Written by Tara Swann, Emotional Empowerment Coach & Author Tara Swann is an Emotional Empowerment & Embodiment Coach and three-time Author who guides women to alchemise emotional patterns, reclaim their inner power, and manifest a life that reflects their deepest truth. Recently, I decided to cancel a coaching program that I’d been planning for months. I’d poured so much into coaching, time, money, energy, but it had never really paid off financially, and to be honest, it was never really where my heart lay. I loved it, but it wasn’t my true passion. So, after seven years of trying to make coaching “work”, I decided to make the move into writing. This felt both liberating, and terrifying. Why pivoting in life is scary When we decide to pivot in our lives, whether because it makes sense logically or because it’s what our heart and soul desire, it can become really uncomfortable. The way you’ve been living becomes so familiar that it becomes your comfort zone, or more accurately, “safe” according to your mind. Your brain equates familiarity with safety, whether it's comfortable or not, sometimes even whether it’s actually safe or not. Anything unfamiliar then becomes “unsafe” because what’s on the other side of something unfamiliar is unknown and, therefore, could be dangerous. This is your brain still operating as the survival tool it is designed to be, potentially halting the expansion you truly desire. Your subconscious mind, shaped by your past experiences, controls the majority of your thoughts and behaviour until you make them conscious and choose a different story. Your nervous system adapts to repeated experiences, not what you want. This is why it not only feels scary, but also why you can remain stuck even when you know you want more. Your survival brain, subconscious, and nervous system, all deeply interconnected, can often work against your soul's desires, but not maliciously. I say this to build awareness, not create a war within yourself. The grief of letting go When I decided to make the move into writing, I had to grieve old parts of myself that were so attached to making coaching work for me. I had parts of myself attached to success, money, and validation as a coach. I had to let go of where I thought my life was going and recalibrate my body, mind, and nervous system to make this new way of living my new normal: relaxing as a mother, writing and creating around my children, and allowing myself to receive more and to be provided for. This, in itself, was scary for a woman who has had to navigate financial independence when leaving past unhealthy relationships. Although my present-day relationship is beautiful and safe, my body still held fear that if I didn’t have my own independent income, I could be at risk. When I decided to pursue my creative passions, I also started receiving opportunities, such as grants. In the shedding of the old came the new. I started following those opportunities, and self-doubt flooded in. Your doubts are your doorways I woke again at 3 a.m. Lying in bed, I started noticing negative thoughts creeping in, as well as old familiar feelings of depression. Since pursuing the grant opportunity, I have noticed myself feeling the need to write “better”, to include better excerpts and poetry in the application. I had thoughts like, “Your current writing isn’t good enough. This won’t compare to others applying. It needs to be better,” and I started pacing, wondering how I could make my application better, to stand out so that I would be “accepted”, even though I’d already decided that I would pursue writing, whether I was successful with the grant or not. The truth is, it wasn’t about the application, nor the poetry; it was old parts of myself wanting to pull me back into the familiar, a state of stress, of needing to achieve and succeed, of not feeling good enough, with the old beliefs of “you need to work harder to be worthy” and “you need to be perfect to be accepted”. I noticed and acknowledged that the ways I’d been thinking, acting, and feeling were all signs that my heart wanted to expand into a life my brain and subconscious weren’t ready for. But I was ready. Consciously, I know I want to live a life of flow, creativity, rest, and play, especially as a woman and mother of three, but subconsciously, I was in fear, and my brain was pulling me back to “keep me safe” because, again, familiarity equals safety to our brains. Expanding into more I lay there, loving on those old parts of myself, with my hand on my heart, telling them it’s safe and that I am here with them, as my Higher Self speaking to the younger parts of me in fear. I breathed into my body, creating safety and envisioning my body and nervous system expanding to hold more. More joy, more freedom and flexibility, more money, and more playful creativity, without the need for sacrifice and struggle. I allowed my body to catch up to what my heart and soul were longing for. That’s when I got up out of bed and started writing. You get to choose again Whenever you decide to move into something new, especially when following a creative passion or maybe starting a business that you don’t know is going to work, it feels like a huge risk, and it can feel terrifying. You may decide to do it anyway, and in that, you may notice old parts of yourself wanting to pull you back to “safety”, just as I experienced, in the old stories of the mind, in the thoughts you think, “It’s too risky”, “I’m not ready”, “The timing isn’t right”, “I’m not good enough for this”, and in the old patterns, like anxiety or feelings of depression, that were imprinted through living in those states for long periods of time. For me, I lived with anxiety and depression for 17+ years, so those feelings were very familiar to me. I chose again. I recognised the old thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. I acknowledged them, breathed into them, and then said to myself, “I give myself permission to live a life of joy, freedom, abundance, and creativity,” because I do. That is what I choose for myself now. Create your new familiar There are two main ways to change your subconscious patterns. The first is repetition: to repeat something over a period of time until it becomes familiar and, therefore, safe to your mind. The second is emotional processing: allowing the energy of the old story, belief, or feeling to move through the body by expressing and releasing it, and making space to invite in the new stories, beliefs, and feelings. For example, the story of “I am not good enough” holds energy. If I feel into my body, I can locate that energy. I can choose to be present with it, move with it, and express it through several different tools, such as emotional release, movement, sound, breath, and dance, to name a few, and then consciously choose again, “I am good enough. I am worthy of a life of joy.” Then I would make it a daily practice to further imprint this new belief through repetition. Visualisation is another great tool to make something familiar. The brain doesn’t know the difference between real and imaginary, so visualising your new life, career, relationship, or whatever it may be, repeatedly can expand your nervous system’s capacity to hold it. This is manifestation You create a new reality by expanding your comfort zone, expanding your nervous system’s capacity to hold more, to upgrade into a new way of being, a new life. Your mind may try to hold you back, but with awareness and loving presence, you can create enough safety for those old parts of yourself to integrate, alchemising fear into faith, and for you to expand into your new life before it arrives. When you embody the energy of the new, of financial abundance, of deeply connected, loving relationships, of following your creative passions, your actions follow, and you begin not only to create from this place but also to allow the Universe, God, to meet you there. It still amazes me what miracles can occur when you choose to upgrade your energy. Make the decision now You already know what you want. You already know which area of your life feels stagnant. You can already feel the discomfort in your existing comfort zone. This is your invitation to make a new choice. Expansion usually follows contraction, just as spring follows winter. This is nature’s intention, but winter is always more pleasant when you lean into it, nurture yourself by drinking hot tea by the fire, and indulge in beautiful essential oil salt baths when you’re cold and stressed, so gift your inner world the same nurturance. Love those terrified parts of yourself into safety, and expand into joy anyway, because life is ever evolving, and so are you. If you loved this article, you will love my books, You Don’t Have Anxiety and Becoming Her: The Woman You’ve Been Taught Not To Be. You can find them on Amazon worldwide or here. Visit my website for more info! Read more from Tara Swann Tara Swann, Emotional Empowerment Coach & Author Tara Swann is an Emotional Empowerment Coach, Author, and Speaker known for helping women alchemise emotional patterns into personal power. She guides women into deeper confidence, clarity, and self-connection through her unique blend of emotional mastery, feminine embodiment, and manifestation work. Tara is the author of You Don’t Have Anxiety, Becoming Her, and The Ocean Is She, and is currently deepening her expertise through formal Tantra Practitioner training. Her mission is to help women remember who they are and consciously create lives that feel aligned, expansive, and unapologetically alive.

