Whole Again: Mindfulness and Resilience Through Kintsugi Wisdom

The Whole Again Podcast: Mindfulness and Resilience through Kinstugi Wisdom airs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with Pause Breathe Reflect Microdose Meditations, Growth Mindset and Mindfulness Tips, to help us transform our scars into healing and resilience.

And between May and October, I'm sharing a new series I'm calling: A Perfectly Imperfect Union. It's about connecting with every day folks as they reflect on America at 250. Conversations will air every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

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What if the fastest way to shift your mood wasn't found in a lengthy meditation, but in a single breath pattern you can do anywhere?

Stanford researchers recently compared several breathwork techniques and found that cyclic sighing outperformed the rest at elevating mood, and in this week's microdose meditation from the Pause, Breathe, Reflect app, Michael walks you through exactly how to practice it.

You'll settle into a comfortable position, ground yourself with three slow breaths, then learn the simple pattern behind cyclic sighing: two inhales through the nose, one long exhale through the mouth.

It's a practice you can return to whenever today's uncertainty asks a little too much of you, and a reminder that sometimes the most grounding thing we can do is simply breathe.

You will discover:

• The Stanford research behind cyclic sighing and why it's uniquely effective for mood
• How to practice the double inhale, slow exhale breathing pattern step by step
• A short, guided version you can use anytime you need to reset
• Where to find hundreds more practices like this one, completely free

You can now download my Pause Breathe Reflect App with Microdose EQ for FREE on Apple’s App Store or Google Play. Discover how to spend less time on your phone and more time on things that bring you joy. Also, find the support you need to navigate today’s uncertainty with more calm and grace.

Receive a FREE copy of my book: “My Last Bad Day Shift.”

We can also connect on LinkedIn.

Subscribe to be sure you don’t miss any of the micro-meditations, wellness tips, and guidance that I publish every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7:11 am.

The Whole Again Podcast: Mindfulness and Resilience through Kinstugi Wisdom airs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with Pause Breathe Reflect Microdose Meditations, Growth Mindset and Mindfulness Tips, to help us transform our scars into healing and resilience.

And between May and October, I'm sharing a new series I'm calling: A Perfectly Imperfect Union. It's about connecting with every day folks as they reflect on America at 250. Conversations will air every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

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What are you doing to steward the gift you've been given?

In the latest episode of A Perfectly Imperfect Union, we travel to Connecticut and sit down with Veronica Sommers.

Veronica believes trust in this country has been broken, not by politics, but by a lost moral foundation.

She traces it back to COVID, when friendships she thought were unshakeable fell apart over vaccine status and voting choices. Her answer wasn't to retreat. She gave up her income, her apartment, and nearly everything she owned to pursue a calling around protecting children and restoring what she calls moral clarity in the digital age.

If you've ever wondered what it looks like to bet everything on your convictions, this conversation will stay with you. Veronica doesn't hold back, including a hard truth about what's for sale on Amazon that will make you think twice about your next order.

Veronica has a question for you and our next guest is:

What are you personally doing to steward what you've been given?

Share your thoughts in the comments and share this episode with one of your neighbors.

You can connect with Veronica on LinkedIn and learn about her mission of Sacred Leadership.

You can now download my Pause Breathe Reflect App with Microdose EQ for FREE on Apple’s App Store or Google Play. Discover how to spend less time on your phone and more time on things that bring you joy. Also, find the support you need to navigate today’s uncertainty with more calm and grace.

Receive a FREE copy of my book: “My Last Bad Day Shift.”

We can also connect on LinkedIn.

Subscribe to be sure you don’t miss any of the micro-meditations, wellness tips, and guidance that I publish every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7:11 am.

The Whole Again Podcast: Mindfulness and Resilience through Kinstugi Wisdom airs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with Pause Breathe Reflect Microdose Meditations, Growth Mindset and Mindfulness Tips, to help us transform our scars into healing and resilience.

And between May and October, I'm sharing a new series I'm calling: A Perfectly Imperfect Union. It's about connecting with every day folks as they reflect on America at 250. Conversations will air every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

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What if the story you've been told about recovery is wrong?

