September 5, 2024 • 51 mins
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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Stay curious and empowered!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello and welcome to Lead to Excel podcast, where
every story sparks inspirationand every conversation brings
you closer to your best self.
I'm Maureen Chiana and I'm hereto explore the extraordinary
fusion of leadership, emotionalintelligence and the
groundbreaking insights ofneuroscience.
(00:23):
Together, we'll uncover secretsto unlocking your potential,
enhancing your decision-makingand 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 theway we think, lead and live.
(00:47):
Welcome aboard.
This was my early fortiesMenopause menopause, menopause,
early forties what.
Welcome back to Lead to Excelpodcast.
I'm actually really excited tobe back here.
We've had a few months off overthe summer for me to just rest
(01:12):
and reset, and it's so excitingto be back with new, exciting
episodes.
And we're kicking it off withmy story focusing on rewiring
your brain using scripture.
I really hope this inspires you, and it would be interesting to
(01:35):
hear your own story.
So do enjoy this podcast andremember to subscribe and share
with others as well.
Hello there and welcome to abrand new month.
So, for those that are meetingme for the first time, my name
is Maureen Chiana.
I'm the founder and CEO of theMindsight Academy, and last year
(02:01):
the Lord led me to start amembership program for female
leaders using neuroscience,emotional intelligence and
scripture, and the name of ournetwork is, like I said,
mindsight Women's Network.
So who is Maureen Chiana?
(02:23):
I will start a bit from a bitof my culture, because that, I
think, is what really defined mea bit and bringing in this
concept of rewire your brainusing scripture.
I grew up in the UK and thenmoved to Nigeria and my parents
(02:53):
have two daughters and when wegot to Nigeria, one of the
things that really stood out forme was how much the male son
was valid or valued rather, andthis really struck me and it
started making me ask a lot ofquestions and probably even led
(03:17):
to me losing my self-worth to anextent, because I remember in
primary school being bullied somuch and I think the bullying
obviously was I had just comeinto the country but also I
think what was also going on inmy mind was that concept of not
(03:41):
being valued as a girl.
But one of the things that Iwould say helped me so much and
really shaped my life was my mom.
My mom was a strong womanraising two girls under so much
(04:02):
pressure because she did nothave a son, but she really
raised up to be strong women andshe raised us up so strong in
God, so strong in the word.
Every morning we woke up, wewoke up, she woke us up at 5 am
(04:24):
to study the word, sing, praises, sing, praise and worship and
pray.
So scripture has always been apart of my life and in that
scripture, understanding howmuch God loved me, how much God
(04:51):
loves me, how many promises thathe's really given me and the
fact that I could really hold onto his word and faith, was a
huge thing for my mom.
The belief and having faith inGod to achieve anything.
And this really helped shapewho I was and actually improve
(05:14):
and raise my self-worth, becauseshe always reminded us of how
much God loves us, how much Godvalued us, how much God cared
about us, so we could use thatand also remembering how much of
(05:36):
a father he is to us and how weare his children.
And even though the society Iwas growing up in had a
different view, what I was beingtaught as a child of God was
completely different and thatreally helped me a lot because I
(05:58):
remember when I was beingbullied.
One of the things my mom saidto me was bullied.
One of the things my mom saidto me was stand up.
You know who you are as a childof God.
Stand up to them.
And that was what reallyenabled me to stand up to them.
I think I was in primary threeat the time and I decided that
(06:21):
no, I refused to be bullied,because what the bully did was
that she would, during breaktime, she would make sure no one
spoke to me In the classroom.
Everyone went around her desk.
She made sure no one spoke toher.
She would tell them don't speakto her.
So when it got to a time that Isaid, you know, I've had enough
of this.
You know, I don't really care,don't speak to me, I literally
(06:44):
stood up and challenged her.
And when I stood up tochallenge her, people were then
torn oh, should we go withMaureen, should we go with her?
And it was so funny becausewithin time I really did not
care.
So we had two factions.
She had her own, I had my ownfaction and that, I think, was
my own first step intoleadership, and I'll come back
(07:10):
to this later.
But it gave me a huge amount ofself-worth, even seeing how
people behaved.
It was interesting how peoplelistened to the person that
spoke, the person that took theleadership role gravitated
towards that person, and I foundthat so interesting.
So one of the things that Ithank God for was the kind of
(07:36):
mom that he gave me, the onethat soaked us, brought us up
knowing who God is andunderstanding scripture.
And I remember when I was goingfrom primary school to secondary
school in Nigeria.
At the time you could go infrom primary five or you could
go in from primary six andbecause I had come when I came
(07:59):
to Nigeria, I had to do.
You know, we're in differenttowns, so I ended up doing one
class twice because we weremoving around.
So I was a bit behind and I didnot want to do primary six.
So I said I was going to gointo secondary school from
primary five and I startedpraying, praying.
(08:21):
I remember I would go into theroom, lock the door and just
pray and saying God that I don'twant to do this primary six.
I'm going into secondary schoolfrom primary five, I'll pray,
I'll study, I'll pray, I'llstudy, I'll pray and I'll study.
And I took the common entranceand passed all and went into
(08:43):
secondary school from primaryfive, and that was the one thing
I remember so vividly, becausemy 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, Iwould say, I personally
(09:05):
experienced having faith in God,standing on the word of God,
working towards what I wantedand then achieving it, and it so
built up my faith thatthroughout my life that's the
one thing I always stand on onthe word of God, because it
(09:25):
never, ever, failed me.
So, as life starts happening,you start experiencing
challenges, and I startedexperiencing different
challenges through university,coming back to the UK as well,
and I remember, because of thisupbringing and because of my
(09:50):
faith and trust and knowledge ofwho I am in Christ, one thing
that I was never afraid of waschange.
I really embraced change sowell, so that when I started my
career and I noticed that thingsare not going the way I want, I
(10:10):
wasn't afraid to move.
I was not afraid to move.
That whole concept of when youstart a job, you stay in the job
all your life that did notapply to me at all.
I remember when I was doing it.
I was working in research inLondon and I was meant to be
starting my PhD that was theagreement and I was working
under a man that literally hadno respect for women.
(10:34):
He had no respect for mepersonally, but the way he
talked down to women wasunbelievable and I had reported
this a couple of times to hisboss because nobody I spoke to
could do anything.
And I noticed that nothing washappening and I asked myself the
question if I stay here, am Igoing to gain?
(10:59):
I'm not going to gain much fromthis man, because this one was
not ready to teach me anything.
He wasn't letting me do any ofthe experiments.
I was literally being the oneclearing rubbish.
So I made that decision.
You know what I'm moving.
I'm leaving here and I leftthat job, you know, soon after.
It wasn't I don't even think.
(11:19):
I stayed up to 18 months and Imoved.
If I stayed that long actuallyI don't think I did and I moved
on to something else and Inoticed the pattern.
I was in a job once I was in ITat the time and I was the one
looking after a complete siteand I went on maternity leave.
(11:40):
When I was on maternity leave,my boss then re-advertised my
job and gave my job to theperson 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 thingsthat were going.
(12:00):
You know, a lot of timesthey'll be in meetings.
They won't invite me in formeetings.
You know a lot of those weregoing on.
But when I was a maternityleave, this is what happened.
So I said, okay, it's time tomove.
So I did, and I'm just going togo back a bit and just show you
the different things I had donein my life.
And at the time I knew that whenthings are not going the way I
(12:25):
wanted, I could do something.
I knew my authority in Christ.
I knew I valued myself.
I knew I wasn't ready to takecrap and if there was too much
crap it was time to go.
I knew I was always focused onwhat I wanted and where I was
(12:46):
going, and if I wasn't gettingit, I knew that I had to make
changes.
I was never afraid to ask forpromotion.
I was never afraid to ask forraises.
I was never afraid to ask for,to do courses that people at my
level were not doing, and I'llget it.
So I was always very forward inwhat I wanted and that came from
(13:09):
that place of knowing who I am,in Christ above anything else.