Written by Bilyana Wharton, Integrative Psychotherapist and Hypnotherapist Bilyana Wharton is an integrative psychotherapist and hypnotherapist specialising in trauma recovery and relationship therapy. She works with adult survivors of childhood adversities, abuse, and relational trauma using the T.I.M.E. model of psychotherapy. Her mission is to change the world, one person at a time. When I was a child, I remember sitting with my grandmother on the veranda of their beautiful village house, admiring her garden. My grandparents were both keen gardeners. She would pick a flower, just the one, and then sit on the veranda, content and happy on an early afternoon, enjoying its essence, gently taking that long, light breath in, and then passing the flower to me. Her garden was full of fragrant flowers for every season, lily of the valley, hyacinths, lilac, roses, daffodils, chrysanthemums, lilies, philadelphus, and tulips. Since then, I have loved aromas, scents, fragrances, and essences, and I connect them to different times, feelings, and memories. If I want to change my mood, I can do that by simply choosing the right scent. What my grandmother taught me, and what is actually part of Balkan culture and many others across the world, is the ability to pause and enjoy a simple connection through just being in a moment of pleasure. In European cultures across the continent, people have a long morning coffee, just observing the world and others, or, in the evening, when everything quietens down, a glass of wine or beer, just the one, just relaxing and coming back to oneself. In Bulgaria, especially in the Plovdiv region, the effortless state of ease is what we call ‘Ilyak’. The Italians will call it ‘Dolce far niente’, the sweetness of doing nothing, and the Romanians would describe it as ‘a se hodini’, to rest in a way that nourishes the spirit. Japanese culture cherishes the moments of Ma, the intentional space of quietness, emptiness, and peace between things. The practice is about not filling every moment and simply allowing it to unfold, noticing and being present. The Japanese tea ceremony contains that soft presence in every movement and every sip. In the Arab tradition, there is Sukoon, meaning inner quietude, the moment found in the morning enjoyment of tea or in the shady courtyard in the afternoon, doing nothing but nurturing inner balance and reconnection with oneself. Wherever we look, in each culture, we can find the art of doing nothing. Those moments are essential for our overall wellbeing, and they act as a multisystem regulator. On a psychological level, doing nothing reduces mental overload and emotional overwhelm, allowing our attention and focus to increase and connecting us to the safety of a moment when everything is alright. On a neurological level, our brains need a period of doing nothing, where the brain’s background processing systems switch on only when we stop tasking. This is the activation of the default mode network, which is responsible for self reflection, meaning making, memory integration, integrating our experiences, and stimulating creativity. On a physiological level, in moments of doing nothing, our cortisol levels drop, blood pressure normalises, and heart rate slows down, allowing the parasympathetic nervous system to dominate, which leads to improved immune function. The body enters a state of physiological repair. On a relational level, countries with a tradition of ‘doing nothing’ routines have stronger social bonds, as reactivity is softened because presence is not rushed. These moments of calm allow space for attunement, emotional digestion, and increased empathy. Cultivating a daily practice of taking a moment just to be is easy: Slow down ritual: Every morning routine can become a ritual when you slow down and mindfully become present in the moment and in the action. Making the morning coffee, seeing every movement, feeling the weight of the cup, the scent and warmth, tasting the blend, it is a ceremony of presence. Take a pause: Take a pause and smell the roses, as the famous phrase goes. Or just allow yourself to expand the space of nothingness while the rest of the world disappears in it. Let that moment between tasks, chores, and duties be just a moment, empty, floating, yours. The still gaze: The still gaze is a moment to sit and look ahead without analysing, without looking for anything, just noticing and losing yourself in the horizon. There is no aim, no interpretation, just being with and in what is there in front of you. Creating moments in daily life to nurture the soul by just allowing oneself to be is not only pleasurable. Allowing life energy to flow freely allows us to process naturally, reset, and draw what is needed intuitively rather than in a directive manner. It is a moment of surrender to life as it is, and to who you are, in a way that frees obstructions to a higher level of being. It is the potent state of doing nothing, for that is where most creative notions can be born. When the mind and body stop organising, we reinstate our place in a higher existence. Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, or visit my website for more info! Read more from Bilyana Wharton Bilyana Wharton, Integrative Psychotherapist and Hypnotherapist Bilyana Wharton is an experienced psychotherapist assisting clients to overcome the aftermath of trauma and abuse. Her therapy work encompasses conditions such as C-PTSD, Anxiety Disorders, Depression, and Relationship Issues. True to her instinctive and artistic nature, she has transitioned from a career in music and teaching to training as an integrative psychotherapist and hypnotherapist. Studying at Chrysalis Courses UK sparked an interest in the multi-model integrative therapy. Using the T.I.M.E. model, Bilyana utilises strategies and modalities of different therapy schools and theories, including CBT, Gestalt, Transactional Analysis, Attachment Theory, Parts Therapy, Relational Therapy, and Hypnotherapy.

Written by Genna Barbara Zimmel, Guest Writer and Executive Contributor AI is becoming increasingly capable of reasoning, creating, and automating complex tasks. But as technology becomes more powerful, the skills that determine whether organizations can successfully use it are becoming increasingly human. The future of AI will not only be defined by better models. It will be defined by the people who understand context, communicate clearly, build trust, and know how to translate human needs into effective systems. AI will automate more execution, but that will increase the value of human judgment. Emotional intelligence is becoming a critical implementation capability because organizations do not adopt technology. People do. What happens when AI takes over the thinking work? For the last two years, the conversation around AI has centered on capability: what it can reason through, create, and automate. But as that capability keeps expanding, a strange thing is happening in parallel: the demand for distinctly human skills isn't shrinking. It is accelerating. LinkedIn's 2026 Skills on the Rise report found that the fastest-growing skills in the U.S. workforce now split into two nearly equal tracks: technical AI capabilities like prompt engineering, and human-centered skills like executive communication, leadership influence, and cross-functional collaboration. A Harvard Business School analysis of nearly every U.S. job posting from 2019 through March 2025 found something that captures this shift precisely: structured, repetitive cognitive roles declined 13%, while demand for analytical, creative, and leadership-intensive work grew 20% over the same period. The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025 projects that employers expect 39% of workers' core skills to change by 2030. The same report places empathy and active listening among the skills that complement its top 10 core competencies, alongside technological literacy and lifelong learning, reflecting what the report's authors describe as the need to balance hard and soft skills as AI adoption accelerates. SHRM's 2025 research adds a sharper data point: 80% of HR professionals say active listening is an acceptable skill for candidates to have developed through non-degree pathways, such as work experience or coaching, rather than formal credentials, placing it among the most widely recognized interpersonal skills in hiring today. A companion SHRM analysis found that critical thinking, active listening, coordination, and judgment and decision-making are increasingly valued specifically as AI takes on more routine work. Emotional intelligence: An implementation skill, not just a leadership one Most conversations about emotional intelligence at work still frame it as a leadership trait: the ability to manage a team well, read a room, stay calm under pressure. That framing is incomplete now. Through my work exploring AI implementation, automation, and digital transformation, one pattern has become increasingly clear: the biggest challenges are rarely only technical. They are behavioral, organizational, and human. As AI systems increasingly interact directly with customers, employees, and decision-makers, understanding human context, intent, and hesitation determines whether that system creates real value or just sits unused. This shows up constantly in practice. An AI agent can be built correctly and still fail if nobody accounted for how a stressed employee will actually talk to it, or what a hesitant customer needs to hear before they trust an automated response. Reading that correctly and designing for it is an emotional intelligence skill applied to a technical problem. It's quietly becoming one of the most valuable things an implementation specialist can bring to the table. The real advantage belongs to people who can bridge both worlds LinkedIn's 2026 data introduces a useful term for this: "skill stackers". These are professionals who combine a technical core (AI literacy, data fluency) with a human layer (communication, judgment, stakeholder management) rather than specializing narrowly in either. Neither layer alone creates a sustainable advantage. Together, they become significantly more valuable. This tracks with what's happening on the ground. Upwork's 2026 In-Demand Skills report found that skills explicitly tied to applying AI within existing roles grew 109% year-over-year, not AI development in isolation, but AI applied by people who already understand the domain it's being used in. Domain knowledge, communication, and judgment aren't soft additions to technical work anymore. They're what determines whether the technical work actually lands. AI is increasing the value of human connection, not reducing it There's a reasonable fear that automation quietly makes human connection less necessary. The data doesn't support that. Upwork's research found that even in categories widely assumed to be vulnerable to automation, such as coding, creative work, and customer support, demand for human expertise has remained consistently strong rather than declining, even as AI-enabled skill demand more than doubled in the same period. What seems to be happening instead is a redistribution, not a replacement. As automation absorbs more information-processing and execution work, the things AI still cannot fully replicate, such as building trust, reading unstated needs, navigating disagreement, and collaborating across teams with competing incentives, become sharper differentiators. Microsoft's 2026 Work Trend Index captured this directly: when asked which human skills are becoming more important as AI takes on more work, professionals ranked quality control of AI output and critical thinking at the top of the list. Judgment isn't being automated away. It's being asked to do more. Successful AI adoption depends on psychology as much as technology This is the piece most organizations still underestimate. Multiple industry reports have highlighted that AI initiatives often struggle to deliver expected business value, with common challenges including unclear objectives, poor integration into workflows, insufficient organizational readiness, unclear communication, unmanaged resistance to change, and a failure to build genuine trust in the new systems being introduced. I've seen this pattern firsthand in CRM and AI implementation work. The technology is rarely the hard part. The hard part is helping people trust a new system enough to actually change how they work, and that requires exactly the skills this article started with: empathy, clear communication, and the ability to read what people aren't saying out loud. Organizations that treat AI adoption as a purely technical rollout are the ones most likely to struggle. The ones that treat it as a change management process, grounded in real understanding of fear, uncertainty, and behavior, are the ones actually positioned to make it work. Carol Dweck, the Stanford psychologist behind the concept, distinguishes between a fixed mindset, which views ability as static, and a growth mindset, which recognizes that capability can be developed through learning, effort, experimentation and exposure to challenges. This concept has become widely influential in business and leadership education, including my own MBA studies. The WEF's finding that resilience, flexibility, and agility are among the fastest-growing skills employers demand can be viewed as a reflection of this mindset at an organizational level. The ability to learn, adapt, and evolve will increasingly determine whether individuals and organizations successfully navigate AI transformation or resist it. The human advantage in an AI-enabled workplace AI can process information at a scale and speed beyond human capability. The things AI still cannot fully replicate, such as building trust, reading unstated needs, navigating disagreement, and collaborating across teams with competing incentives, become sharper differentiators. That interpretive work, the very human work of meaning-making, is becoming one of the defining competitive advantages of the AI era. The professionals who thrive over the next decade won't be the ones who avoided learning AI, and they won't be the ones who learned AI but nothing else. They'll be the ones who understood, early, that the technology was never the whole job. If your organization is navigating this shift and the human side of the transition hasn't gotten the same attention as the technical side, I'd welcome the conversation. You can find more on my website or connect with me directly on LinkedIn! Read more from Genna Barbara Zimmel Genna Barbara Zimmel, Guest Writer and Executive Contributor Genna Zimmel is a Technical Project Manager and founder of Torus Solutions, specializing in AI implementation, CRM architecture, and digital systems transformation. She works with organizations exploring how AI can be integrated into real-world workflows, combining technical systems thinking with a focus on human behaviour, adoption, and organizational change. Her work explores the intersection of artificial intelligence, human communication, and practical implementation, with a focus on building systems that are not only technically capable but meaningful and usable.

