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