Written by: Juanita Viale, 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. Ever present are the narratives about implementing positive and healthy company cultures for improving employee productivity and loyalty as new trends like quiet quitting and The Great Resignation rise to the surface. Concepts of well-being, mindfulness, and spirituality have seemingly been cracking the glass ceilings in companies post-Covid as mental health has dramatically shifted to the forefront of headline news. Companies like Google and LuLuLemon have adopted conscious-based employee-centric programs encouraging well-being through personal goal-based tools and management that promote self-empowerment to foster meaning and purpose in their employees. Apps like Calm and Aura are increasingly becoming part of employee benefit packages. Spirituality too woo-woo or the new skill? Spirituality is about embracing the perspective that we are all connected to a higher creative source and each other as a universal concept. One collective. One source. One energy. One God (or whatever name you call it). Spirituality is about mindfully choosing to live with a state of mind that is aligned and open to the divine energy in us and around us. It doesn't matter what religion you believe in or the name/symbol you give it. This is the universal energy from where we entered into this human experience and one to which we will return. This commonality is sometimes difficult to comprehend or to remember as our attention is usually focused on the experiences, environments, people, family, and the feelings and emotions that come with the busyness of daily living. We tend to forget the unifying feeling of connection because our brains are naturally wired for survival through our amygdala and sympathetic nervous system, our fight-or-flight response. Our attention to fear and negative thinking is the mind's way to keep us safe. Fear makes the loudest noise in our minds! A historic systematic study in spirituality was recently published in the Journal of American Medicine, "Spirituality in Serious Illness and Health" July 12, 2002, and found that spirituality is linked to greater longevity, decreased depression, suicide, and substance abuse. "This study represents the most rigorous and comprehensive systematic analysis of the modern-day literature regarding health and spirituality to date," said Tracy Balboni, lead author and professor at Harvard Medical School "Our findings indicate that attention to spirituality in serious illness and health should be a vital part of future whole person-centered care." A Spiritual Skillset So why not broaden this application of spirituality to all areas of our life including business, by viewing it as a skillset just as we would for focused work/ flow, or high-performance hacks? Everyone typically goes to work with some sort of mental load in their head from their personal lives. As we work, stress and pressure add more to the mental load. Where is the release? In your body. Negative laden energy manifests within you through Illness, depression, anxiety, negative behaviors such as not showing up to work, substance abuse, isolating tendencies such as not wanting to participate or be seen, and less motivation all of which result in less productivity. So where can we create that mental release? Spiritual practices offer a pathway for the gentle shifting of our stress into well-being. And the sheer beauty of it, it is available to us freely and at all times. Developing a spiritual practice requires some level of discipline. Spiritual practices like meditation, prayer, intention setting, acts of lovingkindness and compassion, and gratitude are ways to cultivate our spirituality. The spiritual skillset is the ability and ease with which we can get into that place of higher connected divine energy and be fully present in the experience. With practice, spirituality eventually grows into a part of our personality and state of being. When we are spiritually connected to this creative good feeling energy our perspective is shifted open to a greater field of possibility. We are open. And we feel good! Discovery happens here. You see new things or perhaps see normal things differently. This is where good ideas and inspiration come from. The place where feelings of motivation prompt and excite you. And if this energy is strong enough within you, some type of action will naturally follow, a choice, a decision, a lighter mood, a movement in the direction of your new intention and attention. The Broaden and Build Theory of positive emotion (Fredrickson, 1998, 2001) links itself to spirituality in the sense that self-transcending emotions like awe, love, peace, and gratitude can increase through spiritual practices. Two pathways are identified for the role that spirituality plays in our well-being, social and cognitive resources that provide a greater sense of well-being. (Cappellen, Toth-Gauthier, Sarouglou, Fredricksonm 2014) Life is difficult. We get angry at others, hearts broken, dreams shattered, emotions piqued, and bear witness to unthinkable experiences of pain and trauma. The mental, emotional, physical, and psychological stress has nowhere to go, and no avenue to leave. Spiritual practices such as meditation, active and passive prayer, and daily gratitude renew our sense of connectedness to each other and our divine nature. They are mindful transformative practices that calm and quiet our minds, deepen the sense of our higher self, open our hearts and allow for true connection with others and in our relationships. Think of a football huddle right before the game starts, they often pray, just like a theater group does before the performance begins. You can shift your negative mental energy to a higher level of awareness because it is no longer stuck in the lower energetic frequency that drains life energy from you. Life-giving energy helps you feel stronger when the demands of your experiences are challenging. You derive mental strength, personal agency, and resilience with a magnetic presence that inspires others to do the same. Growth happens when negative thoughts, feelings, and emotions are released and we can see them for what they were, spiritual lessons in our human evolution. Developing a spiritual skillset will help you along this journey. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Juanita! Juanita Viale, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Juanita Viale guides and coaches motivated entrepreneurs and companies to Consciously boost their brand and effectively share their unique stories. Based on the French Riviera, she provides personal Conscious marketing, positive leadership, and mindfulness coaching services. Juanita's "Conscious Boosting" approach is based on a mindful framework of intention, connection, and authenticity. These elements serve as the foundations for delivering messages that resonate and inspire people to identify and engage with You and your Brand. ​As a certified Meditation and Mindfulness Teacher, she gently guides You to reconnect with your truest authentic self and help you get aligned with your intentions.

Written by: Kate Greunk, 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. Are you stressed out because your business isn’t getting new clients from social media? As entrepreneurs, we’ve been told constantly that social media is a non-negotiable marketing tool and that we’ll miss out on revenue if we don’t post every day, create reels, or film ourselves doing weird dances. What if I told you that social media, like any other marketing tool, wasn’t the golden ticket to your success as a business and that your business could thrive without it? More importantly, what if I proved it to you? Buckle up. The Social Media Marketing Myth I admit, my marketing philosophy is a little weird…and so is my marketing agency. I believe social media is overrated and highly ineffective for gaining custom or luxury clients in the service-based industries (think interior design, builders, etc). It would have been in my marketing agency’s best interest to preach that social media is completely necessary and that you should outsource it to us if you can't keep up with it. However, I instead suggest that you try googling the data around how well services are sold on social media. That data doesn’t exist, which tells us something key about where we should and shouldn’t expect to gain clients. Instagram, for example, helps 80% of its users decide whether to purchase retail products, not custom services. Here's what you need to understand as a luxury service provider: Clients who intend to hire you and make a significant investment are not generally heavy social media users, nor do they make large buying decisions based on social media posts or digital ads. Social Media Age & Income Demographics Before you can determine whether social media marketing is a worthwhile investment for your service-based business, you first need to figure out whether your ideal clients are even on the platforms in question. Compare your customer avatar to the user demographics of Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, or whatever platform you are considering. If the demographic describes your client, you definitely should include social media as part of your strategy. If your client is not included in the demographic, you would be ill led to continue spending time, money, or stress on social media. Case in point: the two primary age groups of users on Instagram and Facebook are 18-24-year-olds (Gen Z) and 25-34-year-olds (Millennials). The income demographics are... $30,000: 35% $30,000-$74,999: 39% $75,000+: 42% Instagram users have specific interests and reasons for using the platform. Users have named their primary interests as travel (45%), music (44%), and food and drink (43%). Should you use social media to market your business? If your client is 20-40 years old and makes a median income of less than $80K and you are selling services around music, travel, or food, then yes. However, if your preferred clientele are older or in a higher income bracket, your revenue goals will be best met with marketing tools other than social media. The question isn’t merely, “Does my ideal client use social media?” but also, “If yes, how are they using it?” Should You Keep or Delete Your Business Social Media? Posting on Facebook and Instagram is often the most stressful part of marketing for service-based professionals. I've had interior designers tell me that consistency is the hardest thing. I've had home stagers tell me that they aren't even sure what to say. I've had window treatment specialists tell me that they wouldn't even be on social media if they didn't run a business. I've had professional organizers tell me that they secretly hate social media and wish it didn't exist. Does any of this resonate with you? If so, you aren't broken, and you aren't making some colossal marketing mistake if you’re considering pulling the plug on social. However, you might feel obligated to be on social media for branding purposes. If that is