Written by: Kika Schunemann, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. This article barely scratches the basics of "Spiritual Response Therapy" as the Universe expands, so does your matrix and the research, as well as healing provided, is limitless and infinite. You can take the blue or red pill now. It is always your choice, and you have "Free Will." Spiritual Response Therapy is not a religion or a ritual of any kind. It is instead a therapy for the free-spirited individuals who have or not a religion. In other words, it works on everyone regardless of their beliefs. Has it occurred to you that for the majority of your existence on this planet, you have been pre-programmed to live the life you are experiencing by repeating the same karmic lessons carried forward from past lives? In this article, I am going to open up your mind and heart to receive information that will definitely leave you empowered to hack your matrix and, if desired, enhance your life with the assistance of your own superintelligence, your High Self. You deliberately chose to come back to this planet, with your own chosen body, your family, your culture, and your own life’s hurdles, so that through your human body and experience, your Soul can grow, evolve and expand in consciousness and awareness. The school of life is a never-ending process of constant learning, but have you stopped for a minute and asked yourself what sort of learning is the one you are having; is it from a place of hardship or a place of abundance? is it fear-based or lead by love? Every thought, every emotion, every idea, and everything else has a frequency. Just imagine our human body is a computer or a tablet constantly receiving and emanating energy. It has endless programs and applications actively running in the background, and some that only activate when a misfortune event in our life occurs, expectedly or unexpectedly. The programs run in the Soul, Subconscious, and Conscious Minds, and we are totally unaware of them and what they are doing. We are only aware of the 2% of our thoughts, and the 98% remaining are just an unorganized party of programs in our Subconscious Mind ruling our lives on their demand. The applications activate when we tap on them, some applications are positive, and some others are negative. And most of the time, we leave those negative apps open and running wild. What a mess! Living our life with a messy computer and expired apps only creates havoc in our matrix. But there’s a way of pressing control+alt+delete and re-booting the whole system. That way is with the most advanced healing modality today, Spiritual Response Therapy, which is a very dynamic and super-fast type of therapy that researches in-depth the Soul records (Akashic Records) and clears all unwanted, unneeded programs from the root cause in our Soul, Subconscious and Conscious Minds. This therapy is conducted by channeling with precision what needs to be cleared. The High Self leads the session and tells the story. Through SRT, we look at life from the infinite point of view and radiant love to pinpoint the perception of life challenges, whether it be physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual. An SRT session looks like this: Preparing both of us for work by connecting to each other’s High Self and Spiritual Committees. Opening up the Soul for healing. Removing blockages to receiving and accepting healing light. Making sure you are aligned to your divine plan (life mission and purpose) Making sure we are both grounded, and our triple shields of light are in place. Then we focus on the issues that are being perceived by you, and we retrieve percentages. Then a general clearing starts to go deeper and deeper until all programs creating the issue are clear. (May it be mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, or situation of any kind) In some cases, a particular protocol is used to make even more research and to conduct a deeper healing. During the therapy session, we are always aware and awake. No hypnosis is needed. All the brain waves (alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and theta) are active and running simultaneously as we are channeling pure information from the light to the highest level of consciousness of the Soul, which is the New Paradigm and beyond. We are both in an awakened meditative estate for some hours. As we are all divine light just in a denser form (humans), we all have masculine and feminine energy, and both energies should be actively running to one hundred percent in us, otherwise we have blockages to the realization of our human experience on this planet, and we block our abundance of all things automatically. Then in a session, we would look into the following set of questions as well to raise both masculine and feminine energies in us regardless of our gender. In what percentage is the masculine energy? It should always be at one hundred percent positive and zero percent negative. In what percentage is the feminine energy? It should always be at one hundred percent positive and zero percent negative. And a clearing is conducted around those questions to raise both masculine and feminine energies. How often do we find ourselves in situations that seem that there’s no way out, and we start looking for solutions or miracles to happen? To what percentage is our judgment and perception of the situation that we are experiencing and feel blinded from the peaceful and harmonious resolution? To what percentage is our codependency towards the situation at hand? Humans are habitual, and we live life from the comfort zone; whether it is a positive path or not, we simply are used to it, but we are always secretly wishing for something to change, for that issue to disappear, or to have more knowledge and the right tools to overcome those hurdles that are present in our path. Therefore clearing the codependency, we hold with people, an emotion, an illness, a thought, or a situation is paramount to detach ourselves from it so that the experience is lived from a place of love and not from a place of fear. We start to witness that the best outcome starts to unfold with ease and grace immediately. Love is the opposite of fear. The Soul wants to learn from the human experience through love and not from fear, which is Ego based. We as human beings should be able to manage our own positive and negative energies (apps) by doing an energy management clearing a few times per year to keep our own vibrational frequency in alignment with the energy of love, which is abundant in itself and available to all of us. When the judgment or perception that a human being is toxic, and everyone runs in the opposite direction to not get “infected” as if it was a disease, just look at yourself first for a moment and ask if you are capable of lifting, dealing, managing and healing your own Soul. Only then the evolution of the collective consciousness starts to shift, and the whole of humanity begins to heal at the same time that you heal yourself and evolve. When you do your part, you are immediately projecting unconditional love for the greatest and most elevated good of humanity. Likewise, by connecting to the highest frequency that is love, we start to love ourselves and others more, accept ourselves and others more, and become totally compassionate with our own flaws to transmute them into gifts and talents. When we leave the old fashioned way of judging everyone else and ourselves for our misfortunes (lessons), we turn into beautiful expressions of joy. That is a life lead by LOVE. It doesn’t matter how many times we have managed a situation with the same foot, negative situations are merely lessons, and the lessons that we are learning do not make us bad people; we just weren’t taught how to do it better. And that’s when SRT becomes a very powerful tool, very handy. SRT teaches us to live life with freedom, freedom from “mistakes and misfortunes” freedom from illness, freedom from heartbreak, freedom from trauma, freedom from control, freedom from burnout by removing all the negative programs and apps running in our Soul, Subconscious, and Conscious Minds. To what percentage are we assisting from a place of Love the rise of the collective consciousness? To what percentage do we feel and believe that we are all ONE? To what percentage does our Soul believe that we are separated from the Source? The questions above open up infinite possibilities to work on a multitude of themes and the many challenges of life and allow us to explore the negative energies that are blocking our positive potentials and positive energies. When the most important positive potential gets blocked (self-esteem), we find ourselves in very tricky relationships of all kinds. So when we are second-guessing our relationships, we must pay attention to our self-esteem first, and that also includes our relationship with money. To what percentage is my self-esteem positive in me? What is our vibration towards money? To what percentage do we hold antagonist energy with...? To what percentage are we living a love life of codependency? To what percentage are we living from a place of freedom? To what percentage are we giving freedom? Freedom is free when we rid ourselves of all our pre-programming, the collective unconsciousness, the inherited limited paradigms, the negative potentials, the negative motivations of a limited and expired education and system that has lead humanity to live in constant error by making us believe that “life is like that” or that “it is what it is” when in fact thinking that way is merely a program of inherited victimhood and self-sabotage, to say the least. Imagine how would you feel if you could turn your life, health, mental health, finances, and emotional IQ around in a matter of months and start living with more joy, love, laughter, happiness, freedom, success, abundance, prosperity, and zero stress and become the best version of yourself. I hope this article gave you some new information you didn’t know existed, or it expanded your knowledge of the repertoire of holistic therapies available globally today. I have been an SRT therapist for the past five years. When I discovered and attended my first session, I was blown away, and in one session only, my depression vanished. I remember I told my therapist, “my life is not a hot mess; it is a spicy disaster” do something, please! and 3 hours later, the outlook for a better and brighter future started to develop in me...I felt alive and connected again! I always knew there was something else out there for me, and for all of us that didn’t seem daunting and packed with antidepressants and what not... and now I live a life of freedom, pure unconditional love, abundance, and purpose. My deepest desire is to enable the same for you. My healing service to humanity is my mission, but your healing is your responsibility. I am also an HSP (Highly Sensitive Person) that also makes me a clairsentient. Therefore I am very empathetic with a huge heart that many times occupy more than half of my mind, but regardless of my generosity, I will always have a very keen ear and heart to listen to you too. I always compliment our SRT sessions with Dr. Bach Flower Essence Remedies and Australian Bush Flower Remedies to keep releasing old stagnant energy and to allow the integration to take place with a lot more support and love. “Dr. Bach flower essences saved my life when I fell in a very cold pond and suffered hypothermia in a very remote place 3 hours away from a hospital in a South American country when I was 12 years old.” All Spiritual Response Therapies can be done at a distance globally in English or Spanish. The effect is the same and instant. All we need to do is to jump on a video call and allow this divine process to take place in you. Heal Your Soul-Heal Your Life! Namaste Kika If you feel inclined and prompted to work with me and to invest in you, to hack your matrix, to re-train your Subconscious and Conscious Minds, and to heal your Soul with this fast-track healing modality, I kindly ask you to send me a direct message through my website. Kika Schunemann, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Kika is a Soul therapist and life coach, she is accredited by the Spiritual Response Association in Washington DC. She is based in London, she is a Soulpreneur and has changed the lifestyle of thousands of people globally.

