Inward with Katie Edmonds

Do you ever feel like you're on the outside looking in — even with people who love you?

In this episode, Katie explores our deep human need to belong, and why belonging has less to do with being accepted by others and more to do with belonging to yourself first.

Katie shares how that old middle school story of "I'm the kind of person who doesn't fit" can follow us into adulthood — through divorce, through coming out and starting a relationship with Sarah, through seasons where the door was open and people were holding it open, but she was still standing in the hallway.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why belonging is not a nice-to-have — we are made for it
• How belonging and identity are intertwined
• Why attacking someone's belonging feels like pulling a tree up by its roots
• The 4 practices for belonging: Notice the old story, Look for the open door, Take one step in, Make room for someone else
• How to create your own circle so external acceptance becomes less critical

You were never the problem. You were just looking for where you belong. And belonging starts with you.

Welcome back inward. I'm Katie. Thank you for being here for this one.

If someone came to mind while you were listening, send this to them.

Until next time, I'm Katie Edmonds. Keep going inward.

About Inward: Inward is a podcast for those who appear successful on the outside but feel disconnected, numb, or quietly unfulfilled on the inside. Hosted by certified life coach Katie Edmonds, this show is an invitation to turn inward and reconnect with who you actually are.

I had the answer. I had the knowing. I had the feeling. And I turned my back on it anyway. Twice this last year. Here's what it cost me.

In this 20-minute solo episode, Katie shares two personal stories of ignoring her intuition — including the fender-bender she saw coming seconds before it happened — and the deeper pattern underneath: negotiating with yourself instead of trusting yourself.

You'll learn:

• How intuition speaks through your body before your mind catches up
• Why stillness is the fastest way to hear it clearly
• How to tell the difference between fear and knowing
• Why the desire in your heart isn't random — it's direction
• Katie's 10-second practice to check in with your gut daily

Key reminder from this episode: "You don't have to become anything. You are already whole. You borrow their eyes until your own vision clears."

Do this today: Put your hand on your stomach. Breathe. Ask: What do I already know? Then listen.

If this episode landed for you, share it with one person who needs to trust herself more.

Until next time, I'm Katie Edmonds. Keep going inward.

Welcome back inward. I'm Katie. Thank you for being here for this one.

Do you feel free? Not on paper. I mean in your body, in your mind, in your actual days — do you feel free?

In this episode, I share why personal freedom is one of the leading predictors of life satisfaction and long-term happiness — and why so many of us who look free on the outside still feel trapped on the inside.

I take you back to a memory from my teens in the Bahamas — an unplanned day on an empty island with my best friend and cousin, no phones, no agenda — and why that day still feels like freedom to me.

We talk through:

• Why true luxury isn't things, it's freedom over your time
• How to tell if your relationships give you freedom or ask you to walk the line
• The Buddhist teaching: "anger does not have arms or legs, yet you are a slave to it" — and why we can't be free anywhere until we're free within ourselves
• How to start reclaiming freedom with intention + one small deliberate action

I want you to sit with this: Where in your life do you feel most free? Where do you feel that pull, that grip?

If someone came to mind while you were listening, send this to them.

Until next time, I'm Katie Edmonds. Keep going inward.

Welcome back inward. I'm Katie. Thank you for being here for this one.

This episode is for the loyal ones, the committed ones, the finish-what-you-start ones: You are always allowed to change your mind. It is never too late.

Here's the thing... loyalty to your word can quietly become disloyalty to yourself. Just because you tolerated something for twenty years does not mean you have to tolerate it forever. Changing your mind does not change who you are.

In this episode, I share:

• The moment in my first therapy session after my separation when my therapist said, "You are simply allowed to change your mind" — and why it freed me
• Oprah's powerful metaphor: a full church is not a reason to walk down the aisle
• Why my friend and I decided not to run the marathon we trained for — and what it taught me about pushing through vs. fear dressed up as strength
• How to extend grace when someone else changes their mind about you

Sit with these reflections this week:

1. If I hadn't already said yes, would I say yes today?
2. Who am I afraid of disappointing, and is their disappointment actually more important than my well-being?
3. What would I tell my best friend if she were in this exact position?
4. Pushing through what? And for what?

Remember: Sometimes pushing through is courage. And sometimes pushing through is just fear dressed up as strength. Be as loyal to yourself as you are to your word.

If someone came to mind while you were listening, send this to them.

Until next time, I'm Katie Edmonds. Keep going inward.

Last Wednesday night I was exhausted. I had work to do, my schedule was packed, and all I wanted was to crawl into bed. Then Sarah told me about a sick kitten an hour away who probably wouldn't make it without us. I really wanted to say no. I said yes anyway, and it reminded me of something I think we all forget.

In this episode of Inward, I talk about helping others even when you're tired, even when you feel you have nothing left, and even when your bank account says no. I share four stories: rescuing that kitten, hosting my monthly Sangha Supper, returning a lost wallet I found in a New York City taxi, and the quiet way my dad helped people for his whole life.

We talk about:

• Why helping is almost always free, from a smile to moving a snail off the sidewalk
• What the "bad luck" cycle might be telling you about the energy you're putting out
• Why giving with the hope of getting something back isn't really giving
• Why your legacy is how you made people feel, not what you built
• What Gandhi meant when he said the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others

This week's reflection: Where can you add more chairs to your table? Who else can you feed?

If someone came to mind while you were listening, send this to them.

Until next time, I'm Katie Edmonds. Keep going inward.

I had a totally different episode planned for today. And then I went to New York, and I walked for hours, and I remembered something I'd forgotten about myself.

There's a version of me that only comes alive in New York. She walks for hours. She looks up. She wonders about everyone she passes. Where you're not walking to get somewhere, you're walking to see what you can find.

