In this episode, Brooke and Jesie explore how the direction in which our energy is going (horizontal or vertical) can inform how empowered and secure we feel in our ability to make conscious choices. 

This week’s invitation:

Pay attention to whether your energy is horizontal or vertical and from that place embody it and then ask from here what are my choices?

Thanks for listening to The Heart of Life podcast, where we explore what’s real,

tender, and true in being human.

Interested in working with us or following along with what we offer? 

You’ll find our latest work, invitations, and ways to connect here:

JESIE STEFFES

Instagram: @jesie.steffes.healing

Substack: Sated Soul

Website: jesiesteffes.com

BROOKE SMALL

Instagram: @riverbendtherapy

Substack: From Inside the Circle

Website: riverbendcolorado.com

In this episode, Jesie and Brooke explore how an effortful drive toward healing and answers can pull us out of the present moment. They reflect on how staying with the now—rather than waiting for a future “when”—can offer relief, grounding, and a different kind of freedom.

This week’s invitation:

Consider a place where you may be living as a reaction to someone else or something else. What would it take to disconnect and to arrive in this moment?

Thanks for listening to The Heart of Life podcast, where we explore what’s real,

tender, and true in being human.

Interested in working with us or following along with what we offer? 

You’ll find our latest work, invitations, and ways to connect here:

JESIE STEFFES

Instagram: @jesie.steffes.healing

Substack: Sated Soul

Website: jesiesteffes.com

BROOKE SMALL

Instagram: @riverbendtherapy

Substack: From Inside the Circle

Website: riverbendcolorado.com

In this episode, Brooke and Jesie explore how holding and being held in community becomes a pathway back to ourselves. They reflect on the ways relational support can soften isolation, reshape our sense of belonging, and invite a deeper trust in both others and our own inner knowing.

This week’s invitation:

Think of the places where you’ve been working hard and consider what the mirror image to that hard work would be. Does that get you closer to what you want and need?

Thanks for listening to The Heart of Life podcast, where we explore what’s real,

tender, and true in being human.

Interested in working with us or following along with what we offer? 

You’ll find our latest work, invitations, and ways to connect here:

JESIE STEFFES

Instagram: @jesie.steffes.healing

Substack: Sated Soul

Website: jesiesteffes.com

BROOKE SMALL

Instagram: @riverbendtherapy

Substack: From Inside the Circle

Website: riverbendcolorado.com

In this episode, Jesie and Brooke explore how attention functions within relationships - how it’s offered, received, and shaped by our histories. They reflect on how support can become complicated when care intersects with fears of being “too much” or a burden, and how these unspoken beliefs influence intimacy and our ability to let ourselves be held.

This week’s invitation:

Think of the places where you are supporting and what kind of support you may need. How could you ask for that help?

Thanks for listening to The Heart of Life podcast, where we explore what’s real,

tender, and true in being human.

Interested in working with us or following along with what we offer? 

You’ll find our latest work, invitations, and ways to connect here:

JESIE STEFFES

Instagram: @jesie.steffes.healing

Substack: Sated Soul

Website: jesiesteffes.com

BROOKE SMALL

Instagram: @riverbendtherapy

Substack: From Inside the Circle

Website: riverbendcolorado.com

In this episode, Brooke and Jesie explore what it means to become the quiet authority over your own attention. So often our focus drifts toward people, worries, and expectations that don’t actually deserve the energy we’re giving them.

This week’s invitation:

Be the authority over your attention. Notice when you have given it to things and places where it doesn’t belong and what it feels like to call it back.

Thanks for listening to The Heart of Life podcast, where we explore what’s real, tender, and true in being human.

Interested in working with us or following along with what we offer?  You’ll find our latest work, invitations, and ways to connect here:

JESIE STEFFES

Instagram: @jesie.steffes.healing

Substack: Sated Soul

Website: jesiesteffes.com

BROOKE SMALL

Instagram: @riverbendtherapy

Substack: From Inside the Circle

Website: riverbendcolorado.com

In this episode, Jesie and Brooke explore what it means to listen to your own “no” and honor someone else’s. They talk about the practice of responding with gratitude and how this small shift can deepen trust, boundaries, and connection.

