Written by Joanne Angel Barry Colon, Wholistic Personal Trainer, Intuitive Healer & Cosmic Energy Reader Joanne Angel Barry Colon has 40+ years in the health, fitness, and wellness industry. She is the Wholistic Fitness owner located in Queens, New York, a certified holistic personal trainer, intuitive healer, cosmic energy reader, student of Astrology, Master of Numerology, and Creator of the Chakra Balance Numerology Cosmic Energy Forecast Deck. As the Sun enters Libra on September 22, we move into an interesting energetic season. Once the Sun leaves Virgo, none of the major planets will be traveling through the Earth signs of Taurus, Virgo, or Capricorn. Instead, the planetary energy is concentrated primarily in Fire, Air, and Water. Venus is traveling through Scorpio; Mars remains in Cancer until September 27; Mercury and the Sun move through Libra; Jupiter and the South Node are in Leo; Pluto and the North Node are in Aquarius; Uranus is in Gemini; and Saturn and Neptune continue their journey through Aries. Symbolically, that's a lot of movement without much Earth energy to anchor us. Where is the ground beneath your feet? In astrology, the Earth element represents the physical body, stability, nourishment, security, routine, patience, resources, and our connection to the tangible world. When Earth energy isn't strongly represented in the current planetary transits, we can use the symbolism as a reminder to intentionally create our own grounding practices. You may notice yourself feeling mentally overstimulated, emotionally sensitive, impatient, scattered, restless, or simply craving something that helps you feel safe and supported. Rather than allowing uncertainty to pull you away from yourself, come back to your body. Come back to your breath. Come back to Mother Earth. Women over 40: Come back into your body For women over 40, grounding may become especially important. Midlife can bring many changes at once. Our bodies may be changing. Our hormones may be shifting. Sleep patterns can change. Our relationships may be evolving. Children may be leaving home. Careers may be changing. We may find ourselves questioning what we want, what we no longer want, and who we are becoming. This can be a powerful season of awakening, but it can also feel overwhelming when we are constantly living in our heads. Your body needs to know that you are listening. This is where grounding practices can become part of your daily wellness prescription. Grounding doesn't mean ignoring what is happening around you. It means creating enough connection with yourself that you can respond to life from a more centered place. Your nervous system needs moments of stillness Many women have spent decades doing, giving, producing, caring for others, working, raising families, building businesses, and meeting everyone else's needs. Sometimes the body is asking us to stop doing and simply be. Spending intentional time in nature, practicing slow breathing, moving the body, and stepping away from constant stimulation can support relaxation and help bring your awareness back into the present moment. You don't need an elaborate spiritual ritual. Take your shoes off and place your feet on the grass. Sit outside and feel the ground underneath you. Hug a tree. Walk through nature without your phone. Garden. Sit near water. Take several slow breaths while noticing what you can see, hear, smell, and physically feel. Place one hand over your heart and the other over your belly. Breathe in slowly and allow your exhale to become slightly longer. Tell your body, “I am here.” Strength training can be grounding too Grounding doesn't only happen through meditation. Strength training can become a beautiful grounding practice, especially for women over 40. When you lift a weight, you have to be present in your body. You feel your feet connecting with the floor. You become aware of your breathing. You notice your muscles working. You focus on your posture, stability, balance, and strength. You are no longer floating around inside your thoughts. You are inside your body. Walking, stretching, yoga, gardening, dancing, and other intentional forms of movement can offer similar opportunities to reconnect with yourself. Libra season is asking us to find our center Libra represents balance, relationships, harmony, and finding the center between two opposing forces. Perhaps one of the greatest lessons of this Libra season is remembering that balance doesn't always come from what's happening around us. Sometimes we have to create it ourselves. When the sky seems to be missing Earth, become the Earth. Slow down. Nourish yourself. Move your body. Eat foods that make you feel supported and energized. Create routines that provide structure. Spend time in nature. Rest without guilt. Feel your feet beneath you. Connect with your breath. Remember that you don't have to move at the same speed as everything happening around you. Especially for the woman over 40, this season can be an invitation to stop searching outside yourself for stability and begin cultivating it within. Allow Mother Earth to remind you: I am supported. I am rooted. I am nourished. I am grounded. I am protected. I am secure. I am safe within myself. When life feels uncertain, return to what is always available to you: your body, your breath, your inner wisdom, and the Earth beneath your feet. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Joanne Angel Barry Colon Joanne Angel Barry Colon, Wholistic Personal Trainer, Intuitive Healer & Cosmic Energy Reader Joanne Angel Barry Colon has 40+ years in the health, fitness, and wellness industry. She is the owner of Wholistic Fitness, located in Queens, New York; a certified holistic personal trainer, intuitive healer, cosmic energy reader, student of Astrology, Master of Numerology, and Creator of the Chakra Balance Numerology Cosmic Energy Forecast Deck. She is the Host of Joanne's Healing Within TV Show, Joanne's Cosmic Energy Radio Show, and an author and Self-Publisher. Joanne's mission is to help women (men by referral) release issues from their tissues as they release emotional weight and fall in love with themselves while witnessing their transformation into the best version of themselves.

Rasha Oudeh is a Swiss-based entrepreneur originally from Jordan and the founder of Global Match AG. Drawing on her experience building and exiting businesses, she discusses how companies can assess new markets, choose partners, and turn international ambitions into sustainable growth. In this interview, she shares practical lessons from working across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Rasha Oudeh, Entrepreneur & International Expansion Expert When a company tells you it wants to expand internationally, what do you look at first? My first question is always, “Why?” I want to understand the company’s vision, what it expects expansion to achieve, and why it believes a particular country is the right choice. This applies in both directions. Some Middle Eastern companies are attracted to Switzerland because of its reputation and perceived tax advantages. I ask whether it is the right location for their actual operations. Depending on the business model, the Netherlands might be more suitable for certain activities, while Switzerland could serve a different purpose. The choice needs to follow the business’s operational needs. Then I examine product fit, demand, pricing, and competition, validating my thinking with local contacts. For example, when considering Egypt, I pay particular attention to whether the company can compete on price while maintaining a viable margin. Ultimately, I want to know whether expansion is feasible with the resources available. An enormous marketing budget can open many doors, but most companies need to choose carefully. A country’s reputation alone is never enough reason to enter it. What separates a market that looks attractive on paper from one a company can realistically enter? As I mentioned, I start with the client’s vision and what it is prepared to commit. A large market can be attractive without being easy to enter. Some companies want to build an e-commerce business in the United States or Germany because of their scale. I encourage them to look closely at what competing would require. These are sophisticated markets, and entry can demand substantial marketing investment, strong execution, and the right partners. Being able to list a product online does not mean customers will discover it or buy it profitably. Nigeria raises a different set of questions. Before recommending entry, I want to understand how the company will receive payment, whether customers can access the required foreign currency, and what could delay transfers abroad. These examples illustrate why I look beyond market size. A realistic opportunity requires suitable customers, capable partners, and a workable route to profitable sales and payment. I want those practical foundations established before the company commits significant resources. How has building and exiting your own companies changed the way you advise others on expansion? Building and selling a business that reached CHF 18 million in revenue taught me to pay close attention to how ownership and partnerships are structured. One of my strongest lessons was the importance of a robust shareholder agreement. When people are excited about building a company or entering a new market, they naturally focus on the opportunity. Difficult questions about control, responsibilities, disagreements, and eventual exits can feel uncomfortable or premature. My experience taught me to address them early. That lesson influences how I advise others today. Alongside the commercial opportunity, I want founders and partners to think carefully about how their relationship will work as the business develops. A shareholder agreement deserves serious attention from the beginning. Clear expectations give everyone a stronger foundation for working together and help protect the value they are investing so much effort in creating. Where do European companies most often misread business culture in the Middle East and Africa? I would describe it as misunderstanding differences in administration, communication, and buying expectations. I learned business in Germany and built companies in Switzerland, where precision carries enormous importance. Those experiences shape how we expect business to work. But each market has its own commercial history. In Iraq, for example, I would caution companies against assuming that oil wealth automatically creates demand at premium prices. In my experience, many buyers are price sensitive and accustomed to competitively priced imports, including products from China. European suppliers need to understand those expectations and explain why their offer justifies its price. The same attention is needed when interpreting local communication and decision-making. Practices vary between countries and organisations, and familiar European processes cannot simply be assumed. An experienced adviser can help companies understand these differences and avoid losing time. I value advisers who provide practical support, clear objectives, and demonstrable progress. Their contribution should help the company build its business and make better decisions. What should boards challenge before approving a major international expansion? Boards should challenge whether there is a credible market entry strategy, whether the product fits the country, and whether the company has the financial resources to execute its plan. Saudi Arabia illustrates this well. I see it as one of the region’s most important opportunities, but I would ask a company whether it has the budget and patience to compete effectively. Depending on the sector and entry model, establishing a presence, developing relationships, and building market visibility can require substantial investment. The attractiveness of the opportunity should not distract the board from those commitments. Boards should also question the proposed route into the market. Sometimes acquiring a small local company or combining operations with an existing business offers a stronger starting point than building everything from scratch. Before approving expansion, I want the board to understand how the company will win customers, what that will cost, and how it will support the business if progress takes longer than expected. What tells you a distributor is the right partner rather than simply the first available one? I normally compare around five potential distributors or partners. I question what I hear, collect as much information as possible, and conduct thorough due diligence. I have learned from my own mistakes that enthusiasm at the beginning needs to be supported by evidence. A suitable distributor should share certain principles and a compatible vision for the business. I also look for financial strength, marketing capability, relevant connections, and the capacity to invest in developing the market. Personal responsibility matters enormously to me. Exporting can bring unexpected problems, and I want to know how a partner behaves when something goes wrong. Will they communicate openly, take ownership of their part, and work with us towards a solution? The right distributor combines commercial capability with a responsible attitude. I want confidence that we can build the business together and handle difficulties with the same level of commitment. How should a company adapt headquarters’ expectations when local decision-making moves differently? Through regular explanation and involvement. I believe headquarters should remain close enough to the process to understand what is happening locally and why certain decisions take longer or move differently than expected. My approach is to involve them every two weeks. Those discussions should explain progress, obstacles, and the next steps clearly. Regular communication gives management a more realistic understanding of the market and allows concerns to be addressed before frustration builds. I am also careful about the numbers. Exaggerating potential sales or returns may create excitement initially, but it sets expectations that become difficult to manage later. Projections should reflect what we can reasonably support with the