Solving For Joy

The Science of Expressive Writing: How Words Heal the Brain

What happens in the brain when we put what we’re carrying into words?

In this episode of Solving for Joy, I’m joined by pediatrician, writer, and author Dr. Carolyn Roy-Bornstein to explore the science of expressive writing and why putting our experiences on the page can be so powerful.

We talk about writing through trauma, what research tells us about the brain and emotional processing, and how reflective writing can help physicians and other caregivers navigate burnout, reconnect with themselves, and make meaning from what they’ve lived through.

In This Episode

• The science behind expressive writing and the brain
• How writing can help us process trauma and difficult emotions
• Reflective writing as a tool for physician burnout and self-compassion
• A simple 15-minute writing practice you can try today

Chapters:

00:00 How Writing Can Help Us Heal

00:50 Reflective Writing for Trauma and Grief

05:06 How Sharing Our Stories Creates Connection

07:37 The Science Behind Journaling and Reflective Writing

10:04 Writing for Self-Compassion

10:52 Reflective Writing for Physician Burnout

14:48 Narrative Medicine and Healthcare

17:11 How Writing Helps Us Process Emotions

19:13 How to Start Journaling When You’re Burned Out

23:31 The Science of Joy and Positive Emotions

26:38 Finding Meaning and Joy Through Writing

31:26 Sacred Moments in Medicine

32:11 A 15-Minute Reflective Writing Exercise

35:36 Connect with Dr. Carolyn Roy-Bornstein

Connect with Dr. Carolyn Roy-Bornstein

Website: www.carolynroybornstein.com

Book: A Prescription for Burnout: Restorative Writing for Healthcare Professionals

About Dr. Chrissie Ott

Dr. Chrissie Ott is a multi-board certified integrative physician, Professional Certified Coach (PCC), speaker, and founder of Joy Point Solutions. Through Solving for Joy, she explores the science and practice of living with greater meaning, alignment, and delight.

Stay Connected with Chrissie

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrissieottmd

Podcast: https://www.solvingforjoy.com

Website: www.joypointsolutions.com

For Physician Coaches & Healthcare Leaders

Physician Coaching Collective: https://www.physiciancoachingcollective.com

Physician Coaching Summit: https://www.thephysiciancoachingsummit.com

This episode explores reflective writing, journaling, physician burnout, narrative medicine, expressive writing, self-compassion, trauma, emotional processing, healthcare burnout, and finding meaning and joy.

Music by AudioCoffee(Denys Kyshchuk): https://www.audiocoffee.net/

How to Practice Joyful Service (Without Losing Yourself)

Some of us become very, very good at being useful.

We care for people. We solve problems. We anticipate what others need. And when service becomes part of our identity, it can be easy to lose sight of how we’re actually showing up in the process.

In this episode of Solving for Joy, I’m joined by my friend Alejandra Siroka, founder of Language Alchemy, to explore another pillar of the Practice of Joy: Joyful Service.

We talk about the extraordinary power of language to shape how we see ourselves, the people we serve, and the relationships we create.

Our conversation moves through values and meaningful relationships, the language of repair, communicating without manipulation or scarcity, and what it means to meet even difficult interactions with curiosity, compassion, and love.

Because maybe Joyful Service isn’t about giving more of ourselves away.

Maybe it’s about remembering why we serve and choosing, with greater intention, how we want to show up.

In This Episode

• How language shapes the way we see, relate to, and serve others
• Connecting service to your values, meaning, and authentic expression
• Why repair, curiosity, and compassion matter in meaningful relationships
• A simple practice for showing up with greater intention each day

Connect with Alejandra Siroka

Website: www.LanguageAlchemy.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/languagealchemy/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LanguageAlchemy/

Podcast: https://www.languagealchemy.com/podcasts/language-alchemy-podcast

Language Alchemy: The Essential Communication Toolkit for a Life of Peace, Authenticity, and Meaning releases November 10, 2026.