Written by Naómi Oosthuizen, Interim Specialist, CISO & CIO Naómi Oosthuizen is the Founder and Managing Partner of Sentio™, specialising in cybersecurity, AI governance, digital resilience, and board-level risk management across Europe. She writes about the intersection of technology, governance, regulation, and human decision-making. This is Part 3 of a three-part series on the EU AI Act's 2 August 2026 deadline. Part 1 covered what the Act requires and what changed under the Digital Omnibus, Part 2 covered why compliance without governance fails, the AI inventory, and accountability. What evidence will regulators, auditors, and boards accept? Declarations are cheap. What the Act asks for, and what a serious board asks for, is a trail. Providers of high-risk systems must operate a risk management system across the entire lifecycle, eliminating or reducing identified risks through design as far as is technically feasible, implementing mitigation and control measures for the risks that cannot be eliminated, and providing the information and, where appropriate, the training that deployers need in order to use the system safely. They must also run a quality management system spanning the pre-market phase, covering regulatory strategy, design control, verification, testing, and technical specification, the post-market phase, covering quality control, serious incident reporting, and post-market monitoring, and a continuous phase, covering data management, communication with authorities, record-keeping and logging, resource management, and an accountability framework.[1] Deployers do not escape this. Where Article 27 applies, and it applies to bodies governed by public law, to private operators providing public services, and to operators carrying out creditworthiness assessments or price and risk assessments in life and health insurance, the deployer must conduct a fundamental rights impact assessment before first use and notify the national authority of the results. Where a data protection impact assessment is also required, the two are conducted in conjunction rather than duplicated, which is a small piece of drafting that saves a great deal of duplicated effort in practice.[3] Underneath the specific legal artefacts sits a simpler organisational question, whether the reasoning behind consequential decisions has been preserved. Effective governance produces approved purpose statements, data assessments, design decisions, test results, transparency notices, vendor assurances, the design of human oversight, monitoring thresholds, incidents, exceptions, and retirement decisions, and it produces them as a by-product of ordinary work rather than as a retrospective reconstruction. NIST asks for post-deployment monitoring plans covering user feedback, appeal and override, decommissioning, incident response, recovery, and change management, which is a fair description of what an auditor will eventually ask to see.[6] ISO/IEC 42001 offers a structured and auditable management-system approach for organisations that want to govern artificial intelligence through defined roles, processes, controls, monitoring, and continual improvement.[5] Certification is voluntary, and it does not by itself establish compliance with the AI Act, but the discipline it imposes is the discipline the Act assumes you already have. Five questions for your board before August None of these questions is technical, and all of them are answerable. The quality of the answers will tell you more about your exposure than any maturity dashboard. Can we produce a complete and current inventory of every artificial intelligence system in use, including the ones we did not build and the ones we did not knowingly buy? Does every material use case have a named, accountable business owner who would be identified by name in an incident report? Are artificial intelligence risks integrated into our existing enterprise risk, privacy, cyber, data, procurement, and resilience processes, rather than isolated in a committee? Can we demonstrate how human oversight works in practice, as distinct from how it is described in policy? Can we produce evidence of decisions, monitoring, incidents, and exceptions without assembling it manually after the fact? Frequently asked questions Does the AI Act apply to us if we only use artificial intelligence rather than build it? Yes. The Regulation imposes duties on deployers as well as providers, and the transparency obligations arriving on 2 August 2026 extend to organisations that operate chatbots, publish deepfakes, or publish AI-generated text on matters of public interest. Deployers of high-risk systems must also use them in accordance with the instructions, monitor their operation, and assign human oversight to a person who is properly equipped to exercise it. Certain deployers, including public bodies and organisations assessing creditworthiness or pricing risk in life and health insurance, must additionally conduct a fundamental rights impact assessment before first use.[3] Has the deadline been postponed? Some of it has. The obligations for high-risk systems move to 2 December 2027 for stand-alone systems and 2 August 2028 for systems embedded in regulated products, and a transitional grace period runs until 2 December 2026 for marking generative systems already on the market. The broader Article 50 transparency duties still apply from 2 August 2026 and were not deferred.[7] Is the Code of Practice mandatory? No. It remains voluntary, although the Commission and the AI Board have confirmed that it is an adequate tool for demonstrating compliance with the relevant Article 50 obligations. Signing it gives an organisation a recognised route. Providers and deployers remain free to use another approach, provided they can demonstrate that their own measures are adequate. This will be assessed individually by the relevant market surveillance authority.[2] Do we need ISO/IEC 42001? Not as a matter of law. ISO/IEC 42001 specifies requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continually improving an artificial intelligence management system. Certification against it is voluntary and does not, by itself, establish compliance with the AI Act.[5] What it does offer is a structured and auditable way to govern artificial intelligence through defined roles, processes, controls, monitoring, and continual improvement, which is precisely the capability the Act assumes an organisation already possesses. What are the penalties? The consequences depend on what has been infringed, and the frequently quoted headline figure applies only to one tier. Member States must lay down effective, proportionate, and dissuasive penalties within the thresholds set out in the Regulation.[3] Type of infringement Maximum threshold Prohibited practices, and non-compliance with the requirements on data EUR 35 million or 7 percent of worldwide annual turnover Non-compliance with any of the other requirements or obligations EUR 15 million or 3 percent Supply of incorrect, incomplete, or misleading information to notified bodies or national competent authorities EUR 7.5 million or 1.5 percent Small and medium-sized enterprises The lower of the two applicable amounts, rather than the higher A potentially more immediate operational consequence is that an organisation that cannot evidence its decisions will find itself unable to answer a customer, an auditor, or a regulator at the moment when the answer is needed most. The question in front of the board today The question for boards is no longer whether they have an artificial intelligence policy. It is whether they can demonstrate, through decisions, ownership, controls, and evidence, that artificial intelligence is being governed as part of the enterprise rather than observed from the edge of it. Everything else, including the deadline, follows from the answer to that question. If those five questions remain unresolved on your risk register, a structured readiness assessment is the fastest way to determine how large the gap really is. You can find out more about how we work at sentiodigital.com. A confident answer to those five is worth more than a thick policy, and it is worth considerably more than an extension. The Digital Omnibus has bought time. It has not answered a single one of the five questions. Literature review: What was drawn from each source The table records the specific material taken from each source and where it is used, so that every factual claim in the article can be traced back to an identifiable passage rather than to a general impression of the literature. Source Type Main pieces used Where it is used Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (Artificial Intelligence Act) Primary legislation Adoption on 13 June 2024, publication on 12 July 2024, and entry into force on 1 August 2024. The phased application timetable. The risk-based structure. The provider and deployer roles. Article 50 transparency obligations. Sections 1 and 2 European Commission, Navigating the AI Act (frequently asked questions) Official guidance Classification of high-risk systems by intended purpose, aligned with existing product-safety legislation. The Article 50 duties as allocated between providers and deployers, with exceptions. Deployer duties on high-risk systems, including assigned human oversight and the right to an explanation. The fundamental rights impact assessment population, including life and health insurance, and the duty to notify the national authority. The three penalty tiers and the SME rule. Sections 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, and the FAQ on penalties European Commission, Code of Practice on transparency of AI-generated content Soft law instrument Publication on 10 June 2026. Confirmation by the Commission and the AI Board that the Code is an adequate voluntary tool. The two sections, for providers and for deployers. The set of EU icons for labelling. The requirement that those complying by other means demonstrate that their measures are adequate. Commission guidelines on Article 50 still to follow. Section 2 and the FAQ on the Code Digital Omnibus on AI (amending regulation, COM(2025) 836)** Amending legislation Formal adoption by the Council on 29 June 2026. Deferral of Annex III high-risk duties to 2 December 2027 and Annex I to 2 August 2028. The transitional grace period to 2 December 2026 for marking of generative systems already on the market. Deferral of national sandboxes to 2 August 2027. The new Article 5 prohibition, applicable from 2 December 2026. Section 3 and the FAQ on postponement Deloitte, EU Artificial Intelligence Act Deep Dive Practitioner analysis The risk management system duties covering safety by design, protective measures, and information for safety. The quality management system spanning the pre-market, post-market, and continuous phases. The observation that systems carrying no obligations under the Act may still carry business, security, and other regulatory risk. Explicit notification for chatbots as an example of a limited-risk duty. Sections 1, 7, and 8 Tabassi (2023), NIST AI Risk Management Framework (AI RMF 1.0), NIST AI 100-1 Voluntary framework The four functions govern, map, measure, and manage, with governance as a cross-cutting function. Integration of AI risk into enterprise risk management. GOVERN 1.6 on inventory mechanisms and GOVERN 1.7 on decommissioning. GOVERN 2.2 on training and GOVERN 2.3 on executive responsibility. GOVERN 6.1 and 6.2 on third-party risk. MAP 3.5 on human oversight processes. MANAGE 3.2 and 4.1 on monitoring. The warning that AI systems are often perceived as more objective than humans, and that human and machine pairings can amplify human bias. The statement that the framework does not prescribe risk tolerance and is voluntary. Sections 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 ISO/IEC 42001:2023 Certifiable standard The existence of requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continually improving an artificial intelligence management system. Used only to support the point that governance of this kind is meant to be operated and audited. Section 8 and the FAQ on standards Follow me on LinkedIn and visit my website for more info! Read more from Naómi Oosthuizen Naómi Oosthuizen, Interim Specialist, CISO & CIO Naómi Oosthuizen is the Founder and Managing Partner of Sentio™, a European cybersecurity and governance advisory firm. With more than two decades of international leadership experience across financial services, government, and critical infrastructure, she specialises in cybersecurity, AI governance, enterprise risk management, and digital resilience. Through her writing, she explores the future of technology, governance, organisational behaviour, and digital trust. References: [1] Deloitte. (2024). EU Artificial Intelligence Act: Deep dive. Deloitte. [2] European Commission. (2026a). Code of practice on transparency of AI-generated content. Shaping Europe's Digital Future. [3] European Commission. (2026b). Navigating the AI Act: Questions and answers. Shaping Europe's Digital Future. [4] European Parliament and Council of the European Union. (2024). Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 of 13 June 2024 laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence (Artificial Intelligence Act). Official Journal of the European Union, L, 2024/1689, 12 July 2024. [5] International Organization for Standardization. (2023). Information technology, artificial intelligence, management system (ISO/IEC 42001:2023). ISO. [6] Tabassi, E. (2023). Artificial intelligence risk management framework (AI RMF 1.0) (NIST AI 100-1). National Institute of Standards and Technology. [7] Digital Omnibus on AI. (2026). Regulation amending Regulations (EU) 2024/1689 and (EU) 2018/1139 as regards the simplification of the implementation of harmonised rules on artificial intelligence (COM(2025) 836, adopted by the Council on 29 June 2026). European Union.

