We live in an unfree world, created by our beliefs and the environments we put ourselves in. Most of us strive for more freedom in our lives and you can get it by focusing on the psychological and lifestyle shifts you need to make to get there.There are two main reasons you aren’t free:<ul><li>You aren’t aware of all the options available to you</li><li>You’ve accepted certain assumptions that restrict your freedom.</li></ul>To become freer, you need to be more aware of your options and dispense with those bad assumptions.

Freedom And Beliefs

“I’ve concentrated upon the things I control, and used that control to remove the restrictions and complications from my life.”

“The answer is simple: You are you, the person who will live with the consequences of what you do. No one else can be responsible, because no one else will experience the consequences of your actions as you will.”

“To be self-reliant is to recognize that no one else is as concerned about your future as you are and that no one knows as much about you as you do.”

“Things will get better only when you make the changes that are necessary to make them better.”

<ul><li>The belief that you should be someone other than yourself</li><li>The assumption that others will do things the way you would. You can’t control others’ natures, but you can control how you deal with them.</li></ul>

Identity Traps

<ul><li>Intellectual trap: That your emotions should conform to some preconceived standard. You’re in the Intellectual Trap if you let your intellect tell you what you should feel.</li><li>Emotional trap: The belief that you can make important decisions at a time when you’re feeling strong emotions. You can’t. You’re in the Emotional Trap if you let your emotions make important decisions for you.</li></ul>

Intellectual And Emotional Traps

<ul><li>Utopia trap: The belief that you must create better conditions in society before you can be free. You can’t change the fate of a nation, but you can do a great deal to make sure you’re not affected adversely by it.</li><li>Certainty trap: The urge to act as if your information were totally certain. You’re in the trap if you make decisions without recognizing the uncertainty of your assumptions and the risk that goes with that. There’s nothing shameful in acknowledging that you don’t have the answers to every question about life.</li></ul>

Certainty And Utopia Traps

These are unpleasant situations that restrict your freedom, that you might be afraid to get out of. They could be anyting: bad relationship, job, location, friendship. A big restriction of your freedom is the boxes you allow yourself to stay in, for fear of the work you must do to get out of them.But there are two things to recognize:<ul><li>You’re paying a price every day you remain in the box, and you need to get over the sunk cost that put you there.</li><li>There’s always a way out. You’ll have to pay a price, and that’s uncomfortable, but it’s better than continuing to pay the price of staying in the box.</li></ul>

Boxes

<ul><li>Don’t be false, or change yourself based on your environment. </li><li>What you are is the most valuable asset you possess for finding others.</li><li>To make relationships work, each person should have their time alone, their own friends and interests. </li><li>If you feel imprisoned by your parents or relatives, it is you who must make the move to be free.</li><li>Don’t overreact to a difficult relationship by destroying the good parts while trying to weed out the bad. </li><li>You’re better off never worrying about small sums of money. </li><li>When you prove that you’re willing to be honest, others will accept your word more easily.</li></ul>

How You Can Be Free

<ul><li>Never expect anyone to act from your knowledge, perspective, or objectives. Assume that his viewpoints will differ in some ways from yours.</li><li>Never make an important decision when your emotions are dominating your mind.</li><li>Never lie or appear to be something other than what you are.</li><li>Never invest any resource (time, money, emotional involvement) that you’re not prepared to lose.</li><li>Never take on a new responsibility, time commitment, or liability without recognizing what must be given up to accommodate it.</li><li>Always leave some free time in your schedule to take advantage of new opportunities as they arise. </li></ul>

Rules for Life (1)

<ul><li>Never use someone’s property in any way that he doesn’t approve of.</li><li>Never focus your attention on anyone’s weaknesses — his temper, sloppiness, poor logic, dishonesty, whatever. </li><li>Never quibble over a price you didn’t expect to pay. Pay it and move on to better things.</li><li>Never form a partnership (an agreement in which responsibilities or rewards will be shared) for any purpose.</li><li>Never become directly involved in violence unless it appears to be the only alternative to prevent more serious injury.</li><li>Never forsake your rules because of someone’s actions or opinions.</li></ul>

Rules for Life (2)

The purpose of knowing “truth” is to be able to make it work for you. You need the truth in order to deal with things as they are and get predictable results from them. The specific application for which you need the truth might be different from another person’s. You may want to know the truth of a particular mechanical cause-and-effect relationship so you can fix your car. Others may want that knowledge in order to build a bomb or just to maintain their image as a learned person. The principle is always the same: You want the truth so you can use it to produce a consequence you want.

