the second – it “primes” their second response. One example that’s easy to understand is priming with words: If someone is shown the word “sun,” they’ll be faster to recognize the word “moon” than if they were shown a completely unrelated word, like “train.” Produce and post Priming articles, images, even music, to get the ball rolling on your customer’s brains. By the time you are ready to sell your product or service, the customer will be ready to receive it. There will be no need to be pushy. Rapport - People like people who are like them. That is basically the rule of rapport. There are many ways to build this, but the two basic techniques that will create the quickest results are Mirroring and Matching. Your mission is to build a certain level of comfort by mirroring and matching your customer’s words, tonality, breathing, gesture, and body language. Imagine you are looking at a mirror. If they raise their left hand slightly, you raise your right hand. Doing this lets the other person know that you are honoring his view of the world. Intent - Intent in NLP is the outcome of behavior. Before jumping on a call, posting content, showing up on a webinar, marketers and business owners should be very clear on their intent. Do you want the audience to sign up, purchase, book a call? Then work your way towards that intent and make sure it is included in your Call-to-Action. Meta and Milton - Meta and Milton are language patterns. The NLP Meta Model is a set of language patterns that reconnects the deletions, distortions and generalizations that occur in everyday language use with the experience that generated them. This language pattern is very helpful in understanding a client, identifying their real need and helps to manage objections that usually comes from pre-conceived biases and programmed beliefs. The Milton Model, on the other hand, named after legendary hypnotherapist Milton Erickson is a broad variety of vague, persuasive and hypnotic language that aims to guide a person from one state to another. Big political speeches are examples of Milton language. Knowing how to write and say them will help business owners and marketers get their customers excited about buying their products or services. Emotion - Emotions are at the heart of sales. Over 90% of consumers buy based on emotion, and they justify the purchase in their logical brains. Instead of presenting products and services in an intellectual and rational way, entrepreneurs should learn to look at selling from a different perspective, to see the benefits rather than the features. This can be applied in copywriting and even in scripts for talks, webinars and investor pitches. What do you think of this framework? Which one do you think you can immediately implement? For more info, follow me on Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn and visit my website ! Valerie Fischer, Guest Writer Brainz Magazine Valerie Fischer is a Neuro Linguistic Programming Practitioner. She has over 20 years of experience in advertising and marketing, and co-founded an e-commerce site for locally made products. She was a Chief Marketing Officer in a real estate company in 2019 but, along with millions of Filipinos last year, she was let go during the pandemic. And, as her story goes, this unfortunate incident actually led her to her purpose. She now helps new online business owners and entrepreneurs grow their revenue with Brain Science Selling.

Written by: Lois Wagner, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. So much is spoken about resilience these days. We have all had to develop resilience because of the limitations placed on us due to Covid. Some argue that you are born with it, that it depends on genetic factors, and we inherit it, and others debate that it is an acquired trait. I believe that we can all learn to build our resilience if we understand the characteristics of a resilient person. Resilience is defined by Oxford Dictionary as: (of a person or animal) able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions. (of a substance or object) able to recoil or spring back into shape after bending, stretching, or being compressed. Two concepts are important here: recover quickly and spring back. I used to believe that resilience was your ability to bounce back after facing adversity but have come to believe that you never “bounce” or “spring” back. You scramble, climb, claw, or fight your way back. And then you never really get back to where you were before. You are somehow changed forever, but you do return to a meaningful life. Resilience, for me, is my courage, creativity, and optimism that gets me back up, working with renewed energy and greater strength, determination, and control after facing a difficult challenge. Resilience prepares us for growth. It is the mindset that says we must get back up onto our feet after a challenge or facing adversity. Resilience is about returning to a meaningful yet different life. We can develop resilience, that skill to withstand, adapt to, and recover from adversity and stress. We do this by maintaining or returning to our original mental health or well-being using effective coping strategies. We can focus on things over which we can have personal control and where we can have an impact. This empowers us and prevents us from feeling lost and powerless. We first need to understand how the experience had an impact on us and how we coped. We need to understand what we will be losing and what we will be gaining as we start returning to normality. Characteristics Of Someone With Resilience To understand the nature of someone who has the attributes of resilience, I have created a list of characteristics to describe the strengths, traits, and coping mechanisms of someone who is resilient. Such a person: Is