Written by Regina Eastman, Integrative Therapist & Doctorate of Ministry (c) Regina Eastman is an inspiration in the field of Wholeness. She is the founder of Ariel Grace Integrative Therapies and holds a Master of Arts in Applied Psychology. She is a Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapist, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, and a Body and Energy Worker. Dearest reader, as the summer (or winter, depending on what hemisphere you are on the planet) comes into its invitation of vitality (or quietness for winter), I’ve been called to share that participation with the natural world through embodied rituals can ground us in an ever busying world, connect our inner world to lovingly influence the outer world, and carry us throughout each day with a sense of fundamental and authentic peace for ourselves which we then can, by nature, share with others. What is ritual? For many, and at a time long ago in my life, the meaning of “ritual” had a more rigid, oppressively religious, and dogmatic feel. Yet, upon reflection, I had ritual running throughout my life. For me and many others, Mamma Nature created and continues to influence ritual through appreciation, connection, and care of self through Her, and care of Her through care of the self. Depending on our mindset, our daily patterns can be either habits or rituals. Habits tend to be more mechanical, surface-level, like pushing the coffee maker button or putting on your seatbelt, while ritual brings depth, heart, meaning, and fullness, lending a certain spirit to our day-to-day lives. Typical rituals in our culture include rites of passage, such as weddings and funerals, as well as prayer and meditation in our churches or spiritual communities. Ritual simultaneously keeps us embodied, grounded, and in the world, as we are open within ourselves as a part of life. Ritual is a conscious, heartfelt choice and action we make, whether each morning, afternoon, evening, or during certain times of the year, to receive and express ourselves as a part of an ongoing process while we live this beautiful, often challenging thing called life. Ritual that is outside the norms of society Ultimately, when we participate in a ritual, connection, or resonance of feeling, what matters is that the ritual fits us. Over the years, those whom I’ve supported, as well as myself, have come to refer to us as “seekers” of our self-realization. Most of us have been brought up in a culture of rituals that were more or less imposed on us. This was and continues to be the norm within our culture. As we receive, adopt, and adapt within a patriarchal system of ritual, how often would I hear the expression “I’m a recovering Catholic, Christian, Jew, etc.”? These are examples of the outer world, if you will, influencing or directing one’s inner world. Their religious rituals often left us with a sense of emptiness, confusion, and resentment. These, from a subjective experience, are more of a habit, an action without the investment of one’s heart. Not that being of a religious tradition is wrong in and of itself, there was simply a lack of connection within the individual to the teachings and rituals of one’s familial religion. Many have returned to the religious traditions of their upbringing with a new appreciation due to their inner, heart-directed, and intuitive connection. When we feel this resounding connection from within us, then what we have connected to outside ourselves has vitality, expression, and life. Letting what is not of us fall away Returning to our nature with regard to forming rituals is, in itself, a process of discovery for many. In my work of service, I have found that we have the sacred makings of ritual built within us. For many whom I’ve had the great fortune to support, one of the major steps in the process of ritualization is bringing the head or thinking aspects of being directly into our hearts and our feeling capacities. Intention toward deepening oneself can be actualized as a ritual, a sweet, simple, and often tricky undertaking, for, again, we are more creatures of habit than of ritual. As the saying goes, habits can be hard to break. I say let us not break them, but instead, soften them so that they may come to bend. In this case, bending the mind in honor of the heart. As thoughts slow and our intentions allow for deepening, we begin to feel. For many, as we begin to feel around and within the heart, we have no words to describe. This is often because we have lived much of our lives from the head’s perspective, leaving the heart uncharted territory. The good news is that you own this land and may come to know its terrain and build within it through ritual. The heart is central to our inner realm of experience. Once we begin to connect to its intelligence from the heart, the journey of self-realization through ritual can grow. How you might begin making ritual a resource Ask yourself, what, either as a child or in your younger years, brought within you a sense of awe, joy, freedom, connection, or wonder? When was this removed, taken, given away, or replaced? Letting yourself re-remember through your innate abilities, whether they be through feeling the memory, seeing it in your mind’s eye, remembering hearing the sound, or sensing the memory, you have begun to have the starting element to form a ritual. These expressions through feelings are heartfelt, filling us with meaningful energy. This remembering of connection is now again in your possession to create with it and foster it into manifestation. Most often, for children and young people, we are curious and therefore open creatures, allowing connections to take place. In our youth, we have a strong tendency toward creativity and playfulness, knowing that we are part of this wondrous world through our connection with others and with nature. As adults, it is no one’s responsibility but ours to return to the light and joy of the child. Whether we remember moments of play, connection, awe, or, if we came from a place where the want to play and connect were absent, it is never too late to begin. Our hearts and minds are powerful allies. We need only to begin sincerely, and therefore we have begun. Some examples of beginning ritual I have found over the decades that although we innately have available within us the means to put ritual as a sacred and meaningful practice into our lives, sometimes, with starting, we need a bit of support by pointing out some possibilities. I preface these offerings with a suggestion. Leave the outer world’s influence on and through you, with judgment and scoffing, by the wayside. Setting aside our self-criticism and judgment in creating sacred ritual, we can come to see that this may also need some practice. Here are a few ideas to “start” the path of ritual making: Upon awakening in the morning, or evening if that is your cycle to your day’s start, bring awareness that you are a conscious being. In the moment, hear yourself speak in acknowledgment, “Good morning, Life, Spirit, Name of Self, etc.” Slowly move your fingers, toes, neck, shoulders, and legs, and relish the capacity to move, feel movement, and the experience of being alive. Be curious, "How does your body want to wake as a ritual- serpentine movements, stretching, shaking?" Bring in a positive emotion such as gratitude while still fresh from awakening. Give yourself some space and time to simply be still in body and feel the expression and qualities of how gratitude is within your body. Give thanks for the ability to feel these qualities from within. After connecting with the felt sense of gratitude, give it a fuller life by gifting this feeling to a loved one. Think of them as you feel the emotion, then intend to send it off by acknowledging its movement from you, expanding onward to your loved one. If you live in an area with nature around you, or if you have just one plant in your home, standing in its presence, appreciating forms of nature as kindreds to ourselves, conscious, life-providing, as well as beautiful beings, begins to produce the ritual of awareness, connection, and the opportunity of creating form as a part of sacred ritual. First thing upon waking and greeting the day, and while still feeling the veil of the sleep/dreaming realm, have a journal and pen easily accessible from the place of sleep and give a few minutes to write without topic or prompts. This can be referred to as a form of “stream of consciousness”2 writing. This type of ritual can connect you with your self-experience in the present moment by moving out the surface thinking within your mind and, over the course of writing, accessing the truth and depth of yourself, which otherwise would be overridden by the habits, world pace, and the voluminous noise of each day, all recycling within the mind. Sharing my daily sacred ritual In sharing my ritual, please feel free to use any of my ways to spark your own. My ritual has grown over the years as I have had the good fortune to experience many forms of spiritual traditions and their practices. From my experiences, I created a way that is from me, to me, and to life. My ritual began with awareness, feeling, and appreciating myself as a sensitive being. I began with grounding, walking and standing mindfully while barefoot on the grass and giving thanks to feel the connection of my energy with that of the Earth, Mother. A wonderful meditation teacher said to me long ago that a primary goal of the practice of meditation was for each of us to become our very own best meditation teacher. I have extended this into the formation of ritual as my inner self expressing and thereby connecting to the outer self/world. I extend the same prayer and invitation to you. Become the maker of your ritual, thus making it a sacred practice. Each day I awaken, I meet the morning, aware that I continue to exist in this conscious, human form. I give a “Good Morning, Spirit” and enjoy the experience of coming from the restorative dreamland to the embodied realm. I