It's always been the driver ofmy life.
That's where I get myconfidence.
And there's something that Ialways remember my mom saying
you know the scripture, be boldand courageous.
And that's something I alwaysheld on to.
(13:31):
That Jesus Christ is the lionof Judah and he says I should be
bold.
So I'm going to be bold as alion.
So anything I was doing, thatboldness I always reminded
myself be bold, be bold, pushyourself, push myself out of my
comfort zone.
And if I had faith as small asa mustard seed, I can tell the
(13:55):
mountain to move.
And that was a constantreminder and thread that ran
through my life.
So when I started my career, myfirst degree was in biomedical
sciences.
I actually really wanted tostudy medicine but didn't get
into med school.
So I was quite disappointed.
(14:17):
But again, my mom reminded methat God is more than able to
enable me achieve what he wantsme to achieve.
So I could start the biomedicaland then change to medicine,
which was the plan.
But when I got into biomedicalI really enjoyed it and decided
not to bother changing tomedicine.
(14:39):
So I carried on and finishedand then when I came out that's
when I came back to the UK, dida master's in microbiology and
then started working in.
By then I was working inpathology and then moved into
research.
And then it was after theresearch, after I had that
(15:02):
experience with that man, that Idecided to take a break and
just started doing local work,so working in different
hospitals and pathology in thelab, and that opened my eyes to
the systems, the differentsystems and how different
hospitals worked, and I reallyliked that, instead of being
stuck in one, being able to seehow different hospitals work.
(15:24):
I really enjoyed that.
So I did that for a couple ofyears.
And then, I would say, I decidedto go into education.
But the story about it is thatI'd had my son and then a friend
of mine was coming.
My son was about my first sonwas about three months at the
time and a friend of mine hadregistered to do a course in
(15:53):
education near where we lived atthe time.
So I said, okay, I'll meet upwith her.
So I went and met up with herand then she said why don't you
register?
And I'm going?
There's no way I can be ateacher, that one.
One of the things that I'm veryconfident doing or was or doing
at the time, was standing up formyself by taking action, but
speaking in front of a crowd ofpeople that was pushing, that
(16:17):
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 justtry it, and you know we've won
the person, the personregistering.
I said just register, you don'tyou 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 fiveminute talk.
(16:39):
I think it was a five minutetalk.
At the time I was shaking myknees.
I could still see my knees wereliterally shaking as I was
speaking.
But I did the five minute talk,I enjoyed it.
I really enjoyed it and thenstayed on and that was how I got
into education, got apostgraduate certificate of
(17:00):
education and my first job wasat Christ Church University in
Canterbury of Education and myfirst job was at Christ Church
University in Canterbury.
I was teaching anatomy andphysiology, microbiology
sciences.
So I was teaching quite a fewthings in the department at the
time and also teaching theoccupational therapist anatomy
(17:20):
and physiology.
So I did that for a few years.
But I was just so curious aboutIT because IT was becoming
quite well known at that time inthe 90s and I was just so
curious about it.
So I decided to start trainingmyself in IT and one of the ones
(17:42):
that someone told me about wasthe Microsoft Systems Engineer.
So I started doing the exams,training myself, did the first
exam, went for courses, did thefirst exam, passed it, did the
second pass and I went oh, wow,okay, this is it.
So I then left no, I didn'tleave at the time.
I carried on doing the trainingand then passed the six exams
(18:06):
and became a Microsoft certifiedsystems engineer and then left
education and went into ITfull-time, working in different
companies, and that was anotherpivot I did.
I find this interesting, even menarrating this.
I've concept of change I alwaysembraced and you know when
(18:28):
you're going into a new job forthe 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 selfto do this job so well?
It was more excitement, and butone thing is I never went in to
(18:55):
any job alone.
I always went with my fatherbecause I prayed and said I
always went confident that thespirit of God is in me and going
with me, and that was where Idrew my confidence from.
So, as you're listening to me,I hope you can see a thread here
(19:20):
the concept of the mind, whatwe think, because what you think
becomes your reality.
If I I was speaking to someonethat I was coaching a while ago
and she'd really had issues in ajob and wanted to, and you know
(19:40):
I'd left and got a new job andshe was so nervous and I said
why are you nervous?
It's what you wanted.
She said but it's the normalthing, isn't it?
When you're starting a new job,you should be nervous.
And I'm going, no, if that'sthe narrative, that's the story
that you've created for yourself, then yes, you would be nervous
.
But if you change the narrativeto.
(20:02):
This is exciting.
This is what I really wanted.
This is the job I really want.
Then you're going in with morean open mind and more joy and
calmness.
Than activating the stressresponse system in your brain,
what you should do is activatethe parasympathetic, the calm
(20:23):
state of your brain, so that yougo 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 isactivated.
The prefrontal cortex thenshuts down your thinking brain.
(20:47):
So you go into the job and thenmany and you know what that
first day is like, or the firstfew days where everybody's
talking at you or telling youthings you don't remember most
of it.
So it's important to remaincalm, and remain calm is by
paying attention to the storythat you're telling yourself.
(21:10):
The other aspect of this is whenI got into IT, I was in there
for a few years.
I'm coming to an interestingpart where you see where I took
this to a new level.
So I was in IT for a few yearsand then the IT crash happened
and I said, okay, what do I do?
Anyway, I'm not going to gointo so much of that story, but
(21:32):
area living in the UK at thetime did not have salons that
catered for you know my type ofhair.
So someone said why don't youopen one?
So I and a colleague decided todo it and but before we did,
one of the things that I alwaysdo before I do anything is go to
(21:55):
God first and ask and say Lord,what do you say?
But when this person said thisto me, I went, nah, nah, nah,
nah, nah.
No, I'm not doing that.
And the reason why is that mydad was in business and I always
felt he should never be inbusiness.
He's an accountant and I felthe should have been working for
(22:17):
a company and he would havethrived so much better.
Because my dad was so calm, soquiet, he was the kind of person
that never wanted to hurtanyone and just so, just such a
lovely man.
But being in business, he wastaken advantage of so many times
, he was defrauded so many times.
(22:39):
He was even his own driverstole from him.
It was crazy, and because ofthat I always said I will never,
ever go into business.
So when this person said thisto me, can you see how I'd wired
a narrative in my brain becauseof the experience I saw of my
(23:01):
dad growing up.
So when he said, going tobusiness, I went no way, I ain't
doing that.
And the next day he came with abook by John Odberg If you want
to walk on water, you've got tostep out of the boat.
And I started reading this book.
And as I read this book, theHoly Spirit was just speaking to
(23:23):
me so strongly and I keptreading and going wow, it's
almost like my faith grew somuch 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 likethat before.
I'd always said it's notsomething I was going to do.
(23:46):
And immediately I made thedecision.
I said, okay, I'll do it.
What happened?
Subconscious brain went intooverdrive in the sense that see
what happened to your dad?
Do you want the same to happento you?
And all that story.
But that book helped me a lotbecause I focused.
(24:06):
It's almost like I held on toGod's promises.
I really held on to the wordsand the words and remember that
God was giving me.
I held on to every word Godgave me and I kept repeating
them, repeating them, repeatingthem, holding on to them.
So I hope you're payingattention.
(24:27):
I took the words God gave meand I kept repeating them and I
held on to them so strongly andI went into the business.
This friend of mine, a colleagueof mine, we decided we'll do it
together.
Anyway, we started, she droppedoff, she said she wasn't going
to do it.
We had gone too far, and I knewthe word God had given me.
If God hadn't given me the word, I think I would have just let
(24:49):
it go, because I wasn't preparedto go into business alone.
But God said to me I am going,I am with you.
So I did, I went in, I startedthe business and it was, I would
say, the best thing I'd everdone, but also the worst that I
had done.
The best in the sense that theexperience and what it taught me
(25:11):
is just so invaluable, and thatis why I'm where I am today,
doing what I'm doing today.
The experience was not pleasantand I learned a lot from it,
and I've talked about this inprevious videos as well.