Written by: Nilima Amit, 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. 'Thank you' is a word that is very commonly used by each one of us. We say, 'thank you' when we acknowledge a gift, service, compliment, or accept/refuse an offer. IS THIS ENOUGH? No, it’s not enough! Why? It's because we rarely feel being thankful when we say it. There are times when we say 'thank you' for the sake of saying it. We say it out of habit or just to be polite and to be well mannered. We rarely feel the emotions of gratitude while saying, 'thank you.' When it's coupled with feelings, the magic happens. Doors of wonders open for us – opportunities and abundance flows in our life when we feel grateful (or gratitude). Does this confuse you? Let me explain it with an example. When we are at the billing counter, the attendant makes the bill. The payment is made, and the bill is handed over, and we say 'thank you.' Here, we only say 'thank you.' There is no feeling attached to the words. Most of the time, we don’t even look at the attendant on the counter while saying, 'thank you.' We just say it while walking away. Next time, wait, look at the attendant and say 'thank you.' Do this while looking at the attendant with a smile on your face. Don’t forget to note the smile of the attendant when you say the magical words – 'Thank you.' If possible, try shaking hands. Isn’t it very simple? This can be followed in every aspect of our lives. It takes a little patience and effort to incorporate it into our lives. Simple tips to feel gratitude in your daily life: 1. Close your eyes and say, "Thank you, thank you, thank you" for all the goodness in your life. Saying 'thank you' 3 times creates an impact on our feelings. It also helps to raise our vibrations to happiness. 2. Look at people while saying 'thank you.' 3. When you wake up, say 'thank you' for your life and your wonderful day ahead. 4. At bedtime, say 'thank you' for the beautiful day that went by. 5. Just before closing your eyes, scan the whole day and find the best thing that happened during the day. Say 'thank you' and feel grateful for the best thing. 6. Feel gratitude for the air, birds, water, and all the natural resources. 7. Hold your hand on your heart and feel gratitude for the beautiful sights you encounter during the day. 8. Say 'thank you' to family and friends for their love, care, and warmth towards you. 9. Above all, say 'thank you' with a reason. The feeling of gratitude arises automatically. For example, – I am thankful for my family because they give me a sense of belonging. This Thanksgiving attach feelings of Gratitude to thank you. 2020 has been a roller coaster for each one of us. Despite this, let us end it on a better note by feeling gratitude for each and everything we have in life, even if it’s knee-high to a grasshopper or minuscule. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Heartfelt Gratitude. For more information, follow me on Facebook, Instagram and visit my website! Nilima Amit, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Nilima Amit is a Bestseller Author, Holistic Life Coach and Reiki Healer. Her life is a beautiful and interesting journey from having an opportunity to be born to Osho follower parents to self-discovering her own Calling. This journey transmuted in the formation of her company One Life Many Jouneys™. Coincidentally her bestseller book is also with the same name. The mission of One Life Many Journeys™ is to spread the light and guide souls in their quest in emotional and spiritual quest. Handcrafted workshops, her book and Reiki infused products like affirmation box, wish box, Money and Relationship box are created to help in the same.

Written by: Laura Lee Harrison, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. With an increasing number of people staying at home, losing jobs, or simply realizing just how easy it is to lose all your income security, people are coming around to the idea of going online to create multiple streams of income. It is time to get creative – but where to start? Social Media, though it is a massive black hole of sometimes useless information or great for at home self-diagnosis, a fantastic confidence booster or easy pathway for those keyboard warriors to bully others, it will undoubtedly provide mind-numbing escapes for your brain. For those of us who love to grab our popcorn and enjoy the show, it can be a great form of entertainment. However, Social Media is now a business essential. As I own a Social Media Agency and run a Social Media Membership Program through Media Exclusive, I thought I would bring to you some essentials for getting started with your online marketing. The first thing I want you to know about utilizing any online platform to grow a business is this – It takes TIME. Please don’t wake up tomorrow morning thinking you will start a business or join one and be a Millionaire in a matter of months. You must grow your audience. Show up regularly, get consistent, and always be learning, growing, and investing. The Social Media growth game can be a fantastic well-oiled machine. This includes organic growth and paid growth and is not limited to one platform! There is so much to unravel. For the sake of time, though, I will stick to Organic growth on the Facebook platform and keep it basic for now. Please note, this article is for the person who is set up on Facebook already. You know how to use the site and have been on it for a while. Maybe you are just not getting any clients or sales yet, and you may even feel overwhelmed. You have a basic understanding of how it works. So, let’s dive in. 1. What is your product or service? Your first instinct is to post about what you offer all over your profile, mass invite to your private group or your business page. Don’t do it. Resist that urge! Who is your Product or Service for? Have you ever filled out an Ideal Client worksheet before? If not, now is the time! Don’t be afraid to fill it out multiple times and have a few types of people you cater to. However, it is very important for messaging to understand WHO you are speaking to! I’ve created a FREE worksheet just for Brainz Readers and you can grab that here! 2. Have a clear photo of YOU on your profile. Not your children or your pets or a dream destination. You CAN have a selfie but make sure it is clear and not overly-filtered. You want to appear put together, confident, and genuine. Here are a couple of tips for selfies: Have your face well lit. (If you can’t invest in a ring light, than use a window with natural light shining through). Have a nice background (A nice wall, bookshelf, a doorframe, a photo, even hang a sheet up on the wall if you have walls that throw funny colors due to paint color. Watch for clutter in the background.) Wear a color that compliments your eyes. For women- Have your hair and makeup looking fresh (this doesn’t mean not looking like yourself, be you, be comfortable. However looking put together will go along way with your viewers, and your own confidence will show up in the photos). For men- Have your facial hair groomed, wear a nice outfit, do your hair. Put on something that makes you feel confident. Even if you don’t see it in the photo, your confidence will shine through. An example would be a watch, a shirt, or your favorite shoes. Smile – with both your eyes and your mouth! Make sure your camera is just slightly above your eye level or at eye level. Pick a flattering angle and play with angles. Even models don’t get it perfect on the first try! HAVE FUN. Now of course, if you are in the position to get professional headshots – Go for it! 3. Start having conversations! YUP! Social Media MEANS to be SOCIAL! Remember who your ideal client is from number 1.? Okay, so now you are going to go comment on THEIR posts. “LOVE” their posts and have a genuine conversation with them in messenger! Maybe book a video call or if you dare, a socially distant coffee, just to simply get to know each other! This is not a closing call/meeting. This is a genuine conversation that opens both of you up to chatting about your lives and what you do! If you listen, you will learn almost everything you need to know in regards to whether they need your service or product and if you want to take them on as a client. Without pitching, you can pique their interest in becoming a client of yours. Why are conversations and reactions important? Commenting on your ideal client’s post will make your posts more visible to your ideal client when you post. Having a conversation in messenger will also make your posts show up in their News Feed. Which will keep YOU and what you do at the top of their mind. “Loving” “Laughing” “Care” “Wow” reactions tell Facebook or Instagram that the posts are relevant “Sad” and “Angry” tell Facebook not to show those posts as much. However, the most beneficial piece to the reaction button is Facebook knows you are a human being and not a bot. Bots can “Like” posts, so choose to react to other people’s posts instead of just hitting that “Like” button. 4. Show up consistently! This does not mean post every hour and be posting about what you offer. This means take some time to create posts that make people feel good! Especially in a world that feels so dark right now. Give value to the people on your Media platforms. What to post about? Post photos of you and your family. Go LIVE (this one is scarier, and I could do a whole article just on that! However, it is a fantastic way to get out there and seen FAST) Photos with quotes. Selfie photos with your product or service in the background (product placement) or of you using your product or service. Speak directly to your client’s “problems” and how to overcome that problem ( Not a sales pitch, tell a story) Infographics Motivational & inspirational posts. 5. When people comment on your posts, hit that “Reply button” and comment back. After they have commented on some of your posts or expressed interest in what you do, go have a private conversation and invite them to your free group or offer them a discovery call. Then close the deal. This is only if they have expressed interest in a business-post or a post related to what you do. The main thing to remember with Social Media Organic Growth is to have fun and not get caught up in how many followers you have or likes & comments you get on a post. There are influencers out there who have Millions of followers who don’t sell anything. There are businesses that have a few hundred or thousand targeted followers who buy everything they have! Which would you prefer? Big numbers that seem impressive that don’t turn profit or smaller numbers with bigger profit? Make sure you give value and show up consistently with content that make people think or feel good. They will remember you when they are ready to purchase something like yours! The world is filled with pushy sales and the world can feel so dark and lonely. If you can create a positive impression without pushing your sales pitches, people will appreciate you! There is a time and a place for sales! I am not saying NEVER Sell – that is a different article. I want to quickly add there is never ONE way to Market online! It takes some testing and time to grow. Social Media platforms are ALWAYS changing how their algorithms works and I have one last bonus tip. * If you notice a new feature pop up and Facebook is saying HEY! Here is a new feature use it! DO THAT! Use the feature. It will undoubtedly get you in front of more people – hacking the algorithms. Join my Facebook community , follow me on Instagram and visit my Linktree and website for more information! Read more from Laura ! Laura Lee Harrison, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Laura Lee Harrison is a Confidence & Beauty Strategist who works with professional women to help them deliver their message on stage or on camera effortlessly, by assisting them with their beauty regimens, so they feel beautiful as they are with their unique features. She also guides business owners to their first 6 figures in business with her business partner and their Social Media Agency, Media Exclusive. The agency and scheduling platform help entrepreneurs to show up and scale business with ease and consistency. As a sole parent, multi-business owner and International Best-Selling Co-Author, Laura Lee has had to overcome many obstacles in her life and within her own mindset to get where she is today. Daily she uses her story to inspire and empower entrepreneurs globally, showing them no matter their circumstance in life they can achieve their goals, if they choose to never give up on themselves.

