Mimi Bland: The Answer is You
After much soul searching and a 25-year journey trying to get in touch with her higher self, and understanding the mind-body connection, Mimi gained incredible insight into how the mastery of thought and emotion can change one’s mindset. Years of mental and emotional abuse left her feeling unworthy, unloved and depressed but with her children in mind, and with resilience and determination, the best-selling author and mentor reconstructed her mindset and transformed her life. It is this power of self-transformation that is the very essence of both her coaching and her book, The Answer Is You.
“You have the power to heal yourself, to have anything you truly desire in your life; money, wealth, relationships; but you have to align yourself with it. There is a language or code that you have to speak to take your dreams from merely a conscious state to a physical reality.”
You experienced a 25-year journey trying to get in touch with your higher self and understand the mind-body connection. What sparked this journey?
After years of experiencing physical, mental and emotional abuse, I was completely disconnected from myself. Deep down, I knew that the situation I was in was destructive to my mental health. I knew life was more than this, but I accepted it as normality.
It was when I started to see the effect it was having on my children’s lives, and suicidal thoughts crossed my mind, I knew I had to make a change. Being subservient, and struggling to speak up or have my own opinion made me feel utterly worthless, and that was not the mother I wanted to be for my children or the woman I wanted to be. I knew then that something needed to change fast. I was a mother, not only did I need to protect my sons from witnessing this situation, but I also wanted to be a role model for them, and for them to be proud of me for being a strong independent woman.
Since I was a child, I’d always had this knowing deep inside of me that there was a greater purpose for me, but I had lost my way amongst the abuse. I had a vision that I was here to serve humanity and make a bigger impact, and I knew deep within me in that darkest moment that I had to find a way to connect back to myself.
What challenges have you faced whilst on your journey to reconstructing your mindset?
I was imprinted by my external circumstances and the wiring inside of myself was so compounded that I felt like I was nothing, that I deserved nothing. I felt dirty and that I wasn’t worthy of having an opinion or even being heard. I had lost all concept of who I was as an individual. I had imprinted in my mind a version of myself that was created by others. It was so hard-wired inside my mind and within my emotions and feelings that I completely identified with it.
The greatest struggle was initially identifying and becoming aware of how disconnected I had become, and then I dug deep to overcome my thoughts until eventually, I started to become myself. To become the woman, I knew was inside all along, to become that little 7-year-old with a purpose in life, and to become the mother and role model I wanted to be for my sons. Being open to admitting that you’ve let yourself down and willing to put in the inner work to bring yourself back from that is the biggest struggle anyone will face in their lives. But it’s also the most rewarding.
You experienced years of mental and emotional abuse leaving you feeling unworthy and depressed. Picking yourself up from that mental state without backing down is a challenging process. What kept you motivated during those challenging times?
Without a doubt, my children. They were my greatest motivation, but also, listening to that voice deep inside me that kept telling me that I was here to serve a higher purpose kept me going every day. Society created this imprinting, these patterns, this encoding that I was living my life by. I didn’t create it, but I let myself be pulled in by it, and it controlled my belief about myself.
From the age of 7, I had felt this higher calling by God – I knew that I had great work to do for Him and that he would help me and prepare me. My whole journey, the highs and the lows, were all part of a greater plan for me to hit rock bottom so I could grow and learn, and in turn guide others. Knowing that others out there were experiencing a similar turmoil to me, really inspired me to keep working on myself, and to keep moving forward so that I could come out the other end, and connect with and heal those who needed it.
Without my own struggle, I wouldn’t be able to connect with people on a mental and emotional level to heal them and bring them back to wholeness.
You have worked with hundreds of people, transforming their lives. What moments of triumph have stood out for you throughout your career as a mindset coach?
When someone’s been told that there’s no hope or they have weeks to live, but I can transform their lives just by changing their mindset, those are the moments I live for. I once worked with a lady who was on the verge of suicide after years and years of abuse. She was so broken, and I knew what she was feeling. In one session with me, she completely transformed her mind and her world for the better.
For me, it’s the fact that it doesn’t take years to review, change, or let go of the things that we’re holding on to. It can be instantaneous. To watch that, to watch people who are homeless go on to find homes, to work, to rebuild their lives, those are the moments of triumph for me.
It’s about watching a transformation occurring right in front of your eyes, that moment when the work we’re doing clicks for them, you see it immediately, and you know that their whole lives are about to change. It’s a phenomenal feeling for me, and I pinch myself every day that I get to do this for a living.
What was the inspiration behind your bestselling book, The Answer is You? What did the writing process look like?
The inspiration was my journey. All the inner turmoil, the tears, the laughter, the rollercoaster of emotions, and my ultimate transformation has been poured into this book. I had to share my experience with the world.
The writing process took me a week, which is crazy when I think back on it, but at that moment, I just got into a flow. My days were filled with walking, and while I was out in nature, I had a stream of thoughts that was instantly downloaded into my mind. I carried my Dictaphone everywhere with me so I could keep recording all these thoughts. I wrote each chapter down with each subtitle, and then through God or the Universe, whatever you believe in, the pages just began to fill themselves. I kept writing and writing, and before I knew it, the book was complete in 7 days.
What are 3 pieces of advice you would give to someone looking to transform their lives and heal themselves?
- Understand that everything in your life right now stems from you and is created by you. Everything in your life is happening for you, not to you.
- Develop awareness around your patterns and your programming. In order to do that, I recommend that you start journaling. This allows you to connect with yourself, start seeing those patterns and conditioning, and witness where you are sabotaging yourself.
- It’s about understanding that you are the Universe – you are the only one here. Everything is coming from within you, every person that’s coming to you, every word that’s coming out of your mouth, it’s all coming from your work and progress.
