Our annual episode on the value and process of choosing intention words. In it, we share a tremendously valuable process we both now use every fall. We choose three words for the upcoming year. 

Setting intentions is science-based. Simply setting an intention gives your brain something to filter your experiences through. It’s like setting your GPS.

Without a focus, our brains naturally go to the negative.

We have shared three previous episodes on this same topic. 

169. Setting Yourself Up for Success with Words

110. Why Intentions Are Better than Goals

111. Setting Intentions is a Powerful Practice

We have refined the process further each year.

Take a listen to this year's episode to learn about our current process, what our chosen words for 2025 are, and why we choose them.  

We would love to hear what your words turn out to be and if, as mentioned in the episode, you want help with the process, coaching makes the process much more impactful and precise. 

We encourage you to move beyond consuming this amazing podcast. True change happens when you engage with the work and work with us.

Coach with Jessie - 1:1, in topic-focused small groups, or at a retreat. www.jessiemahoneymd.com

Work with both of us at The Mindful Healers Annual Retreat www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats. It is scheduled for Labor Day weekend Aug 29-31st, 2025 and is now open for registration.

You can also hire one or both of us to speak or lead a workshop on any topic covered in the Mindful Healers Podcast. We also create team retreats, teach yoga, and offer experiential mindfulness and coaching workshops for teams, groups, grand rounds, institutions, and conferences.

www.jessiemahoneymd.com/mindful-healers-podcast

www.awakenbreath.org 

www.jessiemahoneymd.com/speaking

*Nothing shared in the Mindful Healers Podcast is medical advice.

#physicianwellness #mindfulnesscoach #pauseandpresence #physiciancoach

Today we share helpful lessons to help you navigate family gatherings with less stress.

Are you feeling a bit of anxiety and/or nervous anticipatory energy, maybe even unease, or dread? 

Are there potential or recurrent disagreements or points of contention that often arise when spending time with loved ones? 

Do you sometimes feel like an outsider or disconnected at family gatherings? 

Are holidays much better now than they ever have been?

Are you often still somewhat disappointed after family gatherings?

We encourage you to allow whatever feelings arise including potentially disappointment, disconnection, and a sense of not belonging.

What may make it harder for you to enjoy holiday gatherings?

High expectations, manuals, compare and despair, generally being givers and not receivers, and challenges having fun and relaxing.

Listen to hear about the practices of intention setting, making generous assumptions, looking for how they are just like you.  

In this episode, we share many other mindful mindset practices to help you focus on fun, joy, connection and ease. We also discuss what may get in your way on your journey.

Move beyond consuming this amazing podcast. True change happens when you work with us - virtually and/or in-person.

Coach with Jessie - 1:1, in topic-focused small groups, or at a retreat. www.jessiemahoneymd.com

Work with both of us in person at The Mindful Healers Annual Retreat www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats

Hire one or both of us to speak or lead a workshop on any topic covered in the Mindful Healers Podcast. We also create team retreats, teach yoga, and offer experiential mindfulness for teams, groups, grand rounds, institutions, and conferences.

www.jessiemahoneymd.com/mindful-healers-podcast

www.awakenbreath.org 

www.jessiemahoneymd.com/speaking

*Nothing shared in the Mindful Healers Podcast is medical advice.

#physicianwellness #mindfulnesscoach #pauseandpresence #physiciancoach

Gratitude is much more complex than looking on the bright side.

Gratitude and mindfulness often feel overused in wellness conversations. They are often thrown out as the answer to just about everything.

Synonyms for gratitude include appreciation, thankfulness, acknowledgment, recognition, credit, regard, and respect.

Interestingly gratitude is also listed as a synonym for a sense of obligation and indebtedness. For many practicing gratitude leads to feelings of guilt. There are many things many of us think we should be grateful for. 

In the face of the recent bomb cyclone atmospheric river, I felt a sense of true deep gratitude. A feeling that was very different than what I have previously felt when keeping a gratitude list or when gratitudes were shared at huddles or before a meal. This gratitude felt like a deep sense of peace.  It was not a feeling that could be practiced.  

When you feel truly grateful, you feel a deep sense of wellness, connection, and healing.

