The Empowered Brain

Do you feel awkward celebrating yourself when you accomplish something?   If your answer is yes, you are not alone.   Most people struggle to celebrate big accomplishments, let alone smaller daily wins.   But here's the thing, research has shown that taking time to celebrate yourself, especially the smaller daily wins, increases your likelihood of accomplishing your bigger goals.   In this week's...

Belonging is a thought and feeling combination that can set us up for big successes, fulfilling relationships, and a lot of inner peace.   The opposite of belonging, however, feeling insecure or rejected, can cause a lot of harm to our brains, bodies, and relationships.   In this episode, we explore why belonging matters and how to start cultivating it for ourselves.   See Full Show Notes and Tran...

We all have an inner critic that is alive and well.   Sometimes the inner critic's self-judgment is obvious, i.e. your not smart enough, your too fat, your lazy, etc.   But often, our inner critic can be much more subtle and the self-judgment it offers comes in the forms of "shoulds."   "I shouldn't eat anymore dessert."   "I shouldn't take anymore vacation time, they'll think I'm lazy."   "I shou...

We often to take jobs that are imperfect.   They might come with frustrating colleagues or bosses, under-resourced departments, or difficult expectations.   On this weeks podcast episode, I'll walk you through the 4 simple steps you can take to help you be effective at work, especially when the job is less than perfect.   See Full Show Notes and Transcripts by clicking Here .   Follow Vanessa at: ...

Smart-capable, high-achievers know how to get things done.   But, sometimes there is still something standing in the way of the goal they want to achieve or the life they want to create.   What's that one thing?   It's having the audacity to believe the goal they want to achieve is possible for them.   Though this might sound simple, this one thing is what has led to the demise of so many dreams....

There's one simple sentence you can use to help you create distance between the core of you and your thinking brain. It's especially helpful if you have a negative thought. In this week's podcast episode, I teach you how to use one simple sentence to distance yourself from negative thoughts and start to let go of anxiety, overwhelm and stress and choose peace and happiness instead. See Full Show N...

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How many times have you said "later" to something that would bring you joy. Or "not right now" to a simple act of kindness, like a hug or a cuddle.   L ife is short and can be uncertain. In this episode we talk about how you can start making space for what truly matters in your life.   See Full Show Notes and Transcripts by clicking Here .   Get your free copy of the 5 Step Ultimate Guide to Stop...

A regular meditation practice has been scientifically proven to rewire your brain to one that is more present, peaceful and focused. This practice is aided by the 7 attitudes of mindfulness. Good news, friends, if you've never meditated you can still gain some of the benefits of meditation by incorporating the attitudes of mindfulness into your day-to-day life.   In this episode you'll learn what...

Spending dedicated time doing something that brings you joy (with no other purpose than making you happy), is incredibly important.   Why? For one, you're worth it. This alone should be reason enough.   But here's another one, when we play and do things that bring us joy, we help our brain remodel into one that can thrive with life's everyday stressors.   And a thriving brain ensures you are more...

Ever wonder why you sometimes feel emotionally torn between excitement and disappointment after an event you were planning to attend got canceled?   Or, why someone like you, an otherwise rational adult, has internal tantrums at things that can seem benign?   Curious what's behind the anger, fear or nervousness that sometimes shows up for you?   If you answered yes to any of the above then you're...

This week on the podcast I'm joined by a psychologist, Dr. Kimmery Newsom.    She shares her new book, Sounds of the Soul, and we talk about the important and painful experience of mourning and processing grief.    Grief is an unavoidable part of the human experience. In this episode, you'll learn how to have a healthy journey through trauma, grief, and pain.   See Full Show Notes and Transcripts...

This is the last episode in our 3-part series, Decolonizing Your Brain.    In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Kimery Newsom, DEI therapist and expert. Dr. Newsom teaches us a new approach to do our own internal work, to start the process of decolonizing our brains.    Again, just like the effects of the patriarchy have no gender, the effects of colonization have no race. So whether you consider yo...