Pre-order: https://www.languagealchemybook.com/

About Dr. Chrissie Ott

Dr. Chrissie Ott is a multi-board certified integrative physician, Professional Certified Coach (PCC), speaker, and founder of Joy Point Solutions. Through Solving for Joy, she explores the science and practice of living with greater meaning, alignment, and delight. Her work helps physicians and other high-achieving humans reconnect with themselves so they can build lives that feel deeply authentic, purposeful, and joyful.

Stay Connected with Chrissie

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrissieottmd

Podcast: https://www.solvingforjoy.com

Website: www.joypointsolutions.com

For Physician Coaches & Healthcare Leaders

Physician Coaching Collective: https://www.physiciancoachingcollective.com

Physician Coaching Summit: https://www.thephysiciancoachingsummit.com

This episode explores joyful service, conscious communication, authentic expression, meaningful relationships, values, compassion, relationship repair, service in healthcare, self-awareness, and practicing joy through the way we relate to and serve others.

A week before this conversation, my mom graduated from this plane.

She left her body with peace and with ease at 94 years old, after a long life of loving fiercely and generously.

And as divine timing would have it, I already had a conversation scheduled with someone who has spent the last decade helping individuals and families navigate death and meaningful goodbyes.

In this deeply personal episode of Solving for Joy, I’m joined by death care specialist and death doula Madison Kuebler for a conversation about grief, death, ritual, and what it means to be held through loss.

I share some of my own experience of my mom’s final years and the sacredness I felt in her passing, including the eight hours my wife and I spent sitting with her body, the rituals that helped us say goodbye, and why this particular loss has felt, at least for now, more sacred than sad.

Madison shares what a decade working in death care has taught her about grief, presence, trauma-informed care, meaningful goodbyes, and the possibility of a “good death.” We talk about why grief is much more of a scribble than a line, the unexpected places joy and laughter can appear after loss, and why there is no single right way to grieve or remember someone we love.

We also explore the relationship between death and birth, the importance of ritual, alternatives to traditional burial and cremation including human composting, and the ways our choices around death can reflect who we are and what we value.

Because perhaps being willing to look at death doesn’t diminish the joy of being alive.

Maybe it reminds us just how precious it is.

And maybe, if we are very lucky, a life spent loving can leave us becoming more and more love.

In This Episode

• What a decade in death care has taught Madison about grief and being present with families
• Why death is not always tragedy and what can make a death feel peaceful or “good”
• Grief as something nonlinear, personal, and allowed to include peace, joy, laughter, and even absurdity
• The sacred experience of spending time with a loved one’s body after death
• How ritual can help us create meaningful, deeply personal goodbyes
• Human composting, green death care, and having more choices for what happens to our bodies
• What being close to death can teach us about gratitude, presence, and being alive

Chapters

00:00 Grief, Joy, and a Different Kind of Conversation
01:20 Meet Madison Kuebler: A Decade in Death Care
03:01 How Madison Found Her Way to Funeral Service
06:52 Presence, Trauma-Informed Care, and the Small Things That Matter
09:11 Chrissie Shares the Story of Her Mom’s Final Years
15:00 Permission to Let Go and Becoming Love
16:37 When Grief Feels More Sacred Than Sad
19:26 A Good Death and the Connection Between Birth and Dying
20:33 Sitting With the Body: The Sacredness of a Final Goodbye
25:32 4:44 and a Final “Love, Love, Love”
26:18 Human Composting and Returning Our Bodies to the Earth
30:22 Creating New Ways to Remember the People We Love
32:19 The Emotional Reality of Working in Death Care
35:01 What Makes a Goodbye Meaningful?
37:38 Finding Joy in the Business of Death
41:38 Gratitude, Legacy, and What Remains

About Madison Kuebler

Madison Kuebler is a funeral director, death doula, and theatre artist based in Denver, Colorado. With 10 years of experience in the funeral industry, she helps individuals and families navigate death and create meaningful goodbyes. Outside of death care, Madison directs plays and creates soundscapes for local theatre companies and is passionate about telling stories for and by the LGBTQIA+ community. She recently received a Colorado Henry Award for Excellence in Theatre. 