Your brain releases positive neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin, which contribute to the feeling of contentment- even amidst a storm.

Science shows gratitude can help to counteract negative thinking patterns and reduce rumination on negative experiences. It also enhances your ability to cope with stress and challenges by providing a more optimistic perspective. Grateful people tend to be more empathetic and express appreciation towards others, which leads to stronger and more positive relationships. Studies show that practicing gratitude can also improve sleep quality. 

Beyond gratitude, mindfulness offered many helpful tools for navigating through a historic storm with more grace and ease.

Listen to hear what, why, and how attention, intention, self compassion and kindness, and acceptance can help. 

What are you grateful for? What are you appreciative of? Do you have any “should be grateful” thoughts? 

Move beyond consuming this amazing podcast. True change happens when you work with us virtually and/or in-person. Coach with Jessie - 1:1, in topic-focused small groups, or at a retreat. www.jessiemahoneymd.com There are retreats at Nicasio Creek Farm every month between March and November 2025.  www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreat-nicasio-creek-farm

Connect in Nature will be Labor Day Weekend, Friday August 29th to Sunday August 31st. We ho[e you will join us.

To learn more about what we are up to join the Mindful Healthcare Collective Facebook group or email list @ mindfulhealthcarecollective.com

*Nothing shared in the Mindful Healers Podcast is medical advice.

#physicianwellness #mindfulnesscoach #pauseandpresence #physiciancoach

There is no recipe or rule book to start your dream practice.

Dr. Anna Dowling, an ObGyn, joins us for a second time. In this episode, she shares her journey building a dream solo practice called Birth Story Obstetrics.

Her first podcast episode was 155. Become Your Future Self.

In today's episode, she shares what she found helpful in manifesting a practice that is fun and meaningful. Key to her success was setting up a team of supporters and helpers - a coach, her spouse, and friends who believed in her.

What else was essential to setting up a successful private practice?

A healthy mindset.

She shares how her physician mindset made starting a dream practice even harder. The pre-work she did to learn to notice and begin to let go of catastrophizing, the desire for control, her scarcity mindset, imposter syndrome, and perfectionism were essential to her success. Learning to accept and not like uncertainty and to embrace unsettledness was also crucial. We also talk about the importance of optimizing your physiology and the power of both fun and “yet.” 

Listen to hear some of the other powerful and unlikely tools she found critical to setting up her dream practice.   

If you are thinking you might want to make a transition in your career, join Transition Well Small Group Coaching for Women Physicians. 

If you aren’t sure what you want yet or simply have a gnawing sense you were meant for more, Transition Well small group coaching brings clarity, courage, confidence, and commitment.  You can add 1:1 coaching sessions to your group if you want time for just you. You can get CME for all of it.

Dr. Dowling participated in both Transition Well and Ongoing Presence. She also did 1:1 coaching. Her words: “You gave me the permission and the courage to dream, innovate, and create something I never thought was possible. I've reached the tipping point and it's a place I never ever imagined landing in. Thank you”

Find out more about Transition Well. It’s very small group coaching - max group size is twelve so don’t delay in signing up.  We start in mid-January 2025. https://www.jessiemahoneymd.com/transition-well

If growing Ongoing Presence and cleaning up your mindset before you jump feels more like where you are, Ongoing Presence Group Coaching is another great option. It also starts in late January and is open for sign-up now. https://www.jessiemahoneymd.com/ongoing-presence

If doing the work in person sounds more appealing, join me for a retreat intensive. There are retreats almost every month in 2025.

https://www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreat-nicasio-creek-farm

Move beyond consuming this amazing podcast. True change happens when you work with us - virtually and/or in-person. www.jessiemahoneymd.com

Hire one or both of us to speak or lead a workshop on any topic covered in the Mindful Healers Podcast. We also create team retreats, teach yoga, and offer experiential mindfulness for teams, groups, grand rounds, institutions, and conferences.

www.jessiemahoneymd.com/mindful-healers-podcast

www.awakenbreath.org 

www.jessiemahoneymd.com/speaking

*Nothing shared in the Mindful Healers Podcast is medical advice.