prepare a ritual through cacao making while singing my thanks, Mamacita Cacao coming from the jungle, into my heart as a sacred medicina. The Cacao follows me into my 7-directions prayer. Standing barefoot, I give acknowledgment and thanks to the abundance of plant flora, the heavens above, and the winged and four-legged creatures with my creation of dance, song, drumming, and fluting. Then, I sit quietly, inwardly calling upon and giving thanks to poignant experiences that have and continue to define my life as sacred. I continue to allow everything else to “fall away” so that I find myself. Giving sacred ritual life gives, in return, a fuller life Starting seems to be the hardest part in any process for most of us. Being simplistic, which I have found is steeped in sacredness. Knowing that life itself is conscious, for example, this time of year, I have finally succeeded in growing morning glories. Throughout their growing complexities, I have approached them, touched their greenery, acknowledged and given thanks, often reminding them how beautiful they are. That simple act brings me into my heart as well as being a part of this lovely place on the planet in which I get to live. The point is to connect, however briefly and simplistically, especially at the start of ritual building. By connecting your inner realm with your outer realm, you begin to grow a deep sense of self, life, and a conscious, unwavering center that understands self, shares these benefits with others, and lives with more openness, flow, and ease. I have included one of my favorite getting-started books that you may purchase or check out at your local library, Ritual as a Resource by Michael Ricucci. Here are links to a research article and a magazine article on the impact and importance of ritual: Are rituals important for mental health? Holistic Wellness in Modern Life: How Spiritual Rituals Support Balance and Inner Well-Being You may also find more information about me and my offerings here. With deep abiding gratitude, Regina. Follow me on Facebook and Instagram for more info! Read more from Regina Eastman Regina Eastman, Integrative Therapist & Doctorate of Ministry (c) Regina Eastman offers the weaving and evolution of her life experiences and academic achievements as a work of sacred service. From early childhood, her connection with nature from both the seen and unseen perspectives, in relationship with her curiosity and sensitivities, has brought her to the stages of wisdom. Presently, with her candidacy for a Doctorate of Ministry in Engaged Wisdom, this wisdom is ripe to be shared. She is the founder of Ariel Grace Integrative Therapies, where she invites and supports you in embodying yourself as conscious wisdom through the physical, emotional, heart, energetic, spiritual, intuitive, and conscious and unconscious dimensions of Self.

Written by Tiffany Meredith Lynch, Sum Faht Meditation & Emotional Wellness Coach Meet Tiffany Meredith Lynch, a Certified Meditation Teacher, Qigong Instructor, TCM Practitioner, and Emotional Wellness Coach. With her extensive travels and deep immersion in ancient wisdom, spiritual teachings, and traditional Chinese Medicine, she brings a transformative approach to holistic healing and personal growth. Fear has a way of freezing us in place. It tightens your chest, quiets your voice, and whispers that you’re not enough- that you shouldn’t even try. I know this feeling well. Recently, I’ve been wrestling with the idea of starting a podcast, and fear has shown up like an uninvited guest. Will anyone actually listen? Am I qualified to do this? Who am I to think I can pull this off? When fear takes hold, your mind becomes a storyteller, spinning narratives designed to keep you safe. Your ego speaks up, convinced it’s protecting you from failure and rejection. But here’s what I’ve learned. Fear isn’t always the enemy. When you feel afraid of something, you’re actually sensing that your soul wants more. That fear is proof of a desire, proof that some part of you knows there’s growth waiting on the other side. Your fear is pointing toward what matters. The key is recognizing the difference between fear that protects you and fear that paralyzes you. One is wisdom. The other is stagnation. When you can name your fear, acknowledge it, and move through it anyway, something shifts. Fear becomes fuel. It becomes the very thing that propels you toward courage. The problem isn’t that we feel afraid. The problem is that when we stay there, we let fear make our decisions for us. The moment you decide to act despite the fear, that’s when you reclaim your power. Primal fears: Asking the question, "Are they valid?" Primal and survival fears are part of the body’s natural alarm system. They are designed to protect us, constantly scanning for threats and asking, “Am I safe?” These fears often arise around life, death, security, and well-being. At times, they may be shaped by the ego or old internal stories. But when we slow down, become present, and listen from a heart-centered place, they can also offer valuable guidance. The key is learning to discern the difference between true inner warning and fear created by the mind. When we approach these fears with awareness, we can better understand what is real, what is imagined, and what is asking to be healed. Let’s take a deeper look at some common primal and survival fears and explore whether they are valid signals or false stories rooted in fear. Fear of failure Fear of failure is the deep dread of not succeeding, of falling short, or of being judged for not getting it right. This is a valid fear because it often points to deeper wounds, unresolved pain, or past experiences that shaped how we see ourselves. Rather than pushing it away, we can view it as an invitation to look inward. When approached with compassion and honesty, fear of failure can reveal the patterns, beliefs, and emotional injuries that are ready to be healed. In this way, it becomes more than fear. It becomes a doorway to growth, self-awareness, healing, and a more empowered life. Fear of death Fear of death is the intense fear of dying or of the process of death itself. For many, this fear is deeply connected to the unknown. We fear what we cannot explain, control, or fully understand. But when we allow this fear to dominate our lives, it pulls us away from the present moment and drains the energy we have to truly live. The truth is, no one has all the answers about what happens next. What we do know is this, we are here now. We are here to live with intention, to lead with love, and to become who we are meant to be. Live life to its fullest. A meaningful life is the greatest preparation for the mystery of death. Fear distracts us from that truth. Living a life of purpose returns us to it. The fear that your voice won’t be heard This is a deep emotional wound. It often shows up as hesitation to speak your truth or express what you genuinely feel because you fear being dismissed, misunderstood, or ignored. While this fear can be very real and valid, it should not keep you silent. Healing begins when you move through that fear and allow yourself to be seen, heard, and understood. Your voice matters, and speaking your truth is an important step toward personal freedom and self-trust. The fear of rejection and abandonment This fear runs deep. It lives in the belief that if you fully express who you are, your thoughts, values, needs, or emotions, you may be rejected by the people you love or by the community around you. In some relationships, this fear may be rooted in very real experiences. But as true healing begins, and as you learn to love and accept yourself more fully, this fear starts to lose its power. The stronger your relationship with yourself becomes, the less dependent you are on the approval of others, and the more confident you become in standing firmly in your truth. Each day, we are given the choice to live from fear or to live from the heart. Step into your sensory nature by trusting your heart and intuition, not fear We are entering a more awakened time, one that calls us to trust our intuition and follow the wisdom of the heart. Whether your inner guidance comes as a gut feeling, a sudden knowing, or a quiet emotional signal, begin making choices rooted in your body’s innate intelligence. Learn to recognize and quiet the mind’s panic. When fear arises, the brain often creates a false sense of urgency, insisting you must act immediately to fix something. Don’t let that urgency lead you. Pause instead, and allow your body to show you the next right step. Working with your unique energy asks for a different approach to fear. The shift happens when you stop running from fear and begin accepting it. In that acceptance, fear can transform into a powerful source of wisdom, strength, and inner resourcefulness. As you move into greater alignment, see your life’s experiences not as weaknesses or obstacles, but as the very places where you are meant to cultivate profound mastery and life-changing insight. Let fear transcend into courage! I’m transforming my fear into courage, and my podcast is coming this fall. Get ready! If you enjoyed this article, please click here for my free ancient wisdom healing workbook. From my heart to yours, Tiffany. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Tiffany Meredith Lynch Tiffany Meredith Lynch, Sum Faht Meditation & Emotional Wellness Coach When you meet Tiffany, you encounter someone who has tackled life's toughest challenges head-on and gained a deep, transformative insight into authentic healing. Her spiritual journey, spanning several decades, has taken her across continents. She studied under esteemed teachers in Malaysia and Thailand, where she deepened her knowledge of meditation, breathwork, qigong, and traditional Chinese medicine. These invaluable experiences have enriched her ability to harness transformative techniques, empowering both herself and others to cultivate deep healing and rediscover the divine heart.