information available. Adapting expectations requires honesty from the beginning. When headquarters understands the reasons behind local developments and receives consistent updates, it can make better decisions about timing, resources, and the support the team needs. What has leadership taught you about the price of carrying responsibility? Leadership has taught me that responsibility carries a personal cost: you have to remain involved when situations become difficult. It is easy to be available when business is going well. Accountability becomes much more meaningful when there is a problem to resolve. I believe taking responsibility earns respect and helps people feel secure doing business with you. When customers and partners know that you will acknowledge an issue and work through it, trust grows. This is something I have particularly valued in my experience with German manufacturers. When export problems arise, I appreciate partners who stand beside us and take responsibility for their part in finding a solution. That is also the standard I want to bring to my own leadership. People need to know that my commitment continues beyond the agreement or the sale. Being dependable requires effort, but it is central to lasting business relationships. What is one principle you would want leaders to remember before entering a new market? Focus. I would encourage leaders to begin with two or three carefully selected markets and give them the attention needed to succeed. Market selection should reflect both the potential return and the effort required to establish the business. The United Arab Emirates is a useful example. Its international profile can make it an obvious first choice, but I would never assume that visibility and accessibility make success easy. In my experience, companies face strong competition and a diverse customer base with different tastes and expectations. They need a clear understanding of their target customer and a convincing reason for that customer to choose them. I also question whether a very small market offers enough potential to justify the time invested. Establishing distribution and supporting sales can require considerable effort regardless of market size. My principle is to concentrate resources where product fit, commercial potential, and access to customers come together. Choose a few markets carefully, then commit to developing them properly. For more insights, visit Rasha Oudeh’s website or explore international expansion support at Global Match AG. Follow me on Instagram and LinkedIn for more info! Read more from Rasha Oudeh

People should buy Julius Clark Jones’s eBook trilogy because it offers a raw, unfiltered look at trauma, gang life, and true redemption, written by someone who lived it. His three-part eBook memoir series, Invincible Tears, A Brothaz Love, and Da Reputable Vol. 3: Tears Still Invincible, serves as both a warning and a guide for communities grappling with generational cycles of crime. A raw insight into street and prison life Readers seeking absolute honesty will find it here. Jones does not glorify street culture; instead, he details his initiation into the Jersey City chapter of the West Side 30’s Fruit Town Brim gang, the severe criminal charges he faced, and his time in state and federal prison. His books explore the immense mental and emotional toll of watching his daughters grow up through prison photographs and shedding “tears you can’t see.” A powerful blueprint for community redemption His writing represents the power of choice and personal transformation. After using his time behind bars to take business courses and reshape his mindset, Jones transitioned into a public speaker dedicated to gang prevention and youth intervention. His trilogy represents a “beacon of light and hope,” showing that individuals from the most volatile backgrounds can break generational cycles and positively impact their neighborhoods. Essential awareness for parents and youth The series goes beyond basic storytelling to analyze the root causes of systemic issues. Jones addresses the heavy psychological impacts of: Trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Bullying and betrayal Gang violence and incarceration By breaking down these realities, the books also help parents bring awareness to their households and spot warning signs in children and teenagers before they choose a destructive path. Major digital bookstores (retail) Rakuten Kobo: Accessible globally via the Kobo eBook storefront and Kobo e-readers. Apple Books: Available on the preinstalled bookstore app for all iOS and macOS devices. Barnes & Noble Nook: Offered digitally for Nook e-readers and the Nook mobile app. Smashwords: Available directly through the Smashwords Store in multiple DRM-free formats (EPUB, PDF) compatible with smartphones and tablets. Digital subscription platforms Everand: Included in the monthly Everand Subscription Catalog (formerly Scribd) for unlimited reading. Public library platforms & networks If you prefer to borrow these eBooks for free using a public library card, they are distributed to public systems through major digital media catalog networks: OverDrive or Libby: Available to request and borrow through the OverDrive Library System used by many local public libraries. Gardners or Askews & Holts: Available across international library databases, primarily serving public library networks in the UK and Europe. Odilo: Accessible to public and school library catalogs across Europe and Latin America through the Smashwords Library Distribution partnership. Baker & Taylor or Axis 360: Distributed directly to institutional and educational library collection systems. Invincible Tears eBook A Brothaz Love eBook Da Reputable Vol. 3: Tears Still Invincible eBook Website

Written by Harriet Bodö, Executive Coach & Mentor Harriet Bodö has spent years on both sides of the relationship, as a client and today as an executive coach and mentor, across programs in leadership, business development, and change management. That vantage point shaped Coach Me & More, where she is also a certified board member, advisory board member, and keynote speaker. We work in something close to real time now, weekly check-ins instead of quarterly ones, plans that shift before they're even finished. So here's the honest question: is the way you're leading change today actually keeping pace with how your organization works, or has reality already moved past the plan? For most leaders, the answer is no. But the fix isn't running faster. It's protecting the time to do fewer things, more clearly, more often, with the same why running through all of it. The plan is outdated before it's approved Change management, as most of us learned it, was built for a slower world. A watertight, months-long plan, signed off in a boardroom, rolled out top-down. That model made sense when the environment held still long enough for the plan to survive contact with it. It doesn't anymore. AI, real-time markets, constant reprioritization, the pace has changed, and the old model hasn't caught up. This is the first in a series of reflections I'll be writing for Brainz on leadership through constant change, and it starts with the number that should make every leadership team uncomfortable. The failure rate nobody fixes by trying harder It's widely cited, and worth taking seriously even with the caveats, that as many as 70% of change initiatives fail. Kotter's original research into why transformation efforts fail found the same pattern three decades ago, and it hasn't gone away: the reasons are rarely technical. They're human. Organizations invest heavily in new structures, processes and systems, then wonder why people aren't on board. Traditional change management treats people as a variable to be managed around. Transformative leadership treats them as the point, and that distinction is the whole difference between a change that sticks and one that quietly reverses itself six months later. The fundamentals of leading people haven't changed. The pace around them has. Which means a comprehensive plan that's outdated before it's even approved is worse than no plan at all, it gives you the comfort of having “done change management” without the substance of having led anyone through it. What people are actually reacting to A recent survey by Novus, a leading Swedish research institute, asked people what irritates them most about their managers. The top answers weren't about strategy or competence. They were conflict avoidance and poor communication, managers who dodge difficult conversations and stay vague, and in doing so, create exactly the uncertainty and disengagement they were trying to avoid. Eight out of ten respondents said they speak negatively about their employer as a result. Eight out of ten. The uncomfortable conclusion from the leadership consultants behind that study is simple: the ability to communicate clearly and handle conflict takes courage, and courage is built in the everyday, not in a workshop once a year. We talk about time being money, but rarely about how much time gets lost to the fallout of avoided conversations, the quiet complaining, the second-guessing, the energy that goes into working around a problem instead of through it. It rarely improves quality, efficiency or anyone's development. The leader avoiding the conversation loses time too: to worry, to discomfort, to postponing what needs to happen regardless. It really is easier, in the end, to just have the conversation. Psychological safety is what makes that possible in the first place, without it, people manage the impression of alignment instead of raising what's actually wrong. Knowledge doesn't travel uphill Here's something worth reflecting on: knowledge moves fastest between peers, not up and down a hierarchy. We take in what resembles our own reality more easily than what comes from somewhere unfamiliar, which is exactly why middle managers matter so much in any change effort. If they aren't given time and room to learn with each other, horizontally, the knowledge stays wherever it already lives. It doesn't spread. This is where AI is a genuine opportunity, not just a faster engine. Make it a colleague you can ask the question nobody else wants to ask out loud. Lower the threshold for admitting a mistake before it compounds. Build the forum for the “dumb questions” that were never actually dumb, the leaders who stay truly present are the ones who make that forum feel safe, tools or no tools. The tools aren't the answer. How you use them together, horizontally, between peers, is. 3 things that actually move a change forward As a leader, answer the question no one asks out loud before you announce anything. It's not “what does this mean for the organization?” It's “what does this mean for me?”, the question every person on your team is quietly asking. If you can't answer that clearly on their behalf, they'll fill the gap with fear, and answering it once isn't enough; repeat the same why, in the same words, as often as the plan itself has to change. If you don't believe the why yourself, that's worth admitting, and handing the leading of the change to someone who does. You have to believe it to lead it. Involve people before you've decided, not after. Not as a formality, genuinely and present. The moment involvement becomes a communication tactic, people feel it. Real involvement also surfaces the perspectives you don't have; together, you see further than you would alone, and that's a head start, not a delay. Measure pace, not just milestones. A shorter plan, revisited weekly, beats a comprehensive one that's already out of date. This also gives you, as the leader, a softer start, you don't need every answer or know exactly how each step gets done to begin. The leaders who move fastest usually slowed down first. What doesn't change Google famously let people spend 20% of their working week on projects of their own choosing. AdWords and Gmail came out of that time, not out of a more efficient calendar, but out of space. That's the distinction underneath everything here. Transformative leadership isn't about giving people more tasks. It's about giving them trust and room, and trusting what they build with it. I keep returning to a line from Colin Powell: “Leadership is all about people. It is not about organizations. It is not about plans. It is not about strategies. It is all about people, motivating people to get the job done. You have to be people-centered.” Pair it with Einstein's observation that we cannot solve the problems we created with the thinking that created them, and you have a fairly complete picture of where most organizations stand right now. We can't think our way out of a faster world with slower thinking. But we can't outrun it either, and hoping speed alone will solve it is its own kind of avoidance. What actually moves change forward isn't more velocity. It's time together, to understand, to ask why, to share what isn't working, and to adjust. Again and again. It's not the lack of tools, plans or good intentions that slows most organizations down. It's the lack of time together to use any of them well. If you're rethinking how you lead through constant change, as a leadership team, a board, or one leader carrying more of it than you should have to alone, that's exactly the work I do: building the clarity, trust and psychological safety that let strategy actually hold up under pace, instead of quietly failing on schedule. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Harriet Bodö Harriet Bodö, Executive Coach & Mentor Harriet Bodö became an executive coach and mentor after experiencing, as Head of Department, what a real difference that support makes for leaders who often carry decisions alone. In 2018, she turned that conviction into Coach Me & More, a Finland-based coaching and leadership development practice working with leaders, leadership teams and boards across the Nordic region. She holds a Master's degree in Economics from Hanken and is an ICF-certified executive coach, with 700 hours of coaching experience and more than 200 leaders coached and mentored. She is a certified board member (HHJ), holds board and advisory board assignments, and is a keynote speaker on leadership, transformation, and psychological safety.