This week’s invitation:

Listen to your “no” or hear someone else’s and begin, even if you don’t believe it yet, to say “thank you” for taking care of yourself and notice what happens.

Thanks for listening to The Heart of Life podcast, where we explore what’s real,

tender, and true in being human.

Interested in working with us or following along with what we offer? 

You’ll find our latest work, invitations, and ways to connect here:

JESIE STEFFES

Instagram: @jesie.steffes.healing

Substack: Sated Soul

Website: jesiesteffes.com

BROOKE SMALL

Instagram: @riverbendtherapy

Substack: From Inside the Circle

Website: riverbendcolorado.com

In this episode, Brooke and Jesie explore Augusta Kantra’s idea of “assume belonging.” Together they reflect on how belonging can be both a practice and a perspective.

This week’s invitation:

Assume belonging. How do you protect the tender bud of your becoming through privacy, through help, through quiet reflection, and curiosity?

Thanks for listening to The Heart of Life podcast, where we explore what’s real,

tender, and true in being human.

Interested in working with us or following along with what we offer? 

You’ll find our latest work, invitations, and ways to connect here:

JESIE STEFFES

Instagram: @jesie.steffes.healing

Substack: Sated Soul

Website: jesiesteffes.com

BROOKE SMALL

Instagram: @riverbendtherapy

Substack: From Inside the Circle

Website: riverbendcolorado.com

In this episode, Jesie and Brooke move beyond the familiar stories we tell about ourselves. Exploring how those “canned” stories once kept us safe and made sense for a time—but how going deeper into them can lead to a fuller understanding of who we are and a truer sense of belonging, rather than just fitting in.

This week’s invitation:

Where did I learn this? How do I deconstruct and lean into the next level of understanding and belonging?

Thanks for listening to The Heart of Life podcast, where we explore what’s real,

tender, and true in being human.

Interested in working with us or following along with what we offer? 

You’ll find our latest work, invitations, and ways to connect here:

JESIE STEFFES

Instagram: @jesie.steffes.healing

Substack: Sated Soul

Website: jesiesteffes.com

BROOKE SMALL

Instagram: @riverbendtherapy

Substack: From Inside the Circle

Website: riverbendcolorado.com

In this episode, Brooke and Jesie explore how our canned stories can keep us stuck, avoiding change or new ways of showing up with others. Here, we uncover the subtle ways our narratives shape our relationships and offer gentle practices for noticing, questioning, and rewriting the stories that no longer serve us.

This week’s invitation:

What is your canned story and how have you been using it to avoid change or do something new in relationships? 

Thanks for listening to The Heart of Life podcast, where we explore what’s real,

tender, and true in being human.

Interested in working with us or following along with what we offer? 

You’ll find our latest work, invitations, and ways to connect here:

JESIE STEFFES

Instagram: @jesie.steffes.healing

Substack: Sated Soul

Website: jesiesteffes.com

BROOKE SMALL

Instagram: @riverbendtherapy

Substack: From Inside the Circle

Website: riverbendcolorado.com

In this episode, Jesie and Brooke explore how to give anger the oxygen it needs - while keeping it yours. By disconnecting just enough from external pressures and distractions, we can meet our anger clearly, understand its messages, and discern our next steps with intention and integrity.

This week’s invitation:

Give anger some oxygen, but make sure that it’s yours. Disconnect enough to be able to come to a place with your anger to see it clearly so that you know what you’d like to do with it next.

Thanks for listening to The Heart of Life podcast, where we explore what’s real,

tender, and true in being human.

Interested in working with us or following along with what we offer? 

You’ll find our latest work, invitations, and ways to connect here:

JESIE STEFFES

Instagram: @jesie.steffes.healing

Substack: Sated Soul

Website: jesiesteffes.com

BROOKE SMALL

Instagram: @riverbendtherapy

Substack: From Inside the Circle

Website: riverbendcolorado.com