Written by: Anne Germain, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
What’s all this about psychics in business; are we all meant to grab tarot cards?
Before you all run away shouting, we’ve got a mad one here, or flip the virtual pages, let me explain a little bit about the title.
Did you realise all human beings are born with psychic abilities?
Take my word for it, it gets called many different things for example ‘gut instinct’, ‘intuition’ or ‘just knowing’ to hide that word psychic. This is, they believe, an ability from prehistoric man, it gave them the ‘instinct’ to know when they were in danger or just ‘knowing’ how to experiment with tools.
Over the thousands of intervening years, we have allowed these natural abilities to fade into the background, sadly those abilities have become so faint that it’s almost impossible for them to be ‘used’ in any meaningful way.
So, maybe now you’re asking what on earth has that got to do with businesses, well, many USA companies along with investors (and UK ones but don’t tell anyone) use the skills of psychics in making big decisions and to a lesser extent around the the world. Not that you’d get many of the businesses or individuals admitting to it publicly.
I’m not writing about employing the use of psychics, although it’s not a bad idea. I’m talking about some of our top entrepreneurs who have naturally honed their psychic abilities in their business decision making processes, all this without even realising it. This is right across from the board room CEO, through Finance, and Human Resources (HR) just to mention a few from the top but even the cleaner and post room staff maybe demonstrating their psychic abilities.
Finance Directors, who instinctively know before reading financial reports of another company whether that bottom line has received a massage prior to publication. Seeing ways of financial housekeeping before being tasked to review company processes and procedures around organic growth.
Human Resource Director instinctively knowing when to step in with line management mentoring, diversity development or even spotting hidden talent in the workforce.
These are just a minute example and because of the complexities involved and a natural unwillingness to admit to the ‘esoterically’ influenced side of themselves and how it can enhance their business globally, it’s difficult to measure the true depth of influence and value these skills and abilities have between thriving, verses failing companies. Even as a HR professional I would find it difficult to measure the effect ‘gut instinct’ has in business; and boy do HR know how to measure anything and everything normally to do with people and their impact on the bottom line.
As you can imagine I’m not just referring to managements use of their natural intuition or gut instincts, but also for the many companies now who are embracing the need to see their employees not just as assets or liabilities to the business but as actual human beings who are able to bring great worth if they feel valued and their emotional, mental, and intelligent health is nurtured to the best level, I don’t mean go all pink and fluffy on them, they need to be able to produce work and support the best interest in the business; just that they will do that a whole lot better if they feel they are actually a vital part in that business and not just the gofa or a mushroom (kept in the dark).
I hear you all saying the same thing, “yea, yea, blablabla I’ve heard it all before and don’t need to get the repeat again” and probably if my career hadn’t taken a total 360° in 2006, then again in 2009, then never expecting to do yet another change it did in 2012 I’d be saying the same as you; even now the pandemic has resulted in so many of us yet again rethinking our business focus to remote working, introducing much more flexibility in the working day around core hours and the mental health of our teams working remotely, not to mention the issues around the variations in the reliability in the surreal world of remote meetings, including the challenge of children, animals and unstable WIFI links and frozen conversations.
So, what are you or, what can you to do that isn’t exorbitantly priced, take up valuable business time but still enhance the abilities of your teams, your managers and ultimately yourself?
There are so many things suggested in business magazines and corporate awaydays that it can leave you with your mind boggling, that along with it an expensive bill for in many people’s opinion 'experimental’ self-help new age fads. I was one of those in business in the late 1970’s into the 1980’s with the enormous shoulder pads, power dressing and big hair (oh the shame) I’ve done the team building, I’ve done the hours of sitting through lectures on how to be pink and fluffy, then hard as nails attempting to get the best from my business model, the end result was total confusion and not having any idea whether I should be holding a box of tissues or organising the severance pay of 90% of the staff me included (I even made myself redundant once submitting a ‘honest’ HR report on staffing levels in regional offices).
Well here comes the link with the psychics in business bit; yes, I know it’s taken an age to get here but bear with me; so, to get the best out of any person who is involved in your business that includes yourself, you need to nurture all sides of that person. The psychic side needs to be able to work with a fluidity to enable it to function for you and your workforce then ultimately your business.
Our human minds (our brain) very quickly become overloaded with noise, external and internal, I don’t mean the kind of noise from the radio or even from a factory floor, but the internal conversations we have with ourselves. For us to be able to function properly we need to build into our daily life a way of providing our minds quiet, a quiet that isn’t just a physical quietness but also building in a quietness to our emotional and overstressed brains.
This is something I have been working on for the last 20 plus years, finding a way to realistically put that quiet into the lives of stressed and overwhelmed business professionals and their teams. It is something that in reality when implemented and encouraged can bring a new vitality to emotionally tired and burnt-out brains, it can bring a new enthusiasm for making a difference, not just in your business but in the world as well.
