In this episode of The Liberated Middle, Lisa returns after a pause to name the anger, grief, and outrage present amid current unrest and ICE protests. Rather than bypassing these emotions or rushing toward false calm, she explores how Self-leadership and the “Liberated Middle” offer a way to stay engaged without becoming overwhelmed or fragmented.

This episode reflects on sustainable ways to show up in our communities, tend our capacity, and remain human inside an ongoing and unsettled moment.

Reflection Question: What is one small, concrete action I can take in my community this week that aligns with my values and capacity?

Music by RA, upbeat.io

This Solstice episode of The Liberated Middle is a guided meditation focused on the experience of standing at a threshold.

Rather than rushing to set intentions or make meaning, this practice invites you to pause. To notice what is completing. To feel what is beginning to stir. And to allow your nervous system and body to register that something is turning.

The Solstice marks a moment where the light changes direction. One season reaches its edge, and the next has not yet fully arrived. This meditation is an invitation to be with that in-between space, without pressure to decide what comes next.

This episode is especially supportive if you’re feeling reflective, tired, tender, or quietly ready to let something go.

Listener Note

This meditation is an invitation, not a requirement.
Please take care of yourself as you listen.
You’re welcome to pause, adjust your position, or stop at any time.

✨ Reflection Questions

You may wish to journal or reflect on one or two of these questions after listening:

• What does standing at a threshold feel like in my body right now?
• What feels complete in this season of my life, even if it wasn’t perfect?
• What am I ready to lay down, without needing to fully understand it yet?
• What quality feels quietly present that I’d like to nurture moving forward?

There’s no rush to answer these. Let them unfold over the coming days.

Music by RA, upbeat.io

In this episode of The Liberated Middle, Lisa explores the idea of DE-Cember as a month of simplification, shedding, and making space before we cross the threshold into a new year.
This isn’t about productivity or perfection. It’s about nervous system care, identity release, and clearing the inner and outer clutter that keeps midlife women weighed down.

We talk about:
• Why December is a powerful time for letting go
• How clutter affects your nervous system and mood
• The IFS lens on the parts that resist decluttering
• A simple 5-minute somatic ritual called The Winter Exhale
• What becomes possible when we release outdated identities, habits, and emotional residue

Reflection Questions

1. What feels heavy that doesn’t need to come with me into 2026?
2. What is taking up space—emotionally, physically, mentally—that I’m ready to release?
3. What do I want more room for in the coming year?

Music by RA, upbeat.io

In this episode of The Liberated Middle, we explore what it means to live seasonally — to honor the natural cycles in your energy, emotions, and inner life.

If Episode 1 explained the biology behind winter shifts, this conversation explores the meaning:
why midlife often feels like an autumn or winter inside,
and how slowing down can actually be a form of deep wisdom.

We talk about:
• The fallow season — rest as restoration
• Midlife as an inner autumn
• The Middle Way — slowing without collapsing
• IFS parts that resist rest (Achiever, Good Girl, Hustler, Optimizer)
• How to align your rhythms with your current season
• Gentle ways to support yourself through inner winters and inner springs

Reflection Questions

1. What season am I in internally — winter, spring, summer, or autumn?
2. What is naturally rising or falling away in my life right now?
3. Which part of me resists slowing down, and why?
4. What does my fallow season need to feel safe?

If You Missed Episode 1:

Listen to When the Light Fades for the science behind winter mood, circadian rhythm, and midlife sensitivity to seasonal change.

Music by RA, upbeat.io

In today’s episode, Lisa explores what actually happens in the body and brain when daylight decreases — and why women in midlife often feel seasonal mood shifts more intensely.

If you’ve ever felt heavier, slower, or more withdrawn in fall and winter, this episode will help you understand the biology, the mood shifts, and the practical tools to support yourself with compassion.

This episode includes:

·       Why sunlight is a biological necessity

·       How reduced light affects serotonin, dopamine, and melatonin

·       Why perimenopause/menopause amplify winter mood changes

·       The role of circadian rhythms & daylight savings time

·       IFS-inspired ways to work with your parts

·       Practical strategies to support your mood this season

·       A 3-minute dopamine-friendly morning ritual

·       Reflection questions to help you tune into your inner landscape

3-Minute Dopamine Morning Ritual

A simple winter mood support practice

1. Light first
Open blinds, step outside, or turn on a bright light. Light immediately lowers melatonin.

2. One intentional breath + stretch
A long inhale with a gentle stretch increases blood flow and alertness.

3. Choose one meaningful micro-task
Pick something tiny:

• drink a full glass of water
• make your bed
• open your journal
• put on workout clothes

4. Acknowledge the micro-win
Say: “There it is — one small thing.”
This activates a dopamine reward loop and helps the brain initiate the next step.