the case, simply adjust your expectations. Rather than posting frequently and expecting to gain new clients, your goals for social media should be… to indicate that you are open for business, to share photos of your work, and most importantly, to share the story of your brand. This can be done by sharing photos of yourself, your family, your team, and behind-the-scenes shots or videos. You don't need to post more than once per week, and you don't need to worry about reels, stories, or live videos unless you enjoy doing those things. Why Some Business Do Get Clients from Social Media If your colleagues seem to be getting great clients from social media, they are likely selling retail or digital products. If that isn’t the case, consider this: Your colleagues might actually be connecting with leads in other ways (referrals, events, etc.), after which those people choose to follow them on social media and slide into their DMs. This is a prime example of FINDING your community versus BUILDING your community. If you are like most entrepreneurs in the service industry, your community is built elsewhere — through referrals and events and past clients — and is reflected on social media when those same people track you down and hit "follow." There is a massive difference between this situation and the one we are all told we should be experiencing: The situation where you set up an Instagram profile, post some photos of your work, and strangers from the internet automatically start hiring you. That statistically just isn't happening for the home industry, nor should we set those types of expectations for other service-based businesses. A Marketing Alternative to Social Media Ask anyone who has been running a successful business for the last decade and they'll tell you, "Our best clients come from referrals." Referral-based business is a great sign of health and longevity for any brand. Rather than throwing money at boosted posts and digital ads, invest in a long-term relationship with a PR firm, while also pursuing referral partnerships with other professionals who serve your ideal client as well. Increase your SEO by blogging at least twice per month on topics that relate to your client avatar and the services you offer. Grow your mailing list by offering a lead magnet on your website with email opt-in to capture that blog traffic Stay top-of-mind with leads and past clients by sending a monthly newsletter that inspires, educates or entertains your readers on a singular topic Pursue referral partnerships with other businesses who also serve your ideal client without creating competition The Truth About Social Media for Business Social media is just one tool in the tool box, not a magic wand that you can use to bippity-bop your business into a success. Keep your marketing simple by defining who your client is and going to where they already are. Show up in the places they are already consuming media, be it a magazine article, a blog post, a podcast, or a video. But don’t stop at just simplifying your marketing; make it clear who your client is. Go so far as to state on your website that you specialize in working with “ABC” type of people or businesses. Ensure that every piece of your written and visual content speaks directly to that person. Specificity sells; generalities do not. Need More Marketing Advice? Listen to The Kate Show, a marketing podcast for service-based businesses. Stream the latest episode wherever you get your podcasts or click here now. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and visit my website for more info! Kate Greunke, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Kate Greunke founded Socialite in 2014 as a virtual agency of professional marketing specialists exclusively for the home industry. Kate hosts a marketing podcast, The Kate Show, which is ranked in the top 1.5% of all podcasts globally and available on all podcasting apps. In 2021, Kate was named 20 Under 40 by Window Fashion Vision Magazine. She currently resides in Wisconsin with her husband and two children while managing an international team and extensive client roster. Sources: https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2021/01/28/instagram-demographics-2021 https://blog.hootsuite.com/instagram-demographics/

Written by: Laryssa Levesque, 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. Mindfulness has been a buzzword over the last few years, and for a good reason. It is a proven method to help reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and to improve your overall health. For that reason, many healthcare professionals recommend daily mindfulness practice to improve one’s wellbeing, but people are often confused about how to be more mindful and, therefore reluctant to start. In this article, we will teach you 3 ways you can begin to cultivate mindfulness skills that are simple and easy to incorporate into your daily routine. What is Mindfulness? When most people hear the word mindfulness, they think of sitting in silence “meditating” with their eyes closed. And while that may be one way to practice mindfulness, it is certainly not the only. In the most basic sense, mindfulness means to be fully aware of the present moment. As well, there is non-judgemental element when being mindful, meaning that we are not reacting to our internal or external experiences; we simply notice and observe what is happening and let the moment pass freely. With that definition in mind, mindfulness is actually quite a simple concept. However, to truly be present is extremely difficult and is a skill that takes consistent practice to master. It is completely normal for your mind to wander when focusing on a given task or to complete the task on autopilot. When we are not engaged in the present, we are said to be absentminded, which is the opposite of mindfulness. This happens to the best of us, so don’t be discouraged if you are struggling to stay focused on the following mindfulness activities. Simply notice when your mind has wandered, take a grounding breath, and bring your attention back to the present. Do not beat yourself up over “not doing it right” ‒ that would be judging your experience! 3 Ways to Practice Mindfulness Mindfulness practice doesn’t have to be extravagant or time-consuming. Many people get discouraged practicing mindfulness because they initially try guided meditations which may be long and difficult to follow. Guided meditations are a great way to practice mindfulness; but if you struggle to get into them, you can try other ways to familiarize yourself with the practice that don’t involve listening to a dedicated audio-track. 1. During Your Morning Routine I don’t know about you, but when I’m getting ready in the morning my mind is wandering thinking about what I have to do that day or the most random things. Nonetheless, I am anything but mindful! Boring, mundane, and routine tasks are the most vulnerable for completing absentmindedly, which make for the perfect opportunity to challenge yourself to complete focused and mindful. Any part of your morning routine is an opportunity for practicing mindfulness. Two great options are brushing your teeth or taking a shower. When you complete these tasks, really pay attention to all the sensory details ‒ textures, smells, tastes, sights, and sounds. What does your toothpaste taste like? Can you feel the tingly sensations from the minty flavour? What does your shampoo smell like? Pay attention to the items in your shower and soak in your surroundings (no pun intended!). 2. On Your Commute to Work Have you ever driven home from work and thought back, “how did I even get here ‒ I don’t remember the drive at all!” If so, you probably drove on autopilot and weren’t really paying attention the entire time ‒ your brain and body just knew how to operate the vehicle and make the necessary turns to navigate home. Afterall, you’ve probably made that trip hundreds of times so it’s now habitual and doesn’t require much effort. And similarly, have you ever intended to run an errand after work but completely forgot? Again, you were probably on autopilot and forgot to make the detour to the other destination because your brain was on autopilot with home as the end goal. Next time you are in the car, whether it's on your daily commute or not, try driving mindfully. When your mind wanders to something else, take note of that thought and resume your mindful practice by grounding yourself to the present moment through your senses. For example, focus on gripping the steering wheel, feeling the cool breeze from the AC, listen to the music on the radio, or take a thorough scan of your environment, noticing the houses, buildings, street signs, people, and landscape. Take it all in! You are still going to get to where you need to be in the same amount of time, so use your time wisely as an opportunity to practice mindfulness and learn to be more present in life. 3. Eating Meals When it comes to our favourite meal or when we are starving, most people tend to scarf down their food like a wild animal. Kind of disappointing, though when it's all done and we feel like we didn’t get enough, right? Not only is mindful eating a way to practice mindfulness, but it is a way to help improve digestion, listen to hunger cues to eat the proper amount, control binge eating, increase satisfaction and enjoyment, and overall foster a better relationship with food. So, whether it is a snack or a full meal, you can learn to be more mindful by slowing your pace and really focusing on all of the senses to help savour the moment. Pay attention to the flavours and textures of the food as well as how your body is feeling. By eating mindfully, you are going to have a totally different experience with your food ‒ give it a try! The Bottom Line Practicing mindfulness doesn’t have to be a daunting and lengthy task. There are many simple and effective ways you can practice mindfulness that won’t disrupt or add to your daily routine. Just 10 minutes a day of mindfulness practice can help make you feel better by lowering stress, anxiety, depression and overall boosting your health. If you want to support in enhancing your mindfulness skills or would like to learn other ways to improve your mental health in conjunction with mindfulness, a licensed therapist can help. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Laryssa! Laryssa Levesque, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Laryssa is a Registered Psychotherapist and entrepreneur. She is the owner and clinical director of virtual mental health practice, Inner Growth Counselling & Psychotherapy, which provides comfortable, down-to-earth, and genuine therapy services to children, teens, adults, couples, and families. Her mission is to modernize therapy by making it accessible and convenient for people to seek help and destigmatize mental health issues. She believes that everyone would benefit from therapy to help them rediscover their authentic self, find balance and control in life, and live more meaningfully, free of the burden of mental health issues.

