Podcast
The Contentment Creator
Hosted by Ellen Broen · EN
Welcome to The Contentment Creator Podcast – the ultimate podcast for conscious creators, mindful parents, and visionary entrepreneurs who are ready to embrace courage, clarity, and contentment in every facet of life.
I’m your host, Ellen Broen – a certified life coach, professional singer, mom, and unapologetic fan of clever wordplay, cozy books, and adorable dogs.
This podcast is your daily dose of inspiration to help you:
✨ Find clarity in your life vision and decisions.
✨ Ignite creativity and unlock your entrepreneurial potential.
✨ Cultivate contentment and balance in your personal and professional journey.
✨ Build thriving communities that feel like home.
Each short, impactful episode dives into topics like:
✔️ How to be content with yourself and your life.
✔️ Creating consistency and flow in your business.
✔️ Living consciously while pursuing your passions.
✔️ Building self-care practices that sustain your life and career.
Drawing insights from thought leaders like Dr. Shefali, Brené Brown, Elizabeth Gilbert, and Rick Rubin, we’ll answer questions like:
✨ What does it mean to be creative in everyday moments?
✨ How do you live a conscious life and lead with intention?
✨ How can you find motivation and stay grounded in an ever-changing world?
With actionable tips, inspiring conversations, and relatable stories, The Contentment Creator Podcast helps you balance ambition with presence and purpose.
💡 Follow and rate the show on your favorite podcast app or subscribe on YouTube so you never miss an episode. Together, let’s transform a world of content creators into a world of Contentment Creators – one inspiring episode at a time.
76episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
The problem with investing in your business… (AI business coaching session)
6d ago00:31:25Tap to summarizeWhat if hiring support in your business isn’t about doing more… but about finally building a business that protects the source of your best work?I put an AI life coach chatbot to the test with a real-life coaching conversation about hiring business support, protecting creative energy, and navigating a season of limited capacity without abandoning your values. What begins as a practical question about hiring a video editor, virtual assistant, and content producer becomes a deeper exploration of energy, sustainability, decision load, and what it means to invest forward without forcing yourself into burnout first.Through this conversation, we unpack the tension many creative entrepreneurs face when they know they need support, but the process of finding that support requires time and energy they do not currently have. The business needs more capacity, but the path to capacity can feel like it demands the exact capacity that is missing. Instead of cramming hiring into evenings, weekends, or already-full workdays, this episode explores a more values-aligned way to approach growth.We also discuss the difference between hiring hands and hiring creative leverage. A strong video editor is not just a task-doer; they become a capacity multiplier. The episode introduces a calmer hiring lane built around referrals, paid test edits, simple creative briefs, and a lightweight direction system that protects the creator’s time. Instead of writing detailed instructions that take as long as editing the content yourself, the conversation explores voice notes, editor notes, timestamp cues, and short creative handoffs that allow support to actually feel supportive.At the heart of this episode is the reminder that creative energy is not extra. It is not something to spend only after the “real work” is done. Creative energy is a primary business asset. When systems are built to protect it, the business becomes freer to create, invite, expand, and generate more meaningful impact. Hiring, then, becomes less about escaping work and more about staying close to the work only you can doFree Guide: Growth Without Burnout: https://ellenbroencoaching.kit.com/b51104bb4dCEO Capacity Creator: https://ellenbroencoaching.kit.com/ceocapacitycreatorTry the chatbot for yourself: ellenbroencoaching.kit.com/elleninmypocket👍 Like, comment, and subscribe for more conversations on creativity, alignment, and building a life that feels like yours.0:00 – Introduction: Can AI help you make smarter business hires? 0:49 – The real problem: How to hire when you have no capacity to hire 5:57 – Stop writing detailed instructions — finding an editor who needs less from you 14:20 – Hiring hands vs. hiring creative leverage: How to find the right editor 16:50 – The paid test method: Don't hire from a portfolio alone 25:10 – One active hire, one future runway: The stress-free hiring sequence
