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Articles by Valencia Ray

Browse published articles attributed to Valencia Ray, with full-archive search.

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By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Transformational Leadership: A Real Change Leader Leads Change

A real change leader is courageous in dealing with personal growth - changing one's self. Let's be clear here; personal growth is not about 'fixing yourself'. It is about learning and growing to reach more of your true potential. A leader will need to acknowledge her or his fear and keep moving forward anyway… leading the way. This is simple, yet not easy - at first. Facing change may not be without doubt or uneasiness; still, the more one comes from a place of confidence and authenticity, the more likely courage will be the response instead of denial.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,034 views2/5 (1)

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

I Want To Be An Entrepreneur-So Why Am I So Stuck?

Career transition is quite common considering that many people are searching for more meaning in what they do, or by sheer necessity, they have to make some hard choices. Why are they so hard? Life is really meant to be enjoyed, not one week of drudgery after another. I heard someone I know say over the weekend how much she dreads Mondays because she hates her job and her boss. This is no way to live. So why is it such a common problem? At the core of the matter is mindset. We don't know what we even want as our soul's desire is often buried under a ton of "shoulds".

Primary topic: Empowerment

727 views1.7/5 (3)

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Reaching True Potential Requires Self-Trust

Reaching true potential is easier said than done. We’ve conditioned our brain and mind to trust outside of our self. Once I garnered the courage to color outside the boundaries of what I was informed from those around me to be true, I really began to grow. Here’s the catch: I had to learn to trust myself. It’s amazing for me now to notice just how much we are willing to let science or others dictate to us what works for us and what doesn’t. Actually, there is much trial and error going on, even in science.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,002 views2/5 (1)

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Mindfulness Meditation: Live in Peace, Not Pieces

Inner peace is closer than you realize. You don't have to do any thing. In fact, it is your tendency to need to do something that is driving peace of mind out of reach. We have been taught to separate our self into pieces. Be one way at home and one way at office. One way at church or temple and one way with our friends.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,402 views1/5 (1)

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Collaborative Leadership: Are You a Mindful Leader?

Mindful leadership is an idea whose time is here… now. Now is the present moment, and unless you can be self-aware enough to listen to what is present to you, here, now, you are not showing up as a mindful leader. Mindfulness takes practice, particularly in our hyperactive culture, which is full of fear, distraction and “never enoughness.” Granted, it is highly unlikely that you live every moment of your life mindfully, but for most people even if they could do it for a few moments or minutes at a time, they are ahead of the game. Actually, this is serious business.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,370 views1/5 (1)

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Empower Up - Perception Rules Your Reality

It's empowering to know that I can change my reality based on my perception. Perception is subjective of course, so therefore reality is also subjective. I have truly found that my reality may often not be my friend's reality. Interesting. "To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fear in our minds" ~William James

Primary topic: Empowerment

900 views2/5 (1)

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Neuroscience of Leadership and Change: Embracing the Millennium of the Mind

Leadership and personal development can be most effectively integrated into corporate and entrepreneurial training programs when approached through the gateway of neuroscience and brain research. It is our amazing brain that allows us to engage conscious reasoning, choice, and to imagine possibilities beyond what already exists. It allows us to access the field of infinite genius and creativity. I can say that what is apparent is that this new millennium ushered in a new awareness of the brain and mind.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,150 views1/5 (1)

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Empower Up: 3 Little Known Secrets to Making Friends With Change

Empowerment and being able to navigate the fear of change go hand and hand. Please hear this without judgment; if you keep doing what you do, you will keep getting what you are getting - no exceptions. It is all to common for people to want a thriving business, happy, fulfilling relationships and good health without adjusting their attitudes and behaviors.