self-aware – knows their strengths and challenges Has high self-esteem Has an energized mojo/happiness/eudaimonia (human flourishing and happiness) Is optimistic and has a predisposition to accept challenges and risks and a healthy outlook on the future Is willing to leave their comfort zone and face their fears Has a good and healthy sense of humor – able to laugh at their own misfortune Has a role model to draw strength from and to learn from, and emulate Has emotional intelligence Has meaning and purpose in life – strong aspirations and goals Has passion for life and projects Has a strong character with moral strength and integrity - strong belief in what is right and wrong Is altruistic – helpful, kind with love and compassion Believes that they matter, that their life matters, and that they can contribute to the world Remains calm under pressure Has a rational thought process Has problem-solving skills Is persistent Has perseverance Is determined Has willpower Has self-discipline Is self-confident – believes that they can handle whatever comes their way Knows that they can learn from every experience, good or challenging Is self-reliant Has a good work/life balance Has many and diverse interests – hobbies, activities, social interactions Is socially competent – gets along with others Has a sense of adventure and curiosity Is adaptable, agile, and flexible in changing circumstances – knowing what can be controlled or managed Has a strong social support structure Has active coping strategies These are a lot of skills and attributes – and you can develop most of them with the right support and guidance. Developing the R's of the Resilience Keep the hope alive that you will move forward when the initial shock of your change, challenge, adversity, or crisis has subsided. You may not be there YET. You will develop resilience with focus and practice. Responsibility: Take personal responsibility for what has happened and for how you reacted to it. Take responsibility for your behavior and for your own mental and physical well-being. Take personal control and focus your efforts where you can have an impact. Respond: You have a choice regarding how you respond to your challenge or adversity, or trauma. You can choose to be overwhelmed and to panic, or you can choose to remain calm. You can decide to be logical and to look for solutions. Resist: Resist the urge to give up. Please stop what you are physically doing, pause, take a deep breath in, create a positive affirmation, and repeat it. Breathe out. Reflect: Reflect on how you are, on what is happening, and on how you are feeling about things. For healing to start and for you to return to the meaningful life that you had before the trauma, you need to stop and think about the life lessons this experience is giving you. Reframe: Put the feeling into a new frame. Think about it differently and positively. Find another description for the emotion. Practise thought awareness and keep your thoughts and words constructive and optimistic. Refocus: Change the focus of your lens. Sharpen or soften the intensity of the emotions. Ask questions to enable you to see the situation more clearly. Practice cognitive restructuring [2] and change the way that you think about the situation. Redirect: Change direction. Replace the negative emotion with positive feelings. Reach out, Reintegrate, Regroup, Reconnect, Relationships: Connect with family and friends and with the greater community. Refuel: Keep healthy. Eat well-balanced, nutritious meals. Relaxation and Recreation: It is important that you nurture yourself. Take regular exercise. Do something fun. Ensure uninterrupted sleep. When you take care of your mind and body, you're better able to cope effectively with challenges in your life. Research and Relevance: Examine alternative healing therapies and modalities. If one does not work, it may not be the right one for you. Robustness: Commit to your values and beliefs, to your relationships and causes. To your goals. Measuring and monitoring your progress will support you in absorbing and managing unexpected shocks and triggers. Reroute and Recreate with Resourcefulness: Get creative. What have you learned from this experience? What is the best outcome you can expect? What else can you do? Challenge the difficulty and find innovative ways of responding. Risk: Step out of your comfort zone, do something new and different. Recovery: When you can be adaptable and can respond with agility and flexibility, you are better able to return to a life of normality. Remember, this adversity could turn into an opportunity. Reveal: Take credit for your growth and learning. Share your learning with others and help them to build their resilience. In my next article, I will talk about growing grit. For more info, follow me on Instag ram , LinkedIn , Youtube Channel , and visit my web site ! Read more from Lois ! Lois Wagner, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Lois Wagner: Your friend for forgiveness. Helping you move from victim to survivor to thriver and beyond and then to freedom, after facing a life or business challenge or adversity. Lois lost a business and went bankrupt. She was attacked, raped, and left for dead. She was forced into retirement and experienced many other challenges. Her work is based on these personal major adversities and life experiences. Lois learned to forgive (she forgave the rapist and the business partner who betrayed her) and moved on to a more rewarding and fulfilling life. Lois guides you through building your resilience and grit, developing a growth mindset, energizing your mojo, and learn to forgive. This is achieved via one-on-one coaching, group masterminds, and keynote presentations. Lois’s book – Walking Without Skin: A Journey of Healing – From Fear to Forgiveness to Freedom is part memoir and self-help guide. Fly Free with Lois – Your Friend for Forgiveness References: [1] eudaimonia. Greek. the condition of human flourishing or of living well. [2] Cognitive restructuring: identify and dispute irrational or maladaptive thoughts