Written by: Aoife Ryan, 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. Parenting at the best of times is not always easy. Parenting during a global pandemic can be overwhelming. But there are some things that you can do, for yourself, that will help you navigate this difficult journey. With the arrival of COVID19, parents are trying to juggle many different roles, being pulled from countless directions and with numerous pressures on their already stressed emotional resources. Children are experiencing long days away from family, friends and their ‘normal’ routines and activities. Parenting is not about being right all the time, ruling in an authoritarian manner, where a child fears losing their parents love. Nor is it about giving in all the time, in a permissive manner, where the parent fears losing their children’s love. Parenting, for me, is always about connection, relationship, and loving responsiveness. This type of conscious, connected parenting is based on unconditional love, regard and holding, both for yourself and for your children. It can be challenging to remain connected and lovingly responsive to yourself and to your children, especially in the current circumstances. A helpful way of caring for yourself, and by extension for your children, is with boundaries. A boundary calls for an action for yourself or another. It is never an action against yourself or against another. A loving boundary is a line that you draw around your worth and dignity as a human being. Think of an island, your own space, that you stand solidly and separately on. When you have this boundary line in place around yourself, no one can diminish you or your presence. Setting boundaries is about confidently taking responsibility for yourself and your actions and not placing your happiness in the hands of anyone else. Boundaries arise from unconditional love (for self) and are also an expression of love (for your children). Currently, when we are physically distancing, we may find supports that we have utilized previously are no longer available to us. Boundaries become even more important. Some examples of loving self-boundaries might include: Creatively finding time for yourself (a cup of tea alone, taking the time to brush your hair and put on your lipstick, going to bed on time each night, making a phone call to a friend, cooking and eating for pleasure, not necessity, finding time to read your book etc.) Limiting time on electronic devices (e.g. no devices at dinner time or in the bedrooms) Being genuine, authentic, honest, direct and clear in your expression of your feelings and emotions (when we acknowledge and give expression to our own feelings, all feelings, we are modeling for our children how they can acknowledge and give expression to their feelings.) Participating in activities or exercise that makes you feel good Choosing to contact family/friends Choosing to NOT contact family/friends Saying NO to what is not right for you Communicating your needs directly and clearly and asking for support when you need it Speaking your own truth There are many ways of introducing helpful and appropriate boundaries and you will know best what you need to do for yourself and your family. Intricately connected to boundaries is the idea that separateness is the basis for togetherness. The act of staying separate from what is going on around you, and not personalizing what another says or does, is an act of loving self-care. Standing separately on your own island and knowing that what you say and do is 100% about you, and for you, and that what another says or does is 100% about them and for them, brings a strong sense of inner peace and calm. Standing separately can be challenging in a cramped full house where everyone has different and competing needs. I must admit I struggle with it myself some days. On those days when my own emotional cup is depleted, I recognize the need to reach out for support and ask for help (from family, friends, or a professional). When I attend to my own emotional cup and ensure that it is full (or nearly full) most of the time, I am more likely to respond lovingly to my children rather than react defensively. On the days when I know I am struggling, I tell my children and my husband. By giving myself permission to be real and honest, I am giving my children (and husband) the permission to be real, honest, authentic, creative and above all themselves! As I mentioned earlier, parenting is always about connection and relationship. We may be forced to physically distance currently, but we can remain emotionally connected. Boundaries and standing separately are acts of loving self-care. As parents, when we care for ourselves, we will automatically be in a place to care for our children. If we model a strong boundary setting for ourselves, our children will learn what boundaries are, and they will learn to value their own self-worth and dignity. Creating appropriate boundaries for yourself and your children will deepen relationships within and between you and allow for a more intimate connection. Boundaries and staying separate will give you all the space you need to breathe, the space to be, and will ultimately draw you more closely together, during these difficult times. For more information, connect with me on LinkedIn or visit my website! Aoife Ryan, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Aoife Ryan is a Parent & Relationship Mentor. Aoife works with clients helping them explore all aspects of self, to look at their relationship with self and the relationships they have with others around them. She works with organizations and companies, guiding and supporting their employees to become the best versions of themselves that they can be. When employees are operating from a strong conscious place, the company will be one that thrives, with diversity, inclusion, creativity, and human connection at its core. Aoife is passionate about supporting parents through the difficult and rocky terrain of parenting, thereby improving the health and well-being of all family members and by extension society. When parents’ needs are looked after the next generation will automatically be looked after. Aoife's approach is non-judgemental, kind and loving. She believes that with the right support, individuals will discover their own unique solutions to any difficulties they may be experiencing.

Written by: Brenda Johnston, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. How many times in your life have you set an intention or a goal, you’re taking massive action towards manifesting it, and then... you don’t make it happen. Maybe you forgot a deadline, maybe you keep starting projects but never finishing them, maybe you just stopped taking action, and you have no logical reason why. Say hello to self-sabotage! I know it well. It kept me playing small for over 10 years! It can eat away at your self-confidence as well as your self-esteem. Not to mention, it can make you believe that every failure you have ever had is a truth, and you are destined to keep failing if you try to step out of your comfort zone. Self-sabotage is one way that your subconscious mind communicates with you to alert you that an underlying issue needs to be addressed (aka a limiting belief). Unfortunately, it shows up as negative behaviors and thoughts. Here are three of the most common forms of self-sabotage that I see with the people I work with: 1. Getting caught in worry about failure (low self-confidence, self-esteem, self-worth). This shows up a lot when working with people on Money Mindset issues. Not feeling like they are worthy of receiving payments from clients or charging what they are worth. 2. Getting stuck in comparison thinking and measuring your value based on what others are doing. I see this a LOT with female entrepreneurs trying to set their pricing based on what everyone else is doing. 3. Getting caught in the cycle of procrasta-learning because we suffer from imposter syndrome and feel like we never know enough. This is also a big one for female entrepreneurs as well as women in corporate who feel like they are constantly being told to prove their worth. Here are four ways to stop your self-sabotage: RECOGNIZE IT Beating self-sabotage requires you to see what it is. That starts by taking a good hard look at yourself (from a place of non-judgment) and becoming aware of your self-sabotaging behaviors. It can show up as procrastination, negative self-talk, lack of motivation, being unable to make a decision. GET CLEAR ON WHAT YOU REALLY WANT Chances are you’re stuck in a cycle of self-sabotage because you aren’t actually clear on what you REALLY want. But I bet you’re really good at telling people what you DON’T want. “I don’t want to have debt . ” “I don’t want people to treat me differently because I am doing well financially.” “I don’t want my husband to feel bad that I make more money than him.” So, get clear on what you DO want. If you are unsure how to do this, take a look at what you don’t want and then write the complete opposite. INTERUPT THE PATTERN Now that you are aware of your negative thoughts and/or behaviors, it’s time to interrupt them. A pattern interrupt is an NLP technique that involves breaking your routine, habit, thought, or that not so great behavior you have been acting out. Doing this is really useful because it shakes up your typical thoughts and actions and opens your mind up for the possibility of something new to take place. Doing this is a powerful part of the transformation process. One of my favorite ways to do this is when I have a negative thought, or I’m about to slip into the habit of negative behavior, and I catch it...I either imagine a giant stop sign flash in my head or I literally say the word STOP! If it’s a negative thought, I’m having . I instantly replace it with a more empowering thought. Example: “I can’t afford that” changes to “I’m choosing to spend my money on something else . ” It works in a similar way if I am interrupting a behavior, I still do the visual of a stop sign, or I say STOP! but instead, I ask, “ Is this taking me closer to my intention or away from it?” INVEST IN YOURSELF AND WORK WITH A COACH Hiring a coach was one of the things I have done for myself. I work with a business coach, as well as a fitness and nutrition coach. I will ALWAYS have coaches in my life. They are what propelled my business and my life in general forward and continue to do so. They make you accountable. They help you harness your ideas. A good mindset coach can help you transform on a deeper level. They help you build confidence. No matter how much self-motivation you might have, you’ll never truly know what you’re capable of until you have someone who pushes you outside your comfort zone. Let’s get social, connect with me on Instagram , visit my website or check out The Limitless Life Podcast Read more from Brenda ! Brenda Johnston, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine After being chained to the same corporate job for close to 14 years and living with debt for most of her adult life, Brenda decided it was time to stop playing small. She changed her relationship with money and success (and more importantly, herself) to turn her passion into profit. Within 7 months of leaving her corporate job, she had built a successful 6-figure business. As a High-Performance Mindset Coach, and the host of The Limitless Life podcast Brenda helps other driven Women tap into the power of their subconscious minds so they can access their full manifesting potential. She does this by helping transform limiting beliefs and fears that are creating patterns of self-sabotage so they can create an abundance mindset and go from worry to wealth.