#physicianwellness #mindfulnesscoach #pauseandpresence #physiciancoach

An episode about what to do in challenging and disappointing moments.  

You may have noticed that we did not record a new episode last week. We opted to model self compassion and kindness in the face of laryngitis, back to back retreats, and a volleyball championship. After 225 weekly episodes we decided to give ourselves grace. 

The election was a pivotal moment of seeing what is. It was a clarifying moment. 

Mindfulness is a key component to moving forward with grace and ease. It is essential in difficult circumstances such as this.

Listen to hear tips for choosing your language thoughtfully, asking helpful questions, and how to tell generous and helpful stories.

This moment is an abundant opportunity to practice noticing your thoughts and feeling your feelings. 

Feel to heal and name to tame. 

It is also a great moment to accept and be disappointed, accept and be angry, accept and not like, and to accept and allow.

Resisting reality is very costly.

Optimizing your neurochemical soup is in your control at this moment and it can help.

Practicing mindful self-care is also in your control and also helps. 

You might find being alone helpful or community may be what you need. 

Support yourself with healthy food, nature, and sleep to give yourself the most capacity to respond intentionally rather than create. 

Consider practicing tons of hand to heart and self compassion. Oxytocin increases creativity, curiosity, and problem solving 

Disappointment and challenges often lead to our biggest growth — personally and collectively. Let this moment in time be the nudge you need to engage in mindfulness and mindset coaching. Working with us is much more powerful than simply listening to a podcast. 

Set yourself up for a smoother ride through the next four years by reaching out for 1:1 or small group coaching or signing up for a 2025 retreat.  

https://www.jessiemahoneymd.com/coaching

https://www.jessiemahoneymd.com/ongoing-presence

https://www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreat-nicasio-creek-farm

Start practicing yoga with me on YouTube. 

Listen to other episodes of the Mindful Healers Podcast. It’s Ok to Not Be Ok and When Bad Things Happen are a great place to start.

Move beyond consuming this amazing podcast. True change happens when you work with us - virtually and/or in-person.

Coach with Jessie - 1:1, in topic-focused small groups, or at a retreat. www.jessiemahoneymd.com

Work with both of us in person at The Mindful Healers Annual Retreat www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats

Hire one or both of us to speak or lead a workshop on any topic covered in the Mindful Healers Podcast. We also create team retreats, teach yoga, and offer experiential mindfulness for teams, groups, grand rounds, institutions, and conferences.

www.jessiemahoneymd.com/mindful-healers-podcast

www.awakenbreath.org 

www.jessiemahoneymd.com/speaking

*Nothing shared in the Mindful Healers Podcast is medical advice.

#physicianwellness #mindfulnesscoach #pauseandpresence #physiciancoach

Being off kilter is a normal part of the human experience at least some of the time. 

Mindfulness and self-compassion offer opportunities to notice, show yourself compassion, and re-align. 

Getting help helps.

Enjoy Jessie modeling how getting help helps. Listen as Ni-Cheng demonstrates mindful inquiry and how to explore body sensations, emotions, thoughts, and behaviors.

What might be helpful when you next find yourself off-balance

• Sunshine 

• Yoga 

• Exercise/movement

• Nature

• Music

• Human connection

• Name it to tame it 

• Feel it to heal it

• Patience

• Being not doing

• Self-compassion

• Be like a tree 

We encourage you to move beyond consuming this podcast and engage in the work.  Having a full toolbox at the ready when the off-kilter day arrives is priceless. 

Practice these tools in person at a retreat in 2025. www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats

Blending mindfulness, yoga, farm-to-table food as medicine, and mindset work together make change possible that otherwise wouldn’t be. When you are physiologically and neurochemically in an optimal state opens up a world of creativity and opportunity.

You can also choose to respect the moment and start your journey to better right away by signing up for online mindful coaching with Jessie. 

Coach with Jessie - 1:1, in topic-focused small groups. Transition Well and Ongoing Presence start again in January 2025. People are signing up already.