Written by: Claire Elmes, 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. Achieving a healthy work-life balance that allows us to thrive at work while being truly present at home and enjoying our personal time is a goal that almost every modern human is in pursuit of. Having a poor work-life balance can lead to feelings of intense stress, overwhelm, relationship problems, and eventually burnout. It can take a huge toll on every aspect of your life and wellbeing. So how can you actively fight against the culture that says you need to work to the point of sickness in order to be successful? 1. Set and maintain clear, firm boundaries A major symptom of an unhealthy work-life balance is having a distinct lack of boundaries. You’re expected by others (and yourself) to always be ‘on’, which has a negative impact on your mental wellbeing and is a sure-fire way to trigger your sympathetic nervous system (aka, your fight-or-flight response) and burn yourself out quickly. Setting and maintaining clear, firm boundaries in terms of your time, workload, and how to be contacted is key for evening out your work-life balance and restoring your mental clarity. This incorporates time management. It means being able to prioritize tasks according to urgency and deadlines. It means getting intentional about separating your work time from your personal time to stop them from blending into one and draining all your energy and focus. It also means having set times for performing tasks and set times for stopping. One way to achieve this is by calendar blocking, also known as time blocking, using a digital calendar (such as Google calendar) and allocating specific blocks of time to certain tasks or projects, rather than relying on a vague, unstructured to-do list. Instead, give your to-do list an actionable, visual timeline to aid your productivity and peace of mind. Setting and maintaining clear boundaries also includes minimizing the time spent checking your inbox and responding to emails. Having clearly defined ‘inbox hours’ can be helpful in improving your work-life balance, so you can inform colleagues and clients when you are able to be contacted and when they can expect a reply from you – alleviating the pressure to always be ‘on’. 2. Unlearn perfectionism Ever heard the saying ‘perfection is the enemy of progress’ or ‘perfection is the enemy of done’? It’s true! It doesn’t mean don’t try or don’t aim high – it’s more about your state of mind going into tasks. A perfectionist mindset adds unnecessary, constricting pressure that manifests in your mind as well as your body – causing you to lack focus and being unable to relax and find flow with your work. It sets you up for disappointment and feeds your inner critic who is desperate to affirm any negative core beliefs you hold about yourself and your abilities. Sidestep your inner critic by altering your perfectionist mindset. Affirm to yourself that you can do things well, but you don’t need to aim for perfection with each task. Understand that your expectations of yourself and the pressure you place on yourself to excel can be forms of self-sabotage, lead to unhealthy fixations on work and hold you back in the long run. Perfectionism is another recipe for burnout. Commit fully to tasks but be open to receiving and implementing constructive feedback without internalizing it as a reflection of your self-worth. Your worth is inherent and not contingent on your productivity or performance at work. You have a job; you are not your job. Unlearning perfectionism opens space for resilience and adaptability to grow. 3. Make time for hobbies and relaxation After a long workday, it’s tempting to trade the ‘bad screen’ (work on a computer) for the ‘good screen’ (smartphone); to allow yourself to be pulled in by the allure of mindless scrolling and videos about how to live your best life, and before you know it is 11 PM. Time to go to bed, wake up and do this all over again. Break the cycle! You have the power within you to transform your life and honor your wellbeing by making different decisions. Time management doesn’t just stop when you finish work for the day. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that your personal time is a floating timeline, be intentional about how you spend it. Self-care is a necessity, so make it a priority. Wishing you had more time for yoga and meditation? Or a spare 40 minutes to get stuck into a good book? Trade the time you normally spent scrolling for time spent living. It’s a matter of switching your mindset to break and replace habits. Pursue things that energize and refresh you. Introduce positive affirmations to help you make the transition: “I always have time for hobbies in my daily routine”, “I find it easy to relax and practice self-care”. Give yourself full permission to unwind. 