Written by: Jack Wang, 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. Try this experiment with your spouse/other parent: Have each parent take out a piece of paper and write down the answers to these two questions. Don’t peek - you’re going to compare answers later. 1. How much do you want to contribute towards college costs? Express either as a dollar amount per year or as a percentage of the cost. 2. Where will the money come from? For example, which account or will you have to borrow? If borrowing, what type of loan. For both questions, be as specific with your answers as possible. Answers such as “it depends” aren’t allowed! In my work with hundreds of families across the US, I have yet to have two parents answer the same. If you ask families if they want their students to go to college, many will say, “Yes.” Same if families are asked if they want to save for college. But as the saying goes, the Devil is in the details. The answer to the first question often depends on the educational background each parent has, how much financial support from their parents, and their hopes and dreams for their student. It’s not uncommon for one parent who hopes their student attends a prestigious private school while the other spouse is just as happy with a local state public university. Those hopes lead to very different financial outcomes. A prestigious private university can easily near $80,000 per year, while a public may cost around $30,000 for an in-state student. There is also the issue of “fairness” for families with multiple children. In my experience, parents who put one through often will want to contribute the same amount to a second student since, after all, parents wouldn’t want to play favorites. Financial reality, however, may not allow for that, which leads to parents and students taking on more debt. This then leads to the student debt stories of the future or parents having to work past their intended retirement age. The student, of course, has a say in this as well. Students may hear of their friends headed to the expensive school and would want the same for themselves without having any context of another family’s finances. Parents don’t do themselves any favors by not setting expectations with students on how much is truly affordable - often because parents themselves really don’t have any idea beyond “something affordable.” This lack of communication impacts younger families, as well. Parents often will say that they have no idea what their students will want to study, and therefore have an idea what colleges. As a result, families don’t know how much to save. As an example, if parents would like their newborn to attend a prestigious university at $80k per year for 4 years, assuming a 6% rate of return and a 3% increase in the cost of college would require saving $1,371/mo for 18 years!. On the other hand, using the same assumptions, a $30k public school would only require $514/mo. Figuring how much money you’re willing to spend is only part of the equation. Where the money is going to come from is another. For families that have saved adequately, often in a 529 plan, the answer is relatively straightforward. The bigger question occurs when families haven’t saved adequately - or at all! What then? For most families, this means taking on debt, but even this seemingly simple solution can vary widely. Who will be the legal borrower? Would unsecured loan options be better than secured? What is really important - besides the interest rate? If families have to borrow, the first thing to determine is who should borrow. Remember that your typical 18-year-old student without a steady full-time work history or a credit history will be unable to borrow by themselves outside of the Federal Direct loan program. Any amounts above the Federal loan limits will require a co-signer. Or would the parents borrow themselves, leaving the student off the hook legally? This simple question brings up issues about students having a stake, financially, in their education, and even what message parents want to send. As an example, one family used co-signed loans to reinforce the message to the student that these loans were for the student and the student’s ultimate responsibility for repayment. Other families are vehemently against burdening their students with debt, so the choice is to have the parents borrow. One note - colleges are required to publish the average amount of debt a student would have upon graduation. This figure only includes Federal loans plus any loans offered by a college itself (not all colleges do this), so the figure may be optimistically low. The figure reported by schools do not include any private loans taken either by the parents or co-signed by the parents. If the parents decide to be the borrower, the next question is whether to use a ParentPLUS loan (the parent version of the Federal Direct loan) or using a private loan, or even some other form such as a mortgage or home equity line of credit. I’ve heard answers ranging from wanting the lowest rate to not using a mortgage-related loan as the parent wouldn’t risk their home for college loans. All of the answers are “right” in itself, but families may have to choose between a low-interest rate on a mortgage loan versus the risk of losing the home in the event of job loss or other financial crisis. As a financial planner (not me) once said, “Personal finance is far more personal than finance.” This is certainly true when figuring out how to save and pay for college. Now, have your 2 pieces of paper? Go ahead and compare answers. How far apart are you with the other parent? Why did you - and they - answer the way they did? What is the right answer for your family? This exercise will help families and students set expectations around where the student may end up for college. The last thing you want is to have that tough conversation that occurs for many families when the student wants to go to a school that the family can’t afford. And the stress that comes when families stretch to pay that bill! For more information, follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, and visit my YouTube-Channel & website! Read more from Jack! Jack Wang, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Jack Wang is a noted expert in helping US-based families with middle to high school age students lower the cost of and pay for college by navigating the complex, stress-inducing financial aid system while still being able to retire. He's helped hundreds of families and students (including his own 2 children) understand financial aid, student loan options, and payment strategies in the context of overall family finances and retirement plans. Jack studied finance at the University of Texas at Austin and started in the banking industry, where he spent 12 years as a commercial banker helping small to medium-sized businesses. Then he transitioned to be a corporate trainer for 10 years before starting his own firm.

Written by: Susan Watson, 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. Every day of my life, I hear people reach out to me and say, “I hope you can work your magic on me,” and every day, I say, "You have your own magic." The one thing I share with every client that comes along to see me is this; I have no special skills – no magic wand, and I am just the same as you are. The difference is I know how we can make lasting changes, and I will share that with you. The one thing I share with every client that comes along to see me is this; I have no special skills – no magic wand, and I am just the same as you are. The difference is I know how we can make lasting changes, and I will share that with you. You see, every one of us has our own magic. No one makes changes for us. We always do it for ourselves. As a therapist and a coach, we work as a team; I show you 'how-to,' and you do all the hard work and make all the changes. So how do you find your magic, and what does this kind of session look and feel like? We work as a team. We both have a part to play. I try and make it as relaxed as possible. What we do depends on your needs and age. One thing is for sure, I try and make change fun. We may have tears – that is okay, and we may also have laughter. Even working with complex trauma, we manage to smile and laugh through change. The game-changer for everyone is the education and understanding of the mind and body. Learning to come out of your head and back into your body and listen. Do not just listen but try to understand the messages you receive every second of every day. Then importantly, know what to do in response. Knowing that you can do simple little exercises to dial down stress, anxiety, fear, and anger in seconds can be liberating and empowering. Knowing that you no longer will have unwanted emotions, thoughts, and reactions that rule your life, brings a sense of freedom that most people believed they would never experience. In fact, those emotions are not wrong and they do not mean that you are ill. All those emotions and reactions are based on past experiences and learnings. These are fully normal and expected when you have a highly activated nervous system. Understanding how your nervous system functions, the hormones released and how this feels, and the actions that these drives are key to have the power for change. Guess what? You are normal. When you know this and how to calm your nervous system, you are on the road to self-regulation. To be in a position that you can regulate your own body to feel calm and relaxed whenever you need it most. Have you ever heard of an anxious, stressed, scared or angry person who is also very relaxed? No, because it is impossible! This is why I teach self-regulation and how to dial down the activation levels and live that calm life you wish for. To live your best life. I really feel we are missing an opportunity here which should be taught in schools and colleges. With the numbers of young people experiencing anxiety increasing and waiting times for help, lengthening this education and learning would be so beneficial for everyone. Now that we have covered the importance of self-regulation, let's practice a few basic exercises. Remember to get the benefits from them, you must practice them often. 1. Sit down in a place that is a safe space for you. Breathe normally and get comfortable. Place a hand on your heart and a hand on your tummy. Just close your eyes and feel the sensations of your hands, perhaps the weight or temperature. What does it feel like to have your hands on your body? Now say this “In this moment, this second of time, I am 100% safe”? Really, think about how that feels to know you are 100% safe and comfortable. 2. Sit comfortably. Breathe and drop your shoulders. Now let your jaw drop. Let it hang loose. Allow your jaw to hang there and let your tongue drop. Feel the tension leave your neck, jaw, and shoulders – do this as often as you wish. This is just a small sample of exercises available. If you would like to know more about living a life with a regulated nervous system, please get in touch. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, connect with me on LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Susan! Susan Watson, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Susan Watson specializes in working worldwide with all ages experiencing Anxiety, Emotions, and Trauma, in a content freestyle, so that no talking really needs to take place unless wanted. Working with feelings and emotions within the body, Susan releases the emotional connection of past experiences. She teaches self-help tools to help others live their best life, the life that is deserved. Susan supports individuals, groups and the workplace with her Be Your Own Empowered Hero workshops, which were introduced as a measure to reduce the risk of future issues with mental and emotional health.