Written by Ki'ara Larkin, Nurse Coach, Mindset & Wellness Strategist Ki’ara Larkin is a Board-Certified Nurse Coach and Transformational Wellness Expert who helps individuals create balance, resilience, and alignment through holistic health, mindset mastery, and intentional living. Walk through social media for five minutes, and you'll likely be told you're using the wrong supplements, eating the wrong foods, following the wrong workout, or missing the one "secret" that will finally transform your health. Every day, a new expert appears with a miracle solution. The wellness industry has never been more popular or more profitable. While there are countless professionals genuinely dedicated to helping people live healthier lives, there is also an overwhelming amount of misinformation, fear-based marketing, and quick-fix promises that leave consumers confused, discouraged, and often poorer than when they started. As a registered nurse and holistic wellness coach, I believe wellness should empower people, not manipulate them. The problem isn't that people want better health. The problem is that many don't know who to trust. Why wellness has become so confusing The wellness space is unique because almost anyone can build a large audience online. A viral video, a compelling personal story, or a polished brand can quickly create credibility, even when little evidence exists to support the claims being made. At the same time, healthcare hasn't always done a great job of addressing lifestyle, prevention, nutrition, stress management, or emotional well-being. That gap has created an opportunity for wellness professionals to step in, but it has also opened the door for misinformation. Consumers are left trying to decide who is telling the truth. Fear sells faster than facts One of the biggest red flags in wellness marketing is fear. You may have seen messages like: "Everything you're eating is toxic." "Doctors don't want you to know this." "One supplement will fix all your problems." "If you don't detox immediately, you're damaging your body." These statements grab attention because fear creates urgency. The reality is that health is rarely that simple. Most chronic health conditions develop from multiple factors, including genetics, lifestyle, environment, sleep, stress, nutrition, and access to healthcare. No single product or influencer can honestly promise to solve every problem. Credentials matter, but so does humility Letters behind someone's name don't automatically make them trustworthy. Likewise, having no formal medical background doesn't automatically mean someone has nothing valuable to offer. The professionals I trust most are the ones who recognize the limits of their expertise. They are willing to say: "I don't know, but I can research it." "Let's look at the evidence." "You should also discuss this with your healthcare provider." Confidence without humility should raise concern. Beware of one-size-fits-all wellness Your body is unique. What works beautifully for one person may be ineffective or even harmful for someone else. Age, hormones, medical history, medications, genetics, stress levels, and lifestyle all influence how your body responds to nutrition, exercise, supplements, and treatment plans. Be cautious of anyone promising the exact same solution for everyone. Personalized care almost always leads to better outcomes. Ask better questions before spending your money Before purchasing a supplement, joining a program, or hiring a coach, ask yourself: Is this person educating me or simply selling to me? Are claims supported by credible evidence? Are they transparent about risks and limitations? Do they encourage individualized care? Would I still trust this information if nothing were being sold? These questions can save you hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars. The future of wellness is collaboration For too long, healthcare and wellness have been portrayed as opposing sides. They don't have to be. The best outcomes happen when evidence-based medicine and healthy lifestyle practices work together. Medication, nutrition, movement, sleep, stress management, and mental health have their place. True wellness isn't about choosing one philosophy over another. It's about understanding that lasting health requires a comprehensive approach tailored to the individual. My philosophy As both a nurse and a wellness coach, my goal has never been to replace healthcare. My goal is to help people better understand their bodies, ask informed questions, develop sustainable habits, and become active participants in their own health journey. I believe education is empowering. I believe prevention is powerful. I believe healing is personal. Most importantly, I believe people deserve honest guidance, not empty promises. Final thoughts Your health is one of the most valuable investments you'll ever make. Protect it by asking questions, seeking qualified professionals, and remaining curious instead of fearful. The future of wellness doesn't belong to the loudest voice on social media. It belongs to the professionals who lead with integrity, compassion, evidence, and a genuine desire to help people thrive. Because true wellness isn't built on trends. It's built on trust. Ready to take the next step? If this article resonated with you, I invite you to become an active participant in your own wellness journey. Stay curious, ask questions, and don't be afraid to seek guidance from professionals who prioritize education, integrity, and personalized care over quick fixes. You can connect with me for more evidence-based wellness education, mindset strategies, and holistic health insights by following my work on social media or visiting here. My mission is simple- to empower you to become your happiest, healthiest, and most authentic self. Remember, your health deserves more than trends. It deserves truth, trust, and a plan that's built for you. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Ki'ara Larkin Ki'ara Larkin, Nurse Coach, Mindset & Wellness Strategist Ki’ara Larkin, BSN, RN, is a nurse coach, speaker, and wellness thought leader redefining the intersection of healthcare and mindset. As an MSN-FNP candidate, she blends clinical science with transformational coaching to address the root causes of burnout, stress dysregulation, and chronic lifestyle disease. Through her writing and speaking, she advocates for a paradigm shift in healthcare, one that prioritizes both physiology and psychology in the pursuit of sustainable vitality.

Written by Mark Mathia, Chief Catalyst Officer & Business Strategist Mark Mathia, Chief Catalyst Officer & Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, leverages 30+ years in the C-suite to accelerate profitable growth for founders and executives worldwide. Creator of CatalX(tm), a proven framework fusing profit strategies, elite communication, and energy mastery-he helps leaders dominate rooms, scale faster, and avoid burnout. You are a capable leader. You have delivered results, carried real responsibility, and performed under pressure. Still, something feels different this time. Whether you are stepping into a new role, leading a nonprofit through uncertainty, or navigating a meaningful professional transition, the external demands continue. At the same time, a quieter question grows more insistent. Is the foundation underneath my leadership still solid enough for what is being asked of me now? That question is not weakness. It is the signal of a leader who refuses to lead on autopilot. The hidden cost of transition The issue is rarely skill or experience. The deeper problem sits beneath both. Externally, conditions keep shifting, new expectations, constrained resources, and rising complexity. Internally, many leaders notice a quiet erosion, decisions that feel more reactive, energy that drains faster, and a sense that previous approaches no longer fully fit. At a deeper level, a tension emerges. Leadership was never designed to run indefinitely on competence and grit alone. It requires something more durable. Character and a clear identity. When the foundation is unclear, even strong leaders eventually pay a cost. The cost is rarely dramatic. It is cumulative. It almost always appears first inside the leader before it surfaces in the organization. Most leaders respond by gathering more tactics. What they actually need is a clearer foundation. If you are continually adding new strategies without examining your underlying operating system, you are simply building a taller building on shifting sand. (For more on aligning your core strategy and ROI, explore our guide on executive coaching ROI.) A different approach Dr. Stacey Ocander and I have spent decades working with leaders who carry substantial responsibility. Stacey brings deep expertise in leadership development, workforce education, and cultivating leaders from within organizations. I bring more than thirty years of experience building, scaling, and leading in complex environments, along with my proprietary CatalX PSE™ work that helps leaders align psychology, strategy, and energy. Together, we developed the Voyager Framework™ for leaders who recognize that foundation precedes performance. When you eliminate burnout and stop running on pure adrenaline, your leadership transforms from reactive survival into sustainable impact. (If you are currently feeling the strain, take a look at our practical approach to stopping burnout before it stops you.) A clear path forward The Voyager Framework™ provides a practical structure to anchor your leadership. Clarify your Character Code™: The non-negotiable standards that steady you under pressure. Align your Service Mission Engine™: So your purpose stays connected to the people and work that matter most. Create your Identity to Impact Activation Plan™: Daily practices that turn identity into consistent influence. Craft your Legacy Catalyst Statement™: The lasting mark you intend to leave. What the experience includes The work takes place over four intensive weeks, with four live virtual cohort masterminds. Between sessions, participants receive daily Signals, short, focused messages that deliver wisdom, encouragement, and practical integration so the learning moves into daily leadership. Each participant also receives access to their CliftonStrengths assessment, a one-hour private coaching session, and a full year of flash coaching support. Neither Dr. Ocander nor I leave leaders to integrate the work alone. We remain available throughout the year. This combination of focused cohort experience, daily reinforcement, strengths clarity, private coaching, and sustained access is intentional. Lasting change requires more than insight. It requires support while the new foundation takes root. What becomes possible When the foundation is clear, decision-making simplifies. Energy is conserved rather than scattered. Leaders become more recognizable, to themselves first, then to those they lead, even when conditions remain uncertain. Craig Bebee described his experience this way: “I have come to the realization that as I age and creep closer to retirement, I need to teach others the tools that have helped me be successful while still holding true to my values and keep developing my legacy that I want to be remembered by.” Dr. Stacey Ocander offers a complementary view: “Legacy isn’t something you leave behind, it is something you build every single day.” She also poses a clarifying question: “What is it like to sit across from me? What is it like to experience me? Am I grounded in my values or my character? With that, what impact will I leave on others?” These are the kinds of insights the Voyager Framework™ is designed to surface, clearer alignment between who you are, the values you will not compromise, and the legacy you intend to build. The cost of delaying Many capable leaders continue operating from an increasingly thin foundation. They stay busy. They keep delivering. Over time, however, they quietly lose the internal steadiness that once distinguished their leadership. That path remains available. It is not required. Your next step We are opening a second cohort of the Voyager Framework™. Enrollment is limited, so the experience remains personal and substantive. This work is designed for nonprofit executives, corporate leaders, and professionals in meaningful transition who already understand that foundation precedes performance. As I often share with leaders, “your business will never outgrow your current level of thinking.” To learn more and explore whether this cohort is a fit, start here. Watch the short welcome and introduction video, Voyager Framework Introduction, on YouTube. Complete this interest form to receive full details and next steps, Voyager Framework Interest Form. We will follow up personally. Follow me on Facebook and Instagram for more info! Read more from Mark Mathia Mark Mathia, Chief Catalyst Officer & Business Strategist Mark Mathia is a former C-suite executive turned Chief Catalyst Officer and Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach with over 30 years of leading and advising national organizations. He created the CatalX™ framework to help founders and senior leaders master high-stakes communication, accelerate profitable growth, and sustain peak performance without burnout. His clients, CEOs, founders, and executive teams, consistently scale faster, win bigger deals, and lead with greater clarity and energy. When he’s not coaching one-on-one or speaking to leadership teams, Mark distills battle-tested insights on influence, profit acceleration, and human performance.