Hire one or both of us to speak or lead a workshop on any topic covered in the Mindful Healers Podcast. We also create team retreats, teach yoga, and offer experiential mindfulness for teams, groups, grand rounds, institutions, and conferences.

www.jessiemahoneymd.com/mindful-healers-podcast

www.awakenbreath.org 

www.jessiemahoneymd.com/speaking

*Nothing shared in the Mindful Healers Podcast is medical advice.

#physicianwellness #mindfulnesscoach #pauseandpresence #physiciancoach

What does non-striving in mindfulness mean? What is the invitation of non-striving? Why might you want to try it?

Non-striving isn't about giving up aspirations and goals, it is about letting go. Letting go of control, of needing things to be a certain way, and/or to get a certain outcome.

Non Striving is about patience, peace, presence, joy and transformation. 

Instead of constantly doing, non-striving is about focusing on being. 

Non-striving is allowing yourself to experience the moment without judgment.  

It creates space to simply be rather than always reacting to try to change things. 

We are human BEINGS, not human DOINGS. “Being is where the magic and healing happen.” - Dr. Holly MacKenna

Non-striving involves accepting yourself as you are and others as they are.  It is about being content where you are, without the need to be anyone else or anywhere else. 

Non-striving increases the richness in your life. It helps you find the extraordinary in the ordinary. The space opened up in non-striving opens portals to clarity, curiosity, creativity, and connection.

Where are some areas of life that you would like to adopt a non-striving attitude? What are some ways you might try non-striving? What could you commit to not doing?  What would more “being” look like?

Move beyond consuming this amazing podcast. True change happens when you work with us - virtually and/or in-person.

Coach with Jessie - 1:1, in topic-focused small groups, or at a retreat. www.jessiemahoneymd.com

Work with both of us in person at The Mindful Healers Annual Retreat www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats

Hire one or both of us to speak or lead a workshop on any topic covered in the Mindful Healers Podcast. We also create team retreats, teach yoga, and offer experiential mindfulness for teams, groups, grand rounds, institutions, and conferences.

www.jessiemahoneymd.com/mindful-healers-podcast

www.awakenbreath.org 

www.jessiemahoneymd.com/speaking

*Nothing shared in the Mindful Healers Podcast is medical advice.

#physicianwellness #mindfulnesscoach #pauseandpresence #physiciancoach

Are you sitting on a nail and not changing due to the fear of the discomfort of removing that nail?

Discomfort, pain, and struggle feel familiar to most of us. We may not notice we are sitting on a nail. If we do, we are often so accustomed to discomfort we stay on the nail anyway. Transition and pivots, ie gettign of the nail are even more uncomfortable, even when they ultimately offer more freedom and space.  

Things often have to get SO bad before we are willing “give in” and change.   What if we aren’t "giving in" or giving up when we decide to get off a nail. What if we are giving ourselves permission to finally act in alignment with our core values.

Who would you be, could you be, if you stopped sitting on so many nails?  

Some common thought patterns and beliefs that keep you sitting on nails:

• Scarcity mindset 

• Not valuing yourself or your happiness. The belief that you don't deserve to have a comfortable pain-free life.

• The belief that being uncomfortable is a badge of honor

• Lack of boundaries

• Fear of change, the what if, or making a mistake

• Fear of judgment or being seen as " - "

• So used to discomfort and pain we don’t notice the discomfort of the nail

• Believing that struggling and suffering and hard are valuable

Listen to the episode to learn more. And then sign up to work with us. Consuming this podcast helps but the big shifts happen when you work with us.

Personal mindset coaching and experiencing and practicing mindfulness are what actually help you see where you are sitting on nails and grow the courage and belief to finally get off those nails even when getting off is scary.

Make 2025 the year you stop sitting on nails. 

*Many thanks to Dr. Sonal Haerter for sharing the concept of sitting on nails during her talk at Brave Enough 2024. 

Join Jessie for 1:1 coaching or a retreat. Now is the time to jump in if you want to use 2024 CME time or funds. It’s also the time to secure yourself a spot at Nicasio Creek Farm or Sagrada in 2025. www.jessiemahoneymd.com

Hire one or both of us to speak or lead a workshop on any topic covered in the Mindful Healers Podcast. We also create team retreats, teach yoga, and offer experiential mindfulness for teams, groups, grand rounds, institutions, and conferences.

www.jessiemahoneymd.com/mindful-healers-podcast

www.awakenbreath.org 

www.jessiemahoneymd.com/speaking

*Nothing shared in the Mindful Healers Podcast is medical advice.