But one of the key things aboutthat business was that when I
went in, god had asked me to goin.
(25:35):
But I then went in and itbecame about me succeeding.
So it's almost like I took myeyes 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 aboutbusiness is that everyone has an
(25:57):
opinion.
Everyone has a solution.
I went on a marketing course atthat early stage and the person
teaching marketing I asked himso when you run your business,
you know there's specificquestions I asked, and he said
he'd never run a business.
He was an academic marketinglecturer, he had never run a
(26:19):
business.
And I'm going.
So that was when I went huh,okay, so I, you know.
Anyway, I carried on.
But I always remember that whenI got into the, when I really
started and I was deep in thebusiness, I forgot everything
and literally it was nowsurvival.
(26:40):
So I wasn't, I wasn't prayingas much as praying but not
listening, I was doing whateveryone told me to do, or what
I felt I needed to do to survive.
Anyway, the business, I had toclose it.
I had to close the businessafter four years and I was at a
very, very low point, and thatwas the point at which I went.
(27:03):
I went.
What happened?
How did I get here?
So I closed the business inDecember and my mom was such a
huge support, as usual, trustingGod, giving me scriptures,
really encouraging me.
And then I went back intoeducation.
I went back into lecturing andin January and 1st of April that
(27:29):
year my mum passed awaysuddenly and that got me.
That really really got me.
I felt lost.
I felt I think lost is the wordthat lost is the only way to
(27:58):
describe how I felt.
I felt completely lost andalone.
The one person that I couldturn to for support, for prayer.
You know, the fact that I knewshe was praying for me, the fact
that I knew she was praying forme, the fact that I knew she
was there, it's almost like Idrew strength from it and I knew
that I was holding on to God.
But she was there, but now shewas gone.
(28:21):
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 alecture, into the lecture room
(28:41):
to deliver my lecture, and Icouldn't I had to run out, go to
the restroom and I sobbed, Isobbed, I.
You know, all you needed to sayto you, to me, was Maureen, how
are you?
And I would just, it was.
It was just such a low time.
She passed away in April andwithin a few months, I started
(29:02):
noticing that I was sweating somuch, that I was sweating so
much and in October of that year, the doctor said you know, I
did test and I was inperimenopause.
I couldn't understand.
In fact, that even threw memore.
This was my early 40s,menopause, menopause, menopause,
(29:26):
early 40s.
What I was in shock.
And the doctor said to me haveyou suffered any form of trauma
or anything recently?
And I said yes, that closed mybusiness and my mom passed away.
She said that could be it, butthen asked if there was any
(29:47):
history and I had no clue.
That was not a conversation I'dhad with my mom, bearing in
mind my mom was a nurse, butit's not a conversation we ever
had and I just did notunderstand it.
How could I be going throughmenopause at this age?
Anyway, that was anotherjourney and menopause is
(30:10):
something I've spoken about.
But one of the things I'll justmention here is the decision I
made because someone said to meat the time that be prepared to
constantly be depressed,constantly have mood swings.
It will make you know just allthe side effects of menopause.
She just literally told me Ishould be prepared.
(30:32):
Anyway, I went researching, asusual as I do.
I went researching aboutmenopause, found out quite a bit
about it and discovered I thinkit's Christian Northup.
Anyway, I got her book onmenopause and I could see that
there was a link between howyour thoughts and lifestyle can
(30:55):
impact on the symptoms and Ijust 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 tohave to help me through this.
I do not want to go on HRT but,lord, you've got to help me.
During that period, while I wasin such a low place, I
(31:16):
discovered Dr Caroline Leaftalking about who switched off
your brain.
That was a life changer for meBecause once I heard her talking
about it on the TV, my brainwent into overdrive, curiosity.
(31:40):
The dopamine was now flowingand I went full scale research
studying to neuroscience and itwas in that journey that I
discovered emotionalintelligence from the brain's
perspective, from the emotionalpart of the brain.
(32:01):
You know, understanding theemotional brain linking you know
what neuroscience actuallymeant, the whole concept of
rewire your brain, and that waswhen I then understood scripture
even deeper.
I think what excited me themost was that the more I was
(32:22):
studying the science, the more Iwas now understanding why
scripture said things renew yourmind Ah, we needed to.
If the Bible is telling usrenew your mind, that means we
have the capability to renew ourmind, and the Bible also said
(32:42):
that faith comes from hearing.
You know, so we hear.
So basically, what we heardetermines what we do, or what
becomes our reality.
So I just saw how science wasconfirming scripture and that
got me so excited, extremelyexcited, and that was my journey
(33:06):
into neuroscience.
So I started walking throughthat and got into
neuroleadership.
So working with leaders,working with teams, and I could
just see how fast things changedBehavior patterns changed,
managers' behaviors changed,teams' patterns changed,
managers' behaviors changed,teams' behavior changed,
(33:27):
productivity improved, retentionincreased.
It was just amazing and I'llsay this was in.
I started this in 2009, andit's been a journey that has
been amazing.
I did a talk once for KentAmbulance Service.
A friend invited me to do atalk.
(33:48):
That was my first public talkand I was so nervous about doing
that talk, but when I did itand the way it was received, it
even excited me more, and thatwas when I knew that people did
not really know much about this.
So there's a need to get thisinformation out there.
(34:11):
So can you now see the threadof my life?
You know, one of the thingsthat I talk a lot about now is
understanding our purpose whenyou walk with God.
The Bible says the steps of therighteous are ordered by God.
As we go through challenges, aswe go through problems, as we
(34:34):
go through life all these, hesays that he will make them all
work together for a good.
I wasn't planning to be alecturer, but see how God
directed my step.
I ended up in lecturing.
I wasn't planning to go intobusiness.
See how the Lord directed meand I went into business.
(34:57):
Now, when I then came into thisneuro leadership concept and I
started doing this work in thecolleges and training and
talking and doing talks andhelping my teams and turning
departments around frominadequate to outstanding in
months in really short periodsof time At that point I then
(35:22):
decided to go back out intobusiness and start my own so
that I could do this moreglobally.
Yes, my subconscious brain didwake up and go you failed before
, lady, what are you doing?
But I but at that point I wasthe one now in control of the
subconscious and said you knowwhat?
(35:43):
We are fine.
And they started this business.
Now, one of the things that Ireally wanted to do was speaking
, because I had been a lecturerfor years, so I really wanted to
speak, but this time I wantedto do more public speaking.
So yet what I did is I didtraining on public speaking,
(36:05):
combined it with my lecturing,and I was able to now travel to
start doing talks.
You know, traveling, doingtalks, doing talks to
organizations, doing talks toteams Soon after I was given my
first award as an internationalspeaker.
But can you see the thread?
(36:27):
One of the interesting thingsabout this rewiring your brain
using scripture is that when Istarted doing this talk in
neuroscience and leadership andI created the academy the
Mindsight Academy, and one ofthe core main courses that we
have is emotional intelligencefor leadership, organizations do
(36:52):
this training and I coach themthrough the process, because I
did a coaching course in about2010.
One of the things about thetraining is that, yes, I noticed
that I could give you training,but the core, the key part of
it was how do you then changethe behavior when you're going
(37:13):
through the challenge, and thatis where neurocoaching becomes
important.
So the training and thecoaching linked together is what
then creates the results thatyou achieve.
So I combined these two to thenenable you know so, working
with organizations to create theresults that they wanted, and
(37:37):
it's just been so powerful.
A year ago, the Lord then toldme to create the membership
program for women, and this timebringing in the element of
scripture.
And I went.
What I've been doing, thisleadership for years, and now
(37:59):
I'm bringing in scripture.
But one thing that I hadlearned working with God is
obedience.
Obedience, and the moment Isaid yes, it's like God just
opened the door, the ideas,exactly how to create the
(38:22):
membership program, everything Ineeded to do, and we are now in
our first year, we're coming tothe end of our first year, and
it's been an incredible,incredible journey For me.