4. Ask for help when you need it So many of us are so resistant to asking for help when we need it. Whether it’s from a mentor at work, a colleague, or seeking therapy or coaching outside of the office. Asking for help, making yourself vulnerable, and laying out your worries, doubts, and uncertainties require a lot of emotional energy! But being open to receiving help, advice, or clarification on something is infinitely better than working yourself into a frenzy trying to figure it out and manage on your own. A problem shared is a problem halved. Carrying the weight of uncertainty and responsibility all by yourself everywhere you go is going to make you feel trapped and never free of work-related pressures. Allow yourself the opportunity to feel freer and calmer. It’s likely that the experience will help you to learn how to approach similar situations in the future. There are valuable lessons to be drawn from every experience. If you need help with creating a healthy work-life balance, book a free Discovery call with me here, and let’s create a plan to turn things around for you. If you think it’s an office culture, why not speak to Senior Managers/ HR about joining my Inspire Teams Membership. This monthly membership will help cultivate a team spirit and work culture that will support your work-life balance and ensure you are an effective member of the team. With different buzz topics, each month why not catch September’s launch: all about the power of food to improve your mood. Follow Claire on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and visit her website for more info! Read more from Claire! Claire Elmes, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Claire Elmes is the founder of Inspire You and is passionate about work-life balance. Having experienced burnout, Claire is dedicated to empowering people to work through stress and anxiety, traumatic life events, shift mindset, regulate emotions, gain clarity, and develop a stable routine. Through coaching and therapeutic techniques, Claire helps people tap into their potential and transform their lives for the better. Since Covid 19, Claire has recognized many companies are changing how they work and is supporting them to develop innovative well-being strategies to prevent staff burnout and help teams thrive, not survive. Claire provides companies with regular well-being support on a wide variety of topics such as: "How to avoid burnout", "How to make time in your week for what matters", "How to stop overthinking", "How to improve sleep", " How to manage imposter syndrome," "How to be the best version of you", to name just a few. Claire's mission is to empower the emotional well-being of staff and bring the fun back into work life.

Written by: Omu Obilor, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. We all want to be profitable, and by profitable, I don’t necessarily mean cash. Profitability means different things to different people. Whatever your definition of profitability is, this process well practiced is guaranteed to get you there. What’s this process? It is V+C = P. This process was made known by the founder and Chief Visionary Officer of BNI. When you look at it as a formula against a process, you will lose the total effect. It is a process, a series of events to produce a result. In our various businesses, we all network for different reasons, which all ball down to profitability. How do you get to the point where you start to benefit from your networking? Every successful relationship is unique to each individual. It usually starts casual, informal, or sometimes cold. The V is Visibility This phase happens to be the phase we all have the opportunity to experience, but more often than not, we do not take advantage or leverage on it. We are constantly meeting people (Physically & Virtually). These people could be potential clients or people who can refer you to your potential clients. Either way, it’s important to be intentional at this phase. This phase creates recognition and awareness. In this phase, you have the opportunity to put yourself out there in the way you want to be perceived. , the greater your visibility, the more well known you would be, the more opportunities you would be exposed to. It is important to maintain this phase actively. You will have to develop this phase to move to the next phase, credibility. The C is Credibility This is an important quality to possess. It is about being reliable. Once you have gained visibility, your network will certainly increase, expectations are formed, and they have to be fulfilled. Any relationship will die when expectations or promises are not kept. Information you have put out in the visibility phase will all be verified somehow. At this point, you have set expectations, and you have to live up to them. The P is Profitability The part we have been waiting for. At this point, the relationship is “full bloom.” It has matured and would start yielding fruits. You may want to ask if it is mutually rewarding. At this point, you have developed a profitable relationship, whether business or personal. Remember, "When times are tough, a client will let you go but a friend will not." — Dr. Ivan Misner Visit Omu's website to learn more! Omu Obilor, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Omu is an International Coach, Speaker, Trainer, and Thought Leader. Her mantra is “Living my best life," this she achieves by living Intentionally. Her mission in life is to empower others to live their best life, curating the life they want for themselves. As a founding member of the John Maxwell Team, she has mastered intentional living in both personal and professional life. She performs the role of Executive Director and National Trainer in Business Network International (BNI), which empowered her to be a master training networking. Omu has, over the years, poured out her all into the lives of her clients. Walking them through the various transitions in life and mentoring them through the transformation. She is driven by her passion for helping individuals realize that it is possible to live the life they dream of. Extremely passionate about Transformation in people, she works tirelessly to see this through. Her approach is designed to increase awareness and accountability to increase morale and determine values. She runs a mentormind group for women looking to grow in their personal and professional lives. She also runs masterminds monthly, amongst others.