Transcribe →Values-Aligned Hiring (with my AI life coach)
1w ago00:43:24Tap to summarizeWhat if the “right” decision isn’t about finding the perfect person… but learning how to trust yourself inside an imperfect process?I put an AI life coach chatbot to the test with a real-life coaching conversation about hiring a nanny, decision-making, nervous system activation, and learning how to choose support without getting lost in fear, perfectionism, or over-analysis. What begins as a practical question — “Can ChatGPT help me hire a nanny?” — quickly becomes a deeper exploration of trust, compatibility, communication, family rhythms, and what it means to invite someone into the emotional ecosystem of your home.Through this conversation, we unpack why hiring childcare can feel so deeply activating, especially when the role is not simply about supervision, but about partnership, presence, and emotional access to the family. For a work-from-home mother who is highly involved with her children, the nanny relationship becomes more than a job description. It becomes a question of ease, communication, shared values, caregiving competence, household support, and long-term reliability.The episode explores how the pressure to find the “perfect” person can actually make decision-making harder. Instead of looking for a flawless candidate, the conversation introduces a grounded framework for hiring based on current-fit, not potential. The AI coach helps clarify the difference between things that can be trained, like household systems and family preferences, and things that should already be present, such as clear communication, emotional steadiness with children, competence with toddler resistance, baby care, naps, feedings, and adaptability under pressure.This episode also explores how to assess reliability beyond promises. Instead of simply asking whether someone wants a long-term position, the conversation invites a deeper question: does this person’s life make long-term commitment likely? Through story-based interview questions, references, and attention to how someone communicates past transitions, we begin to look for ownership, maturity, empathy, timing, and integrity under change.At the heart of this episode is the reminder that choosing support is not just a logistical decision. It is a value decision. It is a nervous-system decision. It is a trust decision. And when the stakes feel high, having a clear framework can help us stop searching for perfection and start recognizing what is truly workable, safe, and aligned.Free Guide: Growth Without Burnout: https://ellenbroencoaching.kit.com/b51104bb4dCEO Capacity Creator: https://ellenbroencoaching.kit.com/ceocapacitycreatorTry the chatbot for yourself: ellenbroencoaching.kit.com/elleninmypocket👍 Like, comment, and subscribe for more conversations on creativity, alignment, and building a life that feels like yours.0:00 – Introduction: Testing an AI life coach chatbot on a real decision 0:47 – The coaching session begins: Hiring a nanny & what really matters 22:16 – The 3-gate hiring framework: How to stop over-thinking candidates 24:23 – Real-life case study: When a candidate passes 2 gates but fails the 3rd 39:34 – Overall coaching review: What the AI got right and wrong 40:07 – ICF credentialing explained: How to evaluate any life coach
Transcribe →Transforming my marriage, business, & parenting in 2 hours (thanks ChatGPT?)
1w ago02:09:26Tap to summarizeI am putting an AI life coach chatbot to the test with real-life coaching conversations around hiring, motherhood, business support, marriage communication, and parenting triggers. Rather than treating decision-making as a purely logical process, this conversation explores what happens when our choices are shaped by nervous system activation, emotional history, capacity limits, and the desire to create something more sustainable.Through the lens of hiring a nanny, we unpack why choosing support inside the home can feel so deeply intimate and activating. This isn’t just about checking references or reviewing qualifications, it’s about inviting someone into the emotional ecosystem of a family. The conversation explores how to identify true priorities, separate current-fit from potential, trust “probably not” as valid information, and use clear decision gates around calming presence, competence with children, household partnership, and long-term reliability.We also explore the business side of support: what it means to reach a pivot point where hiring becomes an investment