Knowing The Truth

Recognize that there are such things as miracles — events for which there are no ready explanations. Later knowledge may explain those events quite easily. But at this date in history, you can’t expect to know everything that might be known eventually.

You Don’t Need An Explanation For Everything

As you view the identities of others, you make it far easier on yourself if you accept them as they are. Attempts to change others are rarely successful, and even then probably not completely satisfying. – once you understand someones identity then you understand their actions

Accepting Others

Harry Browne believed that a person's happiness is the highest goal he/she can achieve in life. Freedom comes from living your life as you see fit. Happiness and freedom are attainable even if others remain unfree, and it's never too late to change your life. "If you're not free now, it might be because you've been preoccupied with people or institutions that have restrained your freedom. I don't expect you to stop worrying about them, merely because I suggest that you do. I do hope to show you, though, that those people and institutions are relatively powerless to stop you - once you decide how you will achieve your freedom. There are things you can do to be free, and if you turn your attention to those things, no one will stand in your way. But when you become preoccupied with those who are blocking you, you overlook the many alternatives you could use to bypass them. The freedom you seek is already available to you, but it has gone unnoticed."This book identifies life's traps - unconscious thinking and habits that prevent people from being free - and explains in a language even a young person can understand how to escape these traps. It helps you navigate through life while being true to your beliefs while obtaining self-reliance, peace, freedom, prosperity, and happiness. Many who have read or listened to this book believe it's invaluable and should be required for every young person, so they can learn how to be free before others start to rule their life. Some believe it should be a required course in every high school, college, and university. Others believe every adult should try it. Still others claim it's a must for all who seek freedom. This audiobook is educational and motivational, and even if you disagree with Browne's philosophy, his logical and consistent thinking can lead you to inner discovery and profound perspectives. How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World is a book for personal liberty - one that can put you on a path to a freer and happier life.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

books

Books

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World

An alarming trend that continues to rise is workplace burnout. Organisations should understand this phenomenon, evaluate the risks and be intentional about lowering and controlling them to protect their employees and businesses. Burnout is a form of job-related stress that has not been successfully managed. It consists of five stages that individuals and organizations must assess and then take action to reduce the symptoms.

Workplace burnout 

Stress comes with the newness of a big challenge or career advancement. Most people adjust with minor bouts of stress.
Company leaders must provide clear expectations, upskilling opportunities, support resources, and a commensurate level of autonomy to help employees manage burnout risks.

Stage 1: The honeymoon phase

Stress onset can show up as nervous anxiety, irritability, fatigue, or disorganization. Employees must prioritize their work and deal with it appropriately. Meditative box breathing and other simple techniques can help to reduce stress. Company leaders can assess employee stress through regular 1:1 meetings, daily huddles, and pusle surveys. Leaders can eliminate work bottlenecks, improve clarity on strategy, reduce emails, and invest in wellness workshops.

Phase 2: Onset of stress

When stress levels rise faster, and more frequently, employees could reach a dangerous tipping point. Stress causes cognitive overload and can reduce the focus needed to make sound business decisions or perform tasks. Employees should make use of medical benefits, employee assistance plans, or local counseling. Companies can invest in automation. Digital platforms can connect your teams, automate workflows and communications, and integrate safety and incident management.

