Written by: Sarah Tricker Alchemy, 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 I could choose any feeling right now, it would be happiness and safety. Life would be happy, no relationship, money, or work worries. Just growth in all areas of our life!” This excerpt of my healing journal I wrote back in 2018 stood out more than the rest. Can you relate to these feelings and desires? Codependency is not something that happens overnight, yet 90% of the population, according to a study done by Crester and Lombardo (1999), found that out of the college students they surveyed, nearly half displayed codependent behaviors! This, you might agree, is quite staggering! Codependency is often seen in a common way. An addict or sufferer of a long-term illness has taken control of their family as they have no control of their own life. They have beaten down their partner, who has no self-esteem left and is a shell of a person. Although this is one picture, it is not the only one! There is a sliding scale of how codependency shows up in people’s lives. The scenario above is one end. I personally show up on the other end of the scale, which is overachievement! Here is our story! It began in 1992 when I went to my Auntie’s house in Brighton for the summer holidays. This time in England, everyone was using the CB radios, much like we use computers to connect today. I met this boy through one of my Aunties friends. Little did I know he would be the man I would marry! Forward five years, and we are married with our first child on the way. By the age of 21 years old, I had two little ones. I was a housewife, and my hubby was searching for his meaning. You may be able to relate; life got busy raising the children, working, and paying the bills, the stresses rise. It doesn’t happen overnight, the drinking becomes more and more, and later I discover that my codependent behaviors also grow. It’s not even noticeable to start. Being a housewife and controlling all aspects of the home; cleaning, cooking, paying the bills, washing, shopping. Looking back, it evolved into everything being the way I wanted it to be done. Hubby went to work and earned money, and the rest was my job. Over time this ended up with extreme behaviors where I would never let my husband fail. As the drinking grew, we found many ways for him to appear like our life was normal when behind the scenes, it was not. I am going to be totally honest with you here. I was really good at playing the role of the martyr! As an overachiever, I would set myself unrealistic goals. The best example would be when we moved to Canada. I was in university getting my education degree, working, looking after the kids alone while he was long-haul truck driving during the week, and running the home, on top of doing home renovations. Look at everyone at all the things I do, and no one is there to support me. Even if someone did even try to support me, it would not be done how I wanted, and I would reject it. This is the part of codependency that shocked me the most. It was easy for me to blame my husband and his addiction to alcohol. I had to learn to take responsibility for my actions. The day I walked into the counselor’s office is as clear as it was yesterday. I sat in the chair in front of her and said, “I am an enabler, and I don’t know how to be any other way!” 2018 was the year that both my husband and I had to heal ourselves and learn a new way to love each other. Although he had faced his nemesis in 2014, we continued the cycle in our relationship. I had to learn to let go of control, and he had to learn how to show up. This journey was not easy, and I had to really look at myself and how I showed up in my relationship. My family has had the gift on the familial side for many generations. This may not have been spoken of for fear of repercussions. Thinking back to Europe and the decimation of the Witches. Many of the female healers went underground or stopped practicing out of fear. The knowledge and skills of my ancestors were removed yet were still passed through the DNA of my foremothers. The healing journey I had to do was not just with my husband; it was far deeper. It was with my mother, my husband, my children, and with my ancestors. The patriarch system had stripped womanhood away and made it shameful. Deep in my DNA, I know I was a healer, and I had been stripped of the teachings of my ancestors. This is why I believe I became a codependent. “Adversity brought about my biggest lessons of strength!” People often frown at me when I tell them that codependency is my superpower. How? As an educator, I watched so many children be told that they were less because of their dyslexia, autism, Asperger’s, or ADHD as examples. I had worked really hard on teaching those children that those were their superpowers! Why wasn’t I living by my own advice? This created a massive mind shift for me! I now looked at codependency through a new set of eyes and turned what I believed was my biggest weakness into my biggest strength. Let me share some with you; I am empathetic: It is my biggest strength to see people’s light that shines inside them even when they do not. I have learned that I do not have to make people see their light; that is their own journey! My life purpose is to guide those who are ready! I am loyal: Loyalty is how I have created a long-lasting successful marriage. I did not walk away and continued to do my own work, so I showed up as the best possible version of myself. I am responsible: Being able to look within and acknowledge my own behaviors and bias, working fully on my own emotions of shame, guilt, and anger taking action on dealing with said emotions. I am not a victim of circumstance: I have full control of my actions and choices in every situation I am in. I no longer blame others and take action on my own behalf. I am authentic: I am honest and open about who I am and how my codependency is a part of how I came to be me! No Regrets! As a spiritual life coach, I teach my clients how mistakes are their lessons to become better versions of themselves. If life was peachy and we had no adversity to work through, we would become lethargic and content with how things are. It is not my job, or yours even, to stop people from making mistakes, understand that people have to make their own mistakes to learn their lessons! As a healer, I never intentionally hurt my husband. All I ever wanted was for him to see that light shining inside as I did. I worried about him and wanted to protect him. He suffered so many things before I met him, and I wanted that pain to go away. He has this gift of making me laugh when I really don’t want to, of making me feel safe, and I always felt like we just fit together. I was trying to fix the external things when he needed to work on the internal himself. No amount of things I did were ever going to be enough until he was enough for himself. When I released the clutches of codependency and allowed him to be responsible for himself, guess what? I would like to end this article by sharing some of my husband’s successes with you. In 2016 he took the biggest leap of his career and left truck driving, talking his way into a sales associate position in a Toyota dealership. With no sales experience, the first year was a learning curb. He is smart, can remember the most minuscule details easily, and has a passion for cars. It is worth pointing out that he has been successful in any career he has ever chosen, and this was no exception. By 2020 he crashed every single record that had been set in sales in his dealership, some of which were 13 years standing. He is the top-performing sales associate! He found his light! “If I could choose any feeling right now it would be happiness and safety. Life would be happy, no relationship, money, or work worries. Just growth in all areas of our life!” WE DID IT! The journey of codependency was not easy, and I share this story as an inspiration to those out there who may find themselves in the situation I was in. That there is hope! If you are interested in hiring Sarah Tricker as your keynote speaker in a conference, event, or retreat supporting women, codependents, or health and wellness, please find out more here. As an educator, Sarah has keynotes, breakout sessions, and workshops created. Your audience will leave your event with tangible tools they can apply directly in their lives. Your event will never be forgotten! If you are codependent, Sarah Tricker hears you. There is hope! If you feel it is time to become the best version of yourself and search for the perfect guide, here is your sign. Follow Sarah on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and visit her website for more info! Read more from Sarah! Sarah Tricker Alchemy, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Sarah Tricker Alchemy is a change-maker and has the ability to see what lies in the unseen and unexplained. After realizing her dream to become an educator, Sarah soon understood she herself was not fulfilling her life purpose. In 2016 she began the journey of entrepreneurship and had been forging her way to true authenticity. Sarah is a Public Speaker & Spiritual Empowerment Coach helping women who are in transition within their life. With her gift as a healer, she facilitates women in finding their authentic selves as well as their life purpose. Every moment is a miracle, and there is always opportunity even when you cannot see it.