It's been so liberating tocoach and teach ladies, women,
(38:43):
with that element of scripture,because that element of
scripture, with that element ofscripture, because that element
of scripture, even before I knewthe concept of neuroplasticity,
of how the brain rewires itself.
When I was teaching neuroanatomyat the university, we did not
know that the brain could rewireitself.
(39:04):
We didn't brain could rewireitself.
We didn't Because up till thattime, what we had been taught
and told is that the way thebrain is at the age of seven or
21 is the way to stay for therest of your life.
But then new science startedcoming out showing that the
brain can rewire itself, butalso the brain can form new
(39:30):
brain cells, new neurons in ourlifetime, throughout our life.
And that was the key, that wasthe core, that was the whole
mind-blowing aspect of renewyour mind.
We did not know we could renew,but now science is telling us
(39:57):
that we can actually renew.
And can you see how scripturehas always been there, but we
did not know?
Can you see how scripture hasalways been there, but we did
not know, we did not understandwhat that concept was.
So we are practicing it becausefaith you know the Bible says
(40:24):
when you pray, believe you havereceived it and you shall have
it.
So when you've receivedsomething, you're behaving as if
you have it, and that faiththat you know what God is giving
it to me, that I've asked forthis and God is giving it to me,
as long as you're asking inaccordance with his will and
(40:48):
he's a covenant keeping God.
So with that, it means that wecan actually say believe it.
How do you believe?
You believe in your mind, youvisualize it, then you're seeing
it, you're living your life asif you've got that thing.
When I decided to take that stepand open the business, I wasn't
(41:11):
taking no for an answer fromanyone.
I started walking around theplace.
I wanted my business to be andI was seeing the business.
I was speaking to it.
I said this shop, we areopening by December.
We are opening, we'll be here,I will go into town, I will
(41:33):
speak, speak to the shop, speakto the town.
And it happened.
I did the same when I was inprimary school to go into
secondary.
It happened so when I was nowgetting the science,
understanding science, I've beenjust so excited, so impacting
(41:56):
this knowledge.
Now, where I bring in theelement of scripture to ladies,
I'm on a different level.
It's like it's freedom and it'snow bringing the whole
everything.
I've done the IT aspect, youknow the business aspect.
So I've got women who arestarting in business.
I support you in business,understanding what is God saying
(42:19):
, what is your purpose?
We go to the scripture teachingyou how to hear from God and
put it into action, theresistance that will come up
from your brain so that youunderstand it.
A lot of times people are stuckin procrastination,
self-sabotage, imposter syndrome.
(42:39):
It's the brain doing its work,but God has told us that we can.
We can do all things throughChrist.
It's focusing on that word.
Remember I said to you before Ikept repeating repetition.
Now we know repetition rewiresthe brain.
(43:00):
No, repetition rewires thebrain.
So, if you want to truly livethe life God has called you to
live, get scripture, understandthe word of God and then rewire
your brain to hold on to it andtake the actions that God is
(43:24):
asking you to take.
Take the actions needed.
Equip yourself.
Who are you surroundingyourself with?
What do you need to do?
Do you need to stop being apeople pleaser?
Do you need to step away?
What do you need to do?
One of the things I always dowith clients is the brain
mapping, diagnostic, because Ialways say that if not, we don't
(43:45):
know what we're working with.
You've wired your brain overtime.
Who are you?
A lot of times when you askpeople who are you, you don't
even know who you are becauseyou don't know how you've wired
your brain, because a lot of thewiring in the brain has gone in
without your knowledge, fromyour upbringing, from your
experiences, from your teachers.
(44:06):
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 Godhad told me.
I focused on what I wanted atthe end, that focus of where I
(44:27):
was going, of what I was goingto do, because if I started
listening to that subconsciousbrain, I wouldn't have done that
business.
To walk on water, you've got tostep out of the boat.
There were other disciples inthat boat with Peter, but they
(44:47):
didn't step out.
Peter stepped out and he's theonly 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 lookingat the challenges, the obstacles
around him, he started sinking.
(45:09):
The moment you take the focus ofwhat you want where you're
going, focus of Christ, andstart focusing on what you don't
want, you start sinking.
And there's a saying what youfocus on expands.
Focus on Christ.
He expands in your life.
(45:29):
Focus on the power of the HolySpirit.
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.
A lot of times you find yourselfcomplaining, complaining about
what you don't want, and thenyou're experiencing what you
(45:51):
don't want and you're wonderingwhy things are not changing.
Because you're praying.
But you're praying, butfocusing on the thing you don't
want.
And that principle of as longas you're focusing on what you
don't want, the subconsciouswill keep giving you what you
(46:14):
don't want.
So, for me, one of the keythings that I really am so
grateful to God for, it's Godgiving us this knowledge now to
understand who we are, how he'screated us.
He said he's made us in hisimage.
Who are we?
(46:34):
How does that brain work?
How does it connect withemotions?
How does it make me carry outactions?
What do I do to actually livethe life God has called me to
live?
That understanding, that power,that wisdom that God has given
our generation now is justamazing when you think about it
when you have negative or toxicthoughts.
(46:55):
The damage that it does to thebody.
It damages cells, it can createcancer, can create all sorts of
diseases dementia you know somany diseases, so many illnesses
, disease, so that your body isnot at ease.
It's just incredible.
The fact that you've inheriteda disease doesn't mean that it
(47:21):
has to present with symptoms.
It can lie dormant all yourlife.
It all comes down to what'sgoing on in your brain, because
that will drive your lifestyle,that will drive your behavior,
that will drive everything youdo.
So I hope that this storyjourney of mine, that would
(47:45):
really help you.
I've had to cut quite a lot outbecause if I go on on my story,
which I'll keep talking aboutover time, it's just incredible
what God has done in my life andI'm just so grateful to him for
his greatness, his kindness,his love, directing me and just
(48:07):
making me understand or have theknowledge that I have today
about the brain.
And that is why I get soexcited about this brain,
because this is the one organthat cannot be transplanted yet
and the link between our brainand body is just so powerful.
(48:31):
Something happens in your bodyand then your brain is
interpreting that informationand then you can take an action.
That's powerful.
And to think that I was alreadyteaching neuroanatomy before,
but never ever connected it tobehavior and the process that we
(48:53):
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 thisinformation that we have and use
well, and if you want to knowmore about the Mindsight Women's
Network, there'll be a link inthe description so that you can
(49:15):
click on it and you're very,very welcome to join.
If you're curious and you'retired of being stuck or you're
tired of just going around incircles, you're tired of
imposter holding you back ortired of not being where you
know you should be, then youneed to join the Mindsight
(49:37):
Women's Network.
Get the knowledge, get theunderstanding, be equipped to
now take the actions you need totake, and it's a great
community where women are reallysupporting each other through
different journeys, becausewe're all at different places,
we all have differentexperiences, but it's a
fantastic place to be, so dojoin us.
(49:58):
I do invite you to join us.
If you're an organization andwant to know more about training
for church leaders, fororganizational leaders, do have
a look at the Mindsight Academy.
Our training is just sopowerful.
The coaching is incredible.
In the Women's Network, you getall that.
You get the training.
(50:19):
You get the coaching as well.
So I really look forward towelcoming you to the academy or
to the women's network and I'llsee you next time.
Bye for now, stay blessed andkeep rewiring your brain using
scripture.
Bye.
(50:41):
Thank you for joining us ontoday's episode of Lead to Excel
podcast.
I hope our discussion hasinspired you.
Remember, achieving excellenceis a marathon and every step
counts towards your goals.
If today's conversation sparkedany thoughts or questions, feel
(51:01):
free to share them with me onLinkedIn, facebook and Twitter,
and consider leaving a review onyour favorite podcast platform.
You can also find this podcaston YouTube.
Your feedback helps us grow andreach more listeners.
Don't forget to subscribe tonever miss an episode filled
(51:21):
with expert insights andinspiration.
Until next time, this isMaureen Chiana, reminding you to
stay curious, stay driven andtogether let's remain limitless
and change the world.