Written by: Jorge Contreras, 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. For the longest time, we’ve been told to save money for the future. We studied hard and got good grades so we can become highly paid employees. And then after getting jobs, we still carry the thinking that for us to live better and retire well, we need to work hard, save up, and place our money in trusted savings accounts. We carry this mindset for years and it was taught to us in school. However, this cycle can also be detrimental to your finances. Yes, saving up may work for a lot of people, but it can only do so to a certain degree. Because if you want to make the most of your hard-earned money, you need to make it grow by INVESTING it. Losing money through Savings Did you know that money loses value over time? Ever noticed that $20k years ago just feels like $10k today? Well, apparently it's because of a monetary policy called Quantitative Easing. Every so often, central banks increase the supply of money in the market by printing more. But the market needs to have a certain balance. Imagine it as a glass full of water under an open faucet. As water keeps getting added to the glass, the water spills to keep the volume the same. This is what happens when the central bank prints more money. Over time more and more is spilled. In turn, monetary value also lowers. Add this to factors like inflation and taxes, and it basically means that the cash you save today will not have the same value at a later date. Of course, you can always save money for emergencies and other funds. But if you really want it to not lose value, the best way is to make it move through investments. The 3 risks of not Investing For a lot of people, investing sounds like a gamble because you don’t exactly know when and how your money will come back after you invest it or if it will ever come back with the same amount. All investments carry some degree of risk. And oftentimes, the negative possibilities are preventing people from making bold moves. But on the other side, there are also inherent risks to not investing. Here, we've listed some of them for you. 1. Not being able to achieve their life goals Most of our life goals involve time and money. They may be short-term goals like being able to go on vacation with your family at the end of this year or long-term ones like being able to retire at a certain age. If you find that addressing these life goals is harder because you don't have enough, maybe it's time to switch up the strategy. Finding something that will allow you to save time and experience financial freedom usually involves investing in something that will yield the kind of result you want. 2. Stopping your money from growing As we’ve mentioned earlier, saving cash doesn't mean saving its value over time. Of course, you can always save it in banks for fixed deposits. But if you do the math, you’ll see that the money you get from these fixed deposits is inferior to the ones you will get if you put it on moving investments that yield earnings. Plus, did you know that banks use your money to loan it to other people and you only get a percentage of the interest? Let’s say you get 2% interest on your bank deposit. Chances are the bank loans your money to other people for 12% interest. This means, you'll only get 2% and they get 10%. That’s how banks make money out of your money. 3. Inflation depletes your money’s value You've probably heard stories from your grandparents about what they can buy with a hundred dollars during their time. If you compare it to what we can buy now, the difference is huge. That’s because of inflation. The prices of commodities get higher and the value of money gets lower. This is the biggest reason why you must invest your money. You need to make it grow so that the effects of inflation will be minimal for you. So you see, investing is a good plan and you need to know which ones are worth the risk. Are Real Estate Investments worth it? Now that you know why you need to put up your money, it's time to know where. I've been a real estate investor for many years so I can confidently say that investing in properties is a great place to start. People always need places to stay. It's a basic necessity and investing in it means your service will always be needed. Long-term rentals are great if you want to have a fixed monthly income. However, if you want your money to grow faster, you might want to go for short-term rentals on platforms like Airbnb. The best part of putting your property on this online platform is that you can start out small like a space or property you already have. But what if you don’t have any property to list as a short-term rental on Airbnb? Well, you can just use the following strategies to help you get started. Making money without capital It is intimidating to start a business if you don’t have enough money to get started. But you can learn the following methods and use any (or all) of them for your Airbnb business. 1. Rental Arbitrage/Subleasing The Subleasing strategy is a recommended Airbnb strategy for people who don’t own properties but have the means to rent. Because this requires less capital, it is a good place to start. You'll only need to look for properties on websites like Zillow and get in contact with their landlord to get their permission so you can launch it on the platform. Read more about Subleasing here. 2. Co-hosting The Co-hosting strategy is where you take advantage of your knowledge in managing and helping people who already host Airbnbs. Here you can earn without any capital just by offering your services. This method doesn't require you to buy or even rent properties, and it will allow you to get your feet wet in the business. You can also save up your earnings to level up to a subleasing strategy or even buy your own property soon. 3. O.P.M (Other People's Money) If you don't have money to rent properties and you don’t feel like co-hosting is for you, here's a pro tip you might want to try. It's a strategy that banks and rich people have been using for a long time now and it’s where they use other people's money to grow their own. Here's how you can practically make it work on your first Airbnb. You can use this strategy called Balance Transfer. It is the process where you transfer money that is available on your credit card, into your checking account. Typically when you utilize this strategy, you get 0% interest for up to 21 months. Now, let's say you did a balance transfer for $10,000 and you found a property that's available for rent for $1,500. You spoke to the property owner and you get their permission to use it as a short-term rental on Airbnb. The owner then requires you to pay the first month for $1,500 and the deposit for another $1500. That's $3,000 all in all. Then you need to furnish the place and spend another $5,000 to $6,000 on furniture, supplies, decor, and professional photography. That's just around $9,000. Now you've just started your own Airbnb business without having to use any of your money. Of course, this is just a simplification but this is the main gist of this strategy. With this, you can now create a positive cash flow to pay off your credit card and keep the rest of the profit for yourself. However, here's also a little caveat to this method: I don't recommend using this balance transfer to go on vacation or buy a new car. This is a very powerful strategy, but if and only if you are going to create more cash flow-producing assets with it. If you want to learn more about this method and how to start an Airbnb business without owning property and without using any of your money, download and check out our free training guide here. Follow me on Instagram, YouTube, Podcast, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Jorge! Jorge Contreras, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine From poverty to a million-dollar business, Jorge Contreras is a real estate investor and coach. He started his real estate journey over 10 years ago, and he launched his Airbnb business 5 years ago. Before that, Jorge was overworked and underpaid. He barely had time to spend with his family, and his business wasn't exactly thriving. Once he got into real estate, he realized the potential, especially with Airbnb and short-term rentals. When he became a millionaire before the age of 30, he decided to share his knowledge with all the people who have the need to spend more time with their families and less time working. Jorge has already helped over 3000+ people reach their goals with Airbnb.