Connect with Madison Kuebler

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madison-kuebler-819b4bb5

Learn More About Human Composting

Earth Funeral: https://earthfuneral.com/

About Dr. Chrissie Ott

Dr. Chrissie Ott is a multi-board certified integrative physician, Professional Certified Coach (PCC), speaker, and founder of Joy Point Solutions. Through Solving for Joy, she explores the science and practice of living with greater meaning, alignment, and delight. Her work helps physicians and other high-achieving humans reconnect with themselves so they can build lives that feel deeply authentic, purposeful, and joyful.

Stay Connected with Chrissie

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrissieottmd
Podcast: https://www.solvingforjoy.com
Website: www.joypointsolutions.com

For Physician Coaches & Healthcare Leaders

Physician Coaching Collective: https://www.physiciancoachingcollective.com
Physician Coaching Summit: https://www.thephysiciancoachingsummit.com

This episode explores grief and joy, death and dying, good deaths, death care, funeral planning, death doulas, meaningful goodbyes, grief rituals, human composting, green burial alternatives, trauma-informed death care, end-of-life conversations, nonlinear grief, memorial rituals, loss, legacy, and finding meaning and joy after the death of a loved one.

How to Find More Delight in Everyday Life (Even When Life Feels Heavy)

When did we get so serious?

Children don’t need extraordinary moments to experience delight. They find it everywhere—in something funny, something strange, sunlight moving across the floor, or simply discovering something for the first time.

Somewhere along the way, many of us become incredibly good at getting through the day, but not always experiencing it.

In this episode of Solving for Joy, I’m joined by my dear friend J. A. Jones to explore one of my favorite parts of the Practice of Joy: delight.

We talk about what happens to our natural capacity for wonder as we grow older, and how presence, play, curiosity, and becoming a little more comfortable with uncertainty can help us find our way back.

We also explore something I think matters deeply: practicing delight does not require us to look away from suffering. We can be aware of what is difficult and still notice what is beautiful, funny, strange, or wonderful. Delight and difficulty are allowed to exist together.

Our conversation moves through mindfulness and beginner’s mind, cynicism and humor, impermanence and uncertainty, nervous system regulation, play, revelry, and the simple practice of paying attention to what is happening right here.

Because maybe delight isn’t something we have to go looking for.

Maybe it’s a capacity we can practice returning to.

In This Episode

• Why presence, wonder, and delight are so deeply connected
• Learning to hold uncertainty—and life itself—a little more lightly
• Why delight can exist alongside grief, suffering, and difficult realities
• Reclaiming play, silliness, and revelry as adults
• How paying attention to ordinary moments can become a practice of delight

Connect with J. A. Jones

Website: https://aprimamateria.com

Chapters

00:00 The Nature of Delight
01:48 Childlike Wonder and Presence
04:17 Practices for Cultivating Delight
06:40 Why Delight Can Be Hard to Access
09:09 Wonder, Awe, and the Mystery of Being Alive
11:46 Cynicism, Humor, and Holding Life Lightly
14:28 Finding Delight in a Difficult World
18:17 Reclaiming Revelry, Play, and Silliness
22:11 Beginner’s Mind and the Practice of Connection
26:03 Finding Delight in Ordinary Life
30:24 A Simple Practice for Cultivating Delight

About Dr. Chrissie Ott

Dr. Chrissie Ott is a multi-board certified integrative physician, Professional Certified Coach (PCC), speaker, and founder of Joy Point Solutions. Through Solving for Joy, she explores the science and practice of living with greater meaning, alignment, and delight. Her work helps physicians and other high-achieving humans reconnect with themselves so they can build lives that feel deeply authentic, purposeful, and joyful.

Stay Connected with Chrissie

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrissieottmd
Podcast: https://www.solvingforjoy.com
Website: www.joypointsolutions.com

For Physician Coaches & Healthcare Leaders

Physician Coaching Collective: https://www.physiciancoachingcollective.com
Physician Coaching Summit: https://www.thephysiciancoachingsummit.com

This episode explores delight, finding joy in everyday life, mindfulness, presence, wonder, awe, play, uncertainty, beginner’s mind, nervous system regulation, impermanence, resilience, and practicing joy even when life feels heavy.