Phase 3: Chronic stress

If employees reach the point of burnout, they can experience critical symptoms like cynicism and pessimism about their work, feelings of incompetence, unwarranted fears, strong desires to escape or self-isolate and other serious physical conditions. This can cause workplace accidents, injuries, disputes, violence, poor decision-making, decision avoidance and impulsive behaviours. Employees experiencing true burnout should ask if this is really the job for them. Companies can prevent burnout with better strategic planning and health resources.

Phase 4: True burnout

In this stage, one’s harmful physical and emotional symptoms impact their quality of life. For example, chronic sadness or depression, mental exhaustion, low self-efficacy, and suicidal ideation. Employees: National resources at <a href="https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/national-helpline">Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration</a> (SAMHSA) and the <a href="https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/">National Suicide Prevention Lifeline</a> can lend support. Companies must create safe, diverse, inclusive workspaces led by well-trained, empathetic leaders. High rates of habitual burnout warrant an evaluation of key leadership, budgets, workflows, technologies, and more.

Phase 5: Habitual burnout

Princess Castleberry maintains it’s possible for a person to experience burnout in a job they like and want to keep and leaders are encouraged to watch for all the signs.


health

Health

mentalhealth

Mental Health

How to manage each of the 5 stages of burnout

Here’s how an informational interview works:
<ul>
<li>You find someone doing the job you’re interested in</li>
<li>Invite them out to coffee or ask them to chat over the phone</li>
<li>Ask key questions about the job and gather insider information</li>
<li>Then, use what you learned to make an informed decision about your career.</li>
</ul>

Informational Interviews: What They Are And How They Work

<ul><li>It’s not about a job. You’re not actively trying to land a new position with an informational interview.</li><li>You’re there to learn. The purpose of this type of interview is to learn about what the other person does, how they do it, and what they like or dislike about their job. </li><li>You listen and they talk. The other person does the talking, but you steer the conversation with insightful questions that matter to both of you. </li></ul> Such interviews can most certainly lead to more job opportunities in the future, but only if you conduct them in the right way by asking the right questions to the right people.

The Unwritten Rules Of Informational Interviews

One of the biggest hurdles to getting an informational interview is knowing how to ask for one and who to ask. An informational interview is only useful if you target someone whose role you could see yourself in, whose field you may be interested in, or whose team you may want to be hired onto in the future. Otherwise, it’s just going to end up being coffee and a Q&A with no real purpose. While that’s nice, it’s not exactly the goal of the exercise.

How To Ask For An Informational Interview

<ul><li>Know the right type of person to ask. This could be people who are already in your network of contacts in a particular field, company, or job that interests you. </li><li>Don’t have someone in mind? Look through your networking contacts on sites like LinkedIn or any other social media outlet. </li><li>Can’t find the right person in your connections? Don’t let that stop you. A connection in a similar field may be able to help identify the right person to contact for a coffee chat email. It doesn’t hurt to reach out.</li><li>Or, just search and identify a few people you may want to ask for an exploratory interview. </li></ul>

Who To Interview

<ul>
<li>Leave out any questions that you could learn the answers to by a quick Google search. The internet is a well of information on things like company benefits, salary information, career trajectories, and other hard and fast facts, so leave those out of the equation. </li>
<li>Ask the types of questions that require a personal answer. Inquire the person about the career path was that they took to get to their current position, or ask about what special certifications or education they pursued that may have set them apart.</li>
</ul>

How To Ask The Right Informational Interview Questions

<ul><li>Make sure your questions are open-ended. Try not to ask yes or no questions, even on follow-ups. Doing so will quickly put a damper on the conversation. </li><li>Tailor your questions to focus on their experiences in the industry or role. The goal is to get them to tell you about themselves and their path to the role that you’re eying. </li></ul>

No Stalemates, No Waste of Time

<ul>
<li>Arriving late — or way too early.</li>
<li>Asking for a job</li>
<li>Dominating the conversation</li>
<li>Asking for introductions</li>
<li>Skipping the thank you</li>
</ul>

The Big Mistakes To Avoid During Informational Interviews

While it’s important to have the right questions in mind and avoid the big mistakes when conducting an informational interview, you should also try not to overthink it. The goal of this process is for you to learn and grow while networking — not conduct every word, mannerism, and interaction by the book. That’s way too much pressure for one person to handle.But if you relax, engage, and most importantly, listen, you’re much more likely to come out of the process with the information that you need and a new networking contact on your side.