Written by: Laurie Levin, 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. In a recent small gathering with author and spiritual leader, Marianne Williamson, she said there are three ways you can respond to today’s world. Through a material filter By developing a new filter Transforming the trauma of this time In the first scenario, we only see the things that are not working, that are falling apart, and we are always at the effect of the chaos. In the second scenario, we are beginning to realize that if you look beyond what you can see with your eyes, and understand the situation at a deeper level, you can in fact endure whatever comes your way because you know you will endure. The first scenario can make the situation worse. The second scenario usually maintains the status quo. In the third scenario, we begin to transform the challenge or trauma, along with our lives and the world. Three different responses. Three different trajectories. While our discussion with Marianne was about the challenges we face collectively; locally, nationally, and globally, we can expand the net to include how we, individually, respond to challenges and the circumstances of our lives. Whether our challenges arise at home, at the job, with our health, or in relationships, our responses create the outcomes of our lives and that’s good news. In other words, the event does not equal your outcome. Your outcome equals the event plus your response which means you have much to say about the outcome! It’s the challenges that come up in our lives that give us the greatest opportunity to learn and grow, transform the challenge into an opportunity, increase our resilience, and overcome hurdles that have tripped us up in the past; sometimes again and again and again. As we learn how to change the way we respond to the circumstances of our lives and our challenges, we rewire our neural circuitry, accordingly, and are more apt to respond positively to challenges and frustrations in the future. In a stressful situation, we react to the circumstance or event negatively, piling more negativity into our lives and those around us. That’s because, in a stress state, all the brain can do is go to our prior response pattern. These patterns get hardwired into our neural circuity and it’s like a button is pressed and there we go—adding more negativity into the world, into our lives, and into the lives of those we love. We can find all kinds of reasons to justify our reaction when someone insults, disappoints, or betrays us. How different life can be, however, when we take just a moment to ask ourselves one simple question: What outcome do I want? Is it? Peace within self and family Love Respect Health Happiness Collaboration/partnership/team Self-growth If you answered yes to any of the above, then your responses must be: Peaceful Loving Respectful Health generating Kind and caring Collaborative With a willingness to alter course Let’s take a few examples: You feel insulted, dismissed, or ignored. You can decide that two can play this game and insult, dismiss, or ignore right back. OR you can excuse yourself from the conversation if you feel you are not able to respond positively at that moment. You can ask for greater understanding, or say “I’m sorry you feel that way,” or say to yourself this is an opportunity to grow—appreciate the opportunity and listen within for the best response—which might be no response at all. Traffic is keeping you from getting to an important meeting on time. You can allow anger (fear) to overcome you, begin yelling out the window, hitting the steering wheel, or honking the horn. OR you can take the opportunity for some deep breathing to optimize your health and prepare yourself for the meeting, taking note that you chose health, peace, and happiness. Yay, you! Your child, after being told not to do something, does it anyway. Will frustration and anger lead the way? Or, will you ask yourself, what outcome do I want? What do I value most? Perhaps the focus in that moment is your child’s safety so you hug them and tell them the lesson you want them to learn. Perhaps you want your child to understand there are consequences to each action they take and therefore with love in your heart you come up with a plan together to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Your boss decides on someone else for the promotion you feel you deserve. You can choose to confront the boss with anger, throw something, or pack up your things and quit. OR you can have a discussion with your boss on why they made the choice they did. You can appreciate the opportunity to reassess your work there or opportunities to improve and then take the time to make a well-thought-out and considered response. If you react negatively to a challenge, circumstance, or event in your life, you create another event that you and oftentimes others will have to deal with. When you respond positively and in alignment with what you value most, you create a trajectory that is transformative—one that in many instances, improves circumstances for all concerned. Positive responses, in other words, yield positive outcomes. What does a transformative filter through which we can live our lives look like? Here are five steps, no matter what the particulars of the event or circumstances are, you can create positive outcomes that will optimize your health, happiness, and performance. 1: Expand self-awareness ongoing Know your core values—those things you most value in life such as family, peace, love, harmony, health, faith, learning, etc., so that you can choose your responses accordingly. Be able to rattle them off quickly. Pursue an increasing AND loving awareness of your flaws. It is in the heightened awareness of our flaws, we can transform them, and accept them in others, increasing both resilience and compassion. 2: Reduce stress throughout the day Unmanaged stress results in unmanaged emotions which hijack the brain and result in those negative reactions and patterns of the past. Remember, we’re talking about transformation and new more positive trajectories forward. I recommend the HeartMath® techniques to reduce stress and anxiety in the moment it is occurring and when it is most damaging to your health, relationships, and performance. Most of the techniques take seconds to a few minutes. 3: Pause When something occurs that is stressful in your life, pause. Take several breaths. Know that anything difficult, anything upsetting, anything that triggers you, is a golden opportunity to learn something, to grow, and become a better version of yourself. Welcome these opportunities. Appreciate them. Get skillful with the pause. Enjoy that moment of silence knowing you are managing your internal workings for your benefit and everyone else’s as well. 4: Listen Now that you have quieted the noise in your head brain by pausing and appreciating the current situation, LISTEN. Listen to what your heart is telling you. The answers are there because your core values are there. In a stressed state, all you will hear is a lot of noise that is coming from that hijacked brain. The answers are not there! The answers come when the heart and brain are working together. We call it heart coherence. Heart coherence is the optimal state to live your life as you optimize your health, responses, and performance when you are in the state of heart coherence. 5: Respond In Alignment With Your Heart’s Desires to Create Life As You Want It Now you are ready to respond in alignment with what matters most to you (your core values) and what you want more of in your life. Remember, that oftentimes the best response is no response at all. The world can use a little less knee-jerk, head-brain, ego-driven, and incoherent reactions. More and more, it is becoming clear that lies, corruption, violence, anger, complaining, resentment, frustration, and angst anywhere is felt everywhere. We are all in this together. What you transform in your own life, we transform in the world. Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! – Read more from Laurie! Laurie Levin, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Laurie Levin is an author (Call Me A Woman: On Our Way to Equality and Peace) and Transformation Coach. She specializes in optimal nutrition, healthy weight loss, and the leading HeartMath® stress reduction techniques. She has been a featured speaker on each of these topics. Laurie has an MBA, is a Certified Coach, and HeartMath® Certified Coach, supporting clients globally to achieve their health and well-being goals. Her new book, Call Me A Woman: On Our Way to Equality and Peace, provides real-life experiences, global studies, and insights, and the 7 Habits of Equality that will reshape the world into one where all children have equal opportunities, from the beginning to the end of their lives. Healthy happy equal: It takes all 3 to thrive!

Written by: Angela Faye Barnard, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. How do you "Build Communities We Want"? It starts with the three "P's" ‒ Purpose, Profits, Property. At the 2022 Vancouver Island Economic Alliance Summit last month, I attended a panel discussion "Building the Communities We Want: How can we quicken approval times for housing projects while protecting community interests." There was a good turnout. Developers, elected officials, & municipal staff were on the panel, plus an estimated 80+ audience members joined from all over Vancouver island & British Columbia Canada. Dialogue was on 'what is the problem' and 'how do we solve it'. What I heard was: consensus that the development approval process is broken, outdated or increasingly irrelevant based on norms | systems | policies or practices; one city (Victoria, BC Can) has a current shortage of 6,000 housing units, and is fast-tracking non-profit building projects through the development approval process [source unverified] there is a culture of 'us' and 'them', making REAL collaboration to solve problems together in a timely manner difficult, little to no room for good intentioned companies/staff to approve projects that make sense but don't conform to OCP because change, experimentation, autonomy in decision-making is road blocked by unviable timelines, policy & corporate immune system, What I didn't hear: no communities presented their aligned Massively Transformative Purpose or Market Dominating Position on empowering (or providing) housing solutions; inside scoop on communities that have pre-approved incentives, reduction of red-tape, innovative policy to encourage affordability/timeliness/innovation in housing solutions to meet provide housing needs smarter, faster, better than traditional options; no communities showed up to say they are open to fast-tracking housing technology solutions (e.g. 3-D printed, adaptable, modular, cohousing/coliving, fintech) or zoning incentives I realize it is complicated. I deduce that it is intentionally restrictive and controlling. But can 'Building the Communities We Want' be simplified? Can we empower more people with the inspiration, tools, training, systems to actively better our communities? By now, I hope you are