Written by: Judith Viado, 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. With the world slowly going back to normal, people are trying to get rid of old habits developed during the lockdown. Plenty has been trying to get their groove back to form new ones as the world now makes its way back to normalcy. For most, the pandemic was the wake-up call that forced them to embrace a whole new approach to food, cooking, and health. Throughout the start of the pandemic, dining out has been largely discouraged due to the amount of risk involved. This has caused plenty to turn to discovering—and for some, revisiting—their love for cooking. Many even started taking it up a notch and fully immersing themselves in the concept of healthy eating! This is good news, of course. Healthy eating doesn’t just mean cooking what’s good for the body. This also refers to how we source our ingredients, understand how the food we eat affects the environment, where we store our food, and, most importantly, know the materials we cook our food with. Rethinking our Cookware Cookware is usually the last thing that people think about when it comes to identifying what causes them to be unhealthy. Not a lot of people are made aware of the different chemicals and metals present in cookware, and they don’t even know how lethal these can be! Teflon, for example, which is present in non-stick cookware, releases toxic fumes when it reaches a certain temperature. These fumes sometimes cause polymer fume fever and sometimes even increase your risk of getting cancer. Things like these make us realize why using cookware that’s safe and non-toxic is just as important as the ingredients you cook with. And this is what Nutricraft Cookware is primarily concerned about – metal toxicity that affects our food and eventually makes us sick! Therefore, it is absolutely important to use the right cookware to make sure what we cook is truly healthy! Cooking Safely with Nutricraft Cookware We cannot emphasize it enough – it’s not just important to cook using healthy ingredients. The cookware we use directly affects the taste, quality, and nutrients in our food. Titanium stainless steel cookware like Nutricraft is safe from all those toxic chemicals that can harm your health and even helps keep all the original food nutrients intact. This guarantees you and your family with more nutrition and safety from health hazards. Nutricraft cookware is made of the titanium-strengthened 316Ti cooking surface, which is 20x more resistant to corrosion than type 304 stainless steel. Because of this, it is better at resisting pitting and leaching. In fact, it is the most non-reactive and durable cooking surface available! When cooking your food, heat conduction is uniform over the entire bottom and sides of your cookware. This means it conserves that heat perfectly, so your food is cooked perfectly as well, retaining all the good stuff in your food. Did you know that Nutricraft cooking systems make cooking with virtually no water possible? This means that the natural flavor, aroma, color, and consistency of your vegetables remain optimally preserved! The cookware seals itself to maintain these liquids during the vacuum heating process. Delicate water-soluble vitamins are preserved, as are the minerals, which help naturally flavor your food so you can enjoy them better. Because of the unique Nutricraft cooking system, you can spend less time preparing meals and, in doing so, enjoy more time with your family. So if cooking safely and healthily is your number one priority, start with Nutricraft cookware. With all the amazing benefits this cookware can offer, you can definitely have a healthier and more balanced diet and enjoy a better, disease-free life. To learn more about cookware safety and all Nutricraft Cookware products, please visit https://nutricraftcookware.com/. Follow Judith on Facebook, Instagram and visit her website for more information! Read more from Judith! Judith Viado, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Judith is a highly accomplished Oracle NetSuite specialist and global online business entrepreneur. She has a background in Science, worked in Public Health, and recently has been accepted as a Health and Nutrition Educator by a Scientific Community in Australia. She has cross-discipline technical expertise in various areas, including Financial Accounting, Taxation, IT project management, E-commerce, Property Wealth Creation, On-site Residential Property Management, NetSuite specialist, and Strata Management. While Judith enjoys her full-time job and managing her global online stores, she and her husband Richard started their own cookware brand with a simple goal of changing peoples’ lives. On the weekends, Judith and her family teach people healthy food preparation methods without using oil, salt, artificial seasoning, and how to prevent contamination. She promotes keeping ingredients in their purest form, enhancing their natural flavors and maximum nutritional value. Judith strongly believes that since this cooking style has dramatically changed her family’s lifestyle, it will have a huge impact on others’ lives. She aims to educate more people to learn to eat well, live well, and free from metal toxicity.

Written by: Victoria Baylor, 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. There is no way around it, but confidence is essential if you are going to reach your goals and gain the tangible success that you desire. Research has shown that in many ways, confidence trumps competence when it comes to how people perceive and trust you. Confident people seem more trustworthy and put others at ease. As a result, confident people are rewarded with opportunities, stronger people connections, and more pay. We all know this. For those who may struggle with their confidence, such a realization can create an undercurrent of insecurity, leaving them to wonder if they have enough of it or pressure to fake it to get by. Others may believe that unless you're born with the lucky "confidence gene," it's impossible to have true confidence. These assumptions are all false. Misdefining confidence is one of the main reasons why so many people struggle to get and keep it. Allow me to clear up that misconception and a few others. Here are 4 ways to increase your confidence so you can leverage it to grow and achieve your professional or entrepreneurial goals. 1. Redefine confidence. Merriam Webster defines Confidence as "one's self-assuredness of their own unique qualities and abilities." So your confidence begins with what you think and know about yourself, and it radiates outward. This is the only way to generate authentic confidence. When people don't have genuine confidence, they manufacture or copy it. Many times we see the bravado of others and think our confidence has to look like theirs. But confidence comes in all shapes and sizes. If you're physically a size small, going into a store and putting on a 4X wouldn't make sense. So why would you try and wear someone else's confidence? Do the work to find out your unique qualities and abilities, the things that set you apart from others, and you'll find confidence in a size that feels natural. Consider working with a coach or mentor to help you tap into your unique qualities and abilities. 2. Stop minimizing your strengths. I recently saw a video of an ant that single-handedly dragged a 2-inch lizard across a patio. Single-Handedly! One has to wonder, "does that ant really realize how strong it is"? What are your strengths? Every professional or entrepreneur has one or more unique strengths that give them a unique market advantage. But many don't know what it is or how to tap into it because they've minimized it to some degree. These capabilities can range from how well they interact with people a technical skills, etc. The trick with strengths is you may assume that everyone shares the same abilities, but the truth is that's simply not the case. If you're struggling to see yours, ask the people around you whom you trust. Consider taking a strength assessment to help pinpoint them as well. When you become well aware of your strengths and how to use them, your confidence will skyrocket. 3. Sharpen your detective skills. In the business and professional world, people are constantly looking for solutions to their problems and will often pay handsomely for them. You are not equipped to solve every problem, but your unique strengths, abilities, and other branding assets will allow you to easily solve one or a few. Focus on those. Look for the problems others have that you can easily solve and oftentimes without even breaking a sweat. Need help honing in on where you can leverage your strengths? Start by observing how people interact with you about their problems. What do people normally ask for your help with? When people "pick your brain," what do they normally ask? If you notice a pattern, this could be an opportunity to create or offer solutions that will help many people on a greater scale. You are of value when you can solve enough problems for enough people! 4. Find the best situations to "invest & multiply" your confidence. Confidence is the currency to get things done. And like a currency, your confidence can be leveraged to broaden your experiences, opportunities and expand your reach. This is where everything I've spoken about comes full circle. When you take the time to recognize and develop your strengths and other unique attributes, you can apply them to the types of work or situations that can yield a positive outcome for you. Such outcomes allow you to "multiply" your confidence. You're basically strategically investing your confidence to get more confidence! Have you ever discovered you could do a task well, and the more you did it, the more confident you felt? Yes, that's the pattern! Be strategic on where you want to "invest" your confidence so you not only will achieve more success but more confidence as well! Gaining a deeper understanding of what confidence really means and taking the aforementioned steps to amplify it will help you not only gain personal satisfaction but also achieve the greater goals and dreams you desire in your business or career. Want to learn more from Victoria? Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin and visit her website. Victoria Baylor, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Driven by a profound sense to see others succeed and showcase their Brilliance, Victoria offers expertise in the fields of personal development, personal branding, and mindset growth to help entrepreneurs and professionals gain the clarity and confidence they need to monetize their Brilliance and achieve their Bold Visions and Dreams! She is a Certified Mindset & Clarity Coach, TEDx Speaker & Amazon Best Selling Author whose holistic approach in coaching, speaking, and writing helps others accelerate their growth and push past their limitations. Using analytical and creative problem-solving skills from a background in research science and clothing design, Victoria helps people remove the mental blocks holding them back and create laser-focused strategies that will enable them to reach their audacious goals while maximizing their profits, energy freedom, and personal happiness. As a professional & engaging speaker, she shares her clarity, mindset & branding messages with business organizations, colleges, social groups, and charities locally and internationally. Her TEDx talk, "You Are Who You Are, Not What You Do," further underscores the importance of gaining clarity to move beyond external labels and learn, embrace and leverage your uniqueness in your work and life. She is also a writer for multiple publications and host of the podcast "Awakening Brilliance," where she interviews High Achieving women and shares their pathway to clarity and success. Victoria's mission is to help entrepreneurs & professionals build a strong mindset and unwavering personal brand that allows them to uniquely see their value, expand their visibility, elevate their opportunities, and make a huge impact through their work and in the world.