How to Trust Your Own Desires (Without Feeling Selfish)

Do you know what you truly desire?

Not what you're supposed to want.
Not what looks successful from the outside.
Not what everyone else expects of you.

Your desire.

In this episode of Solving for Joy, How to Trust Your Own Desires (Without Feeling Selfish), I'm joined by my dear friend and colleague, Dr. Vanessa Calderón, to explore one of the most misunderstood pillars of the Practice of Joy: desire.

Together, we unpack why so many of us learn to distrust our own longings, how social conditioning can disconnect us from ourselves, and why desire isn't the opposite of integrity. In many ways, it can become the pathway back to it.

We talk about the difference between craving and calling, why our desires deserve curiosity instead of judgment, and how practicing gratitude for what we already have can deepen our capacity for joy. If you've ever wondered whether following your desires is selfish, irresponsible, or simply too risky, I hope this conversation invites you to become a little more curious about what your deepest longings might be trying to teach you.

In This Episode

• Why desire and joy are deeply connected
• The difference between craving and calling
• How social conditioning can disconnect us from ourselves
• Why following your desires isn't selfish
• Practicing gratitude by desiring what you already have
• How curiosity can lead us back to joy

Resources Mentioned

Book

• Finding Your Own North Star by Martha Beck

Person Mentioned

• Dr. Kelly Casperson

Connect with Dr. Vanessa Calderón

Website: https://www.vanessacalderonmd.com

Podcast: https://www.theauthenticpathpodcast.com

Chapters

00:00 Why Desire and Joy Belong Together
08:20 The Difference Between Craving and Calling
16:38 Coming Home to Yourself Through Desire
24:51 Gratitude, Abundance, and Desiring What You Already Have
33:16 How to Trust Your Desires With Integrity
36:58 Practice for the Week & Final Reflections

About Dr. Chrissie Ott

Dr. Chrissie Ott is a multi-board certified integrative physician, Professional Certified Coach (PCC), speaker, and founder of Joy Point Solutions. Through Solving for Joy, she explores the science and practice of living with greater meaning, alignment, and delight. Her work helps physicians and other high-achieving humans reconnect with themselves so they can build lives that feel deeply authentic, purposeful, and joyful.

Stay Connected with Chrissie

Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/chrissieottmd

Podcast https://www.solvingforjoy.com

Website www.joypointsolutions.com

For Physician Coaches & Healthcare Leaders

Physician Coaching Collective https://www.physiciancoachingcollective.com

Physician Coaching Summit https://www.thephysiciancoachingsummit.com 

This episode explores desire, joy, integrity, self-trust, gratitude, purpose, and living in alignment with your values.

How to Create a Vision for Your Life (Even When the Path Isn't Clear)

Have you ever had the feeling that your life was trying to tell you something... but you weren't quite sure how to listen?

In this episode of Solving for Joy, How to Create a Vision for Your Life (Even When the Path Isn't Clear), I'm sharing a conversation from my friend Dr. Rashmi Schramm's podcast, Inner Peace and Power.

Together, we explore joy, vision, self-trust, and what it means to follow a path that unfolds one step at a time. We talk about intuition, the wisdom of the body, synchronicity, and why clarity often comes not from having all the answers, but from creating enough space to notice what already feels true.

If you've been wondering what's next, I hope this conversation reminds you that you don't have to see the whole path. You only have to trust the next step.

In This Episode

• Why joy is more than happiness
• How vision unfolds through trust instead of certainty
• Learning to listen to your intuition and body wisdom
• The role of meditation, stillness, and synchronicity
• Why meaningful work begins with alignment, not achievement

Resources Mentioned

Book

• Finding Your Own North Star by Martha Beck

Authors & Poets

• Marianne Rodmacher
• Meg Falley
• Andrea Gibson

App

• Insight Timer
  https://insighttimer.com

Connect with Dr. Rashmi Schramm

Website
https://www.rashmischramm.com

Podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/inner-peace-and-power/id1721584868