forward, even before the ROI is immediately measurable. The episode looks at how creative entrepreneurs can begin building capacity without overextending themselves, why hiring a video editor may create the fastest relief, and how to protect creative energy as a primary business asset instead of treating it as something left over after all the “real work” is done.The conversation then moves into relationship and parenting dynamics, including how validation can keep marriage conversations grounded and loving, especially when both partners are tired, stretched, or emotionally depleted. We also explore what gets activated when a toddler openly defies a parent, why old childhood patterns can resurface in moments of power struggle, and how secure leadership can look like staying connected while still holding firm boundaries.At the heart of this episode is a deeper question: Can AI support meaningful coaching reflection when it is designed with a human-centered, emotionally intelligent framework? Through these conversations, we explore not only the answers the chatbot provides, but the quality of the coaching process itself, where it helps, where it clarifies, and how it can support self-trust, decision-making, and emotional awareness.Free Guide: Growth Without Burnout: https://ellenbroencoaching.kit.com/b51104bb4dCEO Capacity Creator: https://ellenbroencoaching.kit.com/ceocapacitycreatorTry the chatbot for yourself: ellenbroencoaching.kit.com/elleninmypocket👍 Like, comment, and subscribe for more conversations on creativity, alignment, and building a life that feels like yours.0:00 – Introduction: Can an AI life coach chatbot actually coach you? 1:24 – Coaching Session #1: Hiring a nanny & decision-making under pressure 40:10 – AI coaching review: Strengths, weaknesses & ICF credential assessment 43:46 – Coaching Session #2: Hiring business support as a busy entrepreneur 1:14:05 – Coaching Session #3: Communication & validation in marriage 1:30:19 – Coaching Session #4: Ending toddler power struggles & conscious parenting
Transcribe →Emotional Inquiry: A Meditation for Meeting Your Feelings Instead of Managing Them (STOP AVOIDING THIS)
2w ago00:21:18Tap to summarizeWhat if healing doesn’t begin by controlling your emotions… but by finally learning how to meet them?In this guided emotional processing practice, we explore emotional inquiry as a way to build self-trust, nervous system safety, and emotional resilience. Because many of us don’t actually allow ourselves to fully feel emotions but instead we analyze them, avoid them, distract from them, or try to “fix” them before they’ve even had a chance to communicate.This episode walks through a gentle somatic practice designed to help you turn toward emotions with curiosity instead of fear. Rather than immediately escaping uncomfortable feelings, we practice noticing them in the body, observing their texture, movement, shape, intensity, and emotional tone without judgment or resistance.We also explore how emotional processing happens through presence, breath, embodiment, and nervous system regulation, not simply through overthinking or intellectualizing emotions. Through guided reflection and body awareness, this practice helps create internal safety for emotions to move, soften, and communicate what they may be trying to reveal.Ultimately, this conversation is a reminder that emotional healing is not about becoming emotionless or endlessly “managing” yourself. It’s about becoming someone who can stay connected to themselves when difficult feelings arise. Because self-trust begins the moment we realize: “I can be with myself, no matter what I feel.”RESOURCES:Free Guide: Growth Without Burnout: https://ellenbroencoaching.kit.com/b51104bb4dCEO Capacity Creator: https://ellenbroencoaching.kit.com/ceocapacitycreatorGuided Emotional Processing Practice:https://youtu.be/CBt9nQyaABw0:00 Why We Think About Feelings Instead of Feeling Them1:00 What Is Emotional Inquiry & How It Works4:33 Guided Practice: Sensing the Feeling in Your Body11:18 Going Deeper: Exploring the Feeling with Curiosity19:48 How Emotional Capacity Builds Self-Trust
Transcribe →What Your Emotions Are Actually Trying to Tell You (11 Core Feelings Explained)