Angel Luis Torres Jr. is an accomplished hospitality leader, author, and coach with over 25 years of experience in guest service, team development, and mentorship. In this interview, he discusses his unique approach to proactive preparation and building high-performing teams. Readers will gain insights on how a championship mindset can elevate the guest experience and set new standards in the hospitality industry. Angel Torres Jr., Hospitality Consultant, Leadership Trainer & Football Coach When you say the game is won before check-in, what should a hospitality team have in place before the first guest arrives? When I say, “the game is won before check-in,” I mean that success in hospitality starts with preparation. Teams should understand guest needs, be well-trained in proactive service, and have every detail ready, from an inviting atmosphere to a warm welcome. It’s about anticipating and exceeding expectations before the guest even arrives. Remember, they say, “It’s the little things that go a long way.” This same phrase applies to hospitality as well. Which football coaching principle has translated most effectively into the way you train hospitality teams? One of the most effective football coaching principles I bring to hospitality is the power of preparation and teamwork. Just like successful high school, college, and NFL teams that study the game plan and practice together before taking the field, hospitality teams thrive when everyone knows their role, communication is key, and supporting one another is crucial. Preparation builds confidence, and true teamwork ensures that every guest receives a seamless, memorable experience. What do live drills and role-play reveal about a service culture that traditional training often misses? From live drills on the field to role-playing, which brings training to life and teaches how team members respond in real situations, this is not just theory; these are real facts. They reveal communication, problem-solving, and the team’s ability to adapt under pressure. Unlike traditional training, interactive methods expose gaps in service, highlight strengths, and create opportunities for immediate feedback and real growth within the service culture. Where do hotels most often confuse good intentions with a genuinely prepared service culture? Great question. Hotels often confuse good intentions with a genuinely prepared service culture when they focus on slogans or policies rather than daily habits and follow-through. It’s easy to say, “We care about our guests,” but true preparation means training teams to anticipate needs, empowering staff to act, and consistently following through on promises. Which, nowadays, has been almost non-existent. A prepared service culture is built on action and taking the steps necessary to go above and beyond, not just having the intention to do so. This is what separates great from good! What does anticipatory service look like when it feels personal rather than scripted or intrusive? Anticipatory service feels more personal when staff members notice and respond to individual guest preferences in a natural and thoughtful way, like remembering a returning guest, their favorite room, whether they prefer their room next to the elevator or away from it, a high floor or a low floor, or offering assistance at the right moment. It’s about genuine attention and meaningful gestures that make guests feel truly noticed and seen, rather than simply following a script or checklist. Simply said, treat others the way you would like to be treated! During a high-pressure check-in period, what does your “Red Zone Pressure” approach ask a team to do differently? During a high-pressure check-in period, my “Red Zone Pressure” approach encourages your front office staff to stay focused, communicate clearly with each other, and support one another, just like in the final moments of a close football game. It’s about anticipating challenges, keeping composure, making quick, confident decisions, and having the ability to reset so every guest still receives attentive, high-quality service, no matter how busy it gets. What helps new service standards become daily habits after the training session is over? New service standards become daily habits when management reinforces them consistently, provides regular feedback, and recognizes team members who put them into practice. Ongoing coaching, accountability, and celebrating small wins help the training “stick” so that great service becomes second nature, not just a one-time lesson or a script. What has coaching Special Olympics flag football taught you about bringing out the best in people? Coaching Special Olympics flag football has taught me that everyone has unique strengths and potential, no matter their challenges or backgrounds. It has shown me the power of patience, encouragement, and genuine belief in others. When you focus on what these individuals can do and give them the support and confidence to try, you unlock abilities and spirit that might otherwise go unnoticed. The joy, determination, and teamwork I see on the field remind me that bringing out the best in people starts with trust, inclusion, and celebrating every achievement, big or small. The sky’s the limit for these wonderful athletes! What is one thing a hospitality leader could change tomorrow to start winning before the guest arrives? One thing hospitality leaders could and should reinforce is starting each day with a quick team huddle focused on guest arrivals and anticipating needs. By taking just a few minutes to communicate, share guest preferences, assign proactive tasks, set the tone for teamwork, and ensure everyone is prepared, teams can create exceptional experiences before guests even walk through the door. Visit my website for more info! Read more from Angel Torres Jr.

Written by Elif Köse, Founder and Editor Elif Köse is the Founder and Editor of The Confidence Magazine, an empowering publication that amplifies women's stories, visibility, and confidence-led leadership. Drawing on over two decades of entrepreneurial success–from building a UK fashion house to championing brand development–she is deeply committed to helping women showcase their true impact and leadership presence. People often tell me they do not know how I do it all. They see the magazine, the events, the newsletter landing in fifteen thousand inboxes, the interviews, the community that keeps growing. They assume that somewhere behind all of it there is a woman running on very little sleep, holding every single thread in her own two hands. For a long time, that assumption would have been correct. Today it is not. I think the difference between those two versions of me is one of the most important things I can share with the women who read this magazine. Because the truth is this. The women who look like they are doing it all are almost never doing it all. What you are seeing is the visible part. What you are not seeing is what holds it up. The badge I wore for years I built my first business with my own hands. I bought a bicycle at a car boot sale for a tenner with my au pair pocket money, and I cycled door to door with a box of pins, offering alterations to anyone who would open the door. The sewing machine came later. The team came later. Eventually, it grew into a proper fashion house with real clients and a real reputation. For years, I wore doing it all like a badge of honour. I had people working for me, and yet every decision still passed through me. Every client, every fitting, every problem landed on my desk. I told myself this was what running a business looked like. If I was not holding it personally, was I really running it at all? That belief felt like strength. It felt like responsibility. It felt like love for the thing I had built. It was none of those things. It was fear dressed up as dedication. The performance nobody applauds There is a kind of leadership that is really a performance. It looks like availability. It looks like answering at eleven at night, remembering every client's details, knowing exactly which email went out and which did not. It looks impressive from the outside, and it is exhausting from the inside. I see this performance everywhere now, in the brilliant women who write to me, who come to our events, whose stories we share in these pages. They are capable, sharp, creative women. So many of them are tired in a way that sleep does not fix. Not because the work is too much, but because they are carrying the whole operation inside their own heads. They are the strategist and the system. The bookkeeper and the diary. The one who remembers who replied, who paid, who needs a follow-up on Thursday. When you are the only place your business lives, you can never really leave it. Not on holiday, not on a bad day, not in the evenings when you are supposedly off. Some part of you is always on duty. Here is the part that stings. The performance rarely gets you what you hoped it would. Nobody gives you an award for holding it all. Your clients do not love you more because you personally typed every reminder. They simply want to be looked after well. Whether that care comes from your hands or from something you built to carry it for you, they will feel the same warmth, as long as the heart behind it is yours. Presence is the real work The women I admire most, the ones I have interviewed, shared tables with, and watched lead rooms, are not the ones doing everything themselves. They are the ones who are fully present when they show up. When they are with a client, they are with the client. When they are on stage, they are on stage. They are not half listening while mentally checking whether the invoice went out. That presence is not a personality trait. It is the result of structure. It exists because something else is holding the logistics, so they are free to hold the people. This was the shift that changed everything for me. I stopped asking, how do I keep up with all of this? I started asking, what would it take for me to be fully here? The answer was not more discipline. It was not waking up earlier or trying harder. The answer was support underneath me that I could trust. Being in your gift and being supported are not opposites Nobody told me this when I was starting out, so I will tell you now. You can be fully in your gift and still have support underneath you. That is not a contradiction. That is what leadership actually looks like. So many of us carry an unspoken belief that if we let something else hold part of the load, we are somehow less the owner of our work. Less authentic. Less in control. I believed that for years. It took burnout and a long, honest look at what I was protecting before I understood the opposite is true. When a system carries the repetitive, the forgettable, the endless small tasks, you are not giving your business away. You are giving yourself back to it. The part of you that holds vision, intuition, warmth, and creativity finally has room to breathe. What sits underneath my work today So when people ask how I do it all, here is my honest answer. I do not. I built a system that works for me. It runs my bookings and my diary. It sends follow-ups so nobody falls through the cracks. It carries my newsletters and my client conversations. It holds my invoices. All of it running underneath me, steady and reliable, protecting the woman behind the work. That system is HighLevel, and it has been the backbone of my business for years. I want to be honest about something, because I know many women reading this feel nervous around technology. What made the difference for me was not just the platform itself, but knowing there is a real support line behind it. When I get stuck, there are people there to help me, any time of day. For me, that was a big, big yes. I never had to figure it out alone, which felt fitting, given that not doing it alone was the whole point. Start with one thread If you are recognising yourself here, I do not want you to overhaul your entire business this weekend. That is just another way of doing it all. Start with one thread. The one that frays most often. Perhaps it is your diary. The back and forth of finding a time, the reminders you forget to send, the clients who do not turn up because nobody nudged them. Let a booking system hold that, and notice how much lighter your week feels. Perhaps it is your invoices. The awkward chasing, the spreadsheet you dread opening. Set that up to run on its own, and feel the difference in your body when payment arrives without you having to ask twice. Then pay attention. Not just to the hours you get back, though you will get them back. Pay attention to how you feel. The softening in your shoulders. The space in your mind. The sense of being in control rather than being controlled by everything you are trying to remember. That feeling is the real return. A longer runway, because you deserve one Because I believe in this so deeply, I negotiated something special for our community. Instead of the usual 14-day trial, you can try HighLevel free for 30 days–the very same system I use every single day. Thirty days gives you real time. Time to set up one thing, live with it, see how it feels, and decide for yourself whether it belongs in your business. No rush, no pressure, just room to experience what support underneath you actually feels like. The woman behind the work I think back to that young woman on her bicycle, pins in a box, determined to make something meaningful out of almost nothing. She was brave. She was resourceful, and she believed that carrying everything herself was the price of building something real. I wish I could tell her what I know now. The strength was never in carrying it all. The strength was in building something strong enough to carry it with her. Confidence, as we say in these pages, is remembered, not built. Part of remembering who you are is remembering that you were never meant to be the only thing holding your life together. So let me ask you, the way I ask every woman I meet. Would you say that you are a friend to yourself? If the answer is not yet, perhaps the kindest thing you can do this month is let something support you. Start your 30-day free trial of HighLevel here and begin with one thread. Your diary, your invoices, your follow-ups. See how it feels to lead from presence instead of performance. If you would like me to send you everything you need to get started, simply book a call with me, and I will walk you through it all. With you, always. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more info! Read more from Elif Köse Elif Köse, Founder and Editor Elif Köse is a dynamic editor, speaker, and strategist dedicated to helping women overcome self-doubt, reframe limiting beliefs, and step into their highest potential. Known for her authenticity and actionable insights, Elif combines neuroscience, mindset reprogramming, and deep empathy to guide leaders, visionaries, and change-makers toward lasting transformation. From fashion designer to transformational coach, she draws on her own story of reinvention to inspire others to reclaim their voice, purpose, and impact as empowered female leaders.