Chapters

00:00 Meet Dr. Chrissie Ott & The Journey to Joy
02:08 From Medicine to Meaning: Chrissie's Story
05:31 What Joy Really Means
10:03 Closing the Gap Between Who You Are and How You Live
11:20 Vision, Intuition, and Your Inner Compass
17:39 Purpose, Community, and Meaningful Work
21:21 Embracing a Multi-Passionate Life
28:48 Practices for Lightness of Being
31:36 Finding Clarity Without Having All the Answers
32:34 Trusting Your Inner Truth
32:48 Final Reflections

About Dr. Chrissie Ott

Dr. Chrissie Ott is a multi-board certified integrative physician, Professional Certified Coach (PCC), speaker, and founder of Joy Point Solutions. Through Solving for Joy, she explores the science and practice of living with greater meaning, alignment, and delight. Her work helps physicians and other high-achieving humans reconnect with themselves so they can build lives that feel deeply authentic, purposeful, and joyful.

Stay Connected

Website
https://www.chrissieottmd.com

Podcast
https://www.solvingforjoy.com

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/chrissieottmd

For Physician Coaches & Healthcare Leaders

Physician Coaching Collective
https://www.physiciancoachingcollective.com

Physician Coaching Summit
https://www.thephysiciancoachingsummit.com

This episode explores vision, joy, intuition, self-trust, meditation, purpose, embodied wisdom, synchronicity, and living in alignment with your values.

Have you ever looked up at the end of a week, a season, or even a year and wondered where the time went?

If you've ever felt like you're moving through life on autopilot, you're not alone. I think many of us spend so much time doing, achieving, and caring for everyone around us that we slowly lose touch with ourselves.

In this conversation, I'm joined by psychiatrist, psychotherapist, mindfulness teacher, and author Dr. Nissa Keyashian to explore how the simple practice of stillness can help us become more aware, more present, and ultimately more intentional with our lives.

Together, we explore what mindfulness really is, why meditation isn't about stopping your thoughts, what neuroscience teaches us about the Default Mode Network, and how practices like breathwork and spending time in nature can help regulate your nervous system and reconnect you with yourself.

Whether you're completely new to meditation or simply longing to feel more present in your everyday life, I hope this conversation reminds you that joy doesn't begin by doing more. It begins by noticing.

In this episode:

• How to stop living on autopilot and begin living with greater intention

• What mindfulness and meditation actually are and why a wandering mind doesn't mean you're doing it wrong

• How breathwork, nature, and awareness can support nervous system regulation and emotional well-being

• Simple daily practices to cultivate more presence, purpose, and joy

Resources Mentioned

Books-

Practicing Stillness by Dr. Nissa Keyashian
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1638077983

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

Apps-

Insight Timer
https://insighttimer.com

Concepts Discussed

•  Mindfulness meditation 
•  Breathwork 
•  The Default Mode Network (DMN) 
•  Living with intention instead of autopilot 
•  Nervous system regulation 
•  Awareness and conscious choice 

Connect with Dr. Nissa Keyashian-

Website
https://drnissak.com/

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/amindfulmd/

Stay Connected with Chrissie-

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/chrissieottmd

Podcast
https://www.solvingforjoy.com

Website
https://www.chrissieottmd.com

For Physician Coaches & Healthcare Leaders-

Physician Coaching Collective
https://www.physiciancoachingcollective.com

Physician Coaching Summit
https://www.thephysiciancoachingsummit.com

If you've ever found yourself surrounded by people all day, yet still feeling lonely, this conversation is for you.

As physicians and caregivers, we spend so much of our lives showing up for others that meaningful friendship can quietly slip into the background. But connection isn't a luxury. It's one of the things that helps us stay resilient, grounded, and joyful.

In this episode, I'm joined by pediatric critical care physician Dr. Cassie Burton Greenbaum, founder of Off-Service Mom Co. Together, we explore why adult friendship can feel so difficult, especially in medicine, and why belonging is an essential part of solving for joy.