2w ago00:07:33Tap to summarizeWhat if our emotions aren’t problems to fix… but signals we’ve forgotten how to understand?In this episode, we explore the deeper meaning behind emotions like fear, anger, guilt, sadness, shame, jealousy, anxiety, and joy but as forms of communication from the body, mind, and nervous system. Because many of us were never taught how to truly feel our emotions. We learned how to suppress them, avoid them, perform through them, or push past them instead.We unpack how every emotion carries information. Fear can point toward what needs care or courage. Anger can reveal boundaries and what matters most to us. Guilt may reflect disconnection from our authentic wants and needs. Sadness asks us to slow down and grieve what’s ending. Shame often signals disconnection and the need for reconnection. Even jealousy can become a roadmap toward desire, longing, and clarity about what we truly want.This conversation also explores how emotions become easier to understand when we stop treating them as enemies and start approaching them with curiosity instead of judgment. Rather than asking, “How do I get rid of this feeling?” we begin asking, “What is this emotion trying to communicate?”Ultimately, this episode is a reminder that emotions are not interruptions to healing, growth, relationships, or life itself. They are part of the guidance system helping us move toward deeper self-awareness, connection, authenticity, and healing.RESOURCES:Free Guide: Growth Without Burnout: https://ellenbroencoaching.kit.com/b51104bb4dCEO Capacity Creator: https://ellenbroencoaching.kit.com/ceocapacitycreatorThe 11 Human Emotions Explained in 7 Minutes:https://youtu.be/CBt9nQyaABw0:00 What Your Emotions Are Really Trying to Tell You0:36 Fear: Panic vs. Aliveness1:30 Anger, Guilt & Sadness Decoded3:28 Shame, Jealousy & Anxiety Explained5:32 Disgust, Contempt, Joy & Love
Transcribe →The Emotions You Run From are Running Your Life (what you resist persists)
2w ago00:10:23Tap to summarizeWhat if the emotions you keep avoiding are quietly shaping your entire life?In this episode, we explore how emotional avoidance influences our decisions, relationships, behaviors, and identity often without us even realizing it. Because what we call procrastination, perfectionism, overworking, people-pleasing, control, or “just being practical” is sometimes a nervous system trying to avoid difficult feelings like shame, rejection, fear, grief, disappointment, or inadequacy.We unpack how avoidance is not weakness, laziness, or failure. It’s protection. The nervous system is designed to move us away from pain and toward safety, especially if certain emotions once felt unsafe to experience. But when emotions remain unprocessed, they don’t disappear and they begin quietly organizing our lives beneath the surface.This conversation also explores how avoided emotions often show up sideways: anger becoming resentment, sadness becoming numbness, fear becoming control, and shame becoming hiding. Over time, emotional avoidance can slowly shrink our lives as we avoid conversations, risks, opportunities, vulnerability, and even parts of ourselves in order to stay emotionally safe.Emotional resilience is not about becoming numb or “unbothered,” but about building the capacity to safely feel emotions without spiraling, suppressing, or abandoning yourself.Ultimately, this episode is a reminder that emotions are not here to ruin your life. They are information, communication, and guidance. And sometimes the feeling you’ve been running from is not a wall standing in your way — it may actually be the doorway back to yourself.RESOURCES:Free Guide: Growth Without Burnout: https://ellenbroencoaching.kit.com/b51104bb4dCEO Capacity Creator: https://ellenbroencoaching.kit.com/ceocapacitycreatorThe Emotions You Run From Are Running Your Life:https://youtu.be/CBt9nQyaABw0:00 How Emotions (Not Logic) Are Running Your Life1:25 Why Avoidance Becomes Your Identity3:22 How Avoided Emotions Distort Your Behavior4:35 The Real Meaning of Emotional Resilience
Transcribe →3 Steps to Feel Your Emotions (Effective Emotional Processing)
2w ago00:13:04Tap to summarizeWhy does it feel so difficult to know what we’re actually feeling in real time? And why do emotions sometimes feel either completely inaccessible… or overwhelmingly intense?We unpack how emotions are not abstract experiences happening only in the mind, but physical sensations that live throughout the body. Tight jaws, racing hearts, sinking stomachs, constricted throats, tense shoulders, shallow breathing, and chronic muscle tension are often emotional signals happening beneath conscious awareness. What many people call “being disconnected from themselves” is often a nervous system that learned early on that feeling emotions was unsafe.When we disconnect from emotional signals, we often disconnect from our ability to make aligned decisions and recognize what genuinely feels right or wrong for us.Through this episode, we walk through practical emotional processing tools designed