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My Story: Rewiring the Brain with Scripture - E105

• Maureen Chiana • Episode 105

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In this inspiring episode, join me, Maureen, as I share my personal journey of discovering the profound power of combining faith and neuroscience to transform our minds and lives. I’ll take you through my story, from the challenges and breakthroughs to the revelations that led me to explore the incredible intersection of scripture and brain science.

We’ll dive deep into how the truths found in the Bible can be more than just words of encouragement – they can be powerful tools for rewiring our brains. Whether you're seeking personal or professional growth, healing, or a deeper connection with God, this episode will provide insights and practical steps to help you renew your mind and live a more fulfilling, purpose-driven life.

Tune in to learn how scripture can reshape your thoughts, behaviours, and, ultimately, your destiny.

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Mindsight Women's Network | Mindsight Store | The Mindsight Academy

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Stay curious and empowered!

Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome to Lead to Excel podcast, where every story sparks inspiration and every conversation brings you closer to your best self. I'm Maureen Chiana and I'm here to explore the extraordinary fusion of leadership, emotional intelligence and the groundbreaking insights of neuroscience. Together, we'll uncover secrets to unlocking your potential, enhancing your decision-making and elevating your performance to new heights. Whether you're leading a team, building a dream or simply on a quest for personal growth, you're in the right place, so let's dive in and transform the way we think, lead and live. Welcome aboard. This was my early forties Menopause menopause, menopause, early forties what. Welcome back to Lead to Excel podcast. I'm actually really excited to be back here. We've had a few months off over the summer for me to just rest and reset, and it's so exciting to be back with new, exciting episodes. And we're kicking it off with my story focusing on rewiring your brain using scripture. I really hope this inspires you, and it would be interesting to hear your own story. So do enjoy this podcast and remember to subscribe and share with others as well. Hello there and welcome to a brand new month. So, for those that are meeting me for the first time, my name is Maureen Chiana. I'm the founder and CEO of the Mindsight Academy, and last year the Lord led me to start a membership program for female leaders using neuroscience, emotional intelligence and scripture, and the name of our network is, like I said, mindsight Women's Network. So who is Maureen Chiana? I will start a bit from a bit of my culture, because that, I think, is what really defined me a bit and bringing in this concept of rewire your brain using scripture.

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I grew up in the UK and then moved to Nigeria and my parents have two daughters and when we got to Nigeria, one of the things that really stood out for me was how much the male son was valid or valued rather, and this really struck me and it started making me ask a lot of questions and probably even led to me losing my self-worth to an extent, because I remember in primary school being bullied so much and I think the bullying obviously was I had just come into the country but also I think what was also going on in my mind was that concept of not being valued as a girl. But one of the things that I would say helped me so much and really shaped my life was my mom. My mom was a strong woman raising two girls under so much pressure because she did not have a son, but she really raised up to be strong women and she raised us up so strong in God, so strong in the word. Every morning we woke up, we woke up, she woke us up at 5 am to study the word, sing, praises, sing, praise and worship and pray. So scripture has always been a part of my life and in that scripture, understanding how much God loved me, how much God loves me, how many promises that he's really given me and the fact that I could really hold on to his word and faith, was a huge thing for my mom. The belief and having faith in God to achieve anything. And this really helped shape who I was and actually improve and raise my self-worth, because she always reminded us of how much God loves us, how much God valued us, how much God cared about us, so we could use that and also remembering how much of a father he is to us and how we are his children.

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And even though the society I was growing up in had a different view, what I was being taught as a child of God was completely different and that really helped me a lot because I remember when I was being bullied. One of the things my mom said to me was bullied. One of the things my mom said to me was stand up. You know who you are as a child of God. Stand up to them. And that was what really enabled me to stand up to them. I think I was in primary three at the time and I decided that no, I refused to be bullied, because what the bully did was that she would, during break time, she would make sure no one spoke to me In the classroom. Everyone went around her desk. She made sure no one spoke to her. She would tell them don't speak to her. So when it got to a time that I said, you know, I've had enough of this. You know, I don't really care, don't speak to me, I literally stood up and challenged her. And when I stood up to challenge her, people were then torn oh, should we go with Maureen, should we go with her? And it was so funny because within time I really did not care. So we had two factions. She had her own, I had my own faction and that, I think, was my own first step into leadership, and I'll come back to this later. But it gave me a huge amount of self-worth, even seeing how people behaved. It was interesting how people listened to the person that spoke, the person that took the leadership role gravitated towards that person, and I found that so interesting. So one of the things that I thank God for was the kind of mom that he gave me, the one that soaked us, brought us up knowing who God is and understanding scripture.