We talk about:
• Why loneliness is so common among physicians and caregivers
• How vulnerability creates deeper, more meaningful friendships
• Why friendship is essential for resilience, well-being, and joy
• Simple ways to build connection with greater intention

Whether you're longing for deeper friendships or simply need the reminder that you don't have to do life alone, I hope this conversation encourages you to take one small step toward connection.

Chapters

00:00 The Journey to Connection

04:30 Why Adult Friendship Feels So Hard

09:33 Creating Community on Purpose

14:23 Vulnerability as the Foundation of Friendship

19:15 Finding Joy Through Connection

22:27 The Second Mountain: Living with Meaning

Connect with Dr. Cassie Burton Greenbaum:
• Website: https://www.offservicemomco.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drcassieburton/

Stay Connected:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrissieottmd
Podcast Website: https://www.solvingforjoy.com
Chrissie's Website: https://www.chrissieottmd.com

🩺 For Physician Coaches & Healthcare Leaders
Physician Coaching Collective:
https://www.physiciancoachingcollective.com

Physician Coaching Summit:
https://www.thephysiciancoachingsummit.com

This episode explores the powerful connection between stress, the nervous system, trauma, and skin health with board-certified dermatologist and trauma-informed physician Dr. Keira Barr.

While many of us think of skin concerns as something happening on the surface, Dr. Barr invites us to consider a different perspective: what if our symptoms are not problems to fight, but messages to understand?

Together, we explore how stress and trauma can show up through the skin, why healing often begins beneath the surface, and how learning to listen to our bodies with curiosity rather than criticism can create more ease, well-being, and joy.

**A quick note for listeners: this conversation includes a small amount of profanity and a large amount of wisdom. Consider it nervous system regulation through authenticity. We regret neither.**

We talk about:
• Dr. Barr's personal journey into dermatology and how her own experiences shaped her approach to healing
• The connection between the nervous system, stress, inflammation, and skin health
• Why symptoms can be valuable sources of information rather than signs that something is wrong
• The role of touch, connection, and safety in healing
• How building self-trust helps us reconnect with our bodies
• Why curiosity may be more helpful than criticism when it comes to our health and well-being

Whether you're navigating a skin condition, chronic stress, burnout, or simply looking for a more compassionate relationship with your body, this conversation offers a refreshing invitation to slow down, listen, and trust the wisdom that's already within you.

Connect with Dr. Keira Barr:
• Website: https://drkeirabarr.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drkeirabarr/
• Calm Mind, Calm Skin™: https://drkeirabarr.com/calm-mind-calm-skin/

Stay Connected:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrissieottmd
Podcast Website: https://www.solvingforjoy.com
Chrissie’s Website: https://www.chrissieottmd.com

🩺 For Physician Coaches & Healthcare Leaders
Physician Coaching Collective:
https://www.physiciancoachingcollective.com
Physician Coaching Summit:
https://www.thephysiciancoachingsummit.com

Today, we're revisiting one of my favorite episodes on Solving for Joy.

This episode explores menopause, movement, running, grief, self-trust, and what it means to reconnect with yourself through joyful movement.

Physician, running coach, and fellow physician coach Dr. Michelle Quirk shares how running helped her navigate burnout, loss, and major life transitions, and why movement can be an act of care rather than another place to strive for perfection.

We talk about:
• Why so many women believe they're "not runners" and how those stories shape us
• How movement can support grief, emotional well-being, and resilience
• Menopause, musculoskeletal pain, and considerations for women in midlife
• Why high-achieving women often struggle to approach exercise with self-compassion
• How to start small and build a sustainable relationship with movement

Whether you're a runner, a walker, or simply curious about moving your body with more kindness and less pressure, this episode offers a refreshing invitation to begin exactly where you are.

Connect with Dr. Michelle Quirk:
• Website: https://mindful-marathon.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindful.marathon
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellequirkmd/

Stay Connected:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrissieottmd
Podcast Website: https://www.solvingforjoy.com
Chrissie’s Website: https://www.chrissieottmd.com

🩺 For Physician Coaches & Healthcare Leaders
Physician Coaching Collective:
https://www.physiciancoachingcollective.com
Physician Coaching Summit:
https://www.thephysiciancoachingsummit.com