Written by: Kiesha King-Brown, 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 last year and a half have surfaced many learnings, including the need for businesses to simplify complexity to enable quick shifts as customers, markets, and the economy demands. It’s taught us that relationships and experience relative to customers must always be a priority. Unexpected changes outside our control and uncertainty can strongly influence customers’ trust, loyalty, and commitment to a Brand. Beyond strategic, in-the-moment leadership, companies must leverage technology to simplify, connect, and have the ability to effectively pivot as needed. They must be able to meet customers where they are at any given time and bring customers along on the ever-changing journey. And they must be able to do so in a way that creates trust at every point of the customer journey as it is redefined at the moment. They must be able to connect more with their target market in a personalized manner. They must be able to engage more than they connect. They must be able to empathize before they can engage. As ironic as it sounds, to create this next level of experience along the customer journey, your business has to mirror the business landscape…and the business landscape has become technology-based with AI at the forefront. Leveraging AI-powered solutions can help you execute and accelerate results. Optimize marketing strategies from content to email and text to advertising. Artificial intelligence coupled with a CRM system transforms into a self-updating, auto-connecting system that engages in relationship management on your behalf. In the meantime, it’s also collecting data that enables you to build more meaningful relationships at the appropriate point in the journey. Leveraging AI makes it easier to communicate with your target audience, nurture leads, and increase revenue. It uses Natural Language Processing to bring clarity to “how” to communicate in a way that best resonates and encourages engagement. AI can eliminate bots relative to targeted marketing spend, focusing solely on those ready to buy. This results in a decrease in expense and an increase in sales. Take the guesswork out of the customer relationships and be confident in what the customer is looking for, when they are looking for it, and details specific to it. Get insight and clarity around what your customers think and how they feel about your logo, colors, products/services, etc. Learn your customer…what’s the niche within the niche, what are common hobbies, etc. Improve efficiency, accuracy, and effectiveness. Get data-based information to make more informed decisions with urgency. Gain deeper levels of insight to differentiate strategy. Position the organization for both speed and agility. AI learns at 2/3 the speed of light or better. The learnings are translated into data and insights, quickly positioning you ahead of the competition. You’re either behind, stagnant, or accelerating when it comes to the growth journey. And that growth journey is strongly dependent on your business' ability to the influence customer journey. …and to do it better than the competition. Acceleraite your journey—maximize growth. For more info, follow Kiesha on Facebook, LinkedIn and visit her website! Read more from Kiesha! Kiesha King-Brown, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Kiesha King-Brown is a business savvy, customer centric tech enthusiast. She partners with businesses to maximize the effectiveness of branding, marketing, and strategy with the power of AI. Kiesha also helps Start-ups and businesses with intuitive go-to-market strategies and the only smart platform, Pillar Five, that functions like a Smart GPS to get businesses from Seed stage through maturity successfully and supports a technology based ecosystem. Kiesha has a Bachelor’s in Marketing, an MBA in Management, is a member of the AI Academy for Marketers and a Certified Executive Coach. Kiesha has held Sr. Leadership positions in Fortune 200 Retail Companies serving up to the Territory Level and working on company level strategy. She has also helped small businesses improve strategy and profit in own her consulting business.

Written by: Sam Evans, 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 year, we have had to adjust to big changes like homeschooling, remote working and the absence of our usual hobbies and routines, and the security of our extended family. I, for one, as a mother, a wife, and a business coach, did not expect it to impact me as I worked from home already, but it did. We were never meant to cope with the pressure, stress, and anxiety that came with being a full-time parent, homeschooling, and working from home all at the same time. With a background of continued uncertainty and a lack of being able to be sociable for over a year, it caused many of us to question whether we could really do it all. We did not expect our lives to be thrown into turmoil nor be told what we can and can’t do. As a trained expert specializing in helping women eliminate self-sabotaging beliefs, feelings, and behaviors, the fear of the unknown coupled with what life would be like for younger generations provided triggers like nothing we’d experienced before. So why did we feel like this? Why was it so challenging, and painful and why could we not adjust to it with ease? As humans, we’ve been conditioned to think, feel, and respond in a certain way based on the experiences we go through in our lifetime. Memories that have been banked in the unconscious mind create our values, beliefs and support our ability to make decisions. So, when we were told in March 2020 that lockdown was going ahead, we all felt shocked, causing our nervous systems to go into flight, fright, or freeze mode with a deep level of uncertainty of what to expect. Humans do not respond well to change or being told we cannot do what we want when we want, especially if we as humans have been conditioned to think, feel and behave in a particular way. To be told we could not go outside for longer than a set amount of time or live life as normal triggered emotional reactions based on previous experiences not yet addressed or even known for it to be a problem. Instead of racing off to work leaving any problems behind at home, we were confronted with them 24/7. When we repeatedly think of negative things, our bodies begin to go into a state of anxiety. We have been made to believe it is just stress and we need to calm down but, it’s actually our body's saying we need to pay attention and we need to let this go. Your body does not know how to think or be different as it’s been conditioned from the day you were born until you were seven, as 95% of your physical responses are dictated by your subconscious mind. They say it takes 21 days to instill a new habit . However , it takes at least 365 days for serious integration. In just over a year, that’s exactly what has happened for everyone. We have had to adjust our entire lives, our wellbeing, our usual daily routines as if, like children, we have been told we’re not allowed to play. For many, it is left us feeling exhausted and frustrated as our minds have begun to respond to our nervous system, triggering fears, doubts, and insecurity, which in turn are trying to make sense of the new ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving. We have had to become more flexible and more open, but despite adapting the best we’ve been able to, and now being conformed to a new way of living, we have still been left with a deep sense of overwhelm and uncertainty of what is true and what is not. Now, despite feeling exhausted with over a year of lockdowns and a desire to be free to do what we want, we are now more able to have the freedom to meet with friends and family. To be able to have that connection with people is deeply desired, yet the fears of what to expect in the future are still there in the deeper part of the mind. So how do we move forward? How do we readjust to a new sense of normal and leave the past behind, including the negativity? Here are my recommendations to help you: 1. Facing The Inner Critic. When certain thoughts and feelings appear in the mind, we have the tendency to ignore them or brush them away. When they appear, instead of ignoring them, address them. When we consciously make an effort to be aware of our thoughts and feelings, we begin to take back control of the inner voice. For example, I am not good enough as a mum – use the following thought process: a. Why do I believe this to be true? b. Is there any truth to this belief? c. How is this causing you a problem. d. What can you believe instead? Your mind doesn’t control you . You control it. So be proud of yourself because you are finally breaking the habit of your past thought process. 