The Final Tip

Informational interviews can be a great way to create a lasting impression. Here are some of the best questions to ask during an informational interview.

career

Career

Informational interview questions to ask that create a lasting impression

Sugarcane is the world's third most valuable crop, yet it has little benefit to humanity. Obesity, cancer, dementia, heart disease and diabetes has spread to nations where sugar-based carbohydrates are available in abundance.
We need to take a step back and understand how sugar has grown to become a threat to our health.

Sugar: a threat to our health

Humans used to live on a diet containing very little sugar and almost no refined carbohydrates. Sugarcane was mostly used as a fodder crop to fatten pigs.
<ul>
<li>Evidence suggests that sugarcane evolved in South East Asia. </li>
<li>Chemically refined sugar appeared in India about 2,500 years ago, and spread to other parts of the world. </li>
<li>Cyprus and Sicily became important centres for sugar production, but it was a rare and expensive spice.</li>
<li>The island of Madeira was the first place to cultivate sugarcane for large-scale refinement in the late 15th century.</li>
</ul>

People used to eat very little sugar

The Portuguese found that Brazil had good conditions for sugar plantations. Brazil established a slave-based plantation economy and introduced its sugarcane to the Caribbean around 1647. This led to the growth which came to sustain the sugar craze of Western Europe.
A huge demand for labour arose to cultivate sugar plantations. It was met by a transatlantic slave trade, where about 12,570,000 slaves were shipped from Africa to the Americas from 1501 to 1867.

Sugar and slave trade

The story of sugar and tobacco are very similar. Both products were first produced through slave labour and were seen as beneficial to health, but the sudden mass consumption from the mid-17th century created health risks.
Today, tobacco is widely acknowledged as addictive, but sugar can also drive responses similar to what we see from addiction. In the 21st century, the grip of sugar is stronger than that of tobacco or even alcohol. Sugar is also central to the world's economy and cultural heritage.

Modern day affliction

Like many great challenges of the 21st century, the science identifying the problems with sugar seems clear. What's lacking is the will to address them.

food

Food

moneyandinvestments

Money & Investments

artsandculture

Society, Arts & Culture

A history of sugar – the food nobody needs, but everyone craves

There are limited studies on the effects of liquid chlorophyll on our skin and it is important to keep in mind that dietary supplements don&#39;t go under any type of FDA approval.
To assess its true effectiveness we must take a look at chlorophyll - it is a semi-synthetic form of chlorophyll and is different from the natural version found in plants.
Chlorophyll may hold potential benefits for the skin because of its antioxidant properties help with anti-aging and it also helps treat acne, but research still remains limited.

Chlorophyll's Skin Benefits

Since research is limited on the health benefits in the area of liquid chlorophyll we are inconclusive of any other possible health benefits that it may have.
Some argue that it can do everything from reducing body odor to preventing some types of cancer but these claims lack solid evidence to suggest its truthfulness.

Other Health Benefits of Chlorophyll

<ul>
<li>Upon the first week of drinking liquid chlorophyll, you may experience diarrhea or green-colored stools. Some experience an allergic reaction or have stomach cramps.</li>
<li>You should only intake 300 mg daily for up to three months only.</li>
<li>Avoid drinking liquid chlorophyll while on medication to sunlight (such as antidepressants or blood pressure medication) because chlorophyll can increase your chances for sunburn.</li>
<li>Avoid drinking it while breastfeeding or pregnant.</li>
</ul>

Liquid Chlorophyll's Safeness

Many claim the supplement can do everything from treat acne to prevent cancer. Here's what you should know.