Bye for now.
Hello and welcome to Lead to Excel podcast, where
every story sparks inspirationand every conversation brings
you closer to your best self.
I'm Maureen Chiana and I'm hereto explore the extraordinary
fusion of leadership, emotionalintelligence and the
groundbreaking insights ofneuroscience.
(00:23):
Together, we'll uncover secretsto unlocking your potential,
enhancing your decision-makingand 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 theway we think, lead and live.
(00:47):
Welcome aboard.
This was my early fortiesMenopause menopause, menopause,
early forties what.
Welcome back to Lead to Excelpodcast.
I'm actually really excited tobe back here.
We've had a few months off overthe summer for me to just rest
(01:12):
and reset, and it's so excitingto be back with new, exciting
episodes.
And we're kicking it off withmy story focusing on rewiring
your brain using scripture.
I really hope this inspires you, and it would be interesting to
(01:35):
hear your own story.
So do enjoy this podcast andremember to subscribe and share
with others as well.
Hello there and welcome to abrand new month.
So, for those that are meetingme for the first time, my name
is Maureen Chiana.
I'm the founder and CEO of theMindsight Academy, and last year
(02:01):
the Lord led me to start amembership program for female
leaders using neuroscience,emotional intelligence and
scripture, and the name of ournetwork is, like I said,
mindsight Women's Network.
So who is Maureen Chiana?
(02:23):
I will start a bit from a bitof my culture, because that, I
think, is what really defined mea bit and bringing in this
concept of rewire your brainusing scripture.
I grew up in the UK and thenmoved to Nigeria and my parents
(02:53):
have two daughters and when wegot to Nigeria, one of the
things that really stood out forme was how much the male son
was valid or valued rather, andthis really struck me and it
started making me ask a lot ofquestions and probably even led
(03:17):
to me losing my self-worth to anextent, because I remember in
primary school being bullied somuch and I think the bullying
obviously was I had just comeinto the country but also I
think what was also going on inmy mind was that concept of not
(03:41):
being valued as a girl.
But one of the things that Iwould say helped me so much and
really shaped my life was my mom.
My mom was a strong womanraising two girls under so much
(04:02):
pressure because she did nothave a son, but she really
raised up to be strong women andshe raised us up so strong in
God, so strong in the word.
Every morning we woke up, wewoke up, she woke us up at 5 am
(04:24):
to study the word, sing, praises, sing, praise and worship and
pray.
So scripture has always been apart of my life and in that
scripture, understanding howmuch God loved me, how much God
(04:51):
loves me, how many promises thathe's really given me and the
fact that I could really hold onto his word and faith, was a
huge thing for my mom.
The belief and having faith inGod to achieve anything.
And this really helped shapewho I was and actually improve
(05:14):
and raise my self-worth, becauseshe always reminded us of how
much God loves us, how much Godvalued us, how much God cared
about us, so we could use thatand also remembering how much of
(05:36):
a father he is to us and how weare his children.
And even though the society Iwas growing up in had a
different view, what I was beingtaught as a child of God was
completely different and thatreally helped me a lot because I
(05:58):
remember when I was beingbullied.
One of the things my mom saidto me was bullied.
One of the things my mom saidto me was stand up.
You know who you are as a childof God.
Stand up to them.
And that was what reallyenabled me to stand up to them.
I think I was in primary threeat the time and I decided that
(06:21):
no, I refused to be bullied,because what the bully did was
that she would, during breaktime, she would make sure no one
spoke to me In the classroom.
Everyone went around her desk.
She made sure no one spoke toher.
She would tell them don't speakto her.
So when it got to a time that Isaid, you know, I've had enough
of this.
You know, I don't really care,don't speak to me, I literally
(06:44):
stood up and challenged her.
And when I stood up tochallenge her, people were then
torn oh, should we go withMaureen, should we go with her?
And it was so funny becausewithin time I really did not
care.
So we had two factions.
She had her own, I had my ownfaction and that, I think, was
my own first step intoleadership, and I'll come back
(07:10):
to this later.
But it gave me a huge amount ofself-worth, even seeing how
people behaved.
It was interesting how peoplelistened to the person that
spoke, the person that took theleadership role gravitated
towards that person, and I foundthat so interesting.
So one of the things that Ithank God for was the kind of
(07:36):
mom that he gave me, the onethat soaked us, brought us up
knowing who God is andunderstanding scripture.
And I remember when I was goingfrom primary school to secondary
school in Nigeria.
At the time you could go infrom primary five or you could
go in from primary six andbecause I had come when I came
(07:59):
to Nigeria, I had to do.
You know, we're in differenttowns, so I ended up doing one
class twice because we weremoving around.
So I was a bit behind and I didnot want to do primary six.
So I said I was going to gointo secondary school from
primary five and I startedpraying, praying.
(08:21):
I remember I would go into theroom, lock the door and just
pray and saying God that I don'twant to do this primary six.
I'm going into secondary schoolfrom primary five, I'll pray,
I'll study, I'll pray, I'llstudy, I'll pray and I'll study.
And I took the common entranceand passed all and went into
(08:43):
secondary school from primaryfive, and that was the one thing
I remember so vividly, becausemy 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, Iwould say, I personally
(09:05):
experienced having faith in God,standing on the word of God,
working towards what I wantedand then achieving it, and it so
built up my faith thatthroughout my life that's the
one thing I always stand on onthe word of God, because it
(09:25):
never, ever, failed me.
So, as life starts happening,you start experiencing
challenges, and I startedexperiencing different
challenges through university,coming back to the UK as well,
and I remember, because of thisupbringing and because of my
(09:50):
faith and trust and knowledge ofwho I am in Christ, one thing
that I was never afraid of waschange.
I really embraced change sowell, so that when I started my
career and I noticed that thingsare not going the way I want, I
(10:10):
wasn't afraid to move.
I was not afraid to move.
That whole concept of when youstart a job, you stay in the job
all your life that did notapply to me at all.
I remember when I was doing it.
I was working in research inLondon and I was meant to be
starting my PhD that was theagreement and I was working
under a man that literally hadno respect for women.
(10:34):
He had no respect for mepersonally, but the way he
talked down to women wasunbelievable and I had reported
this a couple of times to hisboss because nobody I spoke to
could do anything.
And I noticed that nothing washappening and I asked myself the
question if I stay here, am Igoing to gain?
(10:59):
I'm not going to gain much fromthis man, because this one was
not ready to teach me anything.
He wasn't letting me do any ofthe experiments.
I was literally being the oneclearing rubbish.
So I made that decision.
You know what I'm moving.
I'm leaving here and I leftthat job, you know, soon after.
It wasn't I don't even think.
(11:19):
I stayed up to 18 months and Imoved.
If I stayed that long actuallyI don't think I did and I moved
on to something else and Inoticed the pattern.
I was in a job once I was in ITat the time and I was the one
looking after a complete siteand I went on maternity leave.
(11:40):
When I was on maternity leave,my boss then re-advertised my
job and gave my job to theperson 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 thingsthat were going.
(12:00):
You know, a lot of timesthey'll be in meetings.
They won't invite me in formeetings.
You know a lot of those weregoing on.
But when I was a maternityleave, this is what happened.
So I said, okay, it's time tomove.
So I did, and I'm just going togo back a bit and just show you
the different things I had donein my life.
And at the time I knew that whenthings are not going the way I
(12:25):
wanted, I could do something.
I knew my authority in Christ.
I knew I valued myself.
I knew I wasn't ready to takecrap and if there was too much
crap it was time to go.
I knew I was always focused onwhat I wanted and where I was
(12:46):
going, and if I wasn't gettingit, I knew that I had to make
changes.
I was never afraid to ask forpromotion.
I was never afraid to ask forraises.
I was never afraid to ask for,to do courses that people at my
level were not doing, and I'llget it.
So I was always very forward inwhat I wanted and that came from
(13:09):
that place of knowing who I am,in Christ above anything else.
It's always been the driver ofmy life.