2. Listen to your body. When anxiety creeps into the body, normally around the chest or gut area, acknowledge that it is there because your body is telling you something. a. Pause and ask yourself what is it that my body is trying to tell me and listen attentively to what it is telling you. b. It’s about being kind to yourself and knowing that you’re going through a period of change and uncertainty just as everyone else. c. Stop, pause, and take 4 deep breathes in and out, and remind yourself you are okay. 3. Reflect. Another tip I highly recommend is journaling your thoughts. Journaling has played a massive part in my coaching, and for my own self-development, and without fail, I journal every single morning. When you pay attention and become self-aware of your thoughts and feelings, you begin to break the habit of the negative nelly voices consciously . To work through this, I would advise the following: a. Write down your thoughts and feelings. b. Why do you believe these are coming up for you? c. What can you learn from these beliefs, thoughts, and emotions? d. How can you approach them the next time they appear? Make that conscious effort to put your mental wellbeing first. 4. Apply A Polarity test. When I discovered silent counseling, I had no idea how powerful it would be. Our behaviors are dictated by at least 95% of our subconscious mind and what I have realized is that even though we can do all the mind work, what about the physical work? This test is an effective way for a person who is experiencing negative attitudes and self-sabotaging behaviors to surrender them by releasing them from the physical body. When one is in this state, this is referred to as Psychological Reversal (PR) which blocks any kind of healing to the human body and most probably why most people struggle to work on their minds. An example of PR being present could be feelings of irritability, waking up in a bad mood, negative self-talk, and even procrastination. To allow yourself to move from PR to a positive state, the following will allow your physical body to respond and have that instant shift: a. Using your two right fingers, rub the soft spot on the left side of the chest, just under the armpit, while focusing on the issue that is causing you to feel negativity. Whilst rubbing, inhale deeply, and exhale two breaths – first short second longer. Repeat this three times. b. After, use the two same right fingers and gently tap under the nose. This is the meridian point for personal trust and reassurance of internal change. Whilst rubbing, inhale deeply, and exhale two breaths – first short second longer. Repeat this three times. c. Finally, tap the side of the left hand, reconfirming the following positive affirmations – “I am well, I am content, and I am in control, I am confident and safe as me. ” This is another meridian point for change. Always remember that people are not their behaviors. If 95% of your behavior is dictated and controlled by your unconscious mind, it’s safe to say that most people are not actually themselves they are just mirroring a reflection of their own insecurities and self-doubt based on their own experiences and conditioning from the outside world. Every human is living a life based on their subconscious thoughts so just forgive them, let it go, and consciously remember that you are an incredible being, and it’s safe for you to be yourself. Follow me on Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn , or visit my website for more info! Sam Evans, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Sam Evans, CEO of Sam Evans Global, is the UK's leading expert in the mind-body connection. She is known as an Intuitive business coach and mentor who has helped transform hundreds of female entrepreneurs in the online realm. Using her trademark system, The Cognitive Switch® & Unlock Your Money Block®, she has enabled women in business to confidently increase revenues up to £150k, attract followers, and defeat self-sabotage, by teaching them how to be decisive in action, clear in message, and overcome their worst enemy: themselves. As an accredited Master Coach in NLP, Timeline Therapy™, and Hypnotherapy, a UK approved TTi® Emotional Quotient Practitioner specialising in Emotional Intelligence, Human Design, and Silent Counseling. Sam has enabled her clients to be decisive, clear on their purpose, and profitable. She is also a number 1 best-selling Amazon author of Monetise Your Message and currently writing her own book soon to be published in 2021. Sam has been featured on Fox, NBC, Coach Magazine, Mental Magazine and Mum Boss UK, as well on podcasts such as Andrew Kaplan’s Shatter the Mold, Hannah Marie Olivia’s Adulting Advice, and guest expert at the MIBA International Event, guest trainer at the women helping women grow summit, hosted by Sabine Kvenberg and a profound speaker at the HerStory Global Summit in 2020. Sam’s purpose and mission is to transform the lives of one million women, by diminishing the inner critic to access their infinite intelligence and potentiality by 2030. She is based in the UK with her husband and 2 children.

Written by: Todd Richardson, 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. On December 25, while family and friends celebrated Christmas, I knew something was terribly wrong. I had double pneumonia, and my wife and I went to the doctor, only to hear unbelievable words. “You’re going down a dark path really fast,” the doctor said. My oxygen levels were very low. Every second felt like a struggle until I gradually saw some small wins. One of the first was receiving divine inspiration to enroll in coaching. Weeks later, I was able to climb the stairs in our three-story townhouse without straining. Once it became apparent that I would survive, I needed a plan to move forward. Facing more uncertainty than ever before, I needed a daily routine. While my personal world and the world around me were crazy, I grounded myself with these five daily steps. Eliminate the Negatives. Especially in the beginning stages of my recovery, I was fragile. I couldn’t handle anything that didn’t move me forward. I went so far as to restrict contact with one of my friends for a time because of his toxic negativity. Stay Present. When you have a critical goal, it’s amazing how sharp your focus is. Mine was to live. Keep it Light. Life’s serious as it is. In the midst of treatments, I sought fun and saw results. Take your Vitamins. I kept a steady supply of vitamins nearby so that my body would have constant nutrients to aid in the regeneration process. Building Mindsets Builds Business. Having almost died from Covid and double pneumonia, keeping my mindset on living and building my business while lying on my back was a miracle in itself. More and more, I recall what my business coach always says: “Done beats perfect. " Above all, don’t quit on yourself regardless of your circumstances. Those five steps have taken me from no way to absolutely. How about you? What gets you from red light to a green? Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or visit my website for more info! Todd Richardson, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Todd Richardson is the founder of Strategic Futures Consulting, O.C. He is passionate about helping people figure out what's keeping them from their destiny. Todd walks people through a process that enables them to see clearly the roadblocks in the way of their financial success. He provides an individually-tailored prophetic business blueprints to his clients which contain clear action steps for them to take. He has received countless testimonies from his clients about their increased financial gains, health miracles, and obtaining a balanced, healthy entrepreneurial life. His clients have included business entrepreneurs, business executives from Hollywood, physicists, scientists, and attorneys, as well as everyday people looking to scale their businesses. His mission: For every problem, there Is a solution.