Written by Jack Rasmussen, American Author and Actor Jack Rasmussen is a leader in the worlds of performance science, the food industry, religion, education, and entertainment. Growing up in Silicon Valley and studying Business, Cinema, and Journalism at the University of Southern California has allowed him to explore creative pathways to raise people's vibration and meta-awareness within their respective fields. Every city leaves a distinct color on the palate of memory. In 2026, my life underwent a seismic shift across California’s golden landscape, a transition measured not just in miles from North to South, but in the vibrant interplay of light, flavor, and texture. In summer 2025, I found myself hypnotized on a glowing stage at the California State Fair under the heavy 90-degree heat of a Sacramento night. This summer, I was looking out over the flickering expanse of Los Angeles from the Hollywood Hills while savoring a Yamashiro roll and chasing the city’s best Taiwanese boba. From runway shows during New York Fashion Week, savoring the famous honey maple butter pancakes from Golden Diner and the thickest Indonesian Pandan French Toast at Wayan with Leiti Hsu and Monet, to deep-rooted culinary stops across the Southland, this summer has been a testament to how places define us, color our perspectives, and continually call us home. During an unforgettable visit to Eleven Madison Park, I watched the staff glide gracefully across the grand dining room like grandmasters moving across a chessboard. Guided by the chef’s keen recommendations, I savored a crisp, refreshing green apple concoction alongside a vibrant banana cocktail, leading seamlessly into an exquisite, sweet berry dessert that felt like pure edible art. Sitting in that celestial dining room, enveloped by psychedelic circular artwork that felt almost like a sleek, futuristic spaceship, the atmosphere was deeply calming and beautifully ethereal. It was a sensory dreamscape I’ll undoubtedly return to for fresh ingredients from Magic Farms and Chef Daniel. June 2026 in Sacramento carried an unmistakable atmosphere. The early summer heat settled over the Central Valley, filtering through the dense canopy of plane trees and oaks that define the city. As my moving date approached, I felt a quiet, deliberate momentum to life here, a steady rhythm of river breezes, leaf-shaded avenues, and focused work. Leaving Sacramento at this precise moment in June felt like stepping out of a tranquil sanctuary just as it reached its fullest bloom. Yet, as I packed up for my move south toward Los Angeles, the departure became less about leaving something behind and more about answering a familiar call. After completing my undergraduate education at the University of Southern California (USC) and spending formative time in Los Angeles–my 21st birthday in Santa Monica, a baptism in the waters of Santa Monica, and a taste of drama studios–returning to the Southland felt like returning to a city that shaped the earliest chapters of my creative and professional life. The character of Sacramento: Detail, craft, and sanctuary Sacramento possessed a grounded, intimate quality that I came to appreciate deeply. It is a city defined by its relationship with nature, labor, and tactile craftsmanship. My daily work there, managing client relationships, mastering the intricacies of specialized automotive paint pigments, and observing the interplay of color, texture, and light, offered me a foundational lens through which to view the landscape. As I prepared for my new role in Los Angeles, I looked forward to transitioning my deep expertise in automotive color into the vast world of architectural coatings, collaborating directly with interior designers, visionaries, and builders to bring structural spaces to life. Rich greens, deep earthy river tones, and the brilliant, golden clarity of valley sunlight defined Sacramento's visual palette. Transitioning from automotive refinishing to architectural paints introduced a distinct artistic discipline for my projects in 2026, where automotive finishes rely on dozens of specialized toners to adjust hue and effect, while architectural paint relies on the nuanced precision of tinting using just 10 core colorants. Mastering these ten pigments to evoke mood, light, and ambiance across vast interior and exterior surfaces demands both meticulous science and intuitive design sensibility. In many ways, the Valley's steady pace gave me the ideal sanctuary to hone handmade paint while measuring different toners and binders, blending technical chemistry with artistic storytelling. Now I focus on color rather than mixing. The call of Los Angeles: Scale, motion, and reconnection If Sacramento was a study in focus and grounding, my return to Los Angeles in summer has been an essay in scale and infinite movement. Re-entering this metropolis, bathed in coastal haze, golden-hour light, and unmistakable energy, immediately reignited my passion for large-scale creative endeavors. Los Angeles demands active engagement every single day. It is a city of distinct neighborhoods woven together by freeways, where my creative ambition, commercial enterprise, and narrative art intersect at every turn. From revisiting the theatrical echoes of Southland drama spaces to diving into expansive networks of sales, strategic business development, and architectural design projects throughout 2026, LA has given me a broader stage and a dynamic canvas. Looking ahead: Journaling my 2025 experience Moving in June 2026 marked a major turning point for me. This transition required balancing nostalgia for what I built in Sacramento with boundless anticipation for what lay ahead in LA. Sacramento provided me with a foundational space of clarity, discipline, and practical mastery. Los Angeles has offered the horizon to synthesize those lessons, applying my refined sense of color, narrative, and strategic growth to a larger, ever-shifting landscape. As the valley heat gave way to the coastal winds of the Southland, this journey felt less like a simple relocation and more like the next logical chapter in my continuing exploration of craft, place, and creative expression. Now fully settled in late 2026, my work in Los Angeles on architectural paint initiatives and design collaborations has been deeply fulfilling, bringing renewed joy, inspiration, and personal connection to every project. Looking back across 2026, it feels surreal how quickly the months flew by, a whirlwind of creative energy, warm afternoons, and dynamic new beginnings that made this transformative year feel like a single moment. This full oval journey underscores a broader truth: life rarely moves in a perfect circle drawn around a single point. Instead, it traces the geometry of an oval, defined by two distinct focal points that pull against one another in balanced tension. Sacramento and Los Angeles exist as those two centers in my own life, one grounded in quiet focus, detail, and sanctuary, the other expansive in scale, momentum, and creative drive. Tracing the curve between the valley and the coast, my 2026 journal on ovalism shows how returning to familiar spaces allows us to see them through fresh eyes. As I transition from Sacramento's reflective spaces back to Los Angeles, and from automotive refinishing to architectural paints, each focal point holds the path in equilibrium, transforming what could be a simple round trip into a continuous, evolving loop of growth, refined perspective, and creative renewal. Looking ahead, I am deeply excited to experience fall in Los Angeles and embrace the upcoming holiday season as a 26-year-old. Journal entries (June through September): Experiences in the City of Angels June 2026: Marked a major turning point with a bittersweet farewell to Sacramento's tree-lined avenues and river breezes before returning to LA. Celebrated the move by visiting Takagi, a sleek, minimalist Japanese cafe where soft natural light and subtle earthy aromas created a serene environment. I tried their famous soufflé matcha pancakes, delicately airy and cloud-like, dissolving instantly on the tongue, with a velvety, bittersweet green tea flavor balanced by a gentle, milky sweetness. I visited my old stomping grounds, including Cafe Mak, where I usually get the Royal Black Milk Tea. July 2026: I kicked off summer outings with social meet-ups and creative networking, including a visit to Tu Madre in West Hollywood. Set against a vibrant, eclectic atmosphere filled with neon accents and lively street-art flair, I savored their artisanal jackfruit tacos. The tender, slow-simmered jackfruit mirrored shredded meat with a satisfying, fleshy chew, bursting with smoky grilled spices, bright citrus tang, and a fresh cilantro aroma. The avocado taco and fish taco topped the list, along with the special red velvet churros. August 2026: I stepped into the vibrant, spice-scented haven of Cobi’s, quickly crowning it my new favorite culinary sanctuary in LA, to savor an unforgettable feast featuring their soul-warming African Curry with tender grilled chicken and their legendary, velvety Butter Chicken. I celebrated a milestone 26th birthday with close friends, starting in the warm, nostalgic, retro-diner setting of Max and Helen's. There, I indulged in a sweet feast: a blueberry pancake featuring crisp, buttery golden edges and a pillow-soft interior brimming with warm, bursting sweet-tart berries, paired with a custom rich, thick banana Oreo shake blending creamy tropical sweetness with crunchy, cocoa-rich cookie bits. Later, in Scarlett's cozy, intimate, candlelit dining room, I enjoyed a comforting chicken parm with a golden-fried, crunchy breadcrumb crust wrapped around juicy chicken, layered under gooey melted mozzarella and a bright, zesty tomato sauce. The next day culminated high in the Hollywood Hills at Yamashiro, surrounded by historic Japanese architecture, koi ponds, and sweeping city views, where I tried the Yamashiro Roll, a luxurious sushi creation offering silky, melt-in-your-mouth fresh fish layered with crisp cucumber and creamy avocado, delivered with a delicate balance of umami and subtle sweet-glaze accents. Spent a delightful afternoon catching a screening of The Odyssey at AMC The Grove, then explored the incredibly diverse Original Farmers Market next door, an expansive culinary haven whose wide variety easily rivals Sacramento's renowned market offerings. I also tried Veggie Grill for the first time, enjoying its bright, casual, and