A black belt, a camera, a saxophone, and a box of historical model pieces may not look like career development tools. For Scott Kresan Tilbe, however, experiences like these have helped build skills that became useful long after the activity itself was over. Based in Barrie, Ontario, Scott has a background that includes office administration, photography, web design, computer science, customer service, and visual media. His interests have taken him even further, from karate and music to historical models, travel, art, history, and science. Together, those experiences have shown him that useful skills are not always developed in obvious places. “I think you can learn something useful from almost any experience if you pay attention to it,” Scott says. “A skill might start in one part of your life and become valuable somewhere completely different later.” Discipline is built through repetition Long before Scott began working in administration, karate gave him an early lesson in consistency. He trained long enough to earn a black belt, an accomplishment built through continued practice rather than a short burst of effort. That experience offers a practical lesson for anyone developing professionally. Learning software, improving communication, becoming more organized, or mastering a technical skill usually involves doing the basics repeatedly until they become familiar. “Karate taught me that improvement usually happens gradually,” Scott says. “You keep practicing, make adjustments, and eventually you realize how much progress you’ve made.” The same mindset can be useful at work. Instead of expecting immediate mastery, employees can focus on becoming more capable and consistent each time they perform a task. Creative hobbies can strengthen attention to detail Photography became one of Scott’s strongest creative interests and eventually became part of his education and professional experience. He studied Digital Photography at Georgian College and later worked professionally in photography. Creating a strong photograph requires close observation. Lighting, positioning, timing, composition, and small visual distractions can all change the final result. Learning to notice those elements helped Scott develop a habit of looking closely at the details before considering something complete. “Photography trained me to look closely before deciding something is finished,” Scott says. “Small details can change the way the whole image comes together.” That habit can carry into very different types of work. Reviewing documents, organizing information, checking schedules, and designing websites can all benefit from noticing what someone else might overlook. Practice can build confidence Scott’s early interest in music provides another example. As a teenager, he played saxophone and placed second at a local Kiwanis Music Festival. He also performed in a steel band during high school. Music gave him experience with preparation, repetition, and performing after putting in the work beforehand. It also offers a useful lesson for people who assume confidence has to come naturally. “Being prepared makes a big difference in how confident you feel,” Scott says. “If you’ve practiced something enough, you have something to fall back on when you’re under pressure.” Professional preparation can take many forms. Reviewing information before a meeting, learning a system before it becomes urgent, and thinking through an unfamiliar assignment before starting can make challenging situations easier to manage. Hands-on projects reward patience and precision Scott continues to enjoy building historical models and painting miniature figures. These projects can involve many small components, detailed research, careful painting, and the patience to work toward a finished result over time. There is a connection between that process and Scott’s administrative career. For the past several years, he has worked as an Office Administrator at a gastroenterology clinic in Barrie, supporting daily activities and helping maintain organized workflows. Both settings place value on completing small tasks carefully so that the larger result comes together as intended. “I like projects where individual pieces eventually come together into something complete,” Scott says. “It makes you appreciate the importance of getting the smaller parts right.” The lesson is useful for larger professional projects as well. Breaking complicated work into smaller steps can make it easier to organize, check, and complete without losing sight of the overall goal. New experiences make adaptability easier Travel has taken Scott throughout Europe, Asia, South America, and the United States. Those experiences have introduced him to different cultures, environments, histories, and ways of approaching everyday life. His education shows a similar willingness to enter unfamiliar territory. After photography, Scott studied Web Design at Georgian College, Computer Science at Laurentian University, and Film and Television at Canadore College. Each subject required him to learn a different set of ideas and methods. “Trying different things has made me more comfortable with being a beginner,” Scott says. “You don’t have to know everything at the start. You have to be willing to learn.” That comfort with learning can be especially valuable in workplaces where technology, responsibilities, and processes continue to change. Look beyond the resume for useful skills The most valuable lesson from Scott’s experience may be that career development is broader than formal education and job experience. People also build abilities through what they practice, create, study, and experience in their own time. Instead of asking if an interest belongs on a resume, it can be more useful to ask what that interest has taught you. Discipline, observation, preparation, patience, precision, and adaptability can develop in unexpected places and remain useful across very different roles. Scott Kresan Tilbe’s path provides a practical example. The camera, karate training, music, model building, travel, education, and professional experience may belong to different parts of his life, but the skills developed through them do not have to stay there.

Medicine has a side most patients rarely see. Long before treatment plans are discussed or procedures are scheduled, physicians are working to understand exactly what disease they are dealing with. For Dr. Robert Guarino, that process has been the center of his professional life. A physician specializing in breast pathology, Guarino has spent his career studying disease at the tissue level and contributing his expertise to the greater effort of caring for people with breast disease. It is work that suits someone who has always been drawn to details. Guarino grew up in New Jersey as the oldest of four brothers in a blue-collar family. He remembers his parents as hardworking, and his early years reflected a similar sense of discipline. He finished seventh academically in his high school class while also competing in lacrosse, a sport that eventually helped him earn an athletic scholarship to Rutgers University. At Rutgers, Guarino studied biological science and graduated with honors before going on to medical school. Yet some of his most formative education in pathology happened outside the traditional classroom. He spent years working as a pathology assistant, including positions at Overlook Hospital and Morristown Memorial Hospital, where his responsibilities included working with surgical specimens and assisting with other laboratory procedures. Rather than encountering pathology only as an academic subject, he was learning what the work looked like in practice. How Dr. Robert Guarino found his specialty That early exposure eventually developed into a medical career. Guarino completed his training in anatomic and clinical pathology and served as chief resident before moving to Manhattan for advanced fellowship training at Mount Sinai. There, his career became increasingly specialized. After training in surgical pathology, he spent another year concentrating specifically on breast pathology. Guarino still points to Dr. Jonathan Lara and Dr. Ira Bleiweiss as two important mentors in his development. Their influence is significant because Guarino's career has been shaped not only by formal education, but also by the transfer of knowledge between physicians who have spent years developing expertise in the same demanding field. He learned early that becoming a specialist was not simply about completing another credential. It meant developing the judgment to recognize what matters when a case is not straightforward. When Dr. Robert Guarino talks about what makes someone effective in breast pathology, he begins with the need for a “very strong knowledge base,” but he does not stop there. He believes knowledge must be paired with “a dedication and passion to your career duties” and, most importantly, a commitment to helping people facing breast disease achieve positive outcomes. That distinction says a great deal about the way he views his profession. Pathology can be highly technical, but Guarino does not see technical knowledge as an end in itself. The purpose is to make that knowledge useful. The value of expertise in breast pathology Breast care illustrates why that usefulness matters. A single case can bring together physicians and professionals from pathology, imaging, surgery, medical oncology, radiation oncology, genetics, and nursing. Each discipline contributes a different piece of information, and the quality of the overall process depends in part on specialists being able to communicate what they see from their particular perspective. For Guarino, that perspective comes from pathology. His years of specialized practice have placed him in multidisciplinary environments where pathology is one part of a broader conversation about breast disease. This collaborative approach has also shaped how he thinks about his own contribution. Asked what professional success looks like, Guarino does not begin with a title, publication, or academic appointment. He describes it simply as “good positive patient outcomes directly related to my service.” That focus on outcomes also helps explain why he has continued studying long after completing his formal medical training. Expertise in a medical specialty cannot remain static while research, diagnostic approaches, and professional knowledge continue to develop. Guarino has made keeping up with that change part of his normal routine rather than something reserved for occasional conferences. “I read the literature in breast pathology constantly,” he says. His routine includes journals and new editions of textbooks, along with continuing medical education seminars each year. That ongoing study is less dramatic than reaching a major career milestone, but it may be more revealing. In a specialty built around careful distinctions, remaining knowledgeable requires the willingness to keep revisiting what you know. His scholarly work provides another window into that mindset. Guarino has contributed to research, case reports, and professional presentations covering highly specific diagnostic problems. His CV includes work on a rare variant of metaplastic squamous cell carcinoma of the breast, as well as a case involving metastatic breast carcinoma found in an endometrial polyp. Both were presented at the College of American Pathologists annual meeting in 2017. Earlier work involving breast cancer was also presented at the USCAP annual meeting. The subjects are narrow by design. Specialists build value by going deeply into questions that most people, including many other professionals, may encounter only rarely. For Guarino, developing that depth has been a career-long process. Why teaching became part of Dr. Guarino's career As his experience grew, Guarino also moved into teaching. He has worked with resident trainees and taught pathology to medical students, extending the same cycle of mentorship that helped shape his own career. His academic experience includes a Clinical Assistant Professor appointment in pathology beginning in 2013. That progression feels fitting. Guarino can still identify the physicians who influenced him as he developed as a specialist, and teaching gives him the opportunity to provide that kind of guidance to physicians earlier in their careers. In pathology, where judgment develops through a combination of knowledge and repeated experience, that transfer of expertise has practical value. Medicine, however, is not the only thing competing for Guarino's attention. He is an avid reader with a particular interest in classic literature, and he enjoys golf and saltwater fishing. Soccer is another long-standing interest. He helped co-found Nerazzurri New York, a New York City supporters club for Inter Milan, giving him an outlet that is far removed from microscopes and medical literature. His family provides another counterweight to the demands of medicine. Guarino is married and has three children, and he believes stability outside work can influence how a physician performs inside it. “Overall, happiness in the home,” he says, “translates into a better and more efficient physician in the hospital.” It is a revealing comment because Guarino's career has not been built around a single dramatic moment. Its defining feature has been accumulation: years of training, lessons from mentors, experience examining disease, academic research, teaching, and the constant reading required to remain current in a specialized field. Through it all, Guarino keeps returning to the same measure of whether that accumulated knowledge has value. It is not how impressive the expertise sounds on paper, but whether it can be put to useful work for others. As he puts it, the goal is ultimately positive outcomes connected to his service. For a career spent studying the smallest details of disease, that is a notably big-picture way to measure success.