Written by: Stephanie Larsen, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. I am a psychotherapist but also a sex therapist. When people find their way into my office, I always ask, “what made you choose me for therapy?” Many of the individuals or couples tell me it’s because they “get to” talk about sex too. This language tells me there is a part of them that is excited and wants to do this. Now you have to understand, most people who come to therapy don’t want to come to therapy- they don’t often have the feeling they “get to” talk about their pain and problems. So we talk a lot about sex: what makes sex good, how do I have a great orgasm, how do we have consistent desire throughout the entirety of our relationship, how can we mix it up and have fun. I answer all their “weird” questions that they haven’t ever had the courage to state out loud because who talks about sex intimately and vulnerably in a social setting anyways? But here is the thing that ends up happening. I am also a psychotherapist. I am a psychotherapist who has a deep drive to understand myself and others- what makes us do what we do, what makes us, us. The major barrier to anyone having an amazing sex life is being disconnected from themselves, their bodies, their identity, their wants, and feelings, from asking or connecting to people in a way that is fulfilling and creates a deep sense of understanding each other intimately. And what disconnects people in this way? Trauma. Trauma is anything overwhelming to us to the extent that it results in this kind of disconnection and disintegration in the brain. This means that to connect to ourselves and others sexually in a way that is fulfilling and lasts, I need to address the trauma. If I do not do this, all the new sexual positions, tips, role plays, BDSM, whatever you are into will only stay novel for so long before we need something else to replace the intimacy with. But who wants to talk about their pain and trauma- no one does- I didn’t, and I would say most people wouldn’t want to unless they understand that this is what will set them free, make them feel the happiest, mind-blowing sex, most fulfilled and connected they have ever been in their entire lives. I have never had more clients willing to jump into their trauma and pain with me. I have been asking myself why is this- what am I doing that is helping people get this kind of transformation in their life? Why are some people so willing to sit in and tolerate this pain with me? And for a lot of my clients, it's that they also get to talk about something that feels good and fun- like sex. They get to talk about something they really want to talk about. It is almost like talking about pleasure helps create a softer landing for the hard stuff- and let me tell you, people have hard stuff they have dealt with in their lives. I have heard unbelievable accounts of pain, loneliness, and violence. So why did we survive all this hard shit to have a mediocre life? No way. When you go through pain and trauma like that, you need to come through the other side seeking connection, pleasure, intimacy. You won’t get there unless you tackle some of your pain- resolve it, process it. So I guess I am saying sorry, not sorry, that if you come talk to me, we will talk sex, fun, pleasure, but I will also ask if you will allow me to bear witness to your pain. You won’t be alone in it, you don’t have to sit in it forever, and it will pass and get better. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and visit my website for more info! Stephanie Larsen, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Stephanie Larsen is a seasoned psychotherapist, sex therapist, yoga instructor, and workplace coach. Her mission is to breakdown difficult to understand relational and psychological dynamics to lead people through transformative change in themselves, their relationships, and their workplace culture. She is not just interested in providing relief but transformative change by understanding yourself and the patterning you carry, but also how you bring that patterning into personal and professional relationships. She started out working and training at Alexian Brothers, then created and ran a wellness program for Cancer Treatment Centers of America, advanced sexual training through the University of Michigan, had amazing supervisors and mentorship opportunities, and currently owns and runs a private practice outside Milwaukee WI. Stephanie contracts with local businesses to provide insight and mentorship into interpersonal workplace dynamics. She will guest speak on podcasts like Good Explanations and is highly sought out for individual and couples work in her community.