When is it Okay to Use Your Credit Card?

Institute Editorial Team 09/13/2021

by Carol Strazinsky When is it okay to use your credit card? This is an important question to be asking ourselves. It can be tempting to purchase that designer handbag you’ve been fawning over, or even to pay for groceries when finances are a bit tight. However, when you are getting ready to swipe that card, take a step back and think about why you are making the purchase and whether it will benefit you and your financial wellness. So when does using your credit card makes sense and what pitfalls should you avoid? You’re strategically leveraging rewards. It’s perfectly possible to reap the benefits of cash back rewards without going into debt to earn them. How? Try using your credit card just for everyday purchases…

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Categories: Wellness & Personal Growth

Tags: financial wellness

Institute Editorial Team

Kakeibo: The Art of Financial Mindfulness

By Gina Messina, Ph.D. About a year ago, a friend introduced me to Kakeibo, the Japanese art of budgeting and applying mindfulness to our spending, and I’ve been obsessed ever since. You see, I am a major contributor to our consumeristic culture. I see something shiny and I think I have to have it. A friend jokes that she hates going shopping with me because I have to pick up and touch everything on the shelves (although I’ve eliminated that practice due to COVID!). Like so many of us, I am easily persuaded by marketing tactics. Now that we so rarely spend cash, it feels like I can simply swipe a card, click a button, or use my fingerprint and suddenly I have a new…

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Gina Messina, Ph.D. 01/24/2021

Meditation for beginners

We live in a demanding world — with hyper-connectivity and constant digital overload putting us under more pressure than ever before. For many of us, our stress levels have heightened as a result. Nowadays, trivial experiences, such as a traffic jam or work deadlines, can trigger our anxiety almost instantly, with one of the worst-case scenarios being a full-blown panic attack. Meditation is a powerful skill that can reduce stress, lessen symptoms of anxiety, and calm a panic attack. With practice, meditation can become a power switch, allowing us to turn off our non-stop lifestyle for a much-needed break and a chance to recharge our mind and body. The key to medication is practice. If you’re meditating for the very first time, you may find…

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Institute Editorial Team 01/24/2021

woman looking up at sky thinking, showing mental performance

Mental performance and you: 10 things you need to know

Our mental performance, how we think, analyze, and perceive the world, influences how we work, tackle challenges, relate to others, manage stress and more. Where we choose to put our focus has a tremendous impact on how we feel and perform in our day-to-day lives. Julie Jones, Mental Performance Coach and Institute instructor, specializes in helping people boost their mental game, and in teaching them how mental training, positivity and self-awareness can help us do better in our jobs, our personal lives, as leaders, as athletes, and as members of the community. As a former Division I softball coach, Julie specializes in training athletes in mental performance techniques. The same brain strategies that can help a softball player improve her swing can help us all…

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Institute Editorial Team 08/02/2021

woman sitting at desk thinking, stressed, should you return to pre-pandemic job?

Is Your Pre-Pandemic Job Still Right for You?

Is Your Pre-Pandemic Job Still Right for You? The world is slowly returning back to “normal” 一 or as close to normal as things get while continuing to live with the threat of a global pandemic. And this return to “normal” has left many of us wondering: do I want to go back to exactly the way things were pre-pandemic? Here are some things to consider when weighing the pros and cons of staying at your pre-pandemic job. Many are leaving their pre-pandemic jobs As employers call workers back into the office, many people are choosing not to go back to their old jobs at all. Although a record number of open jobs are available in the U.S., hiring has gone way down. And people…

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Gina Messina, Ph.D. 10/18/2021

5 Exercises for Practicing Self-Compassion

Have you ever beat yourself up or said unkind words to yourself? If you’re like most of us, your answer is probably “yes.” Especially as women, we tend to be our own worst critics, and we usually treat ourselves in cruel ways that we’d never treat other people!But there’s a different way. Self-compassion is the practice of being kind and understanding with ourselves — not only when we succeed, but when we fail, too. Here, we’ve compiled 5 exercises you can use to start practicing self-compassion. These practices are based on extensive research by Dr. Kristin Neff, a psychologist who specializes in self-compassion. Try to incorporate them into your daily schedule as much as possible. You can use these 5 exercises at any time, day…

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Gina Messina, Ph.D. 02/28/2022

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