asking or curious on why PURPOSE is a starting point for "Building Communities We Want". The OpenExO Solutions & Business Development team has the data and experience to prove that if you are aligned on Purpose, these magic things happen: Purpose-driven individuals, companies and destinations ATTRACT Purpose drives enrichment and profits Purpose-driven people, organizations, destinations are more agile and resilient than those without purpose [MORE READING: Check out the article 'Being Exponential: The Value Imperative' by Chander Nagpal, a fellow Advisor | Author | Speaker for Purpose-Driven Exponential 10X Results Do you want to take this knowledge and insights for a test-drive? Engagement ‒ For Individuals Attend the upcoming Live Virtual Masterclass "6 Ways to Live Your Best Live & Better the World"...starting with defining your Purpose. You can participate via: LinkedIn Live, Facebook Live, or register here on Eventbrite. Engagement ‒ For Organizations Peter H. Diamandis shares his insights on 'What is an MTP' ‒ for individuals and organizations ‒ in this 5-minute video. And, here is a worksheet tool you can use to uncover and define your organization's purpose. When you have your Massively Transformative Purpose (MTP) defined, you will be ready to take the next step to Profit Acceleration. For companies and organizations of all shapes and sizes. At FuturVille, we host Profit Acceleration Masterclasses + Coaching for startups, small and medium businesses by empowering 6-7 figure entrepreneurs to imagine and build enriching live, work, play destinations with engaged residents | visitors. If that is you, and you have a compelling question related to Purpose, Profits or Property enrichment, as a starting point, go ahead and Ask Now. You can also access free resources with links from my last Brainz Magazine article. As part of the OpenExO Solutions team, we also offer 1-on-1 Sprints for Fortune100 companies, and group Sprints in partnership with Trade Associations, Chambers of Commerce, Economic Development Associations, and Downtown Business Improvement Associations around the globe. As a starting point, go ahead and Download the ExO Sprint Summary for more information; available in English, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Dutch, Vietnamese, Korean. And what about the 3rd "P" ‒ Property? Stay tuned for an upcoming article and Masterclass on Property Acceleration. P.S. Dream project acceleration ‒ I want to start with a 6-10 family coliving/housing | coworking community that offers free accommodation and food for residents. The "job" of each resident (family) will be to commit 3+ hours per day planning and building the NEXT free accommodation/food-coliving community that is bigger... and so on. This will start the flywheel of abundant living in a pay-it-forward manner that I believe will grow exponentially! If you have capital, time or resources to get this started, let's connect! Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Angela Faye! Angela Faye Barnard, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Angela Faye is impacting the lives of entrepreneurial business leaders by empowering them to access purpose, profits and property in today's rapidly changing times. Angela leverages her exponential mindset, training and systems to support others to build their business, develop ‘destinations’ and engaging relationships. She is Founder of Futurville, the business accelerator for business owners that own, or want to own, multi-residential, commercial or industrial property to accelerate cashflow and equity for worry-free property ownership while contributing to the most desirable, livable communities and 'villages of the future'. Her mission: build increase happiness, social impact and value for their family, co

Written by: Benjamin Gonzalez, 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. We tend to let life decide for us when we can choose for ourselves, I like to say that life is a succession of events, there is always success in everything we do, it doesn't matter what kind of situation we might be facing, it's our choice if this situation will bring growth and evolution or stagnancy and comfort. All it takes is a little fear to queue us from moving into a new area of growth, avoiding that fear means not facing growth, when we dare to face fear, we break the loop of comfort and break through a wall of possibility. If you wake up in the morning and the first thing you think about is how late, or early it is, you are following the perfect recipe for a challenging day, how you start your day is a huge contributor to how it will unfold, it is a choice to wake up and give the best of you or your worst. Your thoughts define your reality by giving meaning to situations, pay attention to how you think, it will lead the way your reality unfolds. if you feel stuck in a loop you are in the perfect place, I will show you how to get out of this loop and create the outcomes you want to experience, all it takes to face this fear is a choice. These are the steps on how I choose to create my ideal outcomes. An idea arrives Ideas come to your mind to help you build momentum and guidance. Whenever we have an idea, we either write it down, ignore it, take action and accomplish it or overthink it, overthinking keeps you stuck in a loop of inaction. When we overthink, we are trying to justify the delay we put into not acting or blame ourselves for not taking action, this usually creates frustration and anxiety. When we don't want to face our fear, we bury it deep down by doing things that will help us forget about the idea, we usually do this by staying focused on something outside of ourselves, maybe watching Netflix or overworking to not face the fear. Choose to grow When an idea arrives think about your future, not what others will think about you, ideas usually push us outside of our comfort zone to grow and evolve into a better version of ourselves, when choosing to bring growth into your life you are attracting more thoughts that support the main idea so you can keep growing more and more, this will bring the feeling of success by letting ideas flow through you and growing with them. Write down the idea and observe around you what or who can help you bring that idea into reality, it is all about being mindful of how you think. Decide ahead of time Create a schedule that will help you take massive action towards the idea, I call this making a decision ahead of time, by doing this you are creating the steps that will take you to the outcomes that will generate more thoughts to support the main idea, sit down for 10 minutes and write all the things that flow in your mind, you will have a better sense of direction on where to go, observe what you wrote down and create a one week schedule on bringing the idea to life. By following these steps and taking massive action towards your idea, you will be living the future you want in the present moment by seeing change not only in yourself but in the experiences you live in life, all it takes is to make a decision and face the fear that is stopping you, behind that fear the limitless version of yourself resides, choose to become that person and life at its fullest. and remember, it’s not about reaching the end, it's about who you become on the path. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Benjamin! Benjamin Gonzalez, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Benjamin Gonzalez is a reality composer coach, and he helps leaders develop their creativity and perception of reality so they can live fulfilling lives. Benja started his coaching journey in 2022 when he found his love for helping people and playing with concepts like building a reality and changing belief systems with the help of psychedelics. He became a certified life coach by Mindvalley as well as a certified breathwork coach and now he is working on a thesis on how psychedelics help create new belief systems to build a fulfilling life. Benja's most recent project is the creation of life budd, a platform that helps leaders develop their creativity with tools and ideas.

Written by: Rita Trotter, Executive Contributor Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise. As we age, it's easy to look at the signs of ageing and think we have nothing to do with it. But you are responsible for your ageing, as with anything. Lifestyle plays a huge role in how you age and whether or not you look youthful. Ageing is a natural process that affects all of us. You've probably heard at some stage or another that we are all going to die, but your perception of that statement should be challenged. As we age we accumulate more experiences and knowledge, which means we have an edge when it comes to knowing how to live our lives well. The lifestyle you choose impacts your ageing, as well as the quality of life you lead from one year to the next. What is a biological age? Biological age is a measure of how well an organism has aged and developed. Human beings have many things that can be measured, including height, weight, body composition, and even DNA. There are also things you cannot measure with your own eyes or hands, such as the depth of wrinkles on your face or the colour of hair on your head. But what exactly is biological age? It is a measurement of how well a person's body has aged over time. Biological age is not to be confused with chronological age or chronological age plus "mental" age. Chronological age refers to how old someone looks physically; biological age describes the state of health and functional ability of an older person. The most common way to estimate your biological age is through your risk factors for disease. These include lifestyle choices such as smoking and obesity as well as biological factors such as genetics. The American Council on Exercise recommends that physically active adults under 40 should try to reduce their risk factors for heart disease by losing up to 10 pounds (4 kilograms) and eating less than 1,200 calories daily. The study found that people who ate more calories than they burned over time experienced an increase in telomeres—the caps at the end of your chromosomes that protect genetic material from damage. The longer those telomeres were, the younger they looked, and the healthier their cells were overall. Those who were more physically active had longer telomeres than their inactive counterparts. In fact, when it came to telomere length, even sitting still increased your odds of having longer ones! As we get older, our bodies have a harder time producing new cells. As a result, we lose muscle mass and bone density, which can lead to osteoporosis and arthritis. Our organs also start to weaken with age and we may experience vision problems or hearing loss from damaged inner ear cells. So how do we keep our cells young? What you eat You can't tell me that you haven't wondered about the ageing process, about how your body changes when you get older. You know that looks fade, that your skin sags and wrinkles come to the surface, and that your hair becomes thin and brittle. You know there are aches and pains that come with