You’re reading The 5 Best Podcasts on Empowerment, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

We often face decisions with anguish over whether it will be the right choice, because we are afraid of the unknown. We may fear that whatever happens will result in failure. This is where empowerment can make a difference in feeling that you do in fact have control over what is happening to you. To know that you make a decision that is the best for yourself creates a balance between responsibilities and wishes. Of course, this requires that you actually have knowledge of what it is you truly desire. Knowing yourself then is the first step to authentic empowerment. Here are 5 podcasts that aid in the discovery of self-empowerment.

1. Jess Lively’s blog includes an interview with Brene Brown, focusing on how to set boundaries in your relationships in a compassionate way and discussing some of the themes in her book ‘Rising Strong’. How this serves our empowerment is that emotionality can be a driving force and we make up these stories surrounding it which are not necessarily true. We must learn how to have tough conversations, check in and be brave. We deny our feelings based on ‘emotional high centering’ (meaning you can’t go forward and you can’t go back), it is a form of offloading feelings because we are better at hiding or causing pain until it takes a toll on our lives, rather than facing it or being honest about what we are really feeling.

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2. ‘If you want something, ask, people can’t read your mind.’ This podcast is as straightforward as its message. It is all about getting to the point in any and every conversation you have. If you are specific with want you want there will be no confusion to those around you and ultimately for yourself.

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3. In this Dr. Pat Baccili led podcast, she speaks about the obsession we have with comparison to others. Getting to the root of what is at the conscious level and what role does the subconscious play in comparisons. It means that something inside of us feels unresolved and a pain hasn’t been addressed, and we want a confirming element that something is true. Comparison feeds into the idea of winning or losing and that is where we have to look into ourselves and realize that we are making an unfair assessment of our lives. To empower ourselves is to understand our inner values as opposed to concentrating on our outer values.

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4. ‘When your deepest beliefs are challenged by contradictory evidence, your beliefs get stronger.’ This idea propels the discussion of this podcast, discussing the phenomenon of how provoked skepticism fuels behavior that can cause them to become more certain of their incorrect beliefs. How this relates to empowerment is that we search for information with our own emotional involvement, and to be truly empowered we need to learn how to recognize why we challenge information we don’t want to believe in.

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5. This podcast by Bri and Thais (on stepping into your power), addresses the daily things we may not notice we are doing that can take away your inner power, such as operating at a low energy level by being passive aggressive and complaining. Sometimes, a simple mindset shift is beneficial to stand in your power, explain your intentions or address your behavior.

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At any given point in our lives, we may seek empowerment that is either psychological, physical or emotional (among others). You define what issues are important to you, whether it be setting boundaries in relationships, feeling physically well or recognizing where our self worth comes from. All of these develop as we work through them, essentially, making empowerment a continuous journey that we take.

Do you read a great blog about empowerment that’s not on the list? Leave a comment on FB!

Larissa Gomes is a breast cancer survivor and single mom to her spirited baby boy! Originally from Toronto turned Angeleno, she has worked in roles from writer, actor and producer for well over a decade. In that time, she’s developed concepts, film and television screenplays, short stories, along with freelance articles, blogging and editing work.

You’ve read The 5 Best Podcasts on Empowerment, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

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You’re reading 7 Bad Financial Habits That Are Also Terrible For The Environment, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Being green isn’t easy, but the effort to keep our environment safe is a moral imperative. Environmental consciousness isn’t just the right thing to do, it also saves money. Something I learned when I checked out the Bad Habit Calculator tool from Lending Tree.

The bad habits of one individual seem tiny in comparison to the larger world and it is easy to keep making poor decisions. However, when I realized these habits were costing me money, I decided to get green and keep more green in my pocket.

Here are 10 tips that will save cash and the environment at the same time.

1. Stop Smoking — save money and stop litter

Apart from the obvious health issues, according to this New York Times article from 2009, about 30% of all litter nationwide is cigarette butts, something that adds up to around 4.5 trillion butts per year around the world. Disgusting.

If that unpleasant amount of detritus isn’t enough to make someone quit, how about that just 2 packs per week will cost you an estimated $600 per year? If you and your partner smoke that’s $1200 in dirty money. Consider a solid smoking cessation program.

2. No More Water Bottles

The 22 billion dollar a year bottled water industry is dumping approximately 1.5 million tons of plastic into the environment which does not properly degrade. With only a fraction of this being recycled, it wreaks havoc on the environment. In addition, people pay an average of 1000x for bottled water than what they would for regular tap water. What that meant for me was getting a reusable bottle — it saves me $550 a year. Easy to feel good about that.

3. Stop Buying Coffee at the Cafe

There are environmental effects of coffee consumption, but even if you’re not ready to give up your daily joe, buying coffee from vendors is definitely significantly worse for the planet. Why? This NY Magazine article suggests that just the paper cup is choking the environment. Sadly, even so-called environmentally-friendly coffee is bad. Not to mention that NOT buying coffee out can save you around $1000 a year. Solution? Get a nice mug.

4. No More Fast Food

Again, apart from not being good for you in general, fast food waste is a pervasive environmental issue. In particular, factory farming, something fast food companies generally utilize for their livestock, is a serious problem. But what can it hurt to eat it just once a week when the groceries run out? For a family of four — about $1200 a year. Better meal planning will prevent the need to get something from McDs – the government will even help you plan.

5.Your Beer Could be Heating Homes

According to dramming.com the energy it takes to make alcoholic drinks is enough to heat around 2,286,000 households per year. Brewing and malting alone take a great deal of energy. In addition, buying drinks out is an enormous drain on finances. If a beer costs $5 at your local bar, just 2 per week for a couple (4 beers total) is over $1000 annually. If you must drink, do it at home and maybe brew your own… Will that save you money? Maybe.

6. Cut Out Soda

Even if you recycle your soda cans, mining the aluminum that it takes to make them is environmentally damaging and glass bottles actually create twice the carbon footprint that cans do. If that wasn’t enough incentive to cut down on your daily trip to the vending machine, one $1.50 soda each day racks up close to a $550 annual tab. Instead — get that reusable water bottle I mentioned.

7. Buy Less Clothing

According to Ecowatch, the fashion industry is the second “dirtiest” industry in the world, just under Big Oil. Why? Partially it’s the impact of textile mills, but overwhelmingly it is the huge amount of water that is involved. The process of making one cotton t-shirt uses over 700 gallons of water! Buying clothes is also an expensive habit — just $50 worth of clothing a month (and that’s maybe a pair of jeans, a shirt, and some underpants) comes out to $600 a year. What to do? Check ebay before heading to the mall.

According to Lending Tree’s Calculator these tips taken together will save me more than 5k a year. That’s something I can use to take a trip into nature instead of polluting it.

You’ve read 7 Bad Financial Habits That Are Also Terrible For The Environment, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

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