to build emotional awareness safely and graduallyThis episode emphasizes that emotional resilience is not about becoming less emotional or “unbothered.” It’s about developing the capacity to stay connected to yourself while emotions move through you without immediately suppressing, escaping, or becoming consumed by them. Because when emotions become more fluid and accessible, joy, connection, authenticity, creativity, and self-trust become more accessible too.Ultimately, this conversation is a reminder that emotions are not weaknesses to overcome. They are part of being fully alive. And healing often begins the moment we stop asking ourselves to feel less… and instead learn how to feel safely.RESOURCES:Free Guide: Growth Without Burnout: https://ellenbroencoaching.kit.com/b51104bb4dCEO Capacity Creator: https://ellenbroencoaching.kit.com/ceocapacitycreator3 Steps to Effective Emotional Processing:https://youtu.be/CBt9nQyaABw0:00 Why We Stop Feeling Our Emotions2:18 Step 1: Recognize Your Emotions in Real Time5:36 Step 2: Practice Deep Breathing to Access Feelings7:22 Step 3: Self Expression & Letting Yourself Feel10:33 The "Anger on Purpose" Practice
Transcribe →The Emotional Skillset That Will Change Your Life (THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING)
2w ago00:52:16Tap to summarizeWhat if our emotions aren’t problems to fix… but signals we’ve simply forgotten how to understand?We unpack how emotional avoidance quietly shapes our lives beneath the surface. What looks like procrastination, perfectionism, people-pleasing, overworking, emotional numbness, or chronic anxiety is often a nervous system attempting to avoid feelings that once felt unsafe to experience. The emotions we resist don’t disappear — they begin to organize our decisions, behaviors, relationships, and identity beneath our awareness.Through this conversation, we explore the hidden wisdom within emotions such as fear, anger, guilt, sadness, shame, jealousy, anxiety, disgust, contempt, joy, and love. Fear is explored not simply as danger, but as energy that needs breath and care. Anger becomes clarity and boundary-setting. Sadness becomes the process of letting go. Shame reveals disconnection and the need for reconnection. Jealousy points us toward longing and desire. Anxiety becomes a signal that something inside us needs acknowledgment, expression, or action.We also discuss how emotions live inside the body — through tight jaws, racing hearts, constricted throats, sinking stomachs, tense shoulders, and nervous system activation — and why emotional processing cannot happen through thinking alone. Healing requires embodiment. It requires learning how to stay present with sensations instead of immediately escaping, fixing, distracting, or analyzing them away.This episode also introduces emotional inquiry and nervous system-based emotional processing practices that help build emotional resilience and self-trust. Rather than trying to “manage” emotions, we explore what happens when we approach feelings with curiosity instead of fear. Through grounding, breathwork, body awareness, and compassionate observation, we begin creating safety inside ourselves for the full range of human emotion.RESOURCES:Free Guide: Growth Without Burnout: https://ellenbroencoaching.kit.com/b51104bb4dCEO Capacity Creator: https://ellenbroencoaching.kit.com/ceocapacitycreatorThe 11 Human Emotions Explained in 7 Minutes:https://youtu.be/CBt9nQyaABwAdditional Resources:https://youtu.be/uu1gmUlb-kY?si=R-bWlI72UTea2Sf9https://youtu.be/EOzYU0FtovY?si=zWgS6o6I2Zx6igzBhttps://youtu.be/4R2R3w6h34Q?si=rzK0j58ACUoeckC-https://youtu.be/yAXctnlPfr8?si=JU5Lm3pbrM-dvrAnhttps://youtu.be/ZcA3KM2NM74?si=8IOJAxQGuP-LQppD0:00 Intro1:07 3 Steps to Feel Your Emotions (Effective Emotional Processing)13:40 The Emotions You Run From Are Running Your Life (What You Resist Persists)23:25 What Your Emotions Are Actually Trying to Tell You (11 Core Feelings Explained)30:27 Emotional Inquiry: A Meditation for Meeting Your Feelings Instead of Managing Them
Transcribe →Creating a new normal when you’re exiting survival mode