age, and when they do they're often worse than they were in your youth. What you eat contributes to those changes in your body. What you eat also contributes to how quickly those changes will occur. So if you want to look younger than your years, then it's important for you to pay attention to what you put in your mouth. The good news is there are plenty of ways for you to keep yourself looking young as well as feeling great. But first, let's take a look at some of the things that contribute to ageing and how we can help prevent them from occurring in the first place: If you want to age well, it’s important that you eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants that help protect cells from damage caused by free radicals. In addition, they are also high in fibre—a type of carbohydrate that can help lower cholesterol levels by partly blocking the absorption of LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) into your bloodstream. When choosing foods high in fibre, look for whole grains like brown rice or whole wheat bread instead of white bread or white rice; whole-grain pasta instead of refined pasta; beans; nuts or seeds (e.g., almonds); dark leafy greens like spinach; broccoli/cauliflower Florets (which are chopped up into florets); applesauce made from Granny Smith Apples instead sweetened ones like Red Delicious Apples because the latter have more sugar added during processing which slows down digestion making food less satisfying when eaten later on down the line." How active you are One of the most important factors in slowing down the ageing process is staying physically active. Studies show that people who exercise regularly tend to live longer than those who don't exercise at all or only do so sporadically. Even if you don't consider yourself an "athlete," walking around your neighbourhood or going for a walk after work can help boost your metabolism, which means calories burned during physical activity will help shed pounds more quickly than if you were just sitting on the couch all day long. You don't need to be an elite athlete to benefit from exercising regularly. Walking briskly for 30 minutes each day helps improve your overall health and well-being, which may help counteract some of the effects of ageing on your body as well as improve your chances of living longer than someone who doesn't engage in physical activity at all. The American Heart Association recommends 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity five days a week or 20 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity three days a week, plus muscle strengthening exercises two or more times a week. If you're overweight, the AHA recommends losing 10% of your body weight before starting an exercise program. If you have high blood pressure, diabetes or heart disease, start with less than this amount and increase as needed to lower risk factors for these diseases. The more active you are, the better off you'll be. A baby born today won't live as long as a baby born in 1900 because we've changed our lifestyle over time. But if we keep changing our lifestyle, we can change this trend and prolong life expectancy further. Inactivity is one of the most basic causes of early death and disease in our society today. It's estimated that an inactive person aged 20 has half the chance he would have aged 30 if he had been physically active at all times during his life. Inactivity also increases the risk for many other health problems including heart disease and some cancers such as colon cancer or breast cancer. How much you drink and smoke Smoking and drinking are the two most common causes of premature ageing. Smoking increases your risk of developing heart disease, stroke, and cancer. Drinking alcohol speeds up the ageing process and can lead to age-related diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer's. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, causing more than 480,000 deaths each year. This is more than all forms of obesity combined! It also causes lung cancer, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), chronic bronchitis, emphysema and many other diseases that shorten life expectancy. Alcohol use has been linked to many types of cancer including liver cancer, colorectal cancer and breast cancer. Alcohol abuse can cause cirrhosis of the liver, which leads to liver failure or liver cancer. Alcohol abuse increases your risk of heart disease by increasing blood pressure, cholesterol levels and triglyceride levels in your blood. You can reduce your risk of premature ageing by quitting smoking and drinking alcohol now before it's too late! How much sleep you get Sleep is one of the most important factors in health and ageing. Sleep is essential for your body and brain to heal. Having adequate sleep can help you recover from illness and injury, stay strong, and maintain a healthy weight. In fact, getting enough sleep has been shown to be one of the best ways to reduce your risk for diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s. How much sleep do you need? It varies by age and activity level. Babies and young children need 14-17 hours per day; teens need 11-13 hours per day (on average). Adults typically need 7-8 hours per night. The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adults aged 25–54 get between 7-9 hours each night; those aged 65+ should aim for about 8 hours of shut-eye each night. While our lifestyles impact how we age, it is important to keep in mind that they do not control ageing. ageing has a genetic component—older parents are more likely to have offspring who live longer. The best thing you can do for longevity? Stay active, eat a healthy diet, and exercise regularly. It certainly isn't easy to completely avoid all the things that lead to premature ageing, but those small steps we take may be one of the best defences against the onslaught of time. If you put health and fitness at the forefront of your priorities, you will feel proud looking back and seeing how much you were able to accomplish throughout the years. By prioritizing your own well-being, the quality of your life will improve significantly when all is said and done. Ready to prioritise your well-being? Start your health and fitness journey with me today! Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Rita! Rita Trotter, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine My passion, work, and philosophies focus on the joy factor, self-acceptance, physical and emotional cohesion, and authentic wellness and I enjoy sharing my wisdom for all that is connected to a successful and healthy life. My foundation in women’s health comes from my own struggles with weight, sleep, energy, productivity, and health and my passion to share this with the whole female collective. I am a Personal Trainer, Nutrition Coach, Behaviour Change Specialist, Long Covid Rehabilitator, Women’s Hormone, and Pre and Post Natal Specialist, Health for Business Coach, published author of three globally selling books, and the creator and facilitator of The Self-Health System Programmes.

Written by: Rolande S. Sumner, 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. At some point in your business, you will need the expertise of a professional to solve a specific problem. For example, you may need help with marketing development, sales representation, image consulting, website development, etc. Outsourcing help can save time and allow you to focus on revenue-generating activities, and it also increases the probability that the problem is solved the first time correctly. In this article, I will share five questions you should ask when seeking a vendor. What is the desired outcome? You never want to go into a discovery call with a vendor and not know what you want when all is said and done. During a discovery call, the vendor must understand your pain points and what you want to achieve. Knowing what you wish allows them to assess if their service is right for you and what solutions would best serve you. What solution options are available? Before looking for a vendor to help, assess if other means of solving the problem are better. Do you have the staff, the tools, and the time to solve the problem on your own or via another means? Assess the potential return of investment you may receive in terms of time, money, and peace of mind for each option, including outsourcing. How much are you willing to invest to solve your problem? You must be reasonable with your budget. If you invest too little, the problem may persist after the service is over. If you invest too much, you may blow your budget entirely and make other options unattainable. Research to learn the average cost and add a little more. You want to be able to hire the best, which often costs more. Do you have referrals? Referrals from reputable sources are a great way to get top-notch services. Birds of a feather flock together; in other words, people in your network are often like you. Chances are, if they liked working with a vendor, you would also enjoy working with them. What is the reputation of the company? Research client complaints and reviews via the Better Business Bureau and social media posts. Better Business Bureau lists all customer complaints and responses. Businesses are rated based on their response and solution rate; if you find a company with a score of a C or lower, run. C’s generally means the company doesn't care enough to respond to customer complaints promptly, which means they do not value their customers. Regardless of where the review or complaint is listed, read complaints and positive thoughts for understanding. Not all complaints make sense or are valid, and not all positive reviews are legitimate. There are a lot of companies that essentially purchase or incentives reviews, which will screw the perception of the experience. What does your intuition say? God has given every creature on the planet intuition. Humans are the only ones that ignore it. Be different and listen to your instinct. If your gut says no, listen to it. There is a reason you feel off or unsettled when talking to a vendor. Chances are you will regret taking steps forward with them. Need help finding the best website designer, graphic designer, biography writer, and copyrighting download our preferred vendor list at https://lastcovets.activehosted.com/f/43. Follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, and visit my website for more info! Read more from Rolande! Rolande S. Sumner, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Rolande S. Sumner is a retired US Army veteran and the CEO & Founder of Life After Service Transitional Coaching LLC®. Rolande served her country in the United States Army National Guard from 1995 to 2015. During her career, she was an Administrative Clerk, Heavy Vehicle Operator, and Human Resources Manager. She served as both a traditional National Guard Soldier and as an Active Guard Reserve Soldier. During her military tenure, Rolande received multiple honours: Afghanistan Campaign Medal, NATO Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Combat Action Badge, and the Army Accommodation Medal.