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And I remember when I was going from primary school to secondary school in Nigeria. At the time you could go in from primary five or you could go in from primary six and because I had come when I came to Nigeria, I had to do. You know, we're in different towns, so I ended up doing one class twice because we were moving around. So I was a bit behind and I did not want to do primary six. So I said I was going to go into secondary school from primary five and I started praying, praying. I remember I would go into the room, lock the door and just pray and saying God that I don't want to do this primary six. I'm going into secondary school from primary five, I'll pray, I'll study, I'll pray, I'll study, I'll pray and I'll study. And I took the common entrance and passed all and went into secondary school from primary five, and that was the one thing I remember so vividly, because my mom said to me well, if you don't want to do primary six, you've got to really trust God and you've got to work hard. And I did it and it worked. That was the first time, I would say, I personally experienced having faith in God, standing on the word of God, working towards what I wanted and then achieving it, and it so built up my faith that throughout my life that's the one thing I always stand on on the word of God, because it never, ever, failed me.

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So, as life starts happening, you start experiencing challenges, and I started experiencing different challenges through university, coming back to the UK as well, and I remember, because of this upbringing and because of my faith and trust and knowledge of who I am in Christ, one thing that I was never afraid of was change. I really embraced change so well, so that when I started my career and I noticed that things are not going the way I want, I wasn't afraid to move. I was not afraid to move. That whole concept of when you start a job, you stay in the job all your life that did not apply to me at all. I remember when I was doing it.

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I was working in research in London and I was meant to be starting my PhD that was the agreement and I was working under a man that literally had no respect for women. He had no respect for me personally, but the way he talked down to women was unbelievable and I had reported this a couple of times to his boss because nobody I spoke to could do anything. And I noticed that nothing was happening and I asked myself the question if I stay here, am I going to gain? I'm not going to gain much from this man, because this one was not ready to teach me anything. He wasn't letting me do any of the experiments. I was literally being the one clearing rubbish. So I made that decision. You know what I'm moving. I'm leaving here and I left that job, you know, soon after. It wasn't I don't even think. I stayed up to 18 months and I moved. If I stayed that long actually I don't think I did and I moved on to something else and I noticed the pattern.

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I was in a job once I was in IT at the time and I was the one looking after a complete site and I went on maternity leave. When I was on maternity leave, my boss then re-advertised my job and gave my job to the person I had trained a man, white, english man and I knew, as he brought this man in, I could see things happening. So I was a bit alert to things that were going. You know, a lot of times they'll be in meetings. They won't invite me in for meetings. You know a lot of those were going on. But when I was a maternity leave, this is what happened. So I said, okay, it's time to move. So I did, and I'm just going to go back a bit and just show you the different things I had done in my life.

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And at the time I knew that when things are not going the way I wanted, I could do something. I knew my authority in Christ. I knew I valued myself. I knew I wasn't ready to take crap and if there was too much crap it was time to go. I knew I was always focused on what I wanted and where I was going, and if I wasn't getting it, I knew that I had to make changes. I was never afraid to ask for promotion. I was never afraid to ask for raises. I was never afraid to ask for, to do courses that people at my level were not doing, and I'll get it.

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So I was always very forward in what I wanted and that came from that place of knowing who I am, in Christ above anything else. It's always been the driver of my life. That's where I get my confidence. And there's something that I always remember my mom saying you know the scripture, be bold and courageous. And that's something I always held on to. That Jesus Christ is the lion of Judah and he says I should be bold. So I'm going to be bold as a lion. So anything I was doing, that boldness I always reminded myself be bold, be bold, push yourself, push myself out of my comfort zone. And if I had faith as small as a mustard seed, I can tell the mountain to move. And that was a constant reminder and thread that ran through my life.