That's where I get myconfidence.
And there's something that Ialways remember my mom saying
you know the scripture, be boldand courageous.
And that's something I alwaysheld on to.
(13:31):
That Jesus Christ is the lionof Judah and he says I should be
bold.
So I'm going to be bold as alion.
So anything I was doing, thatboldness I always reminded
myself be bold, be bold, pushyourself, push myself out of my
comfort zone.
And if I had faith as small asa mustard seed, I can tell the
(13:55):
mountain to move.
And that was a constantreminder and thread that ran
through my life.
So when I started my career, myfirst degree was in biomedical
sciences.
I actually really wanted tostudy medicine but didn't get
into med school.
So I was quite disappointed.
(14:17):
But again, my mom reminded methat God is more than able to
enable me achieve what he wantsme to achieve.
So I could start the biomedicaland then change to medicine,
which was the plan.
But when I got into biomedicalI really enjoyed it and decided
not to bother changing tomedicine.
(14:39):
So I carried on and finishedand then when I came out that's
when I came back to the UK, dida master's in microbiology and
then started working in.
By then I was working inpathology and then moved into
research.
And then it was after theresearch, after I had that
(15:02):
experience with that man, that Idecided to take a break and
just started doing local work,so working in different
hospitals and pathology in thelab, and that opened my eyes to
the systems, the differentsystems and how different
hospitals worked, and I reallyliked that, instead of being
stuck in one, being able to seehow different hospitals work.
(15:24):
I really enjoyed that.
So I did that for a couple ofyears.
And then, I would say, I decidedto go into education.
But the story about it is thatI'd had my son and then a friend
of mine was coming.
My son was about my first sonwas about three months at the
time and a friend of mine hadregistered to do a course in
(15:53):
education near where we lived atthe time.
So I said, okay, I'll meet upwith her.
So I went and met up with herand then she said why don't you
register?
And I'm going?
There's no way I can be ateacher, that one.
One of the things that I'm veryconfident doing or was or doing
at the time, was standing up formyself by taking action, but
speaking in front of a crowd ofpeople that was pushing, that
(16:17):
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 justtry it, and you know we've won
the person, the personregistering.
I said just register, you don'tyou 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 fiveminute talk.
(16:39):
I think it was a five minutetalk.
At the time I was shaking myknees.
I could still see my knees wereliterally shaking as I was
speaking.
But I did the five minute talk,I enjoyed it.
I really enjoyed it and thenstayed on and that was how I got
into education, got apostgraduate certificate of
(17:00):
education and my first job wasat Christ Church University in
Canterbury of Education and myfirst job was at Christ Church
University in Canterbury.
I was teaching anatomy andphysiology, microbiology
sciences.
So I was teaching quite a fewthings in the department at the
time and also teaching theoccupational therapist anatomy
(17:20):
and physiology.
So I did that for a few years.
But I was just so curious aboutIT because IT was becoming
quite well known at that time inthe 90s and I was just so
curious about it.
So I decided to start trainingmyself in IT and one of the ones
(17:42):
that someone told me about wasthe Microsoft Systems Engineer.
So I started doing the exams,training myself, did the first
exam, went for courses, did thefirst exam, passed it, did the
second pass and I went oh, wow,okay, this is it.
So I then left no, I didn'tleave at the time.
I carried on doing the trainingand then passed the six exams
(18:06):
and became a Microsoft certifiedsystems engineer and then left
education and went into ITfull-time, working in different
companies, and that was anotherpivot I did.
I find this interesting, even menarrating this.
I've concept of change I alwaysembraced and you know when
(18:28):
you're going into a new job forthe 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 selfto do this job so well?
It was more excitement, and butone thing is I never went in to
(18:55):
any job alone.
I always went with my fatherbecause I prayed and said I
always went confident that thespirit of God is in me and going
with me, and that was where Idrew my confidence from.
So, as you're listening to me,I hope you can see a thread here
(19:20):
the concept of the mind, whatwe think, because what you think
becomes your reality.
If I I was speaking to someonethat I was coaching a while ago
and she'd really had issues in ajob and wanted to, and you know
(19:40):
I'd left and got a new job andshe was so nervous and I said
why are you nervous?
It's what you wanted.
She said but it's the normalthing, isn't it?
When you're starting a new job,you should be nervous.
And I'm going, no, if that'sthe narrative, that's the story
that you've created for yourself, then yes, you would be nervous
.
But if you change the narrativeto.
(20:02):
This is exciting.
This is what I really wanted.
This is the job I really want.
Then you're going in with morean open mind and more joy and
calmness.
Than activating the stressresponse system in your brain,
what you should do is activatethe parasympathetic, the calm
(20:23):
state of your brain, so that yougo 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 isactivated.
The prefrontal cortex thenshuts down your thinking brain.
(20:47):
So you go into the job and thenmany and you know what that
first day is like, or the firstfew days where everybody's
talking at you or telling youthings you don't remember most
of it.
So it's important to remaincalm, and remain calm is by
paying attention to the storythat you're telling yourself.
(21:10):
The other aspect of this is whenI got into IT, I was in there
for a few years.
I'm coming to an interestingpart where you see where I took
this to a new level.
So I was in IT for a few yearsand then the IT crash happened
and I said, okay, what do I do?
Anyway, I'm not going to gointo so much of that story, but
(21:32):
area living in the UK at thetime did not have salons that
catered for you know my type ofhair.
So someone said why don't youopen one?
So I and a colleague decided todo it and but before we did,
one of the things that I alwaysdo before I do anything is go to
(21:55):
God first and ask and say Lord,what do you say?
But when this person said thisto me, I went, nah, nah, nah,
nah, nah.
No, I'm not doing that.
And the reason why is that mydad was in business and I always
felt he should never be inbusiness.
He's an accountant and I felthe should have been working for
(22:17):
a company and he would havethrived so much better.
Because my dad was so calm, soquiet, he was the kind of person
that never wanted to hurtanyone and just so, just such a
lovely man.
But being in business, he wastaken advantage of so many times
, he was defrauded so many times.
(22:39):
He was even his own driverstole from him.
It was crazy, and because ofthat I always said I will never,
ever go into business.
So when this person said thisto me, can you see how I'd wired
a narrative in my brain becauseof the experience I saw of my
(23:01):
dad growing up.
So when he said, going tobusiness, I went no way, I ain't
doing that.
And the next day he came with abook by John Odberg If you want
to walk on water, you've got tostep out of the boat.
And I started reading this book.
And as I read this book, theHoly Spirit was just speaking to
(23:23):
me so strongly and I keptreading and going wow, it's
almost like my faith grew somuch 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 likethat before.
I'd always said it's notsomething I was going to do.
(23:46):
And immediately I made thedecision.
I said, okay, I'll do it.
What happened?
Subconscious brain went intooverdrive in the sense that see
what happened to your dad?
Do you want the same to happento you?
And all that story.
But that book helped me a lotbecause I focused.
(24:06):
It's almost like I held on toGod's promises.
I really held on to the wordsand the words and remember that
God was giving me.
I held on to every word Godgave me and I kept repeating
them, repeating them, repeatingthem, holding on to them.
So I hope you're payingattention.
(24:27):
I took the words God gave meand I kept repeating them and I
held on to them so strongly andI went into the business.
This friend of mine, a colleagueof mine, we decided we'll do it
together.
Anyway, we started, she droppedoff, she said she wasn't going
to do it.
We had gone too far, and I knewthe word God had given me.
If God hadn't given me the word, I think I would have just let
(24:49):
it go, because I wasn't preparedto go into business alone.
But God said to me I am going,I am with you.
So I did, I went in, I startedthe business and it was, I would
say, the best thing I'd everdone, but also the worst that I
had done.
The best in the sense that theexperience and what it taught me
(25:11):
is just so invaluable, and thatis why I'm where I am today,
doing what I'm doing today.
The experience was not pleasantand I learned a lot from it,
and I've talked about this inprevious videos as well.