As one of only 34 advanced certified practitioners of professional development assessment tools around the globe, Dr. Aparajita (AJ) Jeedigunta is a trained social-personality psychologist, a certified professional executive & leadership coach, an author, a podcaster, content creator, and a spouse and a parent. She is a two-time Traumatic Brain Injury survivor turned Mental Wellbeing Warrior and Advocate. Dr. AJ is an award-winning Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belongingness (DEI & B) & Leadership strategist, consultant, trainer and coach. She is the Founder of AJ Rao, LLC, a boutique firm whose motto is Making the Invisible Visible for Better Equity and Belongingness, that offers comprehensive strategies, solutions and trainings in Equity, Inclusion and whole-person leadership development to teams, groups and individuals. Companies most often hire Dr. AJ when the status quo "best practices" don't work for them. She works with leadership teams and decision-makers to help them create customized and comprehensive strategies and solutions for intentional equity and inclusion in their culture and operations. On the individual front, Dr. AJ loves working with high performing visionaries with big dreams to help them radically increase their leadership presence, social impact and income while permanently eliminating the discontent of being overworked and underappreciated. Dr. AJ is also the creator of the Culturally Competent Conversations for Equity and Belongingness (C3EB) Summit & Brand. What has been the most impactful occurrence in your life in 2020? I’ve had to go through COVID as an entrepreneur, a spouse, a daughter with immunocompromised parents, and a mother. To add to that, I’m also an Asian American woman living right outside of Detroit, which is predominantly black. It’s been heartbreaking to witness the aftermath of the gruesome murder of Mr. George Floyd. And then on top of all of that, to also see an invisible pathogen wreak havoc on global health and economy… It’s been devastating overall. Yet, through all of this uncertainty and liberal distribution of fear, 2020 helped me remember and reinforce that bad things will always happen, but how we respond to it determines our future. We're never going to have a perfect society. In many ways, perfection is an abstract ideal because we never truly get to that point of perfection. But it doesn't mean we get to stop striving towards the ideals of progress, innovation and the elevation of our consciousness as leaders. You experienced Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) that seriously influenced the course of your life. And you’ve recently talked about them as blessings in retrospect. Can you tell us about that? I've had two. Before the first TBI, I was groomed to be a medical doctor by my family, just like many other Indian and Indian American kids. That was the path that was laid out for me. There were no other options. I was a stellar student, extremely motivated, checking off the boxes on all sorts of accomplishments and accolades. With my first TBI, which was a concussion, it changed my life because, all of a sudden, nothing I was doing in life was making sense anymore. I realized I wasn't happy or fulfilled. I wasn't tapping into my purpose. My first traumatic brain injury helped me realize that. That’s why I call it a blessing in retrospect. After that, my life trajectory completely changed. I was determined to break past the boxes of others’ ideas of my success and create my own. I was in grad school when the second TBI happened. It was two days after I declared my doctoral candidacy. Again, I was working my butt off, doing everything right, checking off all the right boxes, albeit this time in the field I wanted to be in. In many ways, I was slated to be the next “big expert” in my niche that came out of that department. And then, I got hit by a car that ran their red light. I actually checked out of life for what felt like days but was only a few minutes before they brought me back. I had multiple clots in my brain, three skull fractures, a subdural hematoma, and my orbital socket around my left eye was damaged. When the medical team stabilized me, I didn't know my own name. I didn't know who my parents were. I knew I was in a hospital. I knew I was a doctoral candidate, but none of that made meaningful sense to me. In retrospect, I got an incredible opportunity to build my life from scratch, exactly the way that I wanted to. Not many people get to say that. I saw all of the boxes I once again put myself into, all of the ways in which I let other people dictate who I ought to be. In the building process, I got to permanently put all those outside expectations aside and focus on what brought me joy and a sense of purpose, what the source of my determination and inspiration is and so on. This launched me to where I am today. Did the medical treatment you received at the time influence any of the changes you ended up making? My business and life motto is “Making the Invisible Visible For Better Belongingness.” The way the medical community treated me was my first realization of all the ways in which I, as a whole human being, had been rendered invisible. I was on grad student insurance, so they stabilized my vitals and told me to go home. They did not give me a recovery plan. They did not give me any sort of outpatient therapy or rehab other than a 3-month follow up and a 6-month follow up with the same ER neurosurgeon who seemed peeved that he didn’t get to cut my brain open. My only option at that point was to figure out how to rebuild my life on my own. I had no other options. It was a lot of trial and error, pain, crying, migraines, cognitive symptoms that I had to figure out how to work through, and little tips and tricks for when I had aphasia. Grad student insurance covers almost nothing. And, I still had bills to pay. So, I ended up going back to teaching about 3 weeks after I got out of the hospital. I had to teach, work on my dissertation, be effective, and function. I couldn’t focus on recovery and healing. I figured out most of the functional stuff out in the first month. In many ways, I was able to do it because I didn’t have any parameters put on me by therapists, occupational therapists, psychiatrists, or neurologists. I didn't know my own limits. I didn’t realize there were limits. Can you tell us about your motivation for creating the C3EB summit, the Culturally Competent Conversations for Equity and Belongingness summit, with your first inaugural hosting in August 2020? C3EB came out of a pipe dream I had for about two years. I kept thinking about how we need to have more conversations about equity and belongingness and not just about business cases for diversity. I kept seeing companies or individuals say they're committed to DEI work, but they stopped once the boxes were checked. That's not the way to do it. In fact, that's harmful for the company and the personnel in the long term because stopping at checkboxes ends up minimizing or completely missing the real value of people’s contributions. Long story short, as I was working on this issue in my business towards making the invisible visible, 2020 happened! First, an invisible pathogen showed up and brought our previously unaddressed problems of inequities right into the front of our faces. It shed light on the intersectional and interconnected nature of healthcare, economic conditions, professional growth and just life in general. Then Mr. Floyd's murder happened. This heinous atrocity was seen all over as a catalyst or a rebirth of this social justice movement for Black communities. Even though this movement has been ongoing for 450 years because things have never been equitable for Black communities, after his murder, the majority of conversations and threads on social media that I saw were along the lines of, “Wow! I can't believe this happened. This is so atrocious. I thought racism ended.” And I was left thinking, “Inequities, disparities and discrimination have always been happening. This is just the first time we’re actually paying attention to them.” Historically, the structures and institutions we build in society have always marginalized the voices of some groups so that their stories don’t get heard. We’ve never had a diversity problem; we’ve had a seeing and hearing problem. So, I decided to bring some historically marginalized voices together and shine the spotlight on them so that all of us could see, hear and learn from these people with lived experiences and insights. This way, we could at least begin to have these conversations together because we're all shaping our collective future together. We could break free of the silos and vacuums we’ve been operating in. And I decided to flip the script on traditional conferences and summits with the mostly white male speakers, the 1-2 white women and the token non-white representatives, because I could as the creator. The C3EB roster was very different. Out of the 46 speakers we had, 41 identified as BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and/or people who managed visible/invisible challenges. We had corporate professionals, entrepreneurs, educators, nonprofit founders, marketers, coaches, doctors, lawyers across the board. So, what does the future of the C3EB summit look like? The response was phenomenal. I couldn't be more thrilled. And the biggest thing I realized is that the C3EB platform is a great vehicle to address two huge problems in the DEI space as we develop it to be self-sustaining. The first problem that happens in DEI work, especially in corporate spaces, is that equity and belongingness are not considered. Most people still call it D&I, but you can't have inclusion without equity and belongingness. The truth is that diversity has always existed in the spectrum of the planet. The entire world was built on diversity, whether you're looking at rocks, plants, animals, people, whatever. It's the equity and inclusion piece that's been the problem throughout human history. The other problem is that most traditional D&I trainings tend to happen as a singular seminar or workshop once or maybe twice