welcoming modern aesthetic while tasting their savory plant-based veggie steak. Cooked to order, it offered a surprisingly hearty, tender-chewy texture and a rich, smoky umami flavor highlighted by a deeply seasoned, caramelized sear. September 2026: Started September with my first stay at a Michelin Key hotel, spacious, grand, quiet, and moody. I enjoyed late-night culinary adventures, starting with the Twenty Pho Hour challenge at Twenty Pho Hour on Sunset. At this sleek, modern, neon-lit noodle spot, I immersed myself in a deeply savory broth brimming with star anise, roasted cinnamon, and fresh herbal top notes, served steaming hot over tender, silky rice noodles. I beat the previous record for the 24-hour Pho Bowl Challenge at the new LA spot within a half hour and almost finished the whole bowl in 45 minutes. Later in the month, I grabbed a matcha at Café de Leche on Hollywood Blvd, enjoying its relaxed, neighborhood-coffeehouse vibe while sipping a smoothly whisked latte with a silky finish and earthy, vegetal sweetness. Closed the month with a trip to Wurstküche in Venice, soaking in its industrial-chic beer hall atmosphere before tasting their exotic rattlesnake and rabbit sausages. Encased in a snappy natural casing, the sausage offered a firm, juicy bite with a lightly gamey, herbal profile, accompanied by double-fried Belgian fries that were shatteringly crispy on the outside and fluffy within. They had four mustards to try for free: Honey, Dijon, Spicy Brown, and Whole Grain. Of the four sauces we tried, my favorite was Curry Ketchup, which was sweet and tangy. We also tried Buttermilk Ranch, which was classically delicious, as well as the spicy Chipotle Aioli and savory Sweet & Sassy BBQ. Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Jack Rasmussen Jack Rasmussen, American Author and Actor Jack Rasmussen is a leader in the worlds of performance science, the food industry, religion, education, and entertainment. Growing up in Silicon Valley and studying Business, Cinema, and Journalism at the University of Southern California has allowed him to explore creative pathways to raise people's vibration and meta-awareness within their respective fields. He is the award-winning author of Fine Dining: The Secrets Behind the Restaurant Industry (2022) and Yin Yang: The Elusive Symbol That Explains the World (2023). He has worked with the National Science Foundation, California food banks, and international directors to help alleviate food waste and teach cultural literacy, among other expressions of his storytelling interests. He wants to continue to help serve and inspire global citizens to explore the unexplored and become more cognizant of and comfortable with their authentic presence through sharing his own. His artistic aim stays true: spread thought-provoking peanut butter and connective jelly.

Written by Paul Grainger, Founder of Unlock Dynamic As founder of Unlock Dynamic, Paul Grainger is a trusted strategic partner to Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), Chief Operating Officers (COOs), and senior leadership teams navigating pressure, change, and complexity. With over 25 years of experience across startups and multinationals, he helps ambitious organisations thrive by addressing the behavioural realities most leadership programs overlook. We often expect people to lead differently as they become more senior: to step back, ask rather than answer, and see beyond the immediate problem. Yet the behaviours that made them valuable are often the very ones they are now expected to use less. What happens when success itself starts making leadership more difficult? The moment “What was the bug? How did this get through? How do we fix it?” During a recent leadership workshop, one participant described the questions the team would typically ask when a bug appeared. The sequence was simple: find the problem, understand what caused it, and fix it. But as the conversation continued, a different question emerged. Why had there been seven issues? From there, the discussion moved beyond the individual bugs towards how the work was being planned and how early technical leads were being brought in. Only then did one participant reflect: “I think something that we don't do is we don't take a step back from the issues.” What’s really happening? The interesting part of this exchange wasn't the bug itself. It was what happened as the leaders began looking at the same situation from different distances. One bug required a solution. Seven bugs suggested a pattern. Look further back, and the problem began to shift again, towards how the work was being planned in the first place. This is where the familiar advice to “see the bigger picture” or “be more strategic” can be misleading. Leadership isn't simply about stepping back from the detail. Sometimes getting closer is exactly what's needed. The challenge is knowing which altitude the situation requires. When solving isn’t enough The difficulty is that fixing the immediate problem often works. The issue gets resolved, the team moves on, and everyone feels productive. When the next challenge appears, the same process begins again: identify it, understand it, fix it. But when this becomes the default response, organisations can become very good at solving problems without becoming equally good at seeing them. Each issue may be dealt with effectively while the conditions producing those issues remain untouched. The danger isn't that leaders are failing to solve problems. It's that they may be solving them too close to where they appear. When success gets in the way Many leaders have spent years being rewarded for knowing the details, interpreting what’s happening, solving difficult problems, and stepping in when things go wrong. Often, those are precisely the strengths that helped them reach this point. Then leadership asks something different. Step back. Ask rather than answer. Make judgements without knowing everything. For those whose value has been built on knowing and solving, that can be surprisingly difficult. Perhaps this is why “be more strategic” is easier advice to give than to follow. Leaders don't always need to unlearn their weaknesses. They may need to unlearn their strengths, not by becoming less good at them, but by becoming more intentional about when to use them. The cost of the wrong altitude The goal isn't simply to get leaders out of the detail. Sometimes closer attention is exactly what's needed. The more useful question is whether leaders are choosing where to focus, or returning to the altitude that feels most familiar. Staying at the wrong altitude has a cost. If leaders stay too close for too long, decisions slow, opportunities are missed, and teams become dependent on senior leaders. If they stay too far away, warning signs can be missed until they become rework, customer problems, lost revenue, or people leaving. Strong judgement requires movement. Sometimes leaders need to zoom in, sometimes zoom out. The challenge is recognising what the situation requires and changing altitude when it does. What effective leadership teams do differently Effective leadership teams aren't necessarily those that stay furthest from the detail. They are able to move between levels without becoming stuck at one. They know when an issue needs closer attention and when it requires them to step back. They can examine the detail when it matters, then zoom out far enough to notice patterns, connections, and consequences that weren't visible before. The difference is not distance, but choice. Rather than allowing the problem in front of them to determine where their attention goes, they pause to ask: What’s needed now? Does this require immediate action, closer attention, greater curiosity, or a wider view? The evidence Research published in Organization Science in February 2025 suggests that effective strategic thinking isn't simply about seeing the bigger picture. In one experiment involving 181 mid- and high-level managers, researchers found that managers benefited from moving between concrete and abstract thinking: getting close enough to identify individual symptoms, then stepping back to connect them and understand their underlying causes. Stanford research published in February 2026 points in a similar direction. Too much concrete thinking can obscure wider patterns, while too much abstraction can create blind spots of its own. The researchers also suggest that teams can deliberately move between these perspectives, allowing different frames to reveal different possibilities. The implication for leadership teams is simple: better judgement may depend less on finding the right perspective and more on knowing when to change it. Beyond the right decision Every time a leadership team responds to a problem, it is doing more than solving that particular issue. It is also reinforcing how the team decides where to place its attention the next time something happens. Sometimes better leadership judgement means deciding not only what deserves attention, but what deliberately does not. If the instinct is always to move towards the problem in front of them, that response can gradually become automatic. Part of developing better judgement is unlearning the reflex that leadership always requires getting closer. Over time, one of the most valuable capabilities a leadership team can build is knowing not simply what needs solving, but what matters most. The one question The next time an important problem lands in front of your leadership team, before moving immediately towards a solution, ask: "Do we need to get closer to this, or step back?" The question forces a useful pause. The value isn't in agreeing on the answer. It's in making the choice conscious rather than allowing familiarity or urgency to make it for you. Because better judgement isn't about always seeing the bigger picture. It's knowing when to change the view. Follow me on LinkedIn and visit my website for more info! Read more from Paul Grainger Paul Grainger, Founder of Unlock Dynamic Paul Grainger focuses on helping capable leaders and teams sustain strong performance over time, beyond conventional approaches that frequently fail to hold up under daily pressure. Drawing on decades of experience, he blends human insight and modern science to offer a practical alternative to conventional leadership thinking. A consistent theme in his work is identifying the invisible performance drains that quietly cost organizations time, energy, and focus.