 Reflection Questions

Use these questions to tune into your body, your parts, and your inner rhythm:

1. How do I tend my inner light when the outer light fades?
2. Which part of me struggles most with winter?
3. What supports my mood and energy during darker months?
4. What’s one rhythm shift I can make this week to support myself?

Journal with these or use them as gentle daily prompts.

Music by RA, upbeat.io

In this special Thanksgiving week episode, Lisa offers a 5-minute guided meditation to help you settle your nervous system, acknowledge the complexity of the holiday season, and reconnect with the grounded presence of Self.

This time of year can bring gratitude and connection — and it can also bring grief, loneliness, family tension, or emotional activation. We’re also in a powerful seasonal transition, moving from Scorpio’s deep emotional excavation into Sagittarius’ expansive, truth-seeking fire. And collectively, many of us feel the unsettled energy in our country right now.

This meditation weaves together the wisdom of the fallow season, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and seasonal astrology to help you find steadiness, compassion, and inner spaciousness — no matter what this week holds for you.

🧡 Reflection Questions

Use these prompts after the meditation to deepen your practice:

1. Which parts of me feel activated by Thanksgiving week?
2. Which parts feel grateful, and which feel heavy, resistant, or tender?
3. How is the Scorpio → Sagittarius shift showing up in my emotions or energy?
4. What does my Self-energy feel like today?
5. What am I allowing to rest in this fallow season of my life?
6. What small, honest gratitude can I acknowledge right now?

Music by RA, upbeat.io

As the wheel of the year turns to Samhain—the Celtic threshold between light and dark—we’re invited to honor endings, release what no longer serves, and open to the quiet wisdom of winter.

Join Lisa for a gentle 5-minute guided meditation to connect with your Self energy, honor your ancestors, and find peace in the pause between seasons.

🌒 Listener Reflection Prompts

1. What is asking to be released or completed as this season ends?
2. Which parts of you resist rest, stillness, or letting go?
3. How can you honor your inner ancestors—the wise and enduring energy within you?
4. What renewal or new beginning might be quietly forming beneath the surface?

🪶 Journal, walk, or sit with these questions. There’s no need to force answers—just listen.

Music by RA, upbeat.io

What does it really mean to belong together?

In this final episode of the Belonging Series, Lisa explores how authentic connection is cultivated — not by performance or perfection, but through presence, protection, and purpose.

Drawing inspiration from Priya Parker’s The Art of Gathering, the No Kings Gathering, and the Mighty Women community she co-created, Lisa reflects on how intentional spaces invite authenticity and co-regulation. She also shares her yearly pilgrimage to Red Rocks to see the Avett Brothers — where strangers become friends and joy becomes collective.

Through these stories, we’re reminded that belonging isn’t something we find — it’s something we create, one grounded, compassionate presence at a time.

✨ Topics include:

• The nervous system and co-regulation in belonging
• Midlife friendship and self-protection patterns
• How we gather with purpose and equality
• Joy, music, and effervescent connection
• Belonging as collective care

💛 Reflection Prompt:
Where in your life are you cultivating the kind of belonging that feels mutual, nourishing, and alive?

Music by RA, upbeat.io

This week on The Liberated Middle, I’m offering a short bonus episode — a guided meditation to help you come home to yourself.

We’ve been exploring what it means to belong — to ourselves, to each other, and to the world around us. This IFS-informed practice is an invitation to pause, breathe, and offer belonging to every part of you — even the ones that feel outside the circle.

Take ten quiet minutes to settle your body, soften your heart, and remember:
you don’t have to chase belonging — you can come home to it, again and again, inside yourself.

✨ Next week: the final episode in the Belonging Series — “The Art of Belonging Together.”

Music by RA, upbeat.io

This is Part 2 of The Belonging Series.

Fitting in asks, Who do you need me to be?
Belonging asks, Can I be who I am and still stay?

In this episode, Lisa explores the wilderness between those two questions—where authenticity and approval often collide.

Drawing on Brené Brown’s research, Polyvagal Theory, and an IFS lens,  she unpacks the loneliness that comes from performing for acceptance and the courage it takes to show up as your unedited self.

You’ll explore:

• The key difference between true belonging and fitting in
• How early attachment and nervous system safety shape your need for approval
• The emotional cost of performing for connection
• Simple ways to practice belonging to yourself in daily life

Because when you belong to yourself, you give everyone around you permission to do the same.

About The Belonging Series:
Belonging is one of our most essential human needs. In this special series of The Liberated Middle, Lisa explores belonging from the inside out—from coming home to yourself, to the difference between true belonging and fitting in, to the loneliness epidemic, the art of gathering, the neuroscience of connection, and how belonging shifts across the lifespan.

Music by RA, upbeat.io