3w ago00:11:39Tap to summarizeIs it possible to be mindful while you’re in survival mode? And what if survival mode isn’t actually something to escape as quickly as possible… but something to tend to with greater awareness and care?In this first part of the survival mode series, we explore what it means to move through overwhelming seasons of life mindfully without pretending things are okay, forcing positivity, or pressuring ourselves to “bounce back” before we’re ready.Because when life changes in profound ways—through grief, postpartum, burnout, health crises, divorce, or major transitions—it’s not just the external circumstances that shift. Our internal world changes too. And often, even after the initial emergency has passed, we’re left trying to navigate a reality where nothing quite feels normal yet.This conversation explores the difference between surviving unconsciously and surviving mindfully. Because when we resist what we’re experiencing, shame ourselves for struggling, or expect ourselves to function like we used to, we often deepen the overwhelm instead of creating safety.We talk about the first essential steps of mindful survival: acknowledgment and acceptance. Naming the truth of where you are instead of fighting it. Allowing yourself to recognize that you are in a difficult season without making that reality mean something is wrong with you.We also explore the emotional layers that often surface underneath survival mode—the grief, anger, exhaustion, confusion, and sadness we may have pushed aside in order to keep functioning. And why mindfulness is not about forcing peace, but about staying connected to yourself honestly during hard moments.This episode also unpacks the importance of naming emotions without turning feelings into identity. Because feeling empty is not the same thing as being empty. Feeling out of control is not the same thing as actually being unsafe.And finally, we explore how survival mode requires a shift in expectations. Learning to assess your capacity day by day. Conserving energy instead of treating everything like an emergency. And giving yourself permission to approach life differently while your system recalibrates.Because healing during survival mode doesn’t begin with pushing harder.It begins with meeting yourself where you are.And sometimes the most mindful thing you can do…is stop fighting the fact that this season is hard.RESOURCES:Free Guide: Growth Without Burnout: https://ellenbroencoaching.kit.com/b51104bb4dCEO Capacity Creator: https://ellenbroencoaching.kit.com/ceocapacitycreator
Transcribe →Essential self-care for survival mode seasons (when your old routine doesn’t work anymore)
3w ago00:10:58Tap to summarizeHow do you take care of yourself when the version of you that created your old routines… no longer exists in the same way?In this third part of the survival mode series, we explore what essential self-care actually looks like during seasons of overwhelm, nervous system exhaustion, and emotional depletion—when your old habits and routines no longer feel accessible.Because one of the most painful parts of survival mode is realizing that the systems that used to work for you suddenly don’t anymore. And instead of recognizing that your internal capacity has changed, many of us turn that frustration inward and assume the problem is discipline, motivation, or inconsistency.But what if the real issue is that your nervous system has changed… and your tools haven’t adapted with it?This episode explores the idea that behavior must match capacity. That self-care during survival mode is not about optimization, aesthetics, or perfect routines—it’s about creating enough safety and support for your body and mind to function sustainably again.We talk about “minimum viable care” and adaptive systems that honor your actual emotional and physical bandwidth instead of forcing unrealistic expectations onto an overwhelmed system. From small nervous system supports like breathwork, rest, nourishment, and movement… to creating flexible self-care menus that meet you where you are.We also explore how survival mode impacts relationships and communication. Because when nervous systems are activated, conversations often stop being about connection and start becoming reactions to stress. This episode reframes communication through the lens of nervous system safety, co-regulation, and presence over problem-solving.And finally, we dive into parenting from capacity instead of expectation through the framework of Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 parenting—offering a more compassionate and realistic way to navigate caregiving during difficult seasons.Because survival mode doesn’t mean your life is failing.It means your system is asking for a different kind of support.And sometimes healing begins not by forcing yourself back into old routines…but by building new ones that honor who you are right now.RESOURCES:Free Guide: Growth Without Burnout: https://ellenbroencoaching.kit.com/b51104bb4dCEO Capacity Creator: https://ellenbroencoaching.kit.com/ceocapacitycreatorCustom AI Self Check-In Tool: ellenbroencoaching.kit.com/elleninmypocket
Transcribe →