Primary topic: Empowerment

675 views2/5 (1)

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Emotional Intelligence: I Feel, Therefore I Am

Emotional intelligence is beginning to be recognized as a powerful contributor to business intelligence—“soft” skill or not. I’m all for respecting the intellect, and I’m all for respecting our intuitive feeling mind, as well. I have a book on order called “Descartes Error,” by Antonio R. Damasio. I’m looking forward to reading it, as Damasio studies emotion and the brain.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,901 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Diversity and Inclusion Begins at the CORE

Diversity as a consulting arena was not something I was attracted to historically—until now. I notice that it too often seems to be only representation, which is better than nothing, or somewhat anyway. Just to have physical bodies in a room is really not creating a culture of inclusion and innovation. I attended a “diversity and inclusion” corporate event last week and I am inspired to see that some people are starting to realize that personal individual growth will need to be addressed as well as structure change to create inclusion.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,636 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Team Building: Meaning Motivates

Team building is too often looked upon as “some things” to do instead of “some ones” to become. Teams are composed of people, not parts like a machine. In fact, it is time to stop treating your body and life as parts, somehow separated into bits and pieces. If we only use our left-brain mental constructs, this is how we tend to focus. For example, traditionally we see teams in terms of strategies, tasks, and dollars-and-cents measures (“bottom line”).

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,556 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Releasing your Creativity May Help Prevent Alzheimer’s

Creativity and intuition are both right brain hemisphere qualities that have been ignored and disrespected for generations now. Finally, thanks to neuroscience research the importance of respecting the contributions of both of our brain hemispheres is coming into vogue. I have advocated trusting your own intuitive guidance and reclaiming your own voice and inner authority for several years now.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,546 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

3 Clear Steps to Radically Change Your Life for the Better Today

Collaborative leadership, networking, team building and communication skills are all considered valuable and vital to business success in the evolving workplace. Typically, when a person decides that he or she wants to learn skill sets related to these areas, they proceed to learn techniques. While technique does matter, there’s much more to learning and applying skill sets than meets the eye – the physical eye, that is.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,523 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Change Management: From Survival to Thrival

Managing change effectively involves managing mindset. Where your mind is set determines if change is scary and 'hard' or exciting and 'easier'. I don't want to imply that change will be without discomfort, but it doesn't have to be downright painful. How you see it - perception - matters. 'Survival of the fittest' is a pervasive perception that drives us into our survival brain. I don't think there is anything primitive about our amazing brain, yet there are evolutionary levels of engagement that impact our behaviors in everyday life.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,496 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

How to Create More Time - On Purpose

Creating time, at first, sounds ridiculous - until you understand how we co-create our "reality." Of course, when speaking of linear time there are only 24 hours to a day, and everyone receives equal amounts. Yet, if you keep talking about how fast 'time flies' and do not realize that you are the pilot who has great influence over how you experience time, you will unconsciously keep your foot on the accelerator without awareness of how to slow it down. Our perception, how we see time, impacts our experience of time.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,489 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

A Fragile Self-Image Makes Happiness Elusive

Happiness will be elusive as long as a man or woman builds their self-image or worth based on what they do and how much money they make. I read an article this weekend in The New York Times Magazine bemoaning the fact that many men are losing their self-worth because their “macho” jobs are going away and their wives are making more money than they are. Mind you, it’s not that they can’t find work; they just don’t want to do service jobs that they consider “women’s work,” such as teaching.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,425 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall-Why Compare Myself At All?

If confidence and self-esteem does not come from the inside out, we are bound to seek it from outside in. This is a never-ending bottomless pit. Who cares, you may ask. Why even conce yourself with confidence or self-esteem issues? Well, for one thing, what the French author Anais Nin said many years ago is true: "We don't see things the way they are; we see them as we are"

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,345 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Feminine Power: What Is It and Is It Female?