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So when I started my career, my first degree was in biomedical sciences. I actually really wanted to study medicine but didn't get into med school. So I was quite disappointed. But again, my mom reminded me that God is more than able to enable me achieve what he wants me to achieve. So I could start the biomedical and then change to medicine, which was the plan. But when I got into biomedical I really enjoyed it and decided not to bother changing to medicine. So I carried on and finished and then when I came out that's when I came back to the UK, did a master's in microbiology and then started working in. By then I was working in pathology and then moved into research. And then it was after the research, after I had that experience with that man, that I decided to take a break and just started doing local work, so working in different hospitals and pathology in the lab, and that opened my eyes to the systems, the different systems and how different hospitals worked, and I really liked that, instead of being stuck in one, being able to see how different hospitals work. I really enjoyed that. So I did that for a couple of years.

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And then, I would say, I decided to go into education. But the story about it is that I'd had my son and then a friend of mine was coming. My son was about my first son was about three months at the time and a friend of mine had registered to do a course in education near where we lived at the time. So I said, okay, I'll meet up with her. So I went and met up with her and then she said why don't you register? And I'm going? There's no way I can be a teacher, that one.

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One of the things that I'm very confident doing or was or doing at the time, was standing up for myself by taking action, but speaking in front of a crowd of people that was pushing, that was pushing it too far. So I went, I said no, and um, she, she said just try it, and you know we've won the person, the person registering. I said no, and she said just try it, and you know we've won the person, the person registering. I said just register, you don't you know, try it, and if you don't like it you stop. Anyway, I did, I registered, went for the introduction and I said OK, and then I did a five minute talk. I think it was a five minute talk. At the time I was shaking my knees. I could still see my knees were literally shaking as I was speaking. But I did the five minute talk, I enjoyed it.

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I really enjoyed it and then stayed on and that was how I got into education, got a postgraduate certificate of education and my first job was at Christ Church University in Canterbury of Education and my first job was at Christ Church University in Canterbury. I was teaching anatomy and physiology, microbiology sciences. So I was teaching quite a few things in the department at the time and also teaching the occupational therapist anatomy and physiology. So I did that for a few years. But I was just so curious about IT because IT was becoming quite well known at that time in the 90s and I was just so curious about it. So I decided to start training myself in IT and one of the ones that someone told me about was the Microsoft Systems Engineer. So I started doing the exams, training myself, did the first exam, went for courses, did the first exam, passed it, did the second pass and I went oh, wow, okay, this is it. So I then left no, I didn't leave at the time. I carried on doing the training and then passed the six exams and became a Microsoft certified systems engineer and then left education and went into IT full-time, working in different companies, and that was another pivot I did.

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I find this interesting, even me narrating this. I've concept of change I always embraced and you know when you're going into a new job for the first time how people say they get nervous, I am excited, I am really excited. It's a lot of curiosity. What would it be like? How would you know? What are the people like? What would the role be like? How would I bring my whole self to do this job so well? It was more excitement, and but one thing is I never went in to any job alone. I always went with my father because I prayed and said I always went confident that the spirit of God is in me and going with me, and that was where I drew my confidence from. So, as you're listening to me, I hope you can see a thread here the concept of the mind, what we think, because what you think becomes your reality.

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If I I was speaking to someone that I was coaching a while ago and she'd really had issues in a job and wanted to, and you know I'd left and got a new job and she was so nervous and I said why are you nervous? It's what you wanted. She said but it's the normal thing, isn't it? When you're starting a new job, you should be nervous. And I'm going, no, if that's the narrative, that's the story that you've created for yourself, then yes, you would be nervous. But if you change the narrative to. This is exciting. This is what I really wanted. This is the job I really want.

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Then you're going in with more an open mind and more joy and calmness. Than activating the stress response system in your brain, what you should do is activate the parasympathetic, the calm state of your brain, so that you go in and you're able to interact better, listen better, hear better, so you can actually fit in quicker and better, instead of going in nervous. Because when you're nervous, what happens? Your emotional brain is activated. The prefrontal cortex then shuts down your thinking brain. So you go into the job and then many and you know what that first day is like, or the first few days where everybody's talking at you or telling you things you don't remember most of it. So it's important to remain calm, and remain calm is by paying attention to the story that you're telling yourself.