Chlorophyll Water Is All Over TikTok. But Is It Actually Good For You?

Many journals stress the importance of developing active lifestyles, however, having a sedentary lifestyle is heavily amplified as it makes up the vast majority of our day.
Studies suggest that excessive levels of sedentary time have been linked to many diseases. Except for a person's own perception, it is equally important to measure one's own subjective well-being because how an individual feels about their own health may not always align with what their bodies may demonstrate.

An Active Lifestyle Over Sitting

<ol>
<li>Those who are excessively sedentary were correlated to having poor hedonic well-beings;</li>
<li>There are different contexts of sitting in which yield varying feelings and judgments in regards to one's subjective well-being -- such as when one sits to watch TV carries different associations as to when one sits to socialize;</li>
<li>Lastly, how much an individual sits relative to how much they usually sit places a greater impact on their well-being rather than the total amount of sitting.</li>
</ol>

The Relationship Between Sedentary Behavior and Subjective Well-Being

While we've been inundated with health articles telling us that sitting is the new smoking, it seems like the effects of being sedentary aren't as clear cut as they seem. In this article, two researchers discuss how difference types of sitting can have greater or lesser effects on our health.

exerciseandfitness

Exercise & Fitness

Is all sitting bad for you? It depends on the context

Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.

What mindfulness is

Meditation is exploring. When we meditate we venture into the workings of our minds: sensations, emotions and thoughts.Mindfulness meditation asks us to suspend judgment and unleash our natural curiosity about the workings of the mind, approaching our experience with warmth and kindness, to ourselves and others.

What meditation is

“Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally. And then I sometimes add, in the service of self-understanding and wisdom.”

<ul><li>You don’t need  special equipment, but you do need to set aside some time and space.</li><li>Observe the present moment as it is. </li><li>Let your judgments roll by. </li><li>Return to observing the present moment as it is. Our minds often get carried away in thought. </li><li>Be kind to your wandering mind. Don’t judge yourself for whatever thoughts crop up.</li></ul>

Basics of Mindfulness Practice

<ul><li>Sit comfortably. </li><li>Notice what your legs and arms are doing. </li><li>Straighten your upper body—but don’t stiffen. </li><li>Soften your gaze. Drop your chin a little and let your gaze fall gently downward. It’s not necessary to close your eyes. </li><li>Feel your breath. Bring your attention to the physical sensation of breathing.</li><li>Notice when your mind wanders from your breath. </li><li>Be kind about your wandering mind. Practice observing them without reacting.</li><li>When you’re ready, gently lift your gaze. Take a moment and notice any sounds in the environment. </li></ul>

A Simple Meditation Practice

<ul><li>Understand your pain. Mindfulness can help you reshape your relationship with mental and physical pain.</li><li>Connect better. Mindfulness helps you give your full attention to people you interact with.</li><li>Lower stress. </li><li>Focus your mind. Meditation hones our innate ability to focus.</li><li>Reduce brain chatter, that nattering, chattering voice in our head seems never to leave us alone. </li></ul>

Reasons to practice mindfulness

Want try mindfulness meditation but not sure where to begin? We'll show you how to start, feel better, reduce your stress, and enjoy life a little more.

mindfulness

Mindfulness

meditation

Meditation

Getting Started with Mindfulness - Mindful

The croissant is a flaky breakfast food that is so culturally iconic and French that many defer to its native pronunciation (krwa-sohn).
Yet, in the 19th century, the French viewed the croissant as a foreign novelty that was only sold in special Viennese bakeries in Paris&#39;s wealthier parts.

