Saadia Bean has discovered seven keys for elevation and is eager to share them with the wider community. For the past 20 years she has counselled individuals, groups and families through The Family Intimacy Centre.More recently she has used the iElevate programme, which teaches clients how to cope with stress and deepens self-understanding by addressing seven important areas of the human psychological development.Dr Bean opened The Family Intimacy Centre in 2000 with her husband, Detroy. Together, they have researched and successfully applied principles that have consistently generated peace and fulfilment in all areas of their lives; clients benefit from mindful counselling, mediation and empowerment workshops.Her journey started with a vision she had in 2016 about the state of the island. It led to the start of iElevate, aimed at both believers and non-believers. “Either way, the presenting concerns are the same,” Dr Bean said. “It doesn’t matter if you say I go to church and I believe in God or you don’t. From where I sit, at the core, there is no difference. “I really checked it out with person after person and fine-tuned until I came up with seven keys that we are born with that people use every day. We are always activating these seven keys, but we don’t know.”These keys, according to Dr Bean, are embedded identity, tailored thought, efficient emotions, discovered desires, passionate purpose, ignited imagination and delightful destiny. She believes that awakening and strengthening them will help people live a more intentional life. While the practice is faith-based, the iElevate programme is beneficial to people no matter what their belief and is also open to those with no religious views at all. “It’s so easy to follow. Because it’s in everybody, everyone can access it 100 per cent of the time. Everyone who walks through my door — every single person — I assume that they have the answer. They’re whole and complete. There’s nothing wrong with them because God did not create brokenness. He made us in His image and after His likeness and God can only create perfection.“It’s just that we’ve got some habits that don’t match who we really are and the way we were created. But when we return to understand with awareness who we really are, and we activate from that place, then all the habits begin to fall off. They just disappear. It’s wonderfully amazing. It’s like magic.”The Beans will present the iElevate programme and its seven keys this month at a retreat that is open to anyone interested in awakening their purpose within. She is confident that it will resonate with everyone who attends “providing people are willing to take responsibility for their lives”. “We are creating our lives from the thoughts we have because, as a man thinks, so is he. So, my life is my life because of how I think. Not because of what someone else said or did. If we are willing to hold that space of personal responsibility it is very empowering because now you are not waiting for something to change to be OK. You create the change you want from the inside.”Dr Bean said the lessons could also help community leaders discover a more personalised approach to the changes Bermuda needs.“There can be sustainable development, but it starts with me. That’s first and then the family and then the community and then the nation. I posed this over 12 years ago. “When the heart is set right, the personal life is cultivated. When the personal life is cultivated, then the home life is regulated. When the home life is regulated, the national life is in order. And when the national life is orderly, then the world is at peace.“We keep trying to work at the national level without going within first. It’s not working. We must work from the individual heart to produce order and peace. If change doesn’t occur on the inside there can be no change on the outside.”• The 2020 Internal Vision Retreat will take place on March 27 and 28 at Willowbank Resort & Conference Centre. For more information: 295-3762 or info@ielevate.me