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The other aspect of this is when I got into IT, I was in there for a few years. I'm coming to an interesting part where you see where I took this to a new level. So I was in IT for a few years and then the IT crash happened and I said, okay, what do I do? Anyway, I'm not going to go into so much of that story, but area living in the UK at the time did not have salons that catered for you know my type of hair. So someone said why don't you open one? So I and a colleague decided to do it and but before we did, one of the things that I always do before I do anything is go to God first and ask and say Lord, what do you say? But when this person said this to me, I went, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. No, I'm not doing that.

Speaker 1:

And the reason why is that my dad was in business and I always felt he should never be in business. He's an accountant and I felt he should have been working for a company and he would have thrived so much better. Because my dad was so calm, so quiet, he was the kind of person that never wanted to hurt anyone and just so, just such a lovely man. But being in business, he was taken advantage of so many times, he was defrauded so many times. He was even his own driver stole from him. It was crazy, and because of that I always said I will never, ever go into business. So when this person said this to me, can you see how I'd wired a narrative in my brain because of the experience I saw of my dad growing up. So when he said, going to business, I went no way, I ain't doing that.

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And the next day he came with a book by John Odberg If you want to walk on water, you've got to step out of the boat. And I started reading this book. And as I read this book, the Holy Spirit was just speaking to me so strongly and I kept reading and going wow, it's almost like my faith grew so much and the Holy Spirit was telling me you've got to do it. Open the salon. I went what? This is scary. I'd never done anything like that before. I'd always said it's not something I was going to do. And immediately I made the decision. I said, okay, I'll do it. What happened? Subconscious brain went into overdrive in the sense that see what happened to your dad? Do you want the same to happen to you? And all that story. But that book helped me a lot because I focused.

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It's almost like I held on to God's promises. I really held on to the words and the words and remember that God was giving me. I held on to every word God gave me and I kept repeating them, repeating them, repeating them, holding on to them. So I hope you're paying attention. I took the words God gave me and I kept repeating them and I held on to them so strongly and I went into the business.

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This friend of mine, a colleague of mine, we decided we'll do it together. Anyway, we started, she dropped off, she said she wasn't going to do it. We had gone too far, and I knew the word God had given me. If God hadn't given me the word, I think I would have just let it go, because I wasn't prepared to go into business alone. But God said to me I am going, I am with you. So I did, I went in, I started the business and it was, I would say, the best thing I'd ever done, but also the worst that I had done.

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The best in the sense that the experience and what it taught me is just so invaluable, and that is why I'm where I am today, doing what I'm doing today. The experience was not pleasant and I learned a lot from it, and I've talked about this in previous videos as well. But one of the key things about that business was that when I went in, god had asked me to go in. But I then went in and it became about me succeeding. So it's almost like I took my eyes off God and it was about what strategy? What can I do? It was all about me. I wasn't listening anymore. It was what can I do? What were they telling me? Because the thing about business is that everyone has an opinion. Everyone has a solution.

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I went on a marketing course at that early stage and the person teaching marketing I asked him so when you run your business, you know there's specific questions I asked, and he said he'd never run a business. He was an academic marketing lecturer, he had never run a business. And I'm going. So that was when I went huh, okay, so I, you know. Anyway, I carried on.

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But I always remember that when I got into the, when I really started and I was deep in the business, I forgot everything and literally it was now survival. So I wasn't, I wasn't praying as much as praying but not listening, I was doing what everyone told me to do, or what I felt I needed to do to survive. Anyway, the business, I had to close it. I had to close the business after four years and I was at a very, very low point, and that was the point at which I went. I went. What happened? How did I get here? So I closed the business in December and my mom was such a huge support, as usual, trusting God, giving me scriptures, really encouraging me. And then I went back into education.

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I went back into lecturing and in January and 1st of April that year my mum passed away suddenly and that got me. That really really got me. I felt lost. I felt I think lost is the word that lost is the only way to describe how I felt. I felt completely lost and alone. The one person that I could turn to for support, for prayer. You know, the fact that I knew she was praying for me, the fact that I knew she was praying for me, the fact that I knew she was there, it's almost like I drew strength from it and I knew that I was holding on to God. But she was there, but now she was gone.