Written by Nikki Jordan, Founder of Nikki Jordan Fitness Performance & Personal Trainer Nikki Jordan is a personal trainer, pre- and postnatal fitness specialist, and founder of Nikki Jordan Fitness Performance. She believes fitness should empower women, not consume them, and helps her clients build strength, confidence, and lasting habits. In a recent session with one of my clients, she told me her smart scale showed that, since we began training together, she’s lost 3lb of fat but gained 4lb of muscle. For someone in her 60s, this is huge! It’s presumed by many women that gaining muscle after 60 is impossible, whereas it’s more like the habits and mindsets that we have that are restricting us. Additionally, in my line of work, I see people obsessed with weight so often. More often than not, they’re wanting to lose or maintain. So for her to be unfazed by a gain and pleased with the added muscle, I felt like this was a turning point. In that moment, I asked her what three things she feels she’s done to make that happen. Here are her three lessons that she’s learned to do that: Lesson 1: Consistency beats variety overload She spent many years doing different types of exercise: yoga, light weights, walking. Often combining all three in some way. Since we started training together and focusing more on strength training, keeping the other bits in but separate from each other, having little strength goals in the gym, and tracking weights on the programme. Sticking to a full-body programme with some compound lifts gave her the variety that she likes in a workout whilst also making it challenging enough to see gains. Along the way, deciding on specific weightlifting goals, like doing a chin-up or getting to a certain weight on a deadlift, has given her focus and motivation to keep going. Having that structure in the gym and her life has helped contribute to a better mindset towards exercise and lifestyle. Lesson 2: Protein matters more than most people realise As a pescatarian, she previously had struggled to get enough protein in her diet. Since training started, her main goal for eating has been to get protein in her meals from breakfast. Starting this early in the day has given her a better chance of meeting her protein goal. Protein is a key contributor to increasing muscle, which is why her scales have shown that, while body fat has decreased, muscle has increased. It’s important to remember when stepping on a scale that there is so much more to your weight than one number, and many factors that can affect it. Like so many, this client struggles with breakfast. Eating earlier in the day isn’t ideal for many. She overcame that by starting her day with a protein smoothie using protein shakes, plant-based milk, and fibrous fruit and veg, then would have that around her training schedule. Lesson 3: Alcohol quietly sabotages results Holidays and socialising are a big part of her life. Both of these go hand in hand with booze, so she’s partial to a cheeky beverage or three. Sometimes this would spill over into a glass of wine in the evening, or while out at dinner. While drinking alcohol every now and then probably won’t have any long-term effect on your health or your goals, depending on how your health is and what those goals are, drinking regularly can have an effect on your body composition but also interfere with your mindset. Seeing the impact regular drinking has on her health long term has made her knock it on the head for all those in-between parts. Holidays and the occasional weekend are okay, but cutting it out in between–a glass of wine in front of the TV, or a vodka and tonic with dinner or an afternoon lunch–has helped her to see a significant difference in her health. What really struck me about the conversation we had wasn’t what the answer was, it was that she knew it straight away. There wasn’t any revolutionary diet, detox, or magic pill. She’s taken the time to look at these aspects of her life and decide that they need adjustment. She wasn’t prepared to let excuses stand in her way, because there is no real excuse for making small adjustments in your life. They were all very actionable changes. So often we’re looking or waiting for something to make our lives better, when in actual fact we’re capable of making that happen all on our own. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Nikki Jordan Nikki Jordan, Founder of Nikki Jordan Fitness Performance & Personal Trainer Nikki Jordan is a personal trainer and founder of Nikki Jordan Fitness Performance, with almost a decade of experience helping women become stronger, more confident and more capable through exercise. A qualified pre- and postnatal fitness specialist, Nikki takes a realistic, individualised approach to training, focusing on building strength, developing sustainable habits and helping clients recognise what they’re capable of. Having rebuilt her own life and relationship with fitness following cancer treatment, Nikki understands that health and fitness are about far more than aesthetics. She’s passionate about making exercise accessible, enjoyable and something that genuinely enhances the lives of the women she works with.

Written by William Dean Durrant, Chirologist, Consciousness Facilitator & Author William D. Durrant is a Chirologist and spiritual guide with experience in energy work and soul growth. He blends the architect's analytical mindset with natural intuition. He uses Chirology to empower individuals to decode their own blueprints and transcend modern conditioning, to walk their path with clarity and purpose. For years, I’ve mapped human bio circuitry through the hands, the energy field, and the deeper layers of consciousness, watching how gripping, fear, and ego create friction in the human system. When a theoretical physicist reached out with a 5D cosmology that resolves the H0 tension, we discovered our two disciplines were describing the same architecture. This article is the cultural doorway into that horizon. What does human bio circuitry have to do with a 5D universe? I feel as though I am standing on the dawn of a new horizon. For decades, I have watched how the human hand records the cost of gripping too tightly, the egoic tension, the emotional impedance, and the subtle circuitry that shapes perception. In my previous Brainz article, What Your Hand Reveals About Dimensional Reality, I explored how these patterns form a geometric language. This new horizon expands that language into the lived-human resonance of a 5D universe. For most of that time, I had only one model that truly described what I was seeing. I called it Life as a Fibonacci Helter-Skelter. The ride is consciousness. The great spiral slide is the journey through life. We all climb to the top carrying something, an hourglass. The form. The self. The story we believe we must keep from spilling. Then we must ride down. Most people grip the rails too hard. White knuckles. I see it in the hands every day, a dense, multi-layered matrix of egoic conditioning, culture, trauma, and subtle energy. That gripping is friction. High electrical impedance. The bio-circuitry tightens. The current cannot flow. The ride judders, and we call that juddering anxiety, separation, stuckness. Then, rarely, I have watched the rider who lets go. Who drops down the slide without fear. Arms open. No gripping. In that moment, the closed circuit becomes open. The membrane becomes permeable. Low impedance. Something extraordinary happens: they clear the energetic pathway for the riders behind them. This teaching has a second part that I have carried for decades. When a person grips the rails, they are not only resisting their own descent, they are creating turbulence for everyone behind them. The helter-skelter is not a solitary ride. It is a collective spiral. Every human being is part of the same slide, the same descent, the same gravitational pull toward truth. When one rider releases their grip, they do not simply free themselves. They reduce friction for the entire system. They become a low-impedance conduit. They become permeable. I have watched this in real time: one person lets go, and the people around them begin to breathe differently. Their hands soften. Their circuitry opens. Their perception shifts. I didn’t have physics for this when I started. I only had hands. Then a theoretical physicist reached out to me on LinkedIn, Prof. Saif Mohammed Al Muaazab. He works on Consciousness and 4D/5D models, resolving the H0 tension, and a Geometric Universe Paradigm. He didn’t ask me to explain his work. He asked me a question that stopped me cold: “From your 30 years of experience, what are the most universal geometric patterns you see in how great leaders think and make decisions?” Later: “Are minds antennae? When human perception shifts, are we hallucinating alternate dimensions, or are we experiencing the permeability of the bulk?” He had spent years anchoring a zero-parameter 5D pan-informational bulk-brane continuum, a framework proving that our 4D world is a membrane floating in a 5D bulk, and that membrane has permeability. A slight leakage. A subtle exchange of information and entropy between bulk and brane. I had spent 38 years mapping what that permeability feels like in a human being. That is why we are here. That is why we are standing on this dawn together. The hourglass and the helter skelter: A human map of permeability I recently posted a small fable on Tumblr, an hourglass slipping from a student’s hands. It strikes the stone floor. It does not shatter. A crack spreads. It begins to glow. The sand does not fall as loss. It takes flight as light. Billions of grains, pure as moon and stars. For me, the hourglass is the form. The self. The crack is the beginning of ego’s dissolution. Not a shattering, but a slow, glowing fissure. The sand becoming light is the soul taking flight to freedom. Now stand there watching. Are you afraid to let it go? Do you wish to contain it? Do you want to keep it as yours? Or do you allow yourself to drift into the tapestry of the moon and stars, unbound? That is the same question as the helter-skelter: Will you keep gripping the rails, or will you clear the pathway? In Saif’s language, this is the shift from high impedance to low impedance. From a closed circuit to an open one. From a short-circuit against the grid to a resonator aligning with it. When I wrote in The Hesitant Gospel: “Staring through the clock face deep into the hourglass, to individual grains of sand. In, through, out, the other side past the Rubik’s cube where hangs a pen and a sign create.” I was describing permeability without having the word for it. What the H0 tension teaches us about holding on You may have heard of the H0 tension, the disagreement between the early-universe and late-universe measurements of cosmic expansion. Two honest, precise measurements, disagreeing. Saif’s framework offers an elegant resolution: If our brane leaks, if there is bulk-brane permeability, then what you measure depends on where you stand to measure it. The disagreement is not a mistake. It is the signature of the architecture breathing. When I first learned about the H0 tension, I felt something familiar. Two measurements of the same universe, both correct, both precise, both honest, yet they disagree. That disagreement is not chaos. It is perspective. It is the universe saying: “Your vantage point matters.” When a human being grips tightly, when ego holds form, impermeable, their world expands in one way: fast, frightened, fragmented. Time feels sharp. Life feels rushed. The slide feels steep. When a human being lets go, when the crack glows, their world expands differently: slower, connected, whole. Time softens. Life breathes. The slide becomes a pathway rather than a threat. The physics of the universe and the lived experience of a single human hand obey the same principle: Where you stand determines what you see. How you hold determines how you expand. Staying in my lane: The human interface to a 5D architecture I want to be clear about my lane. I will not attempt to explain or validate the scientific claims of 2024–2026. The formal mathematical derivations, the 5D pan-informational geometry, the Machian metric field equations, the geometric derivation of the fine-structure constant (α ≈ 1/137.036), the ER=EPR wormhole metrics, and the Cognitive-Spacetimes Tensor belong strictly to the peer-reviewed academic record that Prof. Al-Muaazab and his team have anchored. I am not here to translate physics into