Written by: Yvette Troyna, 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. With such talk of superheroes gracing our screens, it’s clear: greatness is our birthright. But what’s an everyday hero to do when life gets crazy? Let’s be real. Nobody could foresee the global havoc a microscopic virus could wreak. And who could predict the super-bloom of heroes shortly after the world went dark? We are all superheroes. Scientific research proves that our strengths contribute to happiness. Together at Superpower School chapters all over the world, we activate these strengths to love life again—cape optional. I’ve witnessed devastating forest fires living among legendary, old-growth redwoods. They leave wild-eyed, frantic victims in their ashen wake. Shallow breathing, blank faces alternating with jabbering and yammering to untold heights of description. Stephen King would shudder at the detail of such harrowing stories. Imagine enjoying your summer, perhaps with wrangling pool floaties and popsicles or maybe something a bit more mature, when suddenly your entire foundation has quite literally gone up in a puff of smoke, leaving you alarmed and shaken, with literally whatever you can quickly carry during hurried, panicky evacuation orders. That can never be enough. Don’t even get me started on the myriad of heart-wrenching stories about searching for panicked pets during a firestorm. Once you’ve held an evacuee in your arms until they’re ready to release the hug, you’ll see life in a different light. Beyond the hazy, hideous, burned light eerily dulling everything in sight for miles and miles, there’s a divine arc of gratitude that may make you feel just a little bit woo woo from there on out. That most certainly happened to me. Amidst the height of the pandemic, we sheltered an evacuee from Oregon for three months. He was a nervous wreck and behaved like his atomic clock might’ve been permanently jostled. The night was day, and the day was something bizarre, like roasted garlic blueberry ice cream. Or computing algebraic equations for fun. Bizarre disruption of his entire psyche. It was all-inclusive, severely intrusive, and abusive. The man was untethered, unraveled, and there was no end in sight. The fire season a year earlier and further south burned entire cities to the ground. One survivor with wild eyes and that classic state of perma-panic (which seeps through every pore like fire traveling through electrical lines) clung to me as she told her tale. I might as well have been rescuing a drowning woman for all her strength. Wired and tired. Ready to pounce or flee. My arm carried her black and blue handprint for a week. I hope she’s found peace since our last encounter. Meeting fire evacuees after watching my family recover, rebound, and/or recoil from several harrowing experiences surrounding the incessant southern California fires got my brain juices bubbling. I realized that this entire generation is hopscotching between one disaster and another, some natural and others self-inflicted by hungry humans. Yet, we’re coping better than ever, in my humblest expert opinion. See, despite the increasing natural disasters and manmade calamities at hand, we are a happy, loving species as a vast majority. We so vehemently abhor the minuscule percentage of evil-doers actually mucking up the works that we make them a common topic, thus giving them more breadth and bandwidth in theory than they actually hold in reality, sort of like a lowly little Oz behind the puffy curtain. I love that about us, and yet we must do better. We must begin supporting those who have suffered trauma. We must become openly insistent upon supporting each other, and we must do so today. We must do so while it’s still weird and uncharted behavior and so terribly awkward in its newness that we’ll definitely hurt feelings and royally mess up. Repeatedly. I’d be disappointed if we didn’t botch it up because if it went flawlessly right from the gate, then we didn’t cast a big enough embrace to envelop everyone in need. I mean, let’s face it. Not everyone who has been slapped in the face by life is benevolent. When someone with a mean streak has been hit with trauma, they often come out kicking and screaming at the nearest do-gooder. When we’ve embraced everyone, we’ll know it. How do we decide who has an unresolved trauma trajectory? Who has suffered and not received the right amount and type of help afterward? That’s the easy part: most of us. Truly. We grin and bear it. We fake it until we make it. Boys don’t cry. Girls who compete with boys don’t cry either. We must show faith. We must be strong—so much accolade for suffering. Oh, for the love of anything holy, let’s stop. Let’s stop the masochistic/sadistic celebration of martyrdom and victimhood. Let’s stop perpetrators by speaking freely about what happens, giving support to both perpetrator and victim, so the pain simply stops repeating. Arsonists must be held accountable just like terrorists and child abusers. They also need special mental care to help unravel the trauma that may have triggered their flame-throwing urges. Whether trauma springs from a humanitarian crisis or a natural disaster, trauma can be deeply seated within the beautiful hormonal cocktail, aka the human body. We must realize that trauma manifests in the body as a mental and physical disease. Uncorrected, it’s deadly. Trauma damages our systems long after the act is over, and it’s up to us to recognize and address these issues early and often. But what if the trauma we endure compromises our ability to know we need help? This is often the case. A sense of senility or dementia, aka brain fog, often sets in after we suffer, leaving us in a childlike state of defenselessness. In some cases, this can be called learned helplessness, while in other settings, there might be a physical hurdle to regaining memory and logical thought. With all this knowledge in mind, I took a step toward healing myself first. Somewhere along the way, I realized that I needed help. I found a specialist whose list of troubling symptoms matched my own. I did my homework to ensure he is a legitimate expert. I followed his orders to the best of my ability, and in the process, I healed, learned valuable coping skills, and got to know the real me. In time I chose to simply start viewing the world through a new lens in order to no longer behave like a victim nor go the other extreme as some do, by becoming the very bully I despised. With some minor calculations, I determined that at least half the population in my sphere of influence has lived with some form of untreated trauma or suffering. With that modest figure in mind, I decided to assume half of all I see will be in that category and therefore need to be treated with extra loving care. When I see a briskly moving business maven, I smile and step aside to let her pass. Travelers with a cardboard message receive a genuine smile and respectful eye contact, and if appropriate, a chat about hope for a better tomorrow. I don’t care if my passenger lectures me about how they’ll just use my gift for drugs because I know this is not always the case. Many of us are simply a few paychecks away from homelessness, and a quick survey of colleagues provides quick validation. Who among your colleagues would turn to heroin if their business went belly up and they found themselves bankrupt? Think about it. Why default to such negativity when the vast majority of us default to behaving positively in any given circumstance? The natural progression built within this type of thinking becomes extra loving care for all because we certainly can’t tell who is running their lives with big smiles on the surface while suffering inside. That was me. Until I saw the fire victims' faces and mannerisms change, I couldn’t see my own need for help. I, too, had an unchecked trauma trajectory that was literally killing me. I am grateful for the trials of trauma because I can call out what I know to be true. I am an expert in the field of positive living amidst all odds. I invite you to join me in my quest to support others who may be walking through life, needlessly suffering. We can support each other with loving-kindness. A listening, compassionate ear. A long hug. A non-sexual cuddle session. A sincere pep talk. We can do this. Together. We have the capacity—and we have a collective, global 2020 vision. Let’s do this—cape optional. Follow me on Facebook and visit my website for more info! Read more from Yvette! Yvette Troyna, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Positive Living Maestro, Yvette Troyna, is a serial entrepreneur who grew up in the Pacific Northwestern United States. No matter how tough life can be, she bounces back with genuine happiness. Who knew that decades later, her unique brand of positive living would translate to heavy-hitting, science-based strengths training in the form of her new B Corp, Superpower School Inc? When she isn't training new Superpower School chapter owners, you can find Yvette using her Psychology degree to write about positive living, traveling for speaking engagements, celebrating her loved ones' latest wins with ridiculous fanfare, and generally savoring all that the Good Life has to offer. Her brand of positivity is neither religious nor political in nature. Just authentic tips and scientifically proven insights into what it takes to activate your superpowers to love life again. Cape optional. What are her superpowers, you ask? Love, perspective, creativity, humor, gratitude, parallel parking, and fitting 15 pounds into a 10-pound bag.

