The world is rapidly changing around us and we are treading some new waters together.

I was debating if I should publish an article this week with all that is going on, but then I realized that in times like these our ability to manage our mindset and remain positive is even more critical.

I am certainly not an expert so what I am sharing today is my personal story, what I am learning and what I am doing right now to remain calm, present and positive for myself, my family and my team …

I have to admit that the past two days felt very yucky and heavy for me — not only at work but also at home — as I read so many articles and watched the news coverage my mind went into a negative spiral…

I have talked about the concept of riding the “red train” and “blue train” with you… in summary, you can “ride the blue” train of empowerment, enthusiasm, and creativity — when amazing results follow. Or you can “ride the red train” of defensiveness, negativity and anger — when you feel stuck.

Even ...

I don’t understand why but talking about meditation in Corporate America is still a very big taboo.

Not too long ago, meditation was perceived by many as perhaps a religious and mysterious practice only for monks or something that weird hippies did. There was a lot of judgment, shame and misconceptions.

But now there are boat loads (yes, that’s a scientific term) of conclusive and reputable studies that prove meditation has many benefits for our physical body and mental health.

It is proven to help with anxiety, depression, heart disease, high blood pressure, pain and sleep problems. It also helps us to chill out, become more centered, self-aware, relaxed and less negative, anxious and reactive.

If all these studies are not compelling enough, there are also many very successful leaders from different industries who have shared that they too meditate and that it has been a key ingredient for their success.

This is where I name drop… Oprah, Ellen, Arianna Huffington, Steve Jobs, Kev...

What if I am the only thing holding myself back? I learned the hard way that we cannot outperform our mindset and that our thinking pattern determines how we feel, experience life and if we achieve success.

I am an executive with more than 10 years of leadership experience at two top companies — The Walt Disney Company and Procter & Gamble. Over the past few years I have learned a big lesson… about the power of our minds. Our minds can be our biggest allies or our worst enemies.

I wasn’t really aware of it but my mind had been completely running unchecked!

More often than not the inner narrator, the little voice inside my head, was a total jerk… it was ruthlessly mean to myself, completely unfocused and incredibly melodramatic… being Brazilian I can say that there were many dramatic novelas being created in my mind. I realized that most of the troubles I thought I was facing weren’t really real. I had made them up in my mind, in my own primetime novela.

But the great news is that I...