metaphor, nor to turn mathematics into mysticism. I am here to honour the boundary. My discipline is lived-human architecture. My expertise is the bio-circuitry of hands. My responsibility is the human interface. I do not touch the equations. I do not interpret the constants. I do not enter the domain of derivations. I stand at the threshold between two worlds, not to merge them, but to reveal that they were never separate. My role, as Saif has affirmed, is to serve as the conceptual bridge to the public domain. To articulate how thirty-eight years of mapping human bio-circuitry operates as a low-impedance interface to the 5D entropic and topological architecture he has mathematically formulated. I am presenting the lived human reality of the physical and informational framework he has anchored. The rider inside the vehicle, while he has calculated the steel, the curve, and the mathematical boundaries of the Great Cosmic Phi fairground itself. Official commentary from Prof. Saif Mohammed Al-Muaazab “Physical reality is not a collection of isolated matter, but a zero-parameter 5D pan-informational bulk-brane continuum. Our framework proves that fundamental constants, most notably the century-old mystery of the fine-structure constant (α ≈ 1/137.036) and neutrino mass scales, as well as inertial mass and spacetime geometry, emerge directly from 5D topological invariants and ER=EPR wormhole networks. By saturating the Bekenstein information bound, we eliminate physical singularities in cosmic bounces and black hole cores (r_c ≈ 10 ℓ_P) while establishing actionable metric engineering principles, achieving localized inertial mass evaporation (Δm / m0 = -99.998%) under critical magnetic fluxes (B_crit = 41.2 kT) and unwinding plasma resonances (2.05318 × 10^21 Hz). This architecture yields four distinct empirical signatures: high-frequency gravitational-wave echoes at f_rip = 1247.63 Hz, entropic atomic-clock shifts (Δν/ν = 1.42 × 10^-17), and sub-arcminute weak-lensing shear deficits. When human bio-circuitry eliminates internal friction, it acts as a low-impedance resonator aligning personal perception with the fundamental curvature of the bulk. The bridge between fundamental physical constants, cosmology, and human consciousness is no longer speculative, it is rigorously geometric.” – Prof. Saif Mohammed Al-Muaazab, Principal Investigator, 5D Pan-Informational Cosmology Paradigm Standing together on the dawn of a new horizon The way we approach energy, consciousness, physics, and the universe is about to change, not because one man proved something, but because two languages finally met at the summit at the same time. Saif once wrote to me: “Two climbers ascending from opposite sides of the same mountain eventually meet at the peak, not to compare routes, but to realise they were climbing the same mountain all along.” That is what has happened here. He climbed through mathematics, geometry, topology, cosmology. I climbed through hands, breath, trauma, ego, lived experience. We reached the same summit. We looked at each other, and we realised: Structure and soul were never separate. Geometry and consciousness were never apart. The bulk and the rider were always one architecture. This Brainz article becomes part of that history, not as a scientific paper, but as the first human doorway. My deepest thanks to Prof. Saif for trusting a hand reader from Bournemouth to help hold that doorway. We stand at the dawn of a new horizon. A horizon where human perception is not a passive observer, but an active resonator. Where consciousness is not an epiphenomenon, but a geometric participant. Where egoic gripping is not a psychological flaw, but an impedance event. Where letting go is not a spiritual metaphor, but a shift in permeability. Where the hourglass crack is not a fracture, but a gateway. Where the helter-skelter is not a ride, but a cosmological interface. Where the human hand is not a symbol, but a circuit. Both can exist. The holding and the unfolding. The physics and the ride. Are you ready to be the rider who drops without fear and clears the pathway for those behind? Step into the new horizon If this horizon resonates with you, you can continue exploring the lived-human interface to 5D physics through my Substack, where I publish The Hesitant Gospel and ongoing dramatapheric readings. You can also connect with me through Brainz to explore Chirology and human bio circuitry more deeply. The doorway is open, step through when you’re ready. Canonical academic gateway Prof. Saif Mohammed Al-Muaazab ORCID Follow me on Instagram, and visit my website for more info! Read more from William Dean Durrant William Dean Durrant, Chirologist, Consciousness Facilitator & Author William D. Durrant is a Chirologist, spiritual guide, and author dedicated to the art of soul ascension. With over three decades of immersion in energy work and martial arts, he bridges ancient wisdom and the modern, often chaotic, world. William helps his clients look past the concrete of everyday life to find the seeds of growth hidden in the cracks. His mission is to provide the tools for self-discovery, helping you stand firm in your truth during transformative times. If you are ready to stop navigating the mystery and step onto the path of your own soul's journey, connect with William to begin the work.

Written by Davian Bryan, Self-Confidence Coach Davian Bryan is the author of Vulnerable Soul (published in 2025). Through Storytelling Power, he helps brands strengthen their storytelling with creative communication. As a self-confidence coach at Dare Your Lifestyle, he empowers introverts to embrace their God-given confidence. You make the decision. Then your brain calls an emergency meeting. Was that the right choice? Should I change my mind? What if I regret it? Maybe I should ask someone. Before long, a decision that felt perfectly fine ten minutes ago suddenly feels dangerous. If this sounds familiar, you probably don't need another person telling you to “just be confident.” You need a way to trust yourself again without pretending you'll always know the right answer. That starts with one important shift: self-trust isn't believing you'll never get it wrong. It's knowing you won't abandon yourself when you do. You don't rebuild self-trust with one brave decision. You rebuild it by showing yourself, over and over, “I can make a choice and handle what comes next.” Why do I second-guess myself so much? Sometimes second-guessing starts because being wrong became something you learned to fear. Maybe you were criticized whenever you made a mistake. Maybe keeping everyone happy became more important than saying what you wanted. Or perhaps you've made choices you regret, and now you inspect every new decision like you're trying to stop history from repeating itself. There are many reasons people second-guess decisions, including fear of choosing wrong, past experiences, and getting into the habit of looking to other people before committing to a choice. But here's the problem. If you ask three people what you should do every time you're unsure, whose judgment are you practicing? Usually, theirs. Asking for advice isn't the problem Good advice can save you from a terrible decision. The problem is asking for advice when what you really want is permission. Before calling someone, ask, “Do I need information I don't have, or do I want someone to make me feel safe about the answer I already have?” If they know something you don't, ask. If you're simply scared to choose, give yourself a chance to answer first. What does it actually mean to trust yourself? To trust yourself again does not mean believing every thought, following every feeling, or treating your gut like a fortune teller. It means trusting yourself enough to: make a reasonable choice with what you know change direction when you learn something important admit when you get something wrong deal with disappointment without destroying yourself ask for help when you genuinely need it A useful self-trust guide makes a similar point: questioning every decision can weaken trust in yourself, while making choices and learning from mistakes can help rebuild it. Try the 3-question rule When you're stuck, ask: What do I actually want? What do I know for sure right now? If this doesn't work out, can I handle what comes next? That last question changes everything. You're no longer demanding a guarantee. You're reminding yourself that you can cope. Stop putting every decision back on trial Here's a rule worth stealing: "If you have no new information, stop reopening the decision." You sent the text. Nothing new happened. You said no to the invitation because you're exhausted. Nothing new happened. You chose option A after thinking it through. Nothing new happened. Feeling nervous afterward is not new information. Your brain may produce seventeen new what-ifs before breakfast. That doesn't mean all seventeen deserve a meeting. This is one of the simplest ways to trust yourself again: let some decisions stay made. What if I've made bad decisions before? Good. Not good that you got hurt, obviously. Good because now we're talking about real self-trust, not the Instagram quote version. If you've ignored warning signs, stayed too long, trusted the wrong person, or made a choice you deeply regret, you may think: "Why should I trust myself? Look what happened last time." But making a bad decision doesn't prove you are bad at decisions. Ask better questions: What did I know then? What do I know now? What warning signs would I notice sooner today? What did that experience teach me about what I need? Learning to trust yourself more can include cutting back on constantly asking others to reassure you and paying more attention to your own wants and needs. Your past should become information, not a life sentence. How do I know when to change my mind? Changing your mind isn't failure. The question is why you're changing it. Change your mind when Pause before changing it when You learn an important new fact You're suddenly nervous The situation actually changes Someone might disagree You notice a real warning sign You're imagining every possible outcome The choice no longer fits your values You want someone else's approval That's the difference between correcting course and running from discomfort. A 7-day way to trust yourself again Don't wait until you feel confident. Practice. For the next seven days: Choose one small thing yourself. Food, clothes, plans–pick without polling the room. Keep one tiny promise. If you tell yourself you'll take a ten-minute walk, take it. Say one honest no. No essay. No courtroom defense. Write down one good decision. Your brain remembers mistakes easily. Give it something else to remember. Catch one reopened decision. Ask, “What actually changed?” Talk to yourself like someone worth helping. Correct yourself without tearing yourself apart. Finish this sentence: “I trusted myself today when...” Small? Absolutely. But self-trust is built in small moments long before you need it for the big ones. What if I still doubt myself? You probably will sometimes. The goal isn't to become a person who never doubts anything. Frankly, that person sounds exhausting. The goal is to stop treating every doubt like an emergency. If constant second-guessing is taking over everyday decisions or making normal life hard, getting support can also be a strong choice. This deeper piece on chronic self-doubt explains how earlier experiences can sometimes teach people to question their own judgment. You can ask for help and still trust yourself. You can change your mind and still trust yourself. You can get something spectacularly wrong and still trust yourself again. Because self-trust was never supposed to mean: I will always choose correctly. It means: I will listen to myself. I will learn. I will adjust. Whatever happens, I won't become my own enemy. That's where you start. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Davian Bryan Davian Bryan, Self-Confidence Coach Davian Bryan is a freelance creative specializing in brand storytelling and communication strategy, and the author of Vulnerable Soul (2025). After overcoming insecurity and rebuilding his confidence through faith and discipline, he now helps introverts embrace their God-given confidence through Dare Your Lifestyle. He operates Storytelling Power, where he supports brands with strategic content creation and communication systems. His mission: Build clarity. Build confidence. Build something that lasts.