Written by: Amanda Rose, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. What is Kajabi? Kajabi is an “all-in-one” business platform designed specifically for digital knowledge commerce entrepreneurs (AKA people who sell knowledge online). This platform integrates a wide variety of features that previously entrepreneurs had to purchase separately and pay a tech team to work to integrate – usually with many issues. Course creators, coaches, teachers, consultants, authors, mentors, and anyone who wants to sell a digital product or service is who this platform is designed for. E-learning is on the rise, and Kajabi is an industry leader in helping entrepreneurs get their information and services out to the public. With over $2 billion in transactions on the platform, Kajabi attracts a huge number of entrepreneurs. But at a base cost of $149/mo (or $119/mo if paid annually), is Kajabi worth it? Let’s explore the pros and cons: Pros User Friendly First of all, hands down, the best thing about Kajabi is that anyone can learn how to use it! You don’t have to be techy or know HTML; this is quite possibly the most user-friendly program out there! The page's visual layout and simplicity are inviting even for beginners to figure out. To top it off, their FAQ is comprehensive with pictorial and video training that helps you learn each feature available. All the crucial features you want I doubt I could list every single feature without forgetting a few. The system they have created is so effective, with both you (the designer) and the user (your customers) in mind. With Kajabi, you’re getting your main website, sales pages, opt-ins, pipelines, funnels, SEO, CRM, Blog, E-mail Marketing, Affiliate hosting, checkout pages, course and membership hosting, coaching program design, analytics, customer portal, etc. Everything you could want is built-in. Seamless Integration Not only are all of these features incredible – they all work together. Now, if you have had to “old school” it by making a Franken-tech-mash-up before, you know just what a blessing this is! But, if you haven’t had to do that, let me paint you a horrible tech-nightmare picture: 15 different tools stitched together like Frankenstein’s monster. Before Kajabi, I was trying to integrate a basic website with 2 separate e-mail automation systems (that both were awful and limiting). One was free, but unbeknownst to me at the time, it sold my e-mail list to other businesses (cue the anger), and the second one cost $40 a month and was constantly glitchy! The payment processor integration kept bugging out. A mishmash of integrations and plugins never played nicely together and cost me a lot in lost sales. There was a time-sucking gaggle of different support teams to call when the poop hit the fan. And even though separately each aspect of this set-up was low cost, the pile of digital monthly bills came out to over $250 a month! Moving over to Kajabi was akin to moving out of a broken-down, falling apart apartment into a luxury dream house. Time-Saving Kajabi is simple to use, so setting up a whole complex funnel system can be accomplished in a single afternoon instead of a week or more. This is great for creative entrepreneurs, last-minute ideas, and just plain out efficiency! Money-Saving & Money Making Compared to the expense of piecemealing together a slew of separate programs and the sales loss that comes when a complex system breaks down, Kajabi saves you BIG TIME. Not to mention that their streamlined platform adds so much credibility to your brand that increasing your income becomes simplified. Within 4-weeks of moving our business to Kajabi, we 400x our profits. Phenomenal Seo Kajabi Search Engine Optimization is bar none; the extra foot traffic that will find its way to your site is extraordinary. Innovation Kajabi is continuously expanding and integrating new tools to optimize its platform, ultimately helping you grow your business. The dedication to keeping Kajabi the best platform option out there makes them the best of all the options on the market. They do not take a cut. A lot of other hosting platforms take a % of your sales, and while at the beginning that may not seem like a big deal, as your revenue increases, that % turns into thousands of thousands of dollars being taken out of your pocket. Kajabi only charges you their monthly fee. Period. Best Affiliate Program Lastly, The Kajabi Partners Program is a must-mention. Who do entrepreneurs make friends with? Other entrepreneurs. And we naturally recommend our favorite tools of the trade to one another. Kajabi created their Partners program so that as you recommend, Kajabi and your friends and colleagues sign up for it, that you’ll get a 30% affiliate payout from each referral for as long as they have Kajabi. This turns Kajabi effectively into another revenue stream. No brainer. Cons No Cart This is likely the most complained about feature among Kajabi users. Granted, for the type of offers most digital entrepreneurs are selling, this is not the end of the world. However, it's a drag for prolific creators (like me), especially if I am having a sale on 10+ offers. It also makes it a less effective platform for anyone wanting to sell products. Fonts are set This may be a small thing; however, it can be frustrating sometimes. Kajabi has created its platform to be user-friendly, and in doing so, has removed some editing features, such as being able to change your font style. They have more recently added in more ‘templates,’ some of which incorporate different fonts. However, the options are limited. My work-around to punch up the page a little is to create the “title text” of a page within a graphics design program and then uploading it as a graphic onto the sales page. Expansive Features means there's a lot to learn. The great thing about Kajabi? It does basically everything you could want! The drawback to that? You have to learn how it all works. Because Kajabi is extremely user-friendly, so learning how to do it all, how to use all of the features, etc., isn’t hard, but there is a lot of it to digest. Therefore, it’s good to rely on the Kajabi FAQs, which incorporate images and video tutorials on all of the different features. FREE 14-DAY TRIAL Ready to see if Kajabi is for You? Try it FREE for 14-days and see if you like it. The best way to know what you need for your business is to get hands-on! Get your Free Trial Here! For more information, visit my website and follow me on Facebook and Instagram! Read more from Amanda! Amanda Rose, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Amanda Rose is the CEO and founder of The Infinite Power of You INC., a Business, Wealth and Mindset Coach, Multi-Published Multi-Genre Author, Motivational Speaker, Course Creator, and Actor. Her corporation serves entrepreneurs worldwide, with her unique approach that focuses on understanding each client’s individual strengths and guiding them in building their own methodology, rather than attempting to get them to adapt to a specific mold. Amanda has been a sales expert for over a decade, having experience in door-to-door sales, retail, live sales presentation, network marketing, and online product and service sales, which allows her to bring extensive insight to her clients. Amanda has been featured in many publications and news articles for her work, including FOX, CBS, Yahoo! Finance, and NBC, and was recently recognized with the BRAINZ Global 500 Award and the CREA 2021 Award. Amanda passionately works to help entrepreneurs succeed through her Corporation as well as within her Facebook Community.