It may be foreign to hear that intuition can bring you a successful business. In “the west”, we are raised to believe that the grind and 9-5 work-life is all that is necessary to create a lifestyle of sustenance; when in actuality, it is the opposite. It is all about how you manage your energy, as it manifests into wealth and balance. Shocker, right? Most of the wealthiest individuals in the world don’t work within the system. The routine and mundane tasks of daily life are starting to adjust as people are more conscientious and in preference of creating a business led by both intuition, and trust in their own creativity. This gives the option to curate time for rest and inspiration. The key to hacking the system is looking at it from the external to understand how our comfort zone inhibits our ability to follow our intuitive nudges. This could be as simple as leaving that job that has you feeling undervalued, running a business the way that you were “taught” to, or venturing out into a new territory once finding a sense of purpose in creativity. Focusing on your body’s response and listening to your higher-self can be done as follows: Listen to that voice in your head, and that feeling in your gut. Every businessperson once made a difficult choice by leaving their comfort zone. You have to be your biggest supporter. Relying on others will stifle growth. Your human design is your blueprint to maintaining an intuitive business. Listen to that voice in your head, and the feeling in your gut: Those “voices in your head”, are often your own guidance system giving you advice and direction for what to do in life. If the idea feels to big or unrealistic, it is only because you are still in the comfort zone of playing it small. Hindsight tends to be 20/20, and it is only after our nightmares or “worst-case scenarios” pan out that we say, “I should have listened”. We can avoid a lot of grief, hardship, and detours when we give respect to our true desires. We also must be mindful of the negative voice in our head, as it is our ego. Our ego is what tells us that we are not worthy enough to follow our intuition. The real reason is because our ego hates change as it involves uncertainty. We are hardwired within our human design to follow the path of least resistance, when, some resistance is key to growth. Every businessperson once made a difficult choice by leaving their comfort zone: The comfort zone is one of the most dangerous places to be when looking to build a business or brand. Though it is okay occasionally, maintaining a state of plateau or ease is something that does not allow for much growth. The reason is because your intuition is always leading you and guiding you to your highest potential – something that we are programmed to actually fear. All of those “wildly good” business ideas, were once a concept that many investors, friends, family, and ego traits told us were not our intuition, but wishful thinking. Manifestation is such a huge part of evolution and informing progress, but as humans, we tend to lean toward shutting down our imagination. The Wright Brothers would have been told that airplanes were unrealistic, Steve Jobs was met with criticism when inventing Apple, and women were told for centuries that they are not permitted in specific sectors. If no is the dominant response – how do we justify and explain all of the times that people persevered against the odds? The dissent has become the most powerful measure of success amongst society (though it’s underutilized). So – take the chance, and make the move that you have been guided toward. It is the same one that [in]directly leads you to your intuitive business success. You have to be your biggest supporter. Relying on others will stifle growth: One of the main things we do as humans is tell people about our manifestations and desires to “hear their opinion”. This is not a bad thing, but at times the energy of the other person (ie: their belief system), is what holds us back from making the decisions that are truly fulfilling for us. Listening to our gut instinct means that we are the only ones that can truly tap into all of that which the Universe is trying to tell us. We should always seek support when needed – but, should be careful in how much we allow the opinions of others impact our ability and mojo to make the decisions that in our alignment with our highest good, aspirations, and potential. Seeking coaching, mentorship, and engaging with videos or podcasts by or from people that have been in these positions can be helpful vis-à-vis motivating to block out the noise. Your human design is your blueprint to maintaining an intuitive business: Human design is the blueprint of the time of birth. It includes your personal activations, as well as how you were programmed to succeed. On the flip side, it gives insight into how you were born to be conditioned too. Our human design connects us to our life purpose, and how we can really lean into our intuition while knowing the channels, gates, and definition within us. You can get your free human design guide or book a session here! We are all born different, but business models often look the same and lack an intuitive component. The system was structured according to the success of a generator or manifesting generator type, but is hardly sustainable for anyone wanting to live fully in purpose. Those that are meant to have a life of positive projection or reflection, are not taught about the ways that the can utilize their light-filled energy to achieve success in the workplace. Understanding your intuition, potential for growth, and programming, will give you the indispensable tools and guidance to align you with a composition of living in alignment for better decision-making. Summarily, allowing yourself to trust your intuition is the hardest, and most promising success in allowing true fulfilling business growth. If you are looking to book a coaching call or human design reading with Raminder, you can do so at her website www.therkh.com. You can also follow her socials at Instagram and linkedin. About the author: Raminder K. Hayre, or "The RKH", is best known for her spiritual activism, and healing business. She is a lawyer that transitioned out of conventional practice to make education accessible to the public via her social media platforms. She is a leader in the space of helping clients and professionals find their purpose through understanding their energy, and activations that they were born with. She was named one of the leading women in industry impact by Women in Business, and strives to help people limit burnout by focusing on their inherent success codes.

I, Dr Ketan Kulkarni, am a physician, a clinician researcher (>125 published papers), a scientist, a passionate entrepreneur, an ardent advocate of financial literacy and independence, an avid learner, a traveler, a photographer, an artist (and art enthusiast and antique collector) and a music buff. I am also interested in entrepreneurship, business, leadership and investments while balancing sustainability and social responsibility. My core values for leadership are excellence, creativity and the addition of meaning that would lead to a deep sense of satisfaction, joy and fulfillment. How would you describe yourself as a leader? My leadership ethos is the ability to share my vision with clarity, develop a deep sense of common purpose, engage, and motivate others to strive to achieve the goals that assist in realizing the vision, and create value that permanently and positively adds to humanity and the world at large. My core values for leadership are excellence, creativity, and addition of meaning that would lead to a deep sense of satisfaction, joy, and fulfillment. Thus, my work is focussed on adding value globally! What is your business name and how do you help your clients? I am the SavvyPhysician on a mission to transform lives of a million professionals in the next 5 years though creating evidence-based content, coaching and other media. I have always studied and explored art, mathematics, sciences (especially theoretical physics), astrophysics, ancient and modern Eastern and Western wisdom and philosophy, psychology, mysticism, and medicine, in a comprehensive attempt to understand what living a truly successful and fulfilling life really means. However during my extensive leadership and coaching training and practice, I did not encounter could not find a comprehensive resource that addressed these concerns in a simple, digestible format using evidence based resources. I wanted to conceive a philosophy of life that makes sense to an inquisitive mind, that can be applied to life, and that can catapult anyone toward their dream life and journey. Thus I and Dr Francis Yoo, after 2 years of work and research, wrote our first book in a sincere attempt to present our deliberations, analysis, experience and investigations into a variety of these fields and to describe them in a comprehensive and unified manner (link: https://www.amazon.com/Legendary-Quest-Professionals-Excellence-Fulfillment-ebook/dp/B09VBGPVSG). We have developed success, leadership and finance blueprint workshops and more extensive transformational coaching based on the legendary quest to really pivot one’s life. With me you will learn about what we often get wrong, in our personal and professional lives. Then, through the book’s models, concepts, investigations, and exercises, you will understand how to authentically achieve inner excellence, how to catapult yourself toward outer excellence in terms of success, leadership, and finance, and ultimately how to become the CEO of your life. What kind of audience do you target your business towards? Reply: I experienced burnout in 2017-2018. I have seen and experienced that while the words success and fulfilment are used extremely frequently, current data suggests an extremely high levels of personal and professional burnout, stress, exhaustion, mental illness epidemic. Burnout is seen in professional at all levels, and in all fields. A lot of work and life satisfaction data doesn’t suggest people experience authentic fulfilment, happiness, and success regardless of what they achieve, and how hard or smart they work!! Success and fulfilment often appear to be fleeting and temporary!! It is unfortunate majority of human beings experience a persistent state of background discontent, busyness, anxiety, overwhelm, stress, heightened alertness, or some form of distress most of the time (see The Legenday Quest). They do not seem to be able to separate themselves from this visceral discontent, no matter what happens. Happiness and joy seem to be fleeting and limited to brief moments such as holidays, certain life events, and sporadic circumstances. The result is that individuals believe these states are normal and expected! And that life is but a struggle. Our work and business are targeted towards professionals looking for more in their lives to experience their best vision and version and weave a rich lived experience. What are your current goals for your business? I am on a mission to transform 1 million professionals in the next 5 years. I want to add infinite value to their lives through my work and build credibility and authenticity. What would you like to achieve for yourself and your business in the future? Reply: I want to live and reach my best vision and version in the upcoming years. In addition to several entrepreneurial pursuits, I’m excited to be writing my second and third book. The second book applies the concepts of the Legendary Quest and describes a transformative journey of an eagle, and the reader gets to accompany the character. We are working on getting extensive feedback on our manuscript currently. Similarly, the third book is in the works and is a science fiction highlighting concepts of The Legendary Quest. Similarly, through our courses, workshops and coaching, I envision widely reaching the global professionals. I also envision continuing to sharpen my skillset by continuous learning. Who inspires you to be the best that you can be? My family and close friends inspire me to be the best of who I can be. They are my mirror and sounding board. I am thankful to know about the great people who have or are walking the planet, including Albert Einstein, Leonardo DaVinci, Nelson Mandela, Dalai Lama, Steve Jobs, Rembrandt van Rijn, Vincent van Gogh, Marie Curie, and many, many other world-class scientists, leaders, reformers, musicians, artists, writers, entertainers, celebrities, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders who have been, and remain, deeply inspiring. What is your work inspired by? In addition to my influencers, my core values of abundance, joy, excellence creativity and meaning inspire my work. Tell us about your greatest career achievement so far. Evidence is clear that lasting success is not about 1 achievement or moment. It is a rich kaleidoscope of a combination of factors including happiness, achievement, contribution, legacy and significantly impacting those you interact with (directly or indirectly). Thus, I find deep satisfaction in simultaneously achieving high level of success in all areas of my life. If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be and why? I would love to bring transparency and accountability to my industry. Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to where you are today. Reply: In the darkest moments one often finds the light within! When I found myself burnt out, I was able to do deep within and seek solutions, to truly understand who I was, what I wanted and what I wanted to do. While it took many years to find some of the answers (and I continue to work in the area), it was in the abyss that I was able to find the seed of opportunity!