But one of the key things aboutthat business was that when I
went in, god had asked me to goin.
(25:35):
But I then went in and itbecame about me succeeding.
So it's almost like I took myeyes 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 aboutbusiness is that everyone has an
(25:57):
opinion.
Everyone has a solution.
I went on a marketing course atthat early stage and the person
teaching marketing I asked himso when you run your business,
you know there's specificquestions I asked, and he said
he'd never run a business.
He was an academic marketinglecturer, he had never run a
(26:19):
business.
And I'm going.
So that was when I went huh,okay, so I, you know.
Anyway, I carried on.
But I always remember that whenI got into the, when I really
started and I was deep in thebusiness, I forgot everything
and literally it was nowsurvival.
(26:40):
So I wasn't, I wasn't prayingas much as praying but not
listening, I was doing whateveryone told me to do, or what
I felt I needed to do to survive.
Anyway, the business, I had toclose it.
I had to close the businessafter four years and I was at a
very, very low point, and thatwas the point at which I went.
(27:03):
I went.
What happened?
How did I get here?
So I closed the business inDecember and my mom was such a
huge support, as usual, trustingGod, giving me scriptures,
really encouraging me.
And then I went back intoeducation.
I went back into lecturing andin January and 1st of April that
(27:29):
year my mum passed awaysuddenly and that got me.
That really really got me.
I felt lost.
I felt I think lost is the wordthat lost is the only way to
(27:58):
describe how I felt.
I felt completely lost andalone.
The one person that I couldturn to for support, for prayer.
You know, the fact that I knewshe was praying for me, the fact
that I knew she was praying forme, the fact that I knew she
was there, it's almost like Idrew strength from it and I knew
that I was holding on to God.
But she was there, but now shewas gone.
(28:21):
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 alecture, into the lecture room
(28:41):
to deliver my lecture, and Icouldn't I had to run out, go to
the restroom and I sobbed, Isobbed, I.
You know, all you needed to sayto you, to me, was Maureen, how
are you?
And I would just, it was.
It was just such a low time.
She passed away in April andwithin a few months, I started
(29:02):
noticing that I was sweating somuch, that I was sweating so
much and in October of that year, the doctor said you know, I
did test and I was inperimenopause.
I couldn't understand.
In fact, that even threw memore.
This was my early 40s,menopause, menopause, menopause,
(29:26):
early 40s.
What I was in shock.
And the doctor said to me haveyou suffered any form of trauma
or anything recently?
And I said yes, that closed mybusiness and my mom passed away.
She said that could be it, butthen asked if there was any
(29:47):
history and I had no clue.
That was not a conversation I'dhad with my mom, bearing in
mind my mom was a nurse, butit's not a conversation we ever
had and I just did notunderstand it.
How could I be going throughmenopause at this age?
Anyway, that was anotherjourney and menopause is
(30:10):
something I've spoken about.
But one of the things I'll justmention here is the decision I
made because someone said to meat the time that be prepared to
constantly be depressed,constantly have mood swings.
It will make you know just allthe side effects of menopause.
She just literally told me Ishould be prepared.
(30:32):
Anyway, I went researching, asusual as I do.
I went researching aboutmenopause, found out quite a bit
about it and discovered I thinkit's Christian Northup.
Anyway, I got her book onmenopause and I could see that
there was a link between howyour thoughts and lifestyle can
(30:55):
impact on the symptoms and Ijust 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 tohave to help me through this.
I do not want to go on HRT but,lord, you've got to help me.
During that period, while I wasin such a low place, I
(31:16):
discovered Dr Caroline Leaftalking about who switched off
your brain.
That was a life changer for meBecause once I heard her talking
about it on the TV, my brainwent into overdrive, curiosity.
(31:40):
The dopamine was now flowingand I went full scale research
studying to neuroscience and itwas in that journey that I
discovered emotionalintelligence from the brain's
perspective, from the emotionalpart of the brain.
(32:01):
You know, understanding theemotional brain linking you know
what neuroscience actuallymeant, the whole concept of
rewire your brain, and that waswhen I then understood scripture
even deeper.
I think what excited me themost was that the more I was
(32:22):
studying the science, the more Iwas now understanding why
scripture said things renew yourmind Ah, we needed to.
If the Bible is telling usrenew your mind, that means we
have the capability to renew ourmind, and the Bible also said
(32:42):
that faith comes from hearing.
You know, so we hear.
So basically, what we heardetermines what we do, or what
becomes our reality.
So I just saw how science wasconfirming scripture and that
got me so excited, extremelyexcited, and that was my journey
(33:06):
into neuroscience.
So I started walking throughthat and got into
neuroleadership.
So working with leaders,working with teams, and I could
just see how fast things changedBehavior patterns changed,
managers' behaviors changed,teams' patterns changed,
managers' behaviors changed,teams' behavior changed,
(33:27):
productivity improved, retentionincreased.
It was just amazing and I'llsay this was in.
I started this in 2009, andit's been a journey that has
been amazing.
I did a talk once for KentAmbulance Service.
A friend invited me to do atalk.
(33:48):
That was my first public talkand I was so nervous about doing
that talk, but when I did itand the way it was received, it
even excited me more, and thatwas when I knew that people did
not really know much about this.
So there's a need to get thisinformation out there.
(34:11):
So can you now see the threadof my life?
You know, one of the thingsthat I talk a lot about now is
understanding our purpose whenyou walk with God.
The Bible says the steps of therighteous are ordered by God.
As we go through challenges, aswe go through problems, as we
(34:34):
go through life all these, hesays that he will make them all
work together for a good.
I wasn't planning to be alecturer, but see how God
directed my step.
I ended up in lecturing.
I wasn't planning to go intobusiness.
See how the Lord directed meand I went into business.
(34:57):
Now, when I then came into thisneuro leadership concept and I
started doing this work in thecolleges and training and
talking and doing talks andhelping my teams and turning
departments around frominadequate to outstanding in
months in really short periodsof time At that point I then
(35:22):
decided to go back out intobusiness and start my own so
that I could do this moreglobally.
Yes, my subconscious brain didwake up and go you failed before
, lady, what are you doing?
But I but at that point I wasthe one now in control of the
subconscious and said you knowwhat?
(35:43):
We are fine.
And they started this business.
Now, one of the things that Ireally wanted to do was speaking
, because I had been a lecturerfor years, so I really wanted to
speak, but this time I wantedto do more public speaking.
So yet what I did is I didtraining on public speaking,
(36:05):
combined it with my lecturing,and I was able to now travel to
start doing talks.
You know, traveling, doingtalks, doing talks to
organizations, doing talks toteams Soon after I was given my
first award as an internationalspeaker.
But can you see the thread?
(36:27):
One of the interesting thingsabout this rewiring your brain
using scripture is that when Istarted doing this talk in
neuroscience and leadership andI created the academy the
Mindsight Academy, and one ofthe core main courses that we
have is emotional intelligencefor leadership, organizations do
(36:52):
this training and I coach themthrough the process, because I
did a coaching course in about2010.
One of the things about thetraining is that, yes, I noticed
that I could give you training,but the core, the key part of
it was how do you then changethe behavior when you're going
(37:13):
through the challenge, and thatis where neurocoaching becomes
important.
So the training and thecoaching linked together is what
then creates the results thatyou achieve.
So I combined these two to thenenable you know so, working
with organizations to create theresults that they wanted, and
(37:37):
it's just been so powerful.
A year ago, the Lord then toldme to create the membership
program for women, and this timebringing in the element of
scripture.
And I went.
What I've been doing, thisleadership for years, and now
(37:59):
I'm bringing in scripture.
But one thing that I hadlearned working with God is
obedience.
Obedience, and the moment Isaid yes, it's like God just
opened the door, the ideas,exactly how to create the
(38:22):
membership program, everything Ineeded to do, and we are now in
our first year, we're coming tothe end of our first year, and
it's been an incredible,incredible journey For me.