Written by: Linda Terjesen, 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 often, we try and keep trying, but we don’t see the results we desire and deserve with our health, our business, our finances, our relationships, etc. I’ve put together 5 reasons where I think most of us struggle, along with some questions you can ask yourself to become more aware of, and then you can use your answers as a guide to improving your results. I would love to hear from about you what reason is most helpful to you. 1. Your Programing. You were raised a certain way with certain beliefs. It starts with your upbringing. You developed various habits that may not be serving you now. Think about what habits you have that are hurting you. What are they? Perhaps some of your routines make it harder for you to meet your goals. For example, staying up late, watching TV, and/or scrolling social media while mindlessly eating a bag of chips when you know you have that early morning meeting to show up for. Do you typically show up late, snooze, sleep in or do you jump out of bed when the alarm sounds and arrive early to meetings? 2. Your Environment. David McClelland, a Harvard Social Psychologist, states “The people you habitually associate with will determine 95% of your success or failure in life.” Source. Think about this and how powerful our environment, meaning the people we spend time with, is to our lives, goals, and dreams. Excluding your children, ask yourself these questions? Do you want to be like the 5 people you surround yourself with? Are your 5 people supportive of your goals, and do they encourage you? 3. Consistency. Some people continuously start and stop, and that’s what they’re consistent with. However, this type of behavior is typically not beneficial. What’s more important, in my opinion, is the habit of following through. If you don’t follow through and you don’t take action, you won’t see results. Inconsistent results mainly arrive from inconsistent action. Repetition reaps results. Now, depending on how long you’ve struggled with certain goals, you may need longer time and more repetition to change your mindset around this. If you want to maintain a certain weight, you must work at it consistently. If you want to grow your biz, it takes consistent effort. The effort never ends. You just keep going to keep growing. What do you struggle with the most with consistency? Are you practicing repetition in most areas of your life? 4. Giving up too soon. You only fail if you quit. When you enroll in something new, give the program and yourself a fair chance. When you start a new venture, give yourself time. If you keep an open mind, you can always learn something. If you feel you need accountability, I recommend you get support. Don’t be afraid to ask for help! Ask yourself why you want to quit? Is it the program, or is it you? What do you feel you need and are you communicating that? 5. Infobesity. Sometimes we can all get too busy gathering free stuff. There is an abundance of free information out there, and it’s tempting to collect it all. We do this with a good intention, of course, but what happens with it is usually nothing! You likely don’t need more stuff. You probably just need to start implementing what you already have. What are you doing with all the stuff? Are you using it or just collecting it? For more information, follow Linda on Facebook, Instagram and visit her website! Read more from Linda! Linda Terjesen, Executive Contributor BRAINZ Magazine. Linda Terjesen is an International sought-after Certified Nutritionist, Health & Fitness Expert dedicated to helping middle-aged women worldwide build consistency, lose belly fat and boost metabolism to feel and look confident for life with a sustainable, real food approach. After Linda lost her only brother at age 45 to a sudden heart attack, Linda decided to follow her passion for health and fitness and help others live their healthiest life. As a relatable Coach who truly cares about her clients and their success, Linda has served over 100 Clients worldwide, providing a wealth of accountability, support, and education.

Written by: Tiffany Griffin, 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. Manifestation is a really simple concept. It is so simple that you would think everybody would be able to do it. However, many people fail to manifest, and the reasons are listed below. Being negative. When you are manifesting success, you need to think of positive thoughts and reject all the negativity. Start by saying positive statements. For example, say, “I can lose weight.” Don’t say, “I can’t lose weight.” Say, “I am a happy person, and happiness flows in my life” Don’t say, “I am so depressed.” You must believe you already have what you are asking for. The universe is very literal, if you say. “I want to be wealthy and successful,” the universe is going to reply, “Oh, you want these things. I am going to make sure you keep wanting them.” When you already believe you are wealthy and successful, the universe has to match that energy, hence manifesting. Wanting superficial desires. When you are manifesting, your desires must be congruent in every part of yourself. For example, if you desire money on an ego surface, you might desire to grow in other aspects deep down spiritually. So hence your manifestation doesn’t work. Not knowing specifically what you want. You are unaware of the choices that are available to you. Society has set expectations for you. They prefer people who are rich and beautiful. So you try to manifest yourself to become like that. This is not going to work. You need to open your eyes to everything that is happening around you. Don’t live your life according to society’s expectations. Manifest your own desires for yourself! Unable to visualize creatively. When people are told to visualize their desires, most of them just visualize them holding the object of the desires. Remember the more vivid your visualizations are, the more real it becomes. Once you know what is stopping you from manifesting yourself, you can now try and improve yourself. Remember : Manifestation is such a simple concept, but you might not get it if you are doing it for all the wrong reasons. So get your reasons right and practice! The more practice you have, the easier it becomes for you to manifest yourself to success! Follow me on Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn , or visit my website for more info! Tiffany Griffin, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Tiffany Griffin is an Energy and Spiritual Coach. She worked for a multi-billion dollar company for 6 years as a Sr. Analyst. She managed 5 Analysts, created training material, and trained new employees. After coming into her spiritual awakening she quit her job and opened her own business. Her life extends to childhood trauma, domestic abusive relationships, child molestation, and drug addiction. After healing her past traumas and learning to truly love herself completely, she has made it her mission to do the same for others. She shines her light so others can find their way out of the darkness.

Written by: David Kegley, 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 world is on the verge of pandemic recovery. It is remarkable, unique, and involves all of humanity in real-time. This recovery is occurring in a way that the world of former global pandemics never knew. Are you ready for this ride? Most of you would answer “Yes!” However, it’s important to make this recovery the very best it can be. Unfortunately, we often rush to convince ourselves that we are back to normal or even transformed without recognizing that there may be a lot to be learned from this experience. Draw a Line, That’s All it Takes to Start Mapping is a fun and meaningful way to deepen your understanding of your experience. It is a simple way to sense where you were, where you are now and where you are headed. In a minute, I’ll ask you to draw a line on a piece of paper. Make it a wavy one, like a trail or a path leading toward a future destination. Use dots to show milestones along the way. Limit the dots to around twelve or less and make the dot of your present moment more near the middle than the end of your map. Label each dot. Here’s an example, the dots might be labeled: Total Beginner Average Performer Blew it Conflicting Setbacks Stone-Cold Analysis Regrouped and Climbed the Ladder Crushed It Pandemic Doldrums Analysis and Creative Change Transformation New Breakthroughs A Future Dream Challenge Yourself to Deepen Your Awareness Before I go any further, let me tell you about a group of people I did this with. It was before the pandemic, so we were all together. I told them about the map and suggested the end could be labeled Transformation. We talked for a while, then I said, “Ok, let’s say those other dots are here, here, here, here, etc.” as I walked around the room, pointing to different dots on the floor. Then I let them know they could place themselves on the dot where they were, right now, in their life, and they could go and stand on the dot of their choosing. Most people went and stood at the final Transformation dot. It was a fun exercise, and I logged it as an interesting study of human behavior. Do you think people were entirely honest about their life journey when they went to the Transformation dot? I could be wrong, but I thought probably not. What may have been part of the bias was that people wanted to show their peers that they were doing well. They had made it to the end of this map! But, I think, in addition to that, people want to believe they are doing well themselves—better than they are. So, my challenge to you is to be realistic with yourself, even challenge yourself. How are you doing? Where are you on your map? And if you have a place you label “Transformation,” and you are there, get specific about what that means. That specificity will reward you! Plus, you’ll see in my example (which you are free to either use or completely change to suit your own purposes) I’ve added more dots beyond Transformation. Add