Written by Michal Cohen, Psychotherapist Michal Cohen, LCSW, is a Columbia University-trained psychotherapist, mindfulness teacher, and psychedelic guide with over 20 years of experience. Her work explores trauma, nervous system healing, self-compassion, conscious cannabis use, and personal transformation. We have more tools than ever for calming ourselves, grounding ourselves, and regulating our nervous systems. But what happens when regulation becomes another thing we believe we should be good at? Perhaps healing is not always about getting ourselves back to calm. Sometimes, it begins with learning how to stay with ourselves when calm is not available. What does it actually mean to regulate your nervous system? Nervous system regulation has become part of our everyday wellness vocabulary. We talk about breathwork, meditation, yoga, cold plunges, exercise, grounding, and countless other practices designed to help us move through stress and return to a greater sense of safety and balance. Many of these practices can be incredibly helpful. I use them in my own life and in my work as a psychotherapist. But I have begun to wonder whether our fascination with regulation has quietly created another expectation, I should be calm. I should know how to regulate myself. I have done so much healing. Why am I still getting triggered? When regulation becomes another achievement, we risk turning a helpful concept into another reason to judge ourselves. The emerging science of emotion regulation offers a more nuanced picture. Researchers studying emotional flexibility have found that healthy emotion regulation is not necessarily about choosing one “good” strategy or maintaining one preferred emotional state. Different situations may call for different responses, and our capacity to respond flexibly to what is happening may matter more than our ability to remain calm. In other words, regulation does not have to mean calm all the time. Sometimes our nervous system is activated because something matters. Sometimes grief needs tears. Sometimes anger contains information. Sometimes anxiety is asking for our attention. And sometimes, the most compassionate thing we can do is stop trying to immediately change what we are feeling. When regulation becomes another achievement I know this pattern intimately. Over the years, I have spent a great deal of time learning what helps me when I am in a difficult emotional state. Yoga helps. Mindfulness helps. Cannabis has been a meaningful tool for me. Being in nature helps. Sometimes, pulling an affirmation card helps me stop long enough to reconnect with myself. I am grateful for all of these practices. The problem begins when the practice carries an unspoken message. Get rid of this feeling. That message can be surprisingly subtle. We might call it healing, regulation, mindfulness, or self-care, while underneath it all there can still be an old, familiar belief. Something about the way I am right now is wrong. For people who have spent years judging themselves for being too emotional, too anxious, too sensitive, too distracted, too angry, or simply too much, healing can inadvertently become another self-improvement project. I have written before about why understanding ourselves can be more powerful than trying to fix ourselves. The same principle applies here. When regulation becomes another attempt to correct ourselves, we may lose the curiosity that healing requires. We start trying to become the person who never gets overwhelmed, but perhaps that was never the goal. Can we meet ourselves before we try to change ourselves? One of the most important shifts in my own understanding of healing has been moving from the question, “How do I make this go away?” toward another question, “Can I meet myself here?” There is research supporting the importance of this distinction. In a randomized study examining mindfulness and stress, researchers separated present moment awareness from acceptance. Participants who were taught to monitor their experience while also approaching it with acceptance showed lower biological stress reactivity than participants taught to monitor their experience without the acceptance component. That finding speaks to something I see repeatedly in therapy and in my own life. Awareness alone is not always enough. We can be incredibly aware of our anxiety while simultaneously criticizing ourselves for having it. We can notice our sadness while wishing desperately that it would leave. We can understand exactly where a pattern originated and still judge ourselves every time it appears. Acceptance changes the relationship. Acceptance does not mean liking what we feel. It does not mean resigning ourselves to suffering or deciding that nothing should change. It means beginning with what is true. This is what I am feeling right now. This is what is here. Can I stay with myself for this moment? Compassion does not require us to like what we are feeling. It asks us not to abandon ourselves because we are feeling it. Why positive affirmations do not always feel positive This is also where my relationship with affirmations has evolved. I love affirmations. I created an entire affirmation deck. But I do not believe that healing happens by placing a positive sentence on top of an experience we have not actually acknowledged. There is even research suggesting that positive self-statements are not universally helpful. In a study published in Psychological Science, researchers found that repeating a positive statement produced a small benefit for participants with higher self-esteem, while some participants with lower self-esteem actually felt worse afterward. That does not mean affirmations are bad. It suggests that context matters. Imagine that you are deeply anxious, and someone tells you to repeat, “I am completely calm and at peace.” Part of you may immediately respond, “No, I am not.” Now there are two experiences happening. There is the original anxiety, and there is the feeling that you are somehow failing at the affirmation too. What if we approached affirmations differently? What if an affirmation were not an instruction about how we should feel, but an invitation into a different relationship with what we already feel? Before asking ourselves to believe something new, perhaps we can begin by listening. Why art and imagery can help create a pause Sometimes words are not the first doorway we need. Art has a way of interrupting our habitual stream of thought. An image can invite us to stop, notice, feel, remember, imagine, or simply become curious. Research into visual art and stress is still developing, but the findings are intriguing. A 2021 review identified 14 studies examining the effects of viewing visual artwork on stress. Thirteen of the 14 studies measuring self-reported stress found reductions after viewing art. The researchers also emphasized limitations in the existing research, so it would be premature to claim that simply looking at art “regulates the nervous system.” I think the more interesting possibility is simpler. Art can create a pause. Organizations such as the Brain Health Applied Research Institute, or B+HARI, are also exploring the intersection of brain health with creativity, movement, sensory experience, self-awareness, and other aspects of everyday life. This growing interest in art and the brain resonates deeply with me because sometimes we do not need another explanation of why we feel the way we do. Sometimes we need an experience that brings us back into relationship with ourselves. A color, an image, a breath, a few words, or a moment of attention can be enough. Not everything that helps us has to begin with analysis. Why I created Notes to My Nervous System These ideas eventually became the foundation for my affirmation deck, Notes to My Nervous System. I wanted to create an everyday tool that someone could reach for in the middle of ordinary life, not only when they were calm, not only after they had meditated for twenty minutes, and not only when they were feeling particularly spiritual, centered, or healed. I imagined someone coming home after a difficult day. Maybe their thoughts are racing. Maybe they are grieving. Maybe they are angry. Maybe they feel disconnected from themselves. Maybe they cannot even name what they are feeling. They pull a card. First, they look at the artwork. They pause. They breathe. They notice what is happening inside. They read a brief meditation or practice. And perhaps something shifts. Perhaps. That word matters to me. The card is not a demand to regulate. It is not saying, “Do this and you will feel better.” It is saying, “Take a moment. Meet yourself here. See what happens.” Sometimes the nervous system softens. Sometimes we see something differently. Sometimes nothing changes except that, for one moment, we stop fighting ourselves. That moment matters too. An everyday ceremony for meeting yourself where you are Each card in Notes to My Nervous System follows a simple sequence, settle, notice, practice, affirm. The order is intentional. The affirmation does not come first. First, we arrive. Then we notice. Then we engage with a small practice. Only then do we encounter the affirmation. I think of these moments as everyday ceremonies. The word ceremony can sound grand, but I do not believe ceremony needs to require an altar, a retreat, or an hour of uninterrupted meditation. A ceremony can be sixty seconds of deliberate attention. It can be placing your hand over your heart, looking at an image, feeling your feet on the floor, taking one conscious breath, or asking yourself, “What is here right now?” The purpose is not to become a different person sixty seconds later. The purpose is to practice staying in relationship with the person who is already here. What if nothing needs to be fixed right now? There will always be moments when changing our state is useful. Take the walk. Do the yoga. Call the friend. Breathe deeply. Go outside. Move your body. Use the practices that help you come home to yourself. I certainly will. But before reaching for the tool, I am learning to ask myself one more question, "Am I doing this because I want to care for myself, or because I cannot tolerate myself this way?" There is a profound difference. Healing may have less to do with staying calm and more to do with learning how not to abandon ourselves when we are not. I did not create Notes to My Nervous System to tell people how they should feel. I created it as a way of remembering how to stay with ourselves when we feel exactly as we do. Maybe that is regulation too, not controlling every wave, but learning that we can remain with ourselves as the waves come and go. Begin your own everyday ceremony The next time you notice yourself reaching immediately for a tool to change how you feel, try pausing first. Notice what is here. See if you can meet that part of yourself with curiosity rather than urgency. Then choose what you need. If you would like a tangible companion for these moments, Notes to My Nervous System: Everyday Ceremonies was created for exactly this purpose. Each of the 44 cards combines original imagery, an affirmation, and a simple mindfulness practice designed to invite a moment of connection with yourself. Not because every feeling needs to be changed, but because every part of you deserves to be met. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Michal Cohen Michal Cohen, Psychotherapist Michal Cohen, LCSW, is a psychotherapist, mindfulness teacher, and psychedelic guide with more than 20 years of experience. A graduate of Columbia University School of Social Work, she helps people understand the patterns they judge themselves for through compassion, curiosity, and nervous system awareness. Her work explores trauma, anxiety, ADHD, self-compassion, conscious cannabis use, and psychedelic healing. She is also the creator of Notes to My Nervous System, an affirmation and practice card deck inspired by the belief that everyday life can become ceremony. Through her writing, Michal invites readers to slow down, listen within, and discover new ways of understanding themselves.