You know the one.

The one that suggests that progress is a straight line, up and to the right, like a slide in someone's PowerPoint deck.

We are up to tip #31 in Michael's year-long series of tips to help celebrate the 25th anniversary of his Last Bad Day.

One year ago, on a normal bike ride, he was clotheslined by a low-hanging, unmarked utility cable. He broke his femur in five places. And in the twelve months since, his recovery hasn't moved up and to the right at all. Some weeks brought real progress. Others brought frustration and what felt like steps backward.

That gap between the story we've been sold, mostly by social media highlight reels, and the messy reality of healing is the focus of this episode.

Michael introduces the R in his GRACE framework: reflecting and reframing. Instead of measuring how far you moved today, he invites you to ask a simpler, truer question. Did you stay in the process?

Whether you're recovering physically, emotionally, or professionally, or chasing a big goal that isn't cooperating with your timeline, this episode offers a different way to measure whether you're actually growing.

You will discover:

• Why recovery and growth are bumpy, not linear, and why that's normal
• The GRACE framework and how the reframe step changes everything
• A simple weekly question to replace tracking progress with trusting the process
• Why extending yourself grace leads to a more connected life, and world

Press play to hear Michael's honest reflection on a year of recovery he didn't expect, and the mindset shift that's helping him trust the process instead of grading each day.

And once you're done, don't miss tomorrow's episode of A Perfectly Imperfect Union, Michael's series of conversations with everyday Americans as the country turns 250.

You can now download my Pause Breathe Reflect App with Microdose EQ for FREE on Apple’s App Store or Google Play. Discover how to spend less time on your phone and more time on things that bring you joy. Also, find the support you need to navigate today’s uncertainty with more calm and grace.

Receive a FREE copy of my book: “My Last Bad Day Shift.”

We can also connect on LinkedIn.

Subscribe to be sure you don’t miss any of the micro-meditations, wellness tips, and guidance that I publish every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7:11 am.

The Whole Again Podcast: Mindfulness and Resilience through Kinstugi Wisdom airs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with Pause Breathe Reflect Microdose Meditations, Growth Mindset and Mindfulness Tips, to help us transform our scars into healing and resilience.

And between May and October, I'm sharing a new series I'm calling: A Perfectly Imperfect Union. It's about connecting with every day folks as they reflect on America at 250. Conversations will air every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

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In our latest episode, we travel to Michigan and sit down with Larry Walsh. He's an Army veteran, cyclist, author, husband, father, and someone who splits his time between Northern Michigan and Williamsburg, Virginia.

Larry pushes back on the narrative that America is hopelessly divided. He's ridden across the country twice, once as a tour and once as a race, and what he found wasn't division.

It was small towns, five-minute conversations, and people who are, in his words, 99.9% good.

He also opens up about what he thinks we're missing as a country: humility and curiosity, the willingness to say "I don't know" instead of pretending to have all the answers.

And his question for you and our next guest:

What is your next adventure?

To discover more about Larry and check out his books, click or head to https://larry-walsh.com/books/.

You can now download my Pause Breathe Reflect App with Microdose EQ for FREE on Apple’s App Store or Google Play. Discover how to spend less time on your phone and more time on things that bring you joy. Also, find the support you need to navigate today’s uncertainty with more calm and grace.

Receive a FREE copy of my book: “My Last Bad Day Shift.”

We can also connect on LinkedIn.

Subscribe to be sure you don’t miss any of the micro-meditations, wellness tips, and guidance that I publish every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7:11 am.

The Whole Again Podcast: Mindfulness and Resilience through Kinstugi Wisdom airs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with Pause Breathe Reflect Microdose Meditations, Growth Mindset and Mindfulness Tips, to help us transform our scars into healing and resilience.

And between May and October, I'm sharing a new series I'm calling: A Perfectly Imperfect Union. It's about connecting with every day folks as they reflect on America at 250. Conversations will air every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

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One year ago, Michael was lying on the asphalt waiting for EMS, clotheslined by an unmarked utility cable that broke his femur in five places. In this episode, he opens up about the anniversary of that accident and what actually helps us get through the hardest moments, not the highlight reel version, but the quiet work that happens after everyone stops watching.