a year at most, or they’re offered selectively to a select group of people. In a nutshell, they’re not accessible regularly. These are both big problems in the space. For it to be effective, DEI work has to be a part of the daily routine and operations. That's why the once-a-year conversations don't get results! With C3EB, I realized we had the opportunity to build that sustainability, that foundation where these conversations become regular, and not just as mandatory meetings that nobody gets anything out of. So, the new model going forward is that in addition to the big “hackathon for DEI” in Q3, we’re having targeted “mini” summits. We’ve started on this already with the next summit coming up on November 19-20, 2020. We are going to continue to showcase leaders from historically marginalized groups talking about critical issues, even the tough ones. We want to show that there is no shortage of diverse talent in our talent pipelines; we just need to fix the seeing and hearing problems that society has been conditioned to have. And, we’re going to offer annual access passes to the nearly 100 hours of yearly content so that those who are interested in becoming intentionally inclusive leaders, advocates and allies can learn and grow to be inclusive leaders at their own pace. What are your top 3 recommendations to help people approach leadership in a self-aware and centered way? First, take the time to think about how DEI & B principles can become a part of and the foundation of all your business goals and personal goals. Don’t relegate it to the storage closet of your “extras.” If it is not a part of daily work or keeps being just a box that you check off, that's not intentional commitment and will never lead to intentional inclusion. What are the things that you need to think about to make DEI&B a part of your daily operations? Where are you with DEI&B right now? Why are you doing whatever it is you’re currently doing? What are the gaps – both seen and unseen? What is stopping you from addressing the gaps right now? What resources can be created or reallocated to make DEI&B a part of everyday life? These are some of the first conversations I have with my clients – individuals and corporate – at the beginning of our professional relationships. They’re tough questions that provoke a lot of introspection and candid, blunt realizations, and, they’re often the most fruitful beginnings of phenomenal intentional change. Secondly, step past diversity and focus on belongingness. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion principles are all rooted in belongingness – a need that has to be fulfilled in all human beings for them to thrive, connect and contribute their best work. The Need to Belong is a human imperative. Think about it. You must have had at least one moment in your life where you felt like you didn't belong, where you’ve felt othered, alienated or marginalized. All of us have had such moments no matter who or where we are in life right now. When you realize how you felt in that moment and amplify it, you’ll realize that’s how members of historically marginalized groups feel every single waking moment of their lives. Once you realize this, you can start getting focused and strategic about your personal accountability and responsibility to create intentional inclusion in all the spaces in your life. You realize you can’t and don't have to fix everything because you don’t need to be a hero. Nobody needs you to be the savior; the world just needs you to be conscientious, ethical and intentionally inclusive in your own way. At the end of the day, real progress in Equity, Belongingness and Intentional Inclusion can only happen when you focus on your own whole-person, conscientious leadership development. It starts with you. It always starts with you. That’s the work I do. Finally, I see that a lot of people start this journey on their own only to give up because they get exhausted. It can be exhausting on your own. Get the support you need. That’s why people like me are around. Our entire work was literally created to support you on these tough journeys, so take that support. Don't shy away from it. You’re not the lesser person for seeking that support. In fact, you’re a great role model for those around you. When you do seek that support, and you say, “I want to be very committed and intentional about DEI & B, and I can't do it on my own.”, you can help other people realize that they don't have to do it on their own either. Everybody needs help with DEI & B. I wasn’t born a DEI & B and leadership consultant. I had to put in an enormous amount of work and have an entire support system built up so that I can be effective at what I do. We're having a lot more conversations right now, but I think a top struggle is that people refuse to hear different perspectives, especially in the D&I space. As a professional who works in this space, how do you stay so persistent in the face of such obstinance? When I first started out, I felt a great sense of uncertainty and hopelessness and fear of things never changing for the better. This happened precisely because I thought I had to be a hero. But then I realized that because I am just one person, the best thing I can do is to hold myself personally accountable to do what I can to make things around me more equitable and inclusive for my clients and my community. My optimism emerged from this determination. Usually, the resistance to be open to new perspectives comes from a place of fear; a fear that including those new perspectives somehow means excluding our own. This is a myth because equity, inclusion, and belongingness are not zero-sum games. This falsehood gets perpetuated through the fear of not having a seat at the table if we invite more people to it. The other big fear is the possibility of saying or doing the wrong thing as a leader, especially in this cancel culture trend we’re currently living through. Both of those fears, however, are textbook symptoms of a fixed mindset. I am very intentional about not operating from a fixed mindset. I do my inner work every single day so that I spend the majority of my day in a true growth mindset. That means stepping out of that fear by realizing that I’m a work in progress, understanding that including other perspectives doesn’t mean excluding myself, and, that I'm still going to learn something even if I do the wrong thing. The growth I gain from participating in the DEI & B space daily is far more beneficial than sitting back in fear of the emotional costs I think I might incur. And in a very real sense, being an intentionally inclusive leader and business owner is far more beneficial for me as a person and for the business. Would you be afraid to make money? No, right? Understanding the benefits of inclusion in my entire ecosystem in a holistic way empowers me to step out from a space of fear to compassion, conscientiousness and love. That's the space I operate from. I think that's why I'm able to persist day in, day out. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Exactly here, just as an even more evolved, aligned, and impactful version of me. That may be a boring answer, I know. I’ve finally built my life to where I truly love what I do. I get so much joy from it that I don’t want to imagine doing anything else. I'll probably be speaking a lot more because I’m getting more speaking engagements as a subject matter expert on this, but I’ve found my lane in life and I’m sticking to it. I will have grown exponentially. My team will have grown exponentially, so we’ll be able to impact even more people who are committed to this greater movement for equity, inclusion, and belongingness. I want to be a brand that people know they can come to and get the value they need to make themselves and our communities more equitable and inclusive. I'm always going to be an advocate for whole-person leadership development being the most sustainable path to equity, inclusion and belongingness. Speaking of always striving towards that personal and professional development, what's the first small step that people can take to become more conscientious and inclusive leaders? The first is realizing that being a leader means looking inward to develop yourself into the best version of a human that you can be. Leadership literally boils down to our humanity. Oftentimes leadership development initiatives and programs focus on the 9-to-5 and the processes instead of the people. They’re not too effective, in my opinion. Leadership involves inspiring, energizing, empowering, serving and taking care of people in all aspects of life. This also goes into the whole work-life balance thing, because that's a myth too. Work is a part of life, not separate from it. It’s life-life balance. When you realize that you get to be a leader and inspire, serve and lead conscientiously and inclusively, and that it entails all of your spaces in life, you balance yourself in ways that reduce or erase time and energy conflicts. The analogy I like to use here is that you can wear 15 different hats over the course of the day, but all of those hats go on the same head; that's whole-person leadership development. It’s only when you work on that head that you can begin your journey to becoming a more conscientious, inclusive leader in all of your spaces. You have to work on yourself first before you can make an impact on the world. Because even when we fix current problems, some other problem is going to come up. We're always going to have problems. That's the reality of life. Something's always going to come up. Focusing on the problem, however, is a band-aid solution. At the end of the day, our problems matter less than how we choose to respond to them. I'm here to help you reframe and rewire how you think about these things, so that when problems keep coming up, you can come up with sustainable solutions themselves. Of course, this is a bit of an oversimplified answer. I actually have a framework that I use to give away to those interested in going on this journey. If you want it, all you have to do is text “INNER FIRE” to 411321 (+1-909-741-1321 for International and Sprint US