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It was just a crazy time. I literally went down. Crazy time. I literally went down down. You know, emotionally, mentally. There's a time I went into a lecture, into the lecture room to deliver my lecture, and I couldn't I had to run out, go to the restroom and I sobbed, I sobbed, I. You know, all you needed to say to you, to me, was Maureen, how are you? And I would just, it was. It was just such a low time.

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She passed away in April and within a few months, I started noticing that I was sweating so much, that I was sweating so much and in October of that year, the doctor said you know, I did test and I was in perimenopause. I couldn't understand. In fact, that even threw me more. This was my early 40s, menopause, menopause, menopause, early 40s. What I was in shock. And the doctor said to me have you suffered any form of trauma or anything recently? And I said yes, that closed my business and my mom passed away. She said that could be it, but then asked if there was any history and I had no clue. That was not a conversation I'd had with my mom, bearing in mind my mom was a nurse, but it's not a conversation we ever had and I just did not understand it. How could I be going through menopause at this age? Anyway, that was another journey and menopause is something I've spoken about.

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But one of the things I'll just mention here is the decision I made because someone said to me at the time that be prepared to constantly be depressed, constantly have mood swings. It will make you know just all the side effects of menopause. She just literally told me I should be prepared. Anyway, I went researching, as usual as I do. I went researching about menopause, found out quite a bit about it and discovered I think it's Christian Northup. Anyway, I got her book on menopause and I could see that there was a link between how your thoughts and lifestyle can impact on the symptoms and I just I kind of looked at it and went. I just said you know what, lord, okay, since I've said menopause, now you're going to have to help me through this. I do not want to go on HRT but, lord, you've got to help me.

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During that period, while I was in such a low place, I discovered Dr Caroline Leaf talking about who switched off your brain. That was a life changer for me Because once I heard her talking about it on the TV, my brain went into overdrive, curiosity. The dopamine was now flowing and I went full scale research studying to neuroscience and it was in that journey that I discovered emotional intelligence from the brain's perspective, from the emotional part of the brain. You know, understanding the emotional brain linking you know what neuroscience actually meant, the whole concept of rewire your brain, and that was when I then understood scripture even deeper. I think what excited me the most was that the more I was studying the science, the more I was now understanding why scripture said things renew your mind Ah, we needed to. If the Bible is telling us renew your mind, that means we have the capability to renew our mind, and the Bible also said that faith comes from hearing. You know, so we hear. So basically, what we hear determines what we do, or what becomes our reality. So I just saw how science was confirming scripture and that got me so excited, extremely excited, and that was my journey into neuroscience. So I started walking through that and got into neuroleadership. So working with leaders, working with teams, and I could just see how fast things changed Behavior patterns changed, managers' behaviors changed, teams' patterns changed, managers' behaviors changed, teams' behavior changed, productivity improved, retention increased. It was just amazing and I'll say this was in. I started this in 2009, and it's been a journey that has been amazing.

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I did a talk once for Kent Ambulance Service. A friend invited me to do a talk. That was my first public talk and I was so nervous about doing that talk, but when I did it and the way it was received, it even excited me more, and that was when I knew that people did not really know much about this. So there's a need to get this information out there. So can you now see the thread of my life? You know, one of the things that I talk a lot about now is understanding our purpose when you walk with God. The Bible says the steps of the righteous are ordered by God. As we go through challenges, as we go through problems, as we go through life all these, he says that he will make them all work together for a good. I wasn't planning to be a lecturer, but see how God directed my step. I ended up in lecturing. I wasn't planning to go into business. See how the Lord directed me and I went into business.

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Now, when I then came into this neuro leadership concept and I started doing this work in the colleges and training and talking and doing talks and helping my teams and turning departments around from inadequate to outstanding in months in really short periods of time At that point I then decided to go back out into business and start my own so that I could do this more globally. Yes, my subconscious brain did wake up and go you failed before, lady, what are you doing? But I but at that point I was the one now in control of the subconscious and said you know what? We are fine. And they started this business.