I’ve read several articles on feminine power recently and I’ve seen groups formed online with feminine power as the title. I even participate in one on Facebook. The Dalai Lama has been quoted as saying, “the western woman will save the world”. So, is feminine power limited to women? I don’t think so. I see it as a part of being human and it is needed to balance masculine power, which is also a part of being human. There is no cut and dry explanation for how these two powers express, though there are general characteristics that define them.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,320 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Not Enough Time? Change Your Focus

Productivity needs to be defined as accomplishing goals and dreams, not simply being ‘so busy’. In fact, if you keep talking about how busy and time-poor you are, you will likely waste time and energy. Why? Because talking about it is revealing that you are focused on lack of time instead of focusing on where you want to go.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,318 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Productivity and Performance: The Myth of Hard Work

Does success require stress and hard work as a means to reach your goal? I say no, and there is even objective neuroscience to support my belief and experience. "Hard work and stress" is a type of paradigm or mindset. I have had conversations with several people over time regarding whether obtaining peace of mind was a hazard to ambition. I have read articles that argue that if we become peaceful we will become complacent. It is this type of belief that drives hard work as a social construct.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,316 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Is Your MindSET for Productivity with Greater Ease?

Productivity does not need to be hard. Hard work does not define success, nor real productivity. Success as we tend to define it does not often equal happiness, either. Perhaps if we stop implying that hard work and success are required before we can be happy, we can be happy as we work and become successful, and we can do it with more ease.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,294 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Own Your Magnificence and Stop Playing Small

Greatness, magnificence, and brilliance – do you realize that these are words that really refer to your unique “Self”? Then why do we tend to feel so uncomfortable applying these words to our self? For that matter, we tend to only apply them to other people, after they have died.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,266 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Innovation: Why We Need It, Want It, and Fear It

Innovation is a hot topic right now. The search is on for the next new thing, the new business frontier. We certainly do need to innovate, as our infrastructure appears to be falling apart. We need to make changes in how we “think life is,” for one thing. Survival of the fittest is only a paradigm, a way of society that we have all created. Human beings are creative enough to create a whole new way of life once they unite their mind with their hearts and get committed. The challenge is being self-aware enough to “get committed.”

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,253 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

5 Tips to Boost Brain Power and Productivity

Achieving business success requires more than collecting advanced degrees and learning sales and marketing strategies. These things are useful, but we are so ‘dis-integrated’ in our thinking these days that we miss the forest (the big picture) because we are so busy trying to cut down trees (“doing stuff” and gathering information).

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,247 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Slow Down to Accelerate Your Results

Productivity is not simply activity. Without a clear vision, a heartfelt why, and a clear strategy, you will waste your resources - time, energy and money. You will also increase the likelihood that you will create dis-ease in your body from overworking and stress.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,234 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

If You’re Not Afraid…

You are not growing. Growth will take you into the unknown. Why is growth so scary? The most likely reason for many, many people is that they are conditioned unconsciously to fear change. This is rooted in perception. It is not a universal law that human beings must function this way.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,232 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Personal Development: The Value of Meaning and Passion

Knowing your life purpose makes life more meaningful and fulfilling. It gives you the “why” to look forward to in your day, in your work, and in your life overall. Knowing your true values can point you in the direction of your purpose; they underpin meaning. Otherwise, you may find yourself in the nightmare of the “routine”: Wake up, go to work, come home, eat, take care of “stuff”, and go to sleep… repeat. How dull. How painful! Life is meant to be an adventure of growth and learning. It’s not about clinging to a mediocre life, and then you die. How sad.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,218 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Women in Business: Secrets Revealed from the Soul of Money

Women-owned businesses have been the fastest growing segment of new start-up entrepreneurial endeavors. I’m glad to see this, as I’ve been a professional and an entrepreneur for many (yes, many) years now. I have found being an entrepreneur takes a special kind of courage, and it can be an amazing platform to grow one up spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. I can tell you story after story of the types of personal growth and expansion experiences that I’ve undergone that would not have presented themselves as dramatically if I had only stayed in the world of the job market.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,206 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Why Optimally Operating Your Brain Matters So Much

Productivity and performance matter, and unde eath this is how we think. We load up on ‘what to do?’ but the deeper question is ‘how do we think about it?’. If we think that work and life are hard and that to be successful we have to feel pressure or stress, we are likely to dampen our level of productivity and performance. It takes more energy to push against ‘hard’ than to enjoy ‘easy’. This is about our perception—a subjective matter. You see, it is not so much what we do as it is the mindset we hold about what we do, and how we focus our brain as we do it.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,189 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Clarity Takes Courage

Clarity is powerful and is a primary ingredient to performing at your best. It is poorly understood and generally not a feature of most people's strategies. Why? Because we are too busy being busy. We take pride in taking "massive action."