Michael shares why building a strong personal foundation before the bumpy moments arrive is the key to weathering them when they do, and how two often overlooked qualities, hope and grace, carried him through his recovery.

He also reflects on the difference between the outpouring of support that shows up right after a crisis and the deeper, quieter support we need long after the algorithm moves on.

This is an honest look at resilience in real time, not as a finished story, but as a work still in progress.

You will discover:

• Why building your personal foundation now, before a crisis hits, makes all the difference when one does
• The cornerstones of a strong foundation, including your values, your peloton, and your inner conversation
• The distinction between hope and grace, and why both are essential to recovery
• Why the real work of healing begins after people stop watching, not while they're watching

Press play to hear Michael's honest reflections on foundation, patience, and what it really means to become whole again.

You can now download my Pause Breathe Reflect App with Microdose EQ for FREE on Apple’s App Store or Google Play. Discover how to spend less time on your phone and more time on things that bring you joy. Also, find the support you need to navigate today’s uncertainty with more calm and grace.

Receive a FREE copy of my book: “My Last Bad Day Shift.”

We can also connect on LinkedIn.

Subscribe to be sure you don’t miss any of the micro-meditations, wellness tips, and guidance that I publish every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7:11 am.

The Whole Again Podcast: Mindfulness and Resilience through Kinstugi Wisdom airs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with Pause Breathe Reflect Microdose Meditations, Growth Mindset and Mindfulness Tips, to help us transform our scars into healing and resilience.

And between May and October, I'm sharing a new series I'm calling: A Perfectly Imperfect Union. It's about connecting with every day folks as they reflect on America at 250. Conversations will air every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

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In this episode of A Perfectly Imperfect Union, we travel to Texas and visit with Taylor Lopez.

She's a Texas native who spends her days helping brands grow responsibly and her nights writing about mental health, especially in women.

Taylor opens up about breaking her life apart in 2019 and rebuilding it into something more beautiful than she could have imagined. She first learned about Kintsugi from an art therapist during a stay at a behavioral hospital, and it became a cornerstone of her healing.

To Taylor, America isn't a place. It's a feeling. Promise, optimism, and the belief that reinvention is always possible.

She also shares how she and her husband turned their home into a safe haven for their kids and any child who needs one, no questions asked. It's a small, local ripple effect she believes can spread outward.

To connect with Taylor, use this LinkedIn link.

Taylor has a question for you and our next guest is:

Do you think people have enough awareness of the different types of therapy available, or does "therapy" get boiled down to just one thing in most of our minds?

Share your thoughts in the comments and share this episode with one of your neighbors.

You can now download my Pause Breathe Reflect App with Microdose EQ for FREE on Apple’s App Store or Google Play. Discover how to spend less time on your phone and more time on things that bring you joy. Also, find the support you need to navigate today’s uncertainty with more calm and grace.

Receive a FREE copy of my book: “My Last Bad Day Shift.”

We can also connect on LinkedIn.

Subscribe to be sure you don’t miss any of the micro-meditations, wellness tips, and guidance that I publish every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7:11 am.

The Whole Again Podcast: Mindfulness and Resilience through Kinstugi Wisdom airs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with Pause Breathe Reflect Microdose Meditations, Growth Mindset and Mindfulness Tips, to help us transform our scars into healing and resilience.

And between May and October, I'm sharing a new series I'm calling: A Perfectly Imperfect Union. It's about connecting with every day folks as they reflect on America at 250. Conversations will air every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

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After the peanut shop owner finished bagging his dad's cashews, she would ask a simple question. And something else? Michael thought it was brilliant.

The whole store suddenly felt full of possibilities. He carried that question into his corporate career, pulling it out anytime he or his team got stuck on the first idea that came to mind.

In this Microdose Monday practice from the Pause, Breathe, Reflect app, Michael guides you through the same question so you can see that you likely have more options than you first realized.