The croissant

The croissant was inspired by the Austrian kipfel - a crescent-shaped baked good featuring a generous amount of butter or lard.
<ul>
<li>The kipfel originated in 1683. The story is that during the Ottomans siege of Vienna, a baker, who rises early to make bread, saved the city when he heard the Turks tunnelling underneath the city and sounded an alarm.</li>
<li>The curved shape of the kipfel mimics the crescent moon of the Ottoman Flag.</li>
</ul>

The croissant was inspired by the Austrian kipfel

The croissant started as the Austrian kipfel but became French when people began to make it with puffed pastry. There is no reference to the croissant in France before about the 1850s.
An Austrian entrepreneur named August Zang opened the first Viennese bakery in Paris in 1838. Zang's ability for marketing had Parisians flocking to his establishment to sample his Vienna bread, kaiser rolls, and kipfel. By 1840, there were at least a dozen makers of Viennese bread.

When croissants became French

The croissant took the fast-food industry by storm in the late 1900s, as manufacturers introduced pre-made frozen dough and takeaway &quot;croissanteries&quot; that popped up throughout France.
The frozen croissant was introduced to America in 1981, which soon outpaced the pound cakes in sales. The croissant morphed into Cronuts (doughnuts made with croissant dough). The most recent incarnation is the Baissant, or bagel croissant.

Croissants in the fast-food industry

Michel Lyczak was the 2014 winner of the &quot;best butter croissant&quot; award. 
<ul>
<li>He states that an excellent croissant depends on the quality of the ingredients: sugar, salt, high-protein flour, eggs, fresh, cold milk, and butter. </li>
<li>The butter is a variety from the southwestern region of Poitou-Charentes, carefully washed in spring water before folding it by hand into the pastry dough.</li>
<li>After flattening and folding the dough, it is cut into triangles by hand, then refrigerated for 12 hours to ferment. Without this step, you won&#39;t get the layers and will end up with bread.</li>
</ul>

The secret of an excellent croissant

A brief history of the croissant – from kipfel to Cronut

marketingandsales

Marketing & Sales

Is the Croissant Really French?

<ul>
<li>There is something uniquely satisfying in popping sheets of bubble wraps and it seems to relate to the calming power of touch.</li>
<li>Studies on undergraduates showed that popping two sheets of bubble wraps made them feel calmer, awake and alert.</li>
<li>Popping bubbles is a way to release muscle tension, and just like clicking the pen or jiggling one's foot, it helps reduce stress and stabilize one's nervous energy.</li>
</ul>

Popping Bubble Wraps

Why Is Popping Bubble Wrap So Satisfying?

We often use the words “anxiety” and “stress” interchangeably. Both are normal, adaptive responses to life’s challenges and share many symptoms ( for example, worry, stomach aches, restlessness, muscle tension, racing thoughts, headaches, sleepless nights, etc.)
But despite their similarities, there are important differences between the two. And knowing the differences is the first step towards finding relief.

Stress and anxiety: related, but not synonymous states

<ul>
<li>It is designed to make it easier for us to fight or flee from life-threatening triggers. </li>
<li>Stress is usually defined as a response to an external trigger, and can either be acute (a tight deadline) or chronic (persistent financial trouble).</li>
<li>While stress might not feel good in the moment, it can still be helpful by motivating us to stay alert and take action when we need to.</li>
</ul>

Stress evolved as a survival mechanism

Anxiety is mostly triggered internally by excessive thoughts (for example, judgments about the past or worries about the future).
Like stress, anxiety can be useful in the right scenarios. The discomfort it makes us feel was designed to alert us of something, precisely so that we listen up and protect ourselves.

Anxiety and excessive thinking

When left unchecked, both stress and anxiety can escalate into more severe mental health conditions. 
<ul>
<li>Anxiety disorder, which includes generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is the most common mental health condition in the U.S., affecting more than 40 million Americans. </li>
<li>Globally, anxiety disorders are also the most common mental health condition, affecting up to one in 13 people.</li>
<li>The basic criteria for determining whether stress or anxiety have become problematic is whether they have begun adversely affecting key domains of your life.</li>
</ul>

How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World

How to manage each of the 5 stages of burnout

Informational interview questions to ask that create a lasting impression

A history of sugar – the food nobody needs, but everyone craves

Chlorophyll Water Is All Over TikTok. But Is It Actually Good For You?

Elaina Y.