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,188 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Olympic Leadership for 21st Century Clarity and Confidence

Leadership is evolving, and it needs to. A one-size-fits-all, cookie-cutter approach is no longer working, and for good reason. The immense change we are facing is requiring leaders to be authentic and vulnerable, which means “less fear,” not weak, and in touch with their own individual strengths and gaps. This requires courage, something I’ve also witnessed in the leadership of the Olympic athletes recently in London.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,187 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Leadership: Inspiring Others is Only the First Step

Our leadership “true potential” is not realized simply by inspiring others or feeling inspired or just having more information. Knowledge is not really power until it is applied. Recognition or an “aha” are only nice, interesting tidbits until you muster up the courage to make the change. Courage is a funny thing; it does not mean the absence of fear. It is primarily an intention to feel fear, but to go ahead and proceed anyway. Understanding the source of FEAR—mostly Fictitious Evidence Affecting Reality in our brain—can help to alleviate it.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,186 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Does Leadership Really Have a Gender?

The topic of leadership is being discussed online more than ever these days, or perhaps it’s just that I’m paying more attention now. Since we are undergoing rapid change in our social institutions, the need for real leadership is more urgent than ever before in my lifetime.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,176 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

The Courage to Stare Down Fear

The courage to stare down fear requires more than meets the eye. In fact, if you keep your focus and attention on what scares you, you will feel more afraid. Yet, you will need to face your fear, name your fear, and then tap into your spiritual power of courage. Courage is not of the head; it’s of the heart.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,175 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Life Purpose: A Little Known Secret to Tap Your True Potential

Your true potential is an existing possibility that needs to be cultivated and nurtured. We all have a purpose for being born. You are not a random accident. Yet, many people do not realize that how we see our self is a huge determinant of whether or not we pursue a higher vision for our life. One of the greatest impediments to reaching your true potential is a lack of self-compassion.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,173 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

The Real Root of All Evil

The real root of all evil is not money; it’s lack of self-acceptance. By the way, even the Bible doesn’t say it’s money. There it says the “love of money” and love as used in the proper translation would be “lust” or attachment – in other words, greed. This is where lack of self-acceptance comes into the conversation.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,172 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Gratitude Today Keeps the Doctor Away

Work and life balance is central to health, real wealth, and enjoyable relationships. Gratitude and appreciation are apparently little known secret ingredients to what everyone is really seeking: inner peace, meaning, and joy. Then we can “in joy” our efforts and monetary results and use money constructively and with greater purpose. Then “stuff” starts to lose its meaning, in general.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,169 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

3 Steps to Deal with that Perfectionistic Inner Critic

Perfectionism will reduce your personal power and effectiveness. I used to take pride in saying I was a “perfectionist” until I started to realize WHY I was a perfectionist. Truth was, I felt insecure and “making a mistake” pushed my “not good enough” button that I was doing my best to conceal. I was great at putting on a mask that appeared by most people’s account as smart, successful and competent.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,159 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Happiness: Are You Confusing Your Career with Your Life?

Happiness can be so fleeting for many because we have our priorities backwards. Many people connect their sense of self-worth with their career, with what they “do.” What you “do” is not the same as who you are. Now for many this statement will sound totally confusing. “Of course,” you may think, “I am what I do.” This is because since we were young children we’ve been conditioned to equate what we do and have with our worth.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,158 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Corporate Team Productivity Lessons from a Cow Farmer

High-level productivity is a product of happiness—even in cows. There’s a lot of talk on the airwaves about innovation, productivity, employee engagement, and team building”…lots of talk. It’s really time for more action. I will say that I am seeing signs that people are finally realizing that we are “not in Kansas anymore,” as Dorothy said in the movie “The Wizard of Oz” when her house landed on the witch.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,155 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Emotional Intelligence: From Quiet Desperation to Real Happiness