Subscribers). I use this text-triggered education tool powered by a company called ecoFiles® that came up with this environmentally friendly, beautifully accessible way to share documents. After all, if you’re reading this, chances are you have access to a smart phone or device with texting capabilities Have you experienced any obstacles as a minority and woman-owned business? Absolutely. Right off the top of my head, the most obvious one is access to equitable pay or capital. Then there’s the visibility and acknowledgment issue; it has to be noted here that Black women get dealt the worst of this type of treatment because of all the ways in which they’re stereotyped and marginalized. I’m not comparing oppression levels here, just stating a known fact in our society. It has to do 250% to be even 50% seen to get back to the visibility and acknowledgment inequity. It is a constant uphill battle to get recognized in ways that are even to the same levels of visibility and acknowledgment that our white, male peers and contemporaries get for their work. This is a sentiment felt by a majority of people who are in that “minority box” in any way, whether BIPOC, LGBTQ+, or people with visible or invisible challenges. I mean, in that sense, I check off almost all the boxes. So theoretically, just based on the diversity checkboxes, I should be on top of the world. Many of us should be. We should be at the Simon Sinek or the Tony Robbins level off the top of my head. Notice how those are two white men. Granted, those are two giants in the field, but how many women of color can you think of to put in the same category as those two? And how hard did you have to think to come up with this list? Because again, the problem isn’t diversity; it’s equity. The fact is that members of marginalized groups are overworked and underappreciated. It’s the definition of marginalization. It is also the biggest reason why employees leave their jobs. In my case, it was because I experienced these barriers that I knew I had an entrepreneurial mindset and that I could provide the solutions for them based on my experiences and subject matter expertise. This is how my business came into existence. These are the exact issues that I provide solutions for through my services, whether it’s an individual contributor, an individual leader, or groups or teams from within businesses. Looking at the DE&I space, I’ve heard there's a severe problem with companies hiring consultants to help them with DE&I, when those consultants are not part of these marginalized communities. What do you think about that? I think this is a serious problem in the space and that hiring someone who doesn’t have the expertise and experience is the wrong move for the business to make. A lot of companies are hiring consultants who don't have the lived experiences of marginalized groups but have gained expertise on DEI&B topics through their education. On the other hand, there are also companies who are hiring people from marginalized groups who aren't formally qualified to address the issues at hand, just to check off that performative box. In addition, it seems like a vast majority of companies are still dichotomizing inclusion and marginalization as a Black-white or a gay-straight issue when it's not. Just because you're an expert, it doesn't mean that you understand the nuances of lived experiences, especially lived experiences of systemic marginalization; and just because you've been marginalized, it doesn't mean you're qualified to be a DE&I expert. The best-case scenario is to hire an expert from a marginalized group who also has the education and qualifications to be a DEI & B driver in your company. And, the best-case scenario also means hiring someone who understands that inclusion initiatives have to make sure they make space for all perspectives, even those that fall out of the traditional Black-white or gay-straight dichotomies. For the clients/companies you work with, at what point will you consider a company to be authentically inclusive and equitable? In terms of the specifics, it really depends on the client and what their goals, benchmarks, and KPIs are. But overall, you have to make the investment towards it. Don't just be an information gatherer; be a doer by investing in it financially, and ideally in those experts who have been historically marginalized. You're going to get more value and return on your investment. Your buck is going to go further. It's also a very clear indicator that you're not just talking the talk; you're walking the walk towards inclusion and equity. So, make the investment. Then, actually listening while being open and vulnerable. When I point out problems and ask questions, “Why didn't you do X, Y, and Z? What stopped you from doing A, B and C?” I'm not coming from a place of judgment. Effective coaches don’t come from a place of judgment. If somebody feels judged, that's their internal stuff happening. You have put that aside, make the investment, and actually pay attention to what’s being asked from a nonjudgmental space. After that, you have to act on it by implementing these suggestions in your people and processes while understanding that change doesn’t happen overnight, and it requires consistent, persistent practice. That's when I know that they're committed to authentic inclusion. That's when I get a good indication that this is not performative. This is possibly uncomfortable as heck for them and they're still doing it because they're that committed. For more information, follow Aparajita on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and visit her website!

Written by: Linda Dent, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. Do you understand your own strengths? I am not talking here about physical strength, emotional strength, or even mental strength. Rather it's about discovering what makes you unique and how knowing your strongest attributes can lead to effective leadership and following the right career path for you. As a business owner, it can direct you towards that sweet spot where you do what you love, and others love what you do. I first discovered my own top strengths by reading this book – Now, Discover Your Strengths by Donald O. Clifton and Marcus Buckingham, which teaches how to succeed using your most powerful natural talents. What about our weaknesses? It seems that many of us have little idea of our talents and strengths. When I ask a business owner what their strengths are, invariably, I get responses such as “Well, I am a good electrician, but I am not good at finding clients.” Why do we do this? – Talk about ourselves in such dulcet tones and feel the need to explain what we cannot do. I'm certainly not inspired by such a statement, so why would potential clients come flocking to your door? If you spent any length of time working for a company, you would have experienced performance reviews and learned to focus on your weaknesses or forego the bonus. How can anybody be perfect at everything? Sales, Admin, Finance, Strategy, Operations. On our CVs, we list all the tasks that we have performed over the years but not how well we performed them. If this is you, it's time to let go of the negativity! Do not stress about the things you cannot control and start a discovery journey – YOU and your strengths! Discovering Your Talent Once you discover your top strengths, you have a vocabulary to talk about yourself to other people. For example, my top strengths are analytical, maximizer, focus, deliberative, input, and relator. I can introduce myself to you as somebody who loves to ask questions (analytical), to understand how your business works and the challenges you are facing, and once I do to help you to enhance (maximize), the work you do through zoning in (focus) on different aspects of your business and coaching you to plan and consider risks (deliberative). I will help you by researching options (input) and then working out a plan of action together that works for you through a long term coaching program designed just for you (relator). Can you see how these sentences tell you more about me as a person and a businesswoman and leader? Whilst I may not be a strong Ideation (rocket scientist) or Woo (able to sell ice to Eskimos), these are not failings, but they highlight where I might seek help from others rather than others battling to be this person myself. Hitting The Sweet Spot Understanding your unique strengths can lead to a fulfilling career, whether you work for a company or own your own business. Helping others to understand their strengths can lead to better relationships, a greater understanding of the power each person brings to a team, and sustainable results. Start A New Journey Reach out for a Virtual Cuppa with Just Ask Linda to have a conversation about strengths. Connect with me on Social media. Links below. Follow me on Facebook , YouTube , LinkedIn and visit my website for more information! Linda Dent, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Linda is a Business coach with a solid background in the Banking Industry. She believes in building businesses through long term relationships and a partnership approach to grow and empower the small business owner through planning, actions and regular reviews of actual results vs. planned results. She is the Founder and CEO of Just Ask Linda Business Coaching, which was born out of a desire to Grow, Learn, Empower others and Enjoy her work, her very own GLEE philosophy. From understanding your unique strengths and how they apply to work, establishing where you are now and where you want to be in your business, getting to know your numbers and setting goals, managing your time, or rather how to do more of what you love each day, building a loyal team of employees or just listening to the business owners’ major business challenges and offering up new thinking, you can Just Ask Linda. If she can make a difference in a business owners’ life, helping them to overcome Money, Time and Team challenges to grow a successful business and share some part of their business journey; then she will be full of GLEE. Owning a business is an adventure, and she loves the one she is on.