In this episode of Inward, I share what wandering through New York taught me about curiosity, self discovery journey, and personal growth — from open stoops and hotel lobby conversations, to the journal prompt that stopped me in my tracks: "I told myself I am not ____, yet…"

If you've been feeling numb, disconnected, or quietly unfulfilled underneath a successful-on-the-outside life, this one is an invitation to get curious again.

Not all those who wander are lost. Sometimes, you're just finding your way back inward.

In this episode:

• Why I feel most like myself when I'm curious
• What New York taught me about wandering with no agenda
• The hotel lobby moment: how talking about the weather led to tears about loss
• My journal exercise: I told myself I am not a runner, yet I ran a marathon
• How to practice curiosity with the people you love most
• The litany I'm living by: Stay curious about food, music, people, spirituality, art, and who you are

Try this today: Do this today. Sit with: "I told myself I am not ____, yet…" See what comes up. Then ask someone you love: What does that feel like for you right now? — and just listen.

If someone came to mind while you were listening, send this to them.

Until next time, I'm Katie Edmonds. Keep going inward.

Connect with Katie: Inward is a mindfulness podcast for those learning how to find yourself beneath the roles and expectations. Hosted by certified life coach Katie Edmonds.

I went to the US Open last week in New York for the men's doubles final and the women's singles final, and I came home thinking about what happens when you're down on yourself and stuck in your head. In this episode, I walk you through five lessons from courtside, including what I learned watching Aryna Sabalenka — how expressive she is when she's up and pumping herself up, and how visible it is when she's down, hitting herself in the head with her racket and putting a towel over her head between games to shut everything out and recollect herself. I use that towel moment to teach my 3-step Inward Reset for how to pull yourself together: name what's happening, cover to recover for 90 seconds, and choose the next point. We also talk about being a good teammate to yourself like the doubles team was, letting some balls go out instead of over-efforting, faulting then acing instead of quitting, staying in your own game like Elena Rybakina did to win, and who is in your corner holding belief for you when you can't. If someone came to mind while you were listening, send this to them. Thank you for being here for this one.

She is 99 years old, incredibly sharp, quick-witted, and has been single for 67 years — and she will tell you she has never been lonely a single day.

For the very first episode of Inward with a guest, I couldn't imagine anyone else. It's my Nanny.

Nanny and I have always had a special bond. We are 60 years apart, almost to the day, and I have always felt like my life is intertwined with hers energetically. We have so much in common. Having her as my very first guest felt right in a way I can't fully explain — until you hear this conversation.

In this intimate, unfiltered conversation, Nanny shares what it was really like to raise 5 kids on her own while working multiple jobs to make ends meet, what 67 years of being single has actually felt like, why she has never felt lonely, and what she believes is the real secret to her long life.

She doesn't know quite what a podcast is — even though I've tried to explain it to her — but she showed up with her whole heart. And what happened was far more meaningful and emotional than either of us expected.

Nanny isn't a very emotional person. So to see us both get emotional in this together tells you everything about what this moment meant.

Whether you still have your grandmother, you've lost her, or you never had that bond — this is a conversation about love that moves through time, what makes a life truly full, and how to never feel alone even when you are on your own.

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL HEAR:

• Why Nanny says 67 years single has been the opposite of lonely — and what actually made her life feel full
• How she raised 5 kids alone while working multiple jobs and what kept her going
• Her 4 simple reasons for living to 99: spending her days outside, having a powerful mind, her deep spirituality, and taking care of her family
• The moment that surprised us both and made this interview far more emotional than we planned
• What 60 years between us feels like when it collapses into a single moment

ABOUT INWARD: Inward is a podcast for those who appear successful on the outside but feel disconnected, numb, or quietly unfulfilled on the inside. Hosted by certified life coach Katie Edmonds, each episode is an invitation to turn inward and reconnect with who you actually are beneath the roles, expectations, and noise.

If this conversation moved you, please share it with someone who needs to call their grandmother today — or their mom, or their person. And if you haven't yet, hit follow/subscribe so you don't miss what's next.

Until next time, keep going inward.

— Katie

How do you actually learn how to believe in yourself — especially when you question your own abilities even though you look confident?

This episode is about the difference between self confidence and deep self belief, and why believing in yourself fiercely is the one thing every successful person has in common — they do it anyway, even on the days they doubt.

We break down the pygmalion effect — how someone else's belief in you can shape your outcome — and the michelangelo effect — how love sculpts you into who you're meant to be when someone sees your ideal self and treats you as that person. We also get into why positive self talk and daily affirmations work when you embody them repeatedly, not just say them.

I share my own story of always being confident but secretly thinking everyone else had the right answer, how Sarah's daily belief in me helped me finally see and embrace who I am, and a simple hand-on-heart practice to start seeing the best in yourself tonight.

If this landed, send it to the friend who needs to hear she's incredible and capable.

— Katie

Last night I took a street I never take.

And this morning, I stood in my kitchen filled with gratitude. The kind that washes over you so completely you have to stop and lean on the counter.

This episode is about what that moment did to me. How it showed me how shallow my gratitude has been. How I've been walking past my own life like it's owed to me. And how a single wrong turn cracked something open that I don't think I should glue back shut.

If you've been gripping too tightly — the to-do list, the worry, the version of yourself you're still trying to become — this one is for you.

Because here's the thing you might not have let yourself hear yet: you don't have to become anything. You're already whole.

If this lands for you, share it with someone who's been gripping too tightly. And subscribe so you don't miss the next one.

You always, always have a seat at my table.

Until next time, I'm Katie Edmonds. Keep going inward.