It's been so liberating tocoach and teach ladies, women,
(38:43):
with that element of scripture,because that element of
scripture, with that element ofscripture, because that element
of scripture, even before I knewthe concept of neuroplasticity,
of how the brain rewires itself.
When I was teaching neuroanatomyat the university, we did not
know that the brain could rewireitself.
(39:04):
We didn't brain could rewireitself.
We didn't Because up till thattime, what we had been taught
and told is that the way thebrain is at the age of seven or
21 is the way to stay for therest of your life.
But then new science startedcoming out showing that the
brain can rewire itself, butalso the brain can form new
(39:30):
brain cells, new neurons in ourlifetime, throughout our life.
And that was the key, that wasthe core, that was the whole
mind-blowing aspect of renewyour mind.
We did not know we could renew,but now science is telling us
(39:57):
that we can actually renew.
And can you see how scripturehas always been there, but we
did not know?
Can you see how scripture hasalways been there, but we did
not know, we did not understandwhat that concept was.
So we are practicing it becausefaith you know the Bible says
(40:24):
when you pray, believe you havereceived it and you shall have
it.
So when you've receivedsomething, you're behaving as if
you have it, and that faiththat you know what God is giving
it to me, that I've asked forthis and God is giving it to me,
as long as you're asking inaccordance with his will and
(40:48):
he's a covenant keeping God.
So with that, it means that wecan actually say believe it.
How do you believe?
You believe in your mind, youvisualize it, then you're seeing
it, you're living your life asif you've got that thing.
When I decided to take that stepand open the business, I wasn't
(41:11):
taking no for an answer fromanyone.
I started walking around theplace.
I wanted my business to be andI was seeing the business.
I was speaking to it.
I said this shop, we areopening by December.
We are opening, we'll be here,I will go into town, I will
(41:33):
speak, speak to the shop, speakto the town.
And it happened.
I did the same when I was inprimary school to go into
secondary.
It happened so when I was nowgetting the science,
understanding science, I've beenjust so excited, so impacting
(41:56):
this knowledge.
Now, where I bring in theelement of scripture to ladies,
I'm on a different level.
It's like it's freedom and it'snow bringing the whole
everything.
I've done the IT aspect, youknow the business aspect.
So I've got women who arestarting in business.
I support you in business,understanding what is God saying
(42:19):
, what is your purpose?
We go to the scripture teachingyou how to hear from God and
put it into action, theresistance that will come up
from your brain so that youunderstand it.
A lot of times people are stuckin procrastination,
self-sabotage, imposter syndrome.
(42:39):
It's the brain doing its work,but God has told us that we can.
We can do all things throughChrist.
It's focusing on that word.
Remember I said to you before Ikept repeating repetition.
Now we know repetition rewiresthe brain.
(43:00):
No, repetition rewires thebrain.
So, if you want to truly livethe life God has called you to
live, get scripture, understandthe word of God and then rewire
your brain to hold on to it andtake the actions that God is
(43:24):
asking you to take.
Take the actions needed.
Equip yourself.
Who are you surroundingyourself with?
What do you need to do?
Do you need to stop being apeople pleaser?
Do you need to step away?
What do you need to do?
One of the things I always dowith clients is the brain
mapping, diagnostic, because Ialways say that if not, we don't
(43:45):
know what we're working with.
You've wired your brain overtime.
Who are you?
A lot of times when you askpeople who are you, you don't
even know who you are becauseyou don't know how you've wired
your brain, because a lot of thewiring in the brain has gone in
without your knowledge, fromyour upbringing, from your
experiences, from your teachers.
(44:06):
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 Godhad told me.
I focused on what I wanted atthe end, that focus of where I
(44:27):
was going, of what I was goingto do, because if I started
listening to that subconsciousbrain, I wouldn't have done that
business.
To walk on water, you've got tostep out of the boat.
There were other disciples inthat boat with Peter, but they
(44:47):
didn't step out.
Peter stepped out and he's theonly 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 lookingat the challenges, the obstacles
around him, he started sinking.
(45:09):
The moment you take the focus ofwhat you want where you're
going, focus of Christ, andstart focusing on what you don't
want, you start sinking.
And there's a saying what youfocus on expands.
Focus on Christ.
He expands in your life.
(45:29):
Focus on the power of the HolySpirit.
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.
A lot of times you find yourselfcomplaining, complaining about
what you don't want, and thenyou're experiencing what you
(45:51):
don't want and you're wonderingwhy things are not changing.
Because you're praying.
But you're praying, butfocusing on the thing you don't
want.
And that principle of as longas you're focusing on what you
don't want, the subconsciouswill keep giving you what you
(46:14):
don't want.
So, for me, one of the keythings that I really am so
grateful to God for, it's Godgiving us this knowledge now to
understand who we are, how he'screated us.
He said he's made us in hisimage.
Who are we?
(46:34):
How does that brain work?
How does it connect withemotions?
How does it make me carry outactions?
What do I do to actually livethe life God has called me to
live?
That understanding, that power,that wisdom that God has given
our generation now is justamazing when you think about it
when you have negative or toxicthoughts.
(46:55):
The damage that it does to thebody.
It damages cells, it can createcancer, can create all sorts of
diseases dementia you know somany diseases, so many illnesses
, disease, so that your body isnot at ease.
It's just incredible.
The fact that you've inheriteda disease doesn't mean that it
(47:21):
has to present with symptoms.
It can lie dormant all yourlife.
It all comes down to what'sgoing on in your brain, because
that will drive your lifestyle,that will drive your behavior,
that will drive everything youdo.
So I hope that this storyjourney of mine, that would
(47:45):
really help you.
I've had to cut quite a lot outbecause if I go on on my story,
which I'll keep talking aboutover time, it's just incredible
what God has done in my life andI'm just so grateful to him for
his greatness, his kindness,his love, directing me and just
(48:07):
making me understand or have theknowledge that I have today
about the brain.
And that is why I get soexcited about this brain,
because this is the one organthat cannot be transplanted yet
and the link between our brainand body is just so powerful.
(48:31):
Something happens in your bodyand then your brain is
interpreting that informationand then you can take an action.
That's powerful.
And to think that I was alreadyteaching neuroanatomy before,
but never ever connected it tobehavior and the process that we
(48:53):
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 thisinformation that we have and use
well, and if you want to knowmore about the Mindsight Women's
Network, there'll be a link inthe description so that you can
(49:15):
click on it and you're very,very welcome to join.
If you're curious and you'retired of being stuck or you're
tired of just going around incircles, you're tired of
imposter holding you back ortired of not being where you
know you should be, then youneed to join the Mindsight
(49:37):
Women's Network.
Get the knowledge, get theunderstanding, be equipped to
now take the actions you need totake, and it's a great
community where women are reallysupporting each other through
different journeys, becausewe're all at different places,
we all have differentexperiences, but it's a
fantastic place to be, so dojoin us.
(49:58):
I do invite you to join us.
If you're an organization andwant to know more about training
for church leaders, fororganizational leaders, do have
a look at the Mindsight Academy.
Our training is just sopowerful.
The coaching is incredible.
In the Women's Network, you getall that.
You get the training.
(50:19):
You get the coaching as well.
So I really look forward towelcoming you to the academy or
to the women's network and I'llsee you next time.
Bye for now, stay blessed andkeep rewiring your brain using
scripture.
Bye.
(50:41):
Thank you for joining us ontoday's episode of Lead to Excel
podcast.
I hope our discussion hasinspired you.
Remember, achieving excellenceis a marathon and every step
counts towards your goals.
If today's conversation sparkedany thoughts or questions, feel
(51:01):
free to share them with me onLinkedIn, facebook and Twitter,
and consider leaving a review onyour favorite podcast platform.
You can also find this podcaston YouTube.
Your feedback helps us grow andreach more listeners.
Don't forget to subscribe tonever miss an episode filled
(51:21):
with expert insights andinspiration.
Until next time, this isMaureen Chiana, reminding you to
stay curious, stay driven andtogether let's remain limitless
and change the world.
Bye for now.
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