We're continuing our podcast series on Decolonizing Your Brain.    In Part 1, I reviewed the history of colonization and introduced you to the concept of the colonizer mentality.    This week, in Part 2, you'll learn how to recognize how the effects of colonization show up in your day-to-day lives.    And, I walk you through a 6-step process to start doing your own work to decolonize your brain. ...

One of the most important things we can do to ensure our brain is functioning at its highest capacity is to examine our biases and challenge our limiting beliefs.    Limiting beliefs are exactly what they sound like. They're thoughts we hold that are limiting our growth and potential.    Limiting beliefs are informed by the things we see and hear around us. For example, if you were raised in a hom...

What if I told you, you were wasting 23 minutes every hour?!?!?!   Would you want to learn a way to stop wasting this time?   Well, here's the thing, it's highly likely you are.   You see, most of us do something that feels like no big deal in the middle of our work days.   We switch tasks. And, we do it multiple times throughout the day.   Here's something you may not have realized, every time yo...

Do you know that one time of your day when you know you'll be on fire?   You're hyper-focused and able to knock things out quickly.   Well, my friend, that time of the day is referred to as your golden hour.   On this week's podcast, I teach you the 3 steps to harness that time, add fuel to that fire, and skyrocket your efficiency.   See Full Show Notes and Transcripts by clicking Here .   Get you...

News flash trying to be MORE productive is wreaking havoc on your brain.   Why? Because this isn't the industrial revolution and you are not some cog in a machine.   The old way of thinking had us measuring our self-worth by how many widgets we produced. The more we produced the better we thought we were. So we kept producing more and more, even at the detriment of our own mental health.   The old...

How often have you set a goal, and been super motivated to achieve the goal, only to lose your momentum a few weeks in?   Then what happens?   You slowly stop following through, you start micro-quitting and the next thing you know you're back to where you started.   This can feel frustrating and sometimes keeps us from wanting to set any goals.   If you can relate, I've got just the thing for you....

Get your free copy of the 5 Step Ultimate Guide to Stop People Pleasing here . For close to 30+ years of my life, I was riddled with insecurity.   For example, as a Latina with curves and wavy hair growing up in the 80s, I didn't exactly fit society's mold of beauty.   I tried everything I could to fix my insecurities. I'd exercise all the time and I'd straighten and dye my hair to try and look li...

One thing that consistently gets in the way of our efficiency at work, is when we don't have a sense of psychological safety.   When this happens we don't feel safe to speak up, to hold others accountable and to be our most authentic selves.   Constantly feeling like we have to police our own speech and thoughts gets in the way of our performance and creativity.   One solution to this is creating...

Regardless of where you are on your racial healing journey, the majority of us will agree that racial oppression exists and it's all of our jobs, as human beings, to do whatever we can to create a more just, equitable, and anti-racist world.   As a brown skin Latina, raised by immigrants, I've experienced outright racism. But, I've also propagated many racial stereotypes. I've been on the receivin...

You've all heard of the amazing US Women's Soccer Team.   They're famous for their, teamwork, athleticism, and skill that brought home 4 World Cups.   But, did you know that these badass, talented women had a special trick up their sleeves?!?!   Turns out the team learned how to harness astrology and the different phases of the moon to their advantage.   Astrology has been around for centuries and...

On this week's podcast, I'm introducing you to my client, Dr. Sowmya.   Sowmya's an incredibly optimistic and successful female physician.   She came to me with one request. Could I help her unjumble her thoughts and create more mental clarity?   You see, like many female physicians, Sowmya wears a lot of hats.   She's a mom, a wife, a daughter, and a physician leader. When we first met, she had m...

I'd like you to meet my client, Tasha.   Tasha came to me to solve one problem. Time management.   She wanted her schedule to be more manageable and she wanted to be more present with her kids.   Time was especially precious to Tasha because she has a young daughter who is medically complex with a terminal illness.   When she came to me she had already tried outsourcing, hiring help, and working w...