to Your Experience with Creativity Now here’s the juicy part! You can get as creative with your map as you want to. When I’ve done this with people who draw their maps rather than walk to dots on the floor, they’ve really cut loose. You can draw pictures, use colors, even make a collage, add photographs, go big! Or you can make it simple, draw one little line, put 10 dots, and write one-word labels. It’s up to you. This exercise is simple enough that you can do it in five minutes or five hours, take all the time you want. The bonus for getting really creative with it: you involve more parts of your brain and make it more memorable and interesting. Use color, draw, paint (stick figures are fine), and you activate another layer of brain activity. Add a photograph that connects directly to one of your own life events and lock down a memory. Talk through the map with a close friend, and your social brain (Limbic System) gets engaged. I know a corporate bank that worked on its inception story, mission statement, and vision for the future and integrated the whole thing into a map. Then they hired a graphic artist to depict it beautifully. Now, every employee can point to the map, which hangs on many of their walls, and easily tell their story. I know a woman who artfully mapped out her entire life journey on several sheets of paper to share it with her grandchildren. She did it so that she could use it to tell her life story to them while she was still alive. And in this case, she could point to the map as a picture book and keep them engaged. I know a man who did something similar. He was a Navy Captain, and he included photographs of the Aircraft Carriers he served on as part of his map. Some people have embraced color and drawings and creativity to the nth degree. Others scratch a few lines, then turn to a list, and are completely satisfied that they have captured a past, present, and future awareness. Today we can use maps to chart a course into a post-pandemic future. Make the Most of What Your Map Means When you finish your map, step back, begin some reflection and do some writing. This greater awareness has some very important potentials. First, it can put you at ease. You are going places, and they are very meaningful. Second, this awareness positions you to mine these places on your map for their meaning and look to your future destinations so that you can mine them as well. Finally, you can also consider renaming those future destinations; that’s in your power to determine. And finally, the human pain and suffering of these past months are true fodder for growth. So let’s make growth out of what we’ve suffered by our increased awareness and our thoughtful, intentional journey forward. Want to work with David to chart a new course? You can reach him at: drkegley.com, Instagram, or LinkedIn. David Kegley, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Dr. Kegley specializes in coaching well-educated, progressive leaders and executives who have been stopped in their tracks due to health setbacks. His doctorate is in theology and preaching. His first 25-year career was in the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., where he was a Pastor and Head of Staff. But, after getting nearly burned out, getting diagnosed with Prostate Cancer, and going through cancer treatment, he emerged as a credentialed coach. Now he Coaches in the areas where he experienced his own humility and growth: Health and Wellness, The Cancer Journey, Burnout Recovery, and Leadership and Executive.

Written by: Kriti Surjan Thepade, 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 world of content is full of surprises, facts, beautiful phrases, catchphrases, and simple genius penned down as words! Even though the roots of concept marketing can be traced back to at least 1732, when Benjamin Franklin began publishing Poor Richard’s Almanack to promote his printing business, it turned out to be a massive success yielding him a good profit in return! This Almanack was a blend of the traditional calendar with astrology predictions, dates, weather, poems, etc., along with mathematical exercises, quotes, and sentences from Benjamin Franklin himself under the pseudonym of Richard Saunders. Its biggest USP was ´serialization!´ The whole thing was published in series, so people would buy it to know what happened in the next part! Poor Richard´s Almanack is a brilliant and innovative example of content, marketing, and publishing of its times, and it still is a legend to this date! While we have moved a long way ever since the 28th of December 1732, today, in the world of blogs, podcasts, infographics, social media, vlogs, youtube, and the endless list, content marketing in specific has evolved, branched out, and is super vital! In fact, blogs generate more leads for a business and help drive higher organic traffic to the website and convertible revenue. But, apart from all this trivia, every content curator, marketeer, creator, or anyone related to the field of content, marketing, and advertising has a point in question staring in their faces, and that is, what do we do next to avoid stagnant organic traffic? The competition is relatively high, and it is a race every day to create some new, brilliant innovative stuff that leaves a lasting impact and can be monetized. But there are days where I´m sure even Benjamin Franklin would feel or have felt stuck. And when you are working with words, audio-visual media 24/7, you don’t have a dearth of material; you need to use and present it wisely! Here´s where the sense of repurposing kicks in. It is a concept quite popular between marketing, advertising, public relations, content, and communication professionals. Repurposing of content means using old data, case studies, graphics, photos, blogs, etc. Again , but with a twist or spin or in a new avatar. And if done rightly can boost visibility and enforce your brand while bringing in fresh clientele and revenue. So, here are some of the most popular ways of repurposing the used or old content. Photographs, pictures, cartoons, memes, gifs, and caricatures can always be reused with hashtags for day-specific events, bringing up old memories like starting a course or a challenge and ending something similar. Blogs or their content can be used in books, podcasts, other blogs or publications, vlogs, and even reels, one of the biggest audience engagers. I have seen many professionals using their old content for new course material or e-books and blogs. Testimonials never go out of fashion. In my experience, they are one of the most popular ways of advertising and getting customer leads by professionals from coaching, health and fitness, hospitality, education, and event management backgrounds. They can be resued before a launch of an event or course or after the end of the same. This can be done time and again unless the service or business is faded out. Surveys, statistics, opinion polls, and case studies can be repurposed as infographics, vlogs, or blog format, or even updating an old blog with the relevant information. These also make great now and then posts or specific event-related posts. Interviews are a classic content generator. They can be compiled in a book, series, reused through clips, phrases, and quotes. They can be reshared as a milestone or an event from your timeline if they are in video format. Old slides, data, informatics can be included in designing online courses and introductions, which need background and general structures. Similarly, prerecorded and consented videos, lectures, or meetings can be used in webinars, webshops, and even on YouTube or other social media platforms. Old articles, awards, speeches, trivia make great catchphrases and content for email chains and newsletters. Old e-books, researches can be snipped and classified into various formats like ´What to, How to, Why, 10 things you need, etc., and can also serve as free giveaways and downloads. Checklists, inventory lists, templates, formats, social media content tables, time tables. Schedules and to-do lists - these all make great bonuses, repurposed content, and a concrete way of garnering attention and potential customers. Audio recordings or excerpts from experts are often reused in masterclasses or online sessions, where they can be highlighted as special bonuses or additions. Artists sometimes also collaborate on their old creations as tutorials, printables, or courses on their websites. This is a small list of how old or published material can be and is being resued by entrepreneurs and content professionals alike. Like many other things, content is based on human wants, needs, and trends. It is something that can thrive or gain momentum if it hits the right nerve. Otherwise, massive fails have been known to happen too. So, it is all about understanding the mindset, niche, and what excites your most adored consumer. And I would like to look at it this way- the customer might be the king, the content might be the queen, but ultimately, the context of things and presentation rules. Follow Kriti on her Facebook, Instagram, and Linkedin for more info! Read more from Kriti ! Kriti Surjan Thepade, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Kriti Thepade is from India, residing in Oslo. She has been working in print and radio for 15 years in India and Hong Kong as a copywriter, editor, reporter, translator, educator, and business partnership manager. She is now a workshop organizer for art and craft (for children) and vision boards (for adults), a content creator, a book consultant, a speaker, and an advocate for body positivity and body neutrality. As an avid writer, her favorite subjects to write about are - politics, culture, food, and travel. When not writing- she likes to bake, photograph, and read. Kriti strongly believes that growth comes when you help others to flourish as well. Kriti holds a B. Com in Taxation, LL.B Laws of Taxation and Forensic Science, and Diploma in Cyber Law, Certification in Cyber Crime Investigation, Meditation, and a Life Coach Certification.