Success stories often focus on big moments. A promotion. A bold career move. A breakthrough idea that changes everything overnight. For Christopher Reep, the journey looked very different. For nearly 30 years, he has worked at Daimler Truck North America, where he serves as a Production Manager supporting the manufacturing of Freightliner and Western Star trucks. Over those three decades, he has watched the industry evolve, embraced new ways of thinking, and developed a reputation for helping teams solve problems that don't have easy answers. Along the way, he became a certified Lean expert, a published author, and someone who believes the best ideas are usually built through experience rather than inspiration alone. "I've never believed that one big decision determines your future," he says. "It's the lessons you collect along the way that shape how you think and how you lead." His career wasn't built by chasing the next opportunity. It was built by paying attention, asking questions, and finding better ways to approach challenges that many people had accepted as part of the job. Every challenge became an opportunity to learn Growing up in Lincolnton, North Carolina, sports played a big role in his life. Running track and cross country taught him discipline long before he stepped onto a manufacturing floor. "You learn pretty quickly that you can't fake consistency," he says. "You either put in the work every day or you don't." That lesson stayed with him after graduating from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. Although his degree wasn't directly connected to manufacturing, it gave him an appreciation for observation, patterns, and understanding why things happen. When he joined Daimler Truck North America, he discovered those same skills applied in unexpected ways. "I found myself asking why certain problems kept coming back," he says. "Fixing something once is good, but understanding why it happened is what creates lasting improvement." That mindset eventually led him to Lean management and structured problem-solving, but it started with something much simpler: refusing to accept recurring problems as normal. Why staying in one place didn't mean standing still Today, it's common to hear that career growth means moving from one company to another. His experience offers another perspective. Nearly 30 years with the same organisation hasn't meant repeating the same job. Instead, it has meant growing alongside an industry that continues to evolve. Manufacturing has changed dramatically over the past three decades. New technology, changing customer expectations, and different leadership approaches have created new challenges at every stage of his career. "People sometimes think staying in one place means standing still," he says. "The reality is that every year brings something new to learn." For him, growth has never depended on changing employers. It has come from staying open to new ideas and being willing to rethink familiar processes. Turning years of experience into practical ideas After years of applying Lean principles in real workplaces, he noticed something missing from many of the books he read. They explained the concepts well, but they didn't always show what those ideas looked like during a normal workday. "I wanted to write the kind of book I would've appreciated earlier in my career," he says. "Something practical that people could read and start using right away." That idea shaped the way he approaches his books. Whether he's exploring Hoshin Kanri, Total Productive Maintenance, PDCA, or continuous improvement, his goal remains the same: helping readers move from understanding an idea to applying it with confidence. The best solutions often come from the front line One of the biggest lessons he has learned isn't about processes. It's about people. Throughout his career, some of the most valuable ideas have come from the employees working closest to the job every day. "The people doing the work see things that leaders don't always have the chance to see," he says. "If you're willing to listen, you'll often find the solution is already there." That belief has shaped his leadership style. Instead of feeling pressure to have every answer, he focuses on asking thoughtful questions and creating an environment where people feel comfortable sharing their ideas. It's an approach that builds trust while also leading to better decisions. Small lessons lead to lasting careers Looking back on nearly three decades in manufacturing, he doesn't point to one defining moment that changed everything. Instead, he sees a collection of experiences that gradually shaped the way he leads, writes, and approaches challenges. Running cross country taught him patience. Manufacturing taught him the importance of observation. Working alongside different teams showed him that listening often leads to better solutions than assuming. "I still think there's something new to learn every day," he says. "If you stay open to that, you'll keep improving no matter how long you've been doing the job." For him, success has never been about chasing the next big achievement. It's been about learning from each experience, applying those lessons, and helping others do the same. Over time, those small lessons have added up to something much bigger than a single accomplishment. They have become the foundation of a career built to last.

Written by Mike Turner, Finance Leadership & ERP Strategy Mike Turner is an ERP Growth Advisor and a contributor to Brainz Magazine. He works with CFOs, Controllers, private equity firms, family offices, and growth-oriented organizations on finance infrastructure, operational scalability, ERP strategy, and finance transformation. For many growing businesses, QuickBooks is exactly the right place to start. It’s familiar, affordable, and more than capable of supporting a young organization finding its footing. The challenge isn’t starting with QuickBooks. The challenge is staying there long after your business has outgrown it. One theme that consistently comes up in conversations with finance leaders isn’t about software. It’s about complexity. At some point, growth quietly changes the role of finance. Finance is no longer responsible only for producing accurate financial statements. It’s expected to provide operational visibility, strategic insight, and decision support across the business. That’s usually when existing systems begin to show their limits. Growth creates complexity Revenue growth is exciting. New locations are exciting. Acquisitions are exciting. Additional legal entities are exciting. Yet each milestone adds another layer of operational complexity. The systems that worked for a $5 million organization often struggle to support a $25 million or $50 million company operating across multiple entities, departments, currencies, investors, or reporting requirements. The issue isn’t that the software suddenly stopped working. It’s that the business evolved. The real cost isn’t the software When organizations begin feeling operational strain, the instinct is often to compare software features. In reality, the hidden costs usually show up elsewhere. Finance teams spend more time exporting spreadsheets than analyzing performance. Month-end closes take longer than leadership would like. Executives begin questioning which report reflects the "real" numbers. Controllers create increasingly sophisticated workarounds just to keep reporting moving. The finance team works harder each month, but leadership doesn’t necessarily gain better visibility. These aren’t software problems. They’re infrastructure problems. A question I often ask Rather than asking whether an accounting system is good enough, I ask a different question. Is your finance infrastructure helping your organization scale, or simply helping it survive another month-end close? That conversation almost always leads somewhere more meaningful because the real issue usually isn’t technology. It’s whether the current finance environment still supports where the business is going. A few patterns I consistently see Every organization is different, but several patterns tend to emerge as companies grow. Finance teams begin spending more time reconciling information than interpreting it. Leadership waits longer for insights that should be available in real time. Operational decisions become dependent on manual spreadsheets built outside the core financial system. As complexity increases, confidence in reporting often becomes harder to maintain. None of these challenges appear overnight. They develop gradually, which is why many organizations adapt to them without realizing how much productivity they’ve lost. The conversation has changed One thing I’ve noticed is that CFO conversations have changed. A decade ago, discussions centered around accounting software. Today, they’re centered around scalability, operational visibility, automation, decision support, and building finance organizations capable of supporting growth. That’s an important distinction. Technology is no longer the destination. It’s one component of a much larger finance strategy. Looking ahead Organizations rarely wake up one morning having outgrown their financial infrastructure. It happens gradually, one acquisition, one entity, one spreadsheet, one manual process at a time. By the time the cracks become obvious, finance teams have often spent years building workarounds for systems that were never designed to support the complexity of the business they’ve become. The finance leaders who navigate growth most effectively aren’t necessarily the ones with the newest technology. They’re the ones who periodically step back and ask whether their financial infrastructure still matches the complexity of the business they’re building. Because the question isn’t whether your current system still works. The question is whether it’s preparing your organization for the next chapter of growth. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more info! Read more from Mike Turner Mike Turner, Finance Leadership & ERP Strategy Mike Turner is a finance leadership advisor, ERP strategist, and enterprise account executive who helps CFOs, Controllers, Private Equity firms, Family Offices, and executive leadership teams navigate growth, operational complexity, and financial transformation. With a background in enterprise SaaS, finance technology, and strategic business development, he specializes in helping organizations improve financial visibility, operational efficiency, and scalability through modern finance infrastructure and business technology solutions.