Written by: Serena Fordham , Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. As we head into our second lockdown since Covid-19 hit the UK back in March 2020, many business owners are concerned as to what the future of their businesses looks like. Back in April 2020, HER Business Revolution asked our community of female small business owners how they felt their business would fare over the coming months, and responses showed that these women were divided into two camps as to their feelings towards how lockdown would impact their business; both in the short and long-term. The same feelings are being shown again as we head into the second lockdown. Even though some businesses have already developed and evolved to continue to deliver their products and services online, others who had reopened in their face-to-face format are now forced to close once more due to the pandemic. So, those two camps I talked about. The female business owners we spoke to generally fell into two categories: 1) Those who quickly identified what problems they had to overcome to continue business during this time, then brainstormed ideas and evolved their businesses as a result (or if they were unable to adapt used the time to train, plan and develop!) and; 2) Those who felt sorry for themselves constantly complained and did nothing. And following the first lockdown, guess which one of these business people came out stronger and more successful??? Of course, you guessed right - business owner number one! At HER Business Revolution, we believe that the mindset and well-being of a business owner/leader are just as important as their business strategy; therefore, changing the way the second lockdown is viewed can change the whole situation and allow businesses to evolve and adapt to survive and prosper. For example, rather than spending energy complaining, a make-up artist could offer one-to-one make-up lessons or group tutorials via Zoom/Skype/etc., or do Facebook/Instagram live videos to remain visible and grow their mailing list ready for post-lockdown? And if business owners can’t physically take their business online (i.e., hairdresser, tradesman, or travel agent), they could use this time to grow their mailing list and social media followers for the future success of their business or train in something new to help grow their business in the future. If you are a business owner and are spending your time focusing on the negatives of this second lockdown (rather than looking at the problems and adapting to solve them), then I’m sad to say that it is unlikely that your business will survive past this next lockdown phase. Especially as moaning and groaning will have no positive effect on your life or business. Instead, as business owners are bosses of their own destiny, then adapting a flexible mindset and trying new things in business will allow owners to take back control of the path their businesses will take. So, if you are finding that you are in that place of worry for the future of your business, you are now at a crossroads and have a choice - so choose to stop using your energy to worry and instead focus on working on your mindset and wellbeing, so you are in the best mind-frame to take positive action to move your business forwards. And ultimately, our advice is to BE STRONG, ADAPT, EVOLVE AND DIVERSITY TO SURVIVE AND THRIVE, plus seek support from a coach, mentor, or business support organization (like us!). If you are interested in speaking at, or attending, any of our events to train, inspire and empower female small business owners, please get in touch through www.herbusinessrevolution.biz & follow me on Facebook Read more from Serena! Serena Fordham, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Serena is an expert Business Strategist, Growth/Development and Empowerment Mentor to Female Entrepreneurs, as well as a best-selling Author, Speaker, Entrepreneur, and successful multiple Business Owner. Her main passion is offering business strategies, support, and empowerment to ambitious and high vibe business women both locally and internationally – through HER Business Revolution at www.herbusinessrevolution.biz . She is also known for her organization skills through owning Glow Virtual Assistants and for her support of women and child-related charities (also founding two charitable initiatives – Mums Empowerment Movement and SociaBubble)

Written by: Agnese Rudzate, 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 stress of constantly feeling overwhelmed when building your empire can become debilitating, affecting your health, relationships, and more. By consciously managing your money and time , setting clear goals, and planning your future, you will reduce stress, accomplish more, and love your life more than ever before. And this is my goal for writing this article. Ease and flow starts with proper planning - this is how you get your affairs in order. But organizing your life for success doesn’t have to be scary or overwhelming. Planning is freeing simply because it shows you steps to take to get where you want to go faster and much more effortlessly. With a plan in hand, you don't have to think about what to do every time you get sidetracked, because the guidelines are already set, all you have to do is follow the map. A 5-year plan is overwhelming, and you don’t have to have one. I don’t. And it turns out to be quite handy especially at times of uncertainty. It’s great to keep the big vision in mind ; however, planning 5 years ahead can turn out to be a waste of time . When setting goals that are too far away, it can become unreachable and dis-motivate us because they don't necessarily correspond to what you are doing right this moment. I ’ m a big advocate of simple ; therefore, a 1-year plan seems like a perfect time period for very realistic and reachable goals. I have prepared a plan :) for you to make this process as structures as possible to reach those envisioned goals faster. 1. Set your 1-year goal. Imagine your future self one year from now. She is opening a bottle of champagne and celebrating…. (fill the gap)! Looking back, she can see clearly what has brought her to this celebration moment. NOTE: Reaching a goal is a huge win and should always be celebrated. But every small win that has led you to the big win should be celebrated as well. A small win is still a great achievement, and it only brings you closer to your goal. By not celebrating ourselves, our wins, we can lose that excitement and motivation that is what can make us feel as though we are not succeeding, when in fact, we have achieved so much already! 2. Set your quarterly goals. Now let’s move backward and set some serious milestones along your journey of 1 year. If you divide your year by quarters, what would you want to be able to celebrate as your achievements? What is that reachable and measurable 3-month goal that, when achieved, will move you that much closer to a 1-year celebration? NOTE: Looking back at the data, statistics, facts will tell you a lot about your progress and will show you whether you are on the right track moving at the tase you were expecting. Don’t underestimate the poster of statistics. It gives such great insight without emotions being involved. 3. Set your monthly goals. These are great goals to test your abilities and chosen road because they are so close you can almost touch them. These are wins that can be reached quicker. Look at these monthly goals as steps to take towards that yearly goal of yours, and it will be much easier to prioritize what truly deserves your attention. 4. Set your weekly goals. The end of every week should feel like progress that was made towards big vision. It should be full of exciting productive action you are taking that not only proves to create tangible results but also increases effortless flow in your daily actions. Things to keep in mind when taking productive action towards your big goal and stick to the plan that you know will get you where you want to be in a year: A. Consistent productive action - success doesn’t come in one day, be consistent in your path. B. Commitment to follow the plan - winners don't procrastinate and postpone important tasks. C. Measuring every action - understanding statistics are as important as consistency and commitment - what we don't measure, we don't manage. Following through with your daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly goals will keep you on a consistent train that leads to your envisioned success. Consistency comes with planning. It doesn ’ t just happen! If you don't plan you are on the road to fail to reach your goals. Don’t make it difficult for yourself. Measure processes and actions and learn from your fails. They are your lessons and deserve to be celebrated. Tracking your progress should be planned in your calendar weekly, and if not every day, then every week. I can guarantee at least a couple of things that will be worth celebrating. Planning is exciting and freeing . If you think that it is too time-consuming, imagine how much time you will waste by blindly walking in the dark and testing new idea every week? Look at the data - it will show you where you should focus. And at the end of the day, it will save you loads of time. Don't limit yourself to a boring daily routine. Do what lights your soul up and mix things to stay motivated and get inspired every single day! For more info, follow me on Facebook , Instagram , LinkedIn , or visit my website ! Read more from Agnese! Agnese Rudzate, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Agnese Rudzate is a Business Productivity Coach and Time-management expert with a professional background in Quality Management and Empowerment Coaching. She has turned her lifelong passion for organizing into her mission, helping women gain the confidence, clarity, and time freedom they deserve by providing action steps, tools, and customized strategies. Agnese is a firm believer that anyone can achieve business or personal goals through a deeply focused effort, which is based on her coaching. Through structure, systems, and processes that bring results, Agnese teaches her clients to manage their business with ease, create time freedom, and scale in profits.

Written by: Andrea Ryan, 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. Right now, many of us are being challenged by an array of negative emotions washing over us without rhyme or reason. Turn on your TV, read a newspaper, walk past someone on the street or listen to the radio. You cannot, it seems, escape the news that is Covid. Anxiety, distress and depression are unfortunately fast becoming a normal state of being for many of us. So how do you manage these states and distract yourself from what you’re experiencing and refocus on what’s happening in the present moment? Acknowledge your situation The first thing is to recognize and acknowledge your situation. Let’s use anxiety as an example. As someone who may experience anxiety, you may become annoyed when anxiety strikes. “I don’t have time to have an anxiety attack right now,” “of COURSE this has to happen now,” “I’m meant to be meeting someone today, but I’m not sure I want to risk it” or “I am so sick of these anxious moments, I wish they would just go away,” “When is all this going to end!” When anxiety pays us a visit, it brings with it a sense of doom. Our hearts race, our minds get busy concocting all different awful scenarios, our breathing becomes shallow and we can sometimes feel light-headed. Suffering anxiety is not fun. Whatever the trigger may be, we suddenly find ourselves cocooned in a storm of feelings that nobody else can see. Whether you’re at work at your desk, or frozen at the kitchen sink, or standing at a set of lights – your stillness contradicts everything that is going on within your mind at that moment. Take a deep breath and acknowledge where you are in that moment. Then use this grounding technique to help create space from distressing feelings you are experiencing. Let Your 5 Senses Ground You This particular technique involves using your five senses and is often referred to as the ‘5-4-3-2-1 coping technique’. This technique is designed specifically to be easy to implement and effective in drawing your attention to this moment. It helps to calm your breath, settle your thoughts and bring your mindfulness to the present. Working backward from 5, use your senses to list things you notice around you. To get started, take in a big breath from your belly: 5. See – Look around you and find five things you can see. 4. Feel – Notice four things that you can feel eg your feet in your shoes, the itch in your arm, the clothes against your skin. 3. Hear – Take note of three things you can hear: traffic outside, the wind in the trees or your neighbors’ dog. 2. Smell – Breathe in and list two things you can smell. 1. Taste – List one thing you can taste. You may want to say these out loud as you go or just confirm them silently to yourself. Make an effort to notice the little things you might not always pay attention to, such as the color of the flecks in the carpet, the hum of your computer or the color of the leaves on the trees. For more information, follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and visit my website! Andrea Ryan, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine I'm a transformational life and business coach for women. I support women to enable their journey of self-discovery and drive change through their personal journeys. Professionally I help female entrepreneurs align their mental and emotional journey with business guidance and mentorship. I have had a 15 year executive career, heading up business and marketing strategy, brand management and leadership in the disability employment sector, sport and as an award winning business development director in a mental health Not for Profit. Spending 3 years on the Australian National Committee for UN Women as a Committee Member and as a consultant to Human Right start-ups, I am constantly seeking board and volunteer roles that offer me the opportunity to utilize my skills to give back and contribute to the wider community. Quoted in Marketing Magazine Australia as the 'Accidental Marketer', I have a flair for the creative, which fuels my passion for supporting women to step into their power, thrive in their careers and become leaders who will instigate change to make this world a better place.