#physicianwellness #mindfulnesscoach #pauseandpresence #physiciancoach

Do you feel like you are growing faster than your organization has space for? 

Are your roots trying to grow out the bottom of your pot?

Dr. Holly MacKenna is the Founder of Dara Wellness an Integrative Psychiatry practice in New Orleans. She is Board Certified in Integrative Medicine and Psychiatry. She also has additional certifications in Helms auricular acupuncture and non-touch and distance Reiki.

Dr. MacKenna shares the story of starting her integrative practice right before the Covid pandemic. She embraced the journey because she felt like she had grown beyond what her organization had space for. Her roots were trying to grow out the bottom of a pot.

She shares the importance of coaching and leaning into a community of support when building something new. She recommends if you don’t have a community, find one or create one. Coaching helped Dr. MacKenna give herself permission to let go of the unspoken rules in her head and make her own rules for the practice and life she was building. 

Holly attended the Connect in Nature Mindful Healers Retreat six weeks ago. She recently shared in a Facebook group that she had learned so much at the retreat “without realizing it.” 

In today’s podcast, we discuss why and how this happened and the power of nature, especially trees and experiential learning.

Holly’s two most powerful learnings at the retreat:

 1. Lean into curiosity

2. Being is where the magic and healing happen. 

Dr. MacKenna also shares her thoughts as a psychiatrist on the controversies and benefits of coaching and the importance of choosing a qualified coach. 

You can find Dr. MacKenna @ www.darawellnessnola.com or www.hollymackennamd.com

Move beyond consuming this amazing podcast. True change happens when you work with us - virtually and/or in-person.

The date of next year's Connect in Nature Retreat will be released soon. We are leaning into curiosity and will be holding it in a new location and at a new time of year.

Coach with Jessie - 1:1, in topic-focused small groups, or at a retreat. www.jessiemahoneymd.com

Hire one or both of us to speak or lead a workshop on any topic covered in the Mindful Healers Podcast. We also create team retreats, teach yoga, and offer experiential mindfulness for teams, groups, grand rounds, institutions, and conferences.

www.jessiemahoneymd.com/mindful-healers-podcast

www.awakenbreath.org 

www.jessiemahoneymd.com/speaking

*Nothing shared in the Mindful Healers Podcast is medical advice.

#physicianwellness #mindfulnesscoach #pauseandpresence #physiciancoach

Nourishing our mind, bodies, and spirits “well” feels amazing!  

Why do we talk about it as a task or something that requires discipline?

What if we talked about lifestyle medicine and healthy eating as fun, indulgent, and part of a well-lived life?

What if we moved exercise from the chore column to the gift column? 

You don’t need to exercise. You want to and you get to. 

When you feel great you make better decisions, you are more productive and happier as well as healthier.

Great cooks make healthy food a delight to eat. You get to taste with your eyes and treat your taste buds. As health care providers we can make eating healthy about a feast and delight for the eyes, body, spirit, and soul. 

Dr. Rak and I hope you will join us for this fun conversation about the power of “marketing” a healthy lifestyle to ourselves and others.

Join a Pause & Presence Retreat to taste with your eyes and nourish every cell in your body in delightful ways. 

Move beyond consuming this amazing podcast. True change happens when you work with us - virtually and/or in-person.

Coach with Jessie - 1:1, in topic-focused small groups, or at a retreat. www.jessiemahoneymd.com

Work with both of us in person at The Mindful Healers Annual Retreat www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats

Hire one or both of us to speak or lead a workshop on any topic covered in the Mindful Healers Podcast. We also create team retreats, teach yoga, and offer experiential mindfulness for teams, groups, grand rounds, institutions, and conferences.

www.jessiemahoneymd.com/mindful-healers-podcast

www.awakenbreath.org 

www.jessiemahoneymd.com/speaking

*Nothing shared in the Mindful Healers Podcast is medical advice.

#physicianwellness #mindfulnesscoach #pauseandpresence #physiciancoach