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Now, one of the things that I really wanted to do was speaking, because I had been a lecturer for years, so I really wanted to speak, but this time I wanted to do more public speaking. So yet what I did is I did training on public speaking, combined it with my lecturing, and I was able to now travel to start doing talks. You know, traveling, doing talks, doing talks to organizations, doing talks to teams Soon after I was given my first award as an international speaker. But can you see the thread? One of the interesting things about this rewiring your brain using scripture is that when I started doing this talk in neuroscience and leadership and I created the academy the Mindsight Academy, and one of the core main courses that we have is emotional intelligence for leadership, organizations do this training and I coach them through the process, because I did a coaching course in about 2010. One of the things about the training is that, yes, I noticed that I could give you training, but the core, the key part of it was how do you then change the behavior when you're going through the challenge, and that is where neurocoaching becomes important. So the training and the coaching linked together is what then creates the results that you achieve. So I combined these two to then enable you know so, working with organizations to create the results that they wanted, and it's just been so powerful.

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A year ago, the Lord then told me to create the membership program for women, and this time bringing in the element of scripture. And I went. What I've been doing, this leadership for years, and now I'm bringing in scripture. But one thing that I had learned working with God is obedience. Obedience, and the moment I said yes, it's like God just opened the door, the ideas, exactly how to create the membership program, everything I needed to do, and we are now in our first year, we're coming to the end of our first year, and it's been an incredible, incredible journey For me. It's been so liberating to coach and teach ladies, women, with that element of scripture, because that element of scripture, with that element of scripture, because that element of scripture, even before I knew the concept of neuroplasticity, of how the brain rewires itself.

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When I was teaching neuroanatomy at the university, we did not know that the brain could rewire itself. We didn't brain could rewire itself. We didn't Because up till that time, what we had been taught and told is that the way the brain is at the age of seven or 21 is the way to stay for the rest of your life. But then new science started coming out showing that the brain can rewire itself, but also the brain can form new brain cells, new neurons in our lifetime, throughout our life. And that was the key, that was the core, that was the whole mind-blowing aspect of renew your mind. We did not know we could renew, but now science is telling us that we can actually renew.

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And can you see how scripture has always been there, but we did not know? Can you see how scripture has always been there, but we did not know, we did not understand what that concept was. So we are practicing it because faith you know the Bible says when you pray, believe you have received it and you shall have it. So when you've received something, you're behaving as if you have it, and that faith that you know what God is giving it to me, that I've asked for this and God is giving it to me, as long as you're asking in accordance with his will and he's a covenant keeping God. So with that, it means that we can actually say believe it. How do you believe? You believe in your mind, you visualize it, then you're seeing it, you're living your life as if you've got that thing.

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When I decided to take that step and open the business, I wasn't taking no for an answer from anyone. I started walking around the place. I wanted my business to be and I was seeing the business. I was speaking to it. I said this shop, we are opening by December. We are opening, we'll be here, I will go into town, I will speak, speak to the shop, speak to the town. And it happened. I did the same when I was in primary school to go into secondary. It happened so when I was now getting the science, understanding science, I've been just so excited, so impacting this knowledge.

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Now, where I bring in the element of scripture to ladies, I'm on a different level. It's like it's freedom and it's now bringing the whole everything. I've done the IT aspect, you know the business aspect. So I've got women who are starting in business. I support you in business, understanding what is God saying, what is your purpose? We go to the scripture teaching you how to hear from God and put it into action, the resistance that will come up from your brain so that you understand it.

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A lot of times people are stuck in procrastination, self-sabotage, imposter syndrome. It's the brain doing its work, but God has told us that we can. We can do all things through Christ. It's focusing on that word. Remember I said to you before I kept repeating repetition. Now we know repetition rewires the brain. No, repetition rewires the brain.

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So, if you want to truly live the life God has called you to live, get scripture, understand the word of God and then rewire your brain to hold on to it and take the actions that God is asking you to take. Take the actions needed. Equip yourself. Who are you surrounding yourself with? What do you need to do? Do you need to stop being a people pleaser? Do you need to step away? What do you need to do? One of the things I always do with clients is the brain mapping, diagnostic, because I always say that if not, we don't know what we're working with. You've wired your brain over time. Who are you? A lot of times when you ask people who are you, you don't even know who you are because you don't know how you've wired your brain, because a lot of the wiring in the brain has gone in without your knowledge, from your upbringing, from your experiences, from your teachers.