Written by: Travis Kendrick McCray, 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. In this article, I will be explaining the qualities of what it means to become an Inspirational Leader from humble-beginnings. There are certain required goals which we should set because they most certainly can become resourceful when you are born and raised in a small rural area as such as Southwest Georgia. This is what I did in order to ensure that was granted a hope and prosperous future in becoming a leading trailblazer. “Don’t gain the world and lose your soul; wisdom is better than silver or gold.” – Bob Marley Surviving From Rags to Riches as an Inspirational Leader Faith! Self-Control! Joy! These are a few intriguing words which will help inspire someone who is serious about accelerating from humble-beginnings. Over the years, time has truly modernized into something so life-changing these days. This has made several individuals transform their daily life existence. What our minds constantly focus on whether it is positive or negative becomes our navigational system on the path we ascend or descend into. For instance, faith is the substance of things hoped for and promised in the “WORD of GOD” which becomes true, even though unseen. This means we must believe in something productive or fall for anything negative. Our character shows what is truly within our souls if we are blessed and highly favored with the “Inspirational Leadership” energy. It is so amazing to know all will become well once we consistently press forward to the mark of the ultimate prize. Here are the top 5 qualities of what it means to become an “Inspirational Leader” and the top 5 intriguing questions. 1. Love In order to exemplify love, it takes genuine compassion for others. Love is truly an action word which requires devotion on a universal level. We live in a world which is lacking kindness due to overall negativity in today’s society. For instance, I grew up experiencing hate which I transformed into love because hate is the total opposite of love and I began to simply love myself even more. It is like the late great legend Bob Marley quotes, “One love, one heart, one destiny.” 2. Determination Life has its moments of disappointments, but it is highly important to never give up even though at times we feel as if we should “Throw in the Towel.” We must continue to encourage ourselves on a daily basis to constantly strive for excellence no matter what. It takes 100% self-control to always remain positive in order to become successful. For example, I was determined to become an Inspirational Leader even though I did not have the proper support system as such as parents, family members, colleagues, and even unworthy so-called friends. 3. Longsuffering We live in a microwave society which does not want to have patience. Additionally, there have been several individuals that have not reached their highest potential of gaining success. Longsuffering helps molds and shapes us for the long-term in order to endure any type of hardships. For example, I grew up financially struggling due to my lack of support and financial opportunities; however, I gained a tremendous outlook on life in order to succeed once I received several miraculous opportunities as such as starting my own business called Days Cross Road Cooperative, LLC and became the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). 4. Respect Respect is truly valuable as an inspirational leader in the business industry. Over the years, we have witnessed the deep admiration of others with their unique bonds. The collaboration experience is mind-blowing due to the combination of high-end levels unitized on one accord in order to proceed forward with business. For instance, I have made some incredible relationships over the years due to my high level of respect which I show everyone whether it is the janitor or the CEO of any particular business at hand. 5. Integrity Throughout history, integrity has played an enormous role in the business industry. Some businesses have increased by expressing upright morals, but some businesses have decreased due to the lack of honesty. The importance of integrity helps the unification of supply and demand for all business structures. For example, my mission statement guarantees that I will morally help elevate my client’s business affairs through constructive Business and Financial Management. “You Don’t Have To Be Poor” ‒ Tom Leding 1. What is Inspiration? Inspiration is when we live our lives with a GODLY purpose. For instance, I have had my share of downfalls, but overall I have accomplished several remarkable achievements. Life is basically what we make out of it. My experience has evolved gradually throughout my “Champion Moments” of accelerating upward because I am bound to inspire someone. Over the years, I have broken several generational curses and made some historical moments as such as gaining a full scholarship back in late year of 2017 and I graduated in the fall of 2019 with Summa Cum Laude Honors plus double degrees in Business Management and Accounting along with Presidential Listee Honors. 2. How to remain Motivated? Motivation is a known key to success. Even though sometimes we experience our outward being expressing “NO” always remember to constantly focus on our inner being which is genuinely expressing “YES INDEED” we are totally prosperous. Our legendary ancestors from before have made some stupendous landmarks which we should always keep within our daily motives. I have continually adapted to live my life being a consistent representative for my incredible legendary elders such as the late great Sonnie Wallace, Sr., Sidney Poitier, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mildred H. Brown to just name a few. Additionally, motivation has been initially a driven force which we use to accomplish several particular goals in order to succeed in our lives. 3. Why is it so important to stay away from negativity? Negativity has truly played a major role in our lives at some point. The outcome can really subtract the positivity and most times we always expect the worst in any situation at hand. Throughout my lifetime, I have had several experiences of trauma stemmed from negative energy based on mediocrity. It certainly becomes “Crabs in a Bucket” mentally, spiritually, physically, and financially when you come from humble beginnings. Overall, it is highly important to maintain positivity and elevation despite any type of negative moments because eventually, we will indeed become “Victorious” in due time. 4. What is Success? For most people, success is making huge accomplishments. Success can be described as something regal whether it is big or small. We all have had some awe-inspiring moments in our lives which have elevated our outlook on the definition of success. Just waking up every day is indeed a remarkable way to view success. For example, in the month of June of this year, I was nominated and by the “Grace of GOD” unexpectedly, I actually won The Marquis Who’s Who of America Publishing Company Certification. 5. How to live being set apart? When we are set apart it means to transmute from the lowest levels and accelerate into the prime focus of “Victorious Living.” Society has several forms of levels which consist of leaders and followers. In this life, it is very challenging at times to stand out and dare to become different from anyone else. Life becomes like a process once we realize the letter “I” comes before “YOU” meaning others, once we learn the proper strategies of becoming an effective leader which takes total perseverance in loving ourselves then taking care of the well-being of others. For instance, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. prepared himself daily by learning and preaching “The Word of GOD,” plus gained an education at Morehouse College, and then led the Civil Rights Movement by standing and speaking about justice, peace and unity for everyone worldwide. In Conclusion Nevertheless, once we apply these types of factors in our daily lives we will indeed become a “Victorious Inspirational Leader.” It is highly important to maintain these particular qualities due to prosperous long-term success. Every successful “Inspirational Leader” can give everyone advice who wholeheartedly seeks several combinations of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding in order to simply survive once we peak our brilliant lifestyles. My hopes are only to share my testimony in order to inspire someone to level up from “Rags to Riches” in such an amazing, humble manner. Follow me on LinkedIn, and you can visit me @ Google name Travis K. McCray for more info! Travis Kendrick McCray, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Travis K. McCray is a genuine definition of an ambitious leader by exemplifying a compassionate heart person for others. He began his life in Southwest Georgia in a small rural community called Days Crossroads Community. In his early childhood, he totally realized that he was surrounded by poverty and the lack of opportunities which truly encouraged him to always strive for excellence. After the completion of high school, he attended Independence University to gain double degrees in Business Management and Accounting as a Summa Cum Laude Honor Graduate. Now he is the CEO of Days Cross Road Cooperative, LLC which provides services such as Business and Financial Consulting. In the summer of 2022, he was nominated and won The Marquis Who’s Who of America Publishing Company Certification.