How to Feel Good In a World of Bad News, Self Awareness & Fostering Conscious Optimism

If you've felt overwhelmed, frustrated, scared or depressed because of all the seemly endless bad news, this episode is for you. I'm talking with Branden Harvey humanitarian photographer and founder of Good Good Good about how to counteract cynicism. Branden was always a positive kid, but the more he traveled the more tragedy and injustice he was witness to. This led him to feel cynical, hopeless and powerless. Since then he's reclaimed his positivity and optimism with a twist of consciousness and reality. We talk about how it all starts with self-awareness and as we grow as people we can also grow as world citizens. This conversation touches on so many important, powerful and fascinating topics. It's a must listen and maybe one of my favorite episodes to date!

 

We Talk About:

Good Good Good - Branden’s company - how he got started

Celebrating good and then acting on it

Why Branden believes in “looking for the helpers”

Why they wanted to start a newspaper in 2017 - to inspire action in a less crowded space

How do you become a helper in a way that’s meaningful in your own life

Start to help where you have skill and passion

How Branden uses storytelling and photography for good

Why it’s ok to start without knowing all the steps along the way

The “how” of your goals and dreams isn’t always obvious

Why most things are not actually about you (and that’s a good thing)

The power and importance of self-awareness

Curiosity versus judgment… “isn’t that interesting”

Optimism - the difference between blind optimism and choosing optimism while accepting negativity

How to be happy when there’s tragedy in the world

Holding space for other people’s experience without feeling that pain ourselves

Balancing empathy with self-care

Why it’s important to allow people to be upset and not try to fix things right away

Why most news fosters cynicism

Humans have an internal negativity bias

How to consume news more mindfully - “if news is news it will still be relevant in a week”

How to have constructive conversations with people you don’t agree with

How to have hard conversations with your family and peers

It’s not the oppressor's job to educate people of privilege about how they’re being oppressed

The “me too” conversation

 

Join the Private Facebook Group

The Joy Squad: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thejoysquad/

 

Connect with Branden:

website: http://www.brandenharvey.com/

instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandenharvey/

podcast: https://www.goodgoodgood.co/soundsgood

good newspaper: https://www.goodgoodgood.co/goodnewspaper

 

For Full Show Notes Visit:

http://init4thelongrun.com

 

Connect with Me (Georgie)

on Instagram: http://instagram.com/init4thelongrunblog