The psychic side of our human brains needs quiet, but how can we build that quiet time into our busy life. So, do we need to set aside an hour a day, 30 minutes a day, 10 minutes a day when you don’t even have the time to set 2 minutes aside to go to the bathroom? Initially, it may take you 20 minutes to get the quiet into your brain but with practice, you’ll be able to do it in 2 minutes, so can even multitask with a bathroom visit. I’m ever mindful that time costs money.
OK, I’m getting there, the best way to achieve quiet of the mind is meditation, I don’t mean sitting on the floor with legs crossed going Omm, but if that rocks your boat go for it. I’m talking about just stopping what you’re doing for one moment and focusing on your breathing, breathing deep into your lower abdomen. As humans we are basically lazy creatures and can’t be bothered to breathe effectively so many only breathe using the top part of our lung capacity, leading to us to be living our life in the fight or flight mode 24/7, not good, it will result in our brains not functioning properly then overtime and with the constant raised level in the body of the natural adrenalin hormone and stress hormone cortisol result in the failure of that body of yours.
Following years of medical research, with these two hormones we know that the human body isn’t good living on them constantly, it will in time if you’re unlucky bring on that early heart attack, stroke, or anxiety, even depression; many will turn to substance abuse in its many different forms. These are all things I have seen in business over the years as an HR professional many leading to sadly early medical retirement, dismissal due to gross misconduct, dismissal due to performance issues and the most distressing to the families are the medical emergencies sometimes leading to a very early and unexpected death.
Obviously, not all these things can be prevented just by taking those few minutes to meditate, but it can help bring the stress and resulting distress down to a more manageable level for the person suffering. I have now taught many hundreds of individuals in business and outside of business how to meditate, how to still the mind and then become better able to hear their natural intuition around their business, their family, their everyday life. Some have gone from just being able to survive in their jobs to being able to develop their abilities and become more creative and thus amazingly productive during some of the most challenging times.
How do you introduce this to your business?
Can you force individuals to take part in this?
No, its hard to force anyone to do something they see as a waste of time and energy, when you regularly meet with your senior and even junior teams you can introduce it as a concept, trying it first as management then to do that you need to get buy in from the top; not easy I know, but if you lead by example you can achieve it. Many of boardroom level will say that they get their relaxation on the golf course, swimming, gym, sailing or many other manner of ways; but get them to try doing this breathing at the beginning of everyday in the office until it becomes a habit, they and you will notice the difference. You will all become sharper, more focused and the natural ability to come up with innovative ideas (tapping into the psychic side of your brains).
I have to say the first few times of trying to introduce it at the beginning of a meeting you will be met with strange looks and sadly, also maybe a lot of negativity but slowly they will settle and begin to introduce the technique for the times they feel stressed or need to focus on a major issue whether that is in their personal life or business life.
Let’s bring proper breathing techniques back into our lives and the lives of our colleagues then, they in turn will bring that renewed energy and vigour into the workplace. If you introduce it to your kids who are suffering study and exam stress at any age you will find they have a renewed capacity to not only learn but retain that knowledge as well.
So, what now?
Well let’s not go down the line of another fad or quirky team building exercise. It’s time to focus on the real basics that our bodies need, really understand how to breathe, understand how it lifts us, how it brings us down to a normal reality, its not like drugs it doesn’t bring you down with a crash it brings you down slowly and introduces a calmness that our bodies are screaming out for.
In every line of business, we know if we get the basics right everything else follows…… how much more basic can you get than breathing?
Anne Germain
AAnne Germain, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Anne Germain, leading from the front since being a small child in an unconventional way; in 1992, she started working within the Metropolitan Police as a member of Civil Staff, successfully achieving promotions from Administrative Officer up to Higher Executive Officer, Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, and Cert.Ed, Dip.H, M.A.E.P.E; Leaving on promotion to the Home Office as a Human Resource Business Partner in 2005.
In 2006, she opened her own consultancy bringing together her business experience, coaching, mentoring, holistic skills, and mediumship abilities. Soon she was touring initially around the UK providing her very down-to-earth and simple take on what may believe to be ‘strange’ at best, if not more than a little odd.
Her travels included Europe with Portugal and her first TV show, followed by Spain her second TV show, followed by sold-out theatre tours, invitations to speak at some of Spain’s most prestigious holistic congresses and charity events; 2011 saw the publication of her first book.
Anyone attending the theatre tour or congresses were introduced Annes’ abilities of being an excellent orator, with a special way of making anyone attending and listening to her as if she was talking only to them; with expansion into training courses for developing abilities to link with their latent psychic skills something she is passionate about.
Anne is now living in Spain, where the Anne Germain Institute opened its doors in 2019, she still fits in touring, but even further afield adding the USA, with negotiations for several south American county visits for 2022 & 2023.
In Annes own words, “not bad for a below average schoolgirl written off by her teachers as only expected to marry at 16 and produce a hoard of children.”
Annes’ Mission: “Creating an environment of inclusion for those living outside the box."