Emotional Intelligence is the mind of the heart, the right-brain in metaphoric terms. Realize that language has its limitations, and speaking in terms of the English language subtleties can be lost - such as having only one word for 'love'. When culture moved away from communicating with images, we also moved away from an appreciation of what the right-brain has to offer us as a human civilization. This is unfortunate, as our feelings are powerful influencers over the quality of our lives.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,155 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

How You React or Respond to Crisis Can Make or Break Your Life

Your true potential will be elusive if you are fearful of change. In fact, if you want to expand the vision for your life, you will have to stop looking for the status quo. Most people have warning signs that they need to move on before things get to the point of crisis. Yet they tend to react and cling to the known world, misery and all, instead of empowering themselves to respond proactively. “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” ~Rahm Emanuel, Mayor of Chicago

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,135 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Our Environment is Not the Only Thing that Changes – So Do You

Change and transformation are happening in business and society at large, like it or not. We human beings are constantly changing, even at the level of our body’s cellular biology; yet vast numbers of people try to hold on to “just the way we are/I am” to avoid personal growth. When something shows up that contradicts our perceptual worldview, we tend to ignore our experience or intuition and disconnect from what our own inner truth is telling us as we attempt to cling to what we know. This will not allow you to adapt to change easily, by any means.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,128 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Happiness Helps Your Business – and Health – Bottom Line

Happiness is a perception that is subject to how one sees life, how one interprets their circumstances. Brain research essentially shows we create our reality by assigning the meaning to our lives. Research shows that our ability to create and manage positive emotions is one of the foundations for success (and happiness) in business and life.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,124 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Ready, Fire – Got Aim?

Before you do another thing, are you clear about where you are going and why? We’ve become a society of frantic doers, not taking the time to reflect and get clear before taking massive action. And even when we do create a strategy, it is often in the old way of thinking, and so our plans have trouble taking root… the road map has changed, and we get so busy “doing” that we miss the signs along the way.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,109 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Women in Business: Your Brain is Essentially a Computer – Know How to Operate It?

Women entrepreneurs are a rapidly growing demographic, yet the key is not to simply start a business but to also be successful at it. I owned and operated a very successful medical and surgical practice before selling it to now share insights into business and life that I’ve applied personally by integrating cutting edge science with ancient wisdom principles.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,095 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Emotional Intelligence: Mind Has Heart

Emotional intelligence helps us to be smarter about our emotion. Emotion is a part of our mind-body connection. It is another expression of our intelligence. Feelings are the effect of our emotional perception. They add color to our lives. I say "perception" because how we look at a situation determines the meaning we assign. Let's keep this simple; there are only two classes of emotion - love or fear.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,071 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Going Through Hell? – Keep Going!

Emotions are contagious, and how you focus your attention can either keep you stuck on how you feel or switch gears to where you want to go. It is our attention that is sitting in the driver’s seat of our mind. Most people seem not to know this. They think that if they keep talking about something, resisting it, pushing it away, worrying about it, or even thinking about it, somehow they can get rid of it or prevent what they fear from manifesting.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,056 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

3 Feelings That Can Harm Your Health and the Health of Your Dreams

Personal power is not often linked to the types of feelings that we have. In fact, most people would rather not acknowledge their feelings at all, which is unfortunate as research has shown that the magnetic energy of feelings is 5,000 times greater than that of thought. Our culture overemphasizes thinking and underestimates the power of feeling.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,054 views

By Valencia RayRecently published1 topic

Collaborative Change is Creating the New Order of Business

Collaboration is the here to stay; the days of “The Lone Ranger” are numbered and rightfully so. It is unnatural to live isolated with the old ‘survival of the fittest’ mentality and this was only a paradigm anyway. Disregarding others is like cutting off your nose to spite your own face. There is more than one way to live life. Be forewa ed however; the paradigm you create will show up as your “reality”. I can see around me people awakening to this truth.

Primary topic: Empowerment

1,050 views

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