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When I was going into business, there was that resistance coming up about my dad you know. Oh, your dad had done it. And see the experience he had. What if the same happens to you? I had to then focus on what God had told me. I focused on what I wanted at the end, that focus of where I was going, of what I was going to do, because if I started listening to that subconscious brain, I wouldn't have done that business. To walk on water, you've got to step out of the boat. There were other disciples in that boat with Peter, but they didn't step out. Peter stepped out and he's the only one that ever experienced that miracle of walking on water. The moment he looked down, looked away from Jesus, he started sinking. The moment he started looking at the challenges, the obstacles around him, he started sinking.

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The moment you take the focus of what you want where you're going, focus of Christ, and start focusing on what you don't want, you start sinking. And there's a saying what you focus on expands. Focus on Christ. He expands in your life. Focus on the power of the Holy Spirit. It expands in your life. Focus on what you want. It expands in your life. Focus on what you don't want. It will expand in your life. So focus on what you want.

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A lot of times you find yourself complaining, complaining about what you don't want, and then you're experiencing what you don't want and you're wondering why things are not changing. Because you're praying. But you're praying, but focusing on the thing you don't want. And that principle of as long as you're focusing on what you don't want, the subconscious will keep giving you what you don't want. So, for me, one of the key things that I really am so grateful to God for, it's God giving us this knowledge now to understand who we are, how he's created us. He said he's made us in his image. Who are we? How does that brain work? How does it connect with emotions? How does it make me carry out actions? What do I do to actually live the life God has called me to live? That understanding, that power, that wisdom that God has given our generation now is just amazing when you think about it when you have negative or toxic thoughts.

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The damage that it does to the body. It damages cells, it can create cancer, can create all sorts of diseases dementia you know so many diseases, so many illnesses, disease, so that your body is not at ease. It's just incredible. The fact that you've inherited a disease doesn't mean that it has to present with symptoms. It can lie dormant all your life. It all comes down to what's going on in your brain, because that will drive your lifestyle, that will drive your behavior, that will drive everything you do.

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So I hope that this story journey of mine, that would really help you. I've had to cut quite a lot out because if I go on on my story, which I'll keep talking about over time, it's just incredible what God has done in my life and I'm just so grateful to him for his greatness, his kindness, his love, directing me and just making me understand or have the knowledge that I have today about the brain. And that is why I get so excited about this brain, because this is the one organ that cannot be transplanted yet and the link between our brain and body is just so powerful. Something happens in your body and then your brain is interpreting that information and then you can take an action. That's powerful. And to think that I was already teaching neuroanatomy before, but never ever connected it to behavior and the process that we can actually change it. I didn't know that at the time, but now we do. We need to really embrace it. We need to take this information that we have and use well, and if you want to know more about the Mindsight Women's Network, there'll be a link in the description so that you can click on it and you're very, very welcome to join.

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If you're curious and you're tired of being stuck or you're tired of just going around in circles, you're tired of imposter holding you back or tired of not being where you know you should be, then you need to join the Mindsight Women's Network. Get the knowledge, get the understanding, be equipped to now take the actions you need to take, and it's a great community where women are really supporting each other through different journeys, because we're all at different places, we all have different experiences, but it's a fantastic place to be, so do join us. I do invite you to join us. If you're an organization and want to know more about training for church leaders, for organizational leaders, do have a look at the Mindsight Academy. Our training is just so powerful. The coaching is incredible. In the Women's Network, you get all that. You get the training. You get the coaching as well. So I really look forward to welcoming you to the academy or to the women's network and I'll see you next time. Bye for now, stay blessed and keep rewiring your brain using scripture. Bye.

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Thank you for joining us on today's episode of Lead to Excel podcast. I hope our discussion has inspired you. Remember, achieving excellence is a marathon and every step counts towards your goals. If today's conversation sparked any thoughts or questions, feel free to share them with me on LinkedIn, facebook and Twitter, and consider leaving a review on your favorite podcast platform. You can also find this podcast on YouTube. Your feedback helps us grow and reach more listeners. Don't forget to subscribe to never miss an episode filled with expert insights and inspiration. Until next time, this is Maureen Chiana, reminding you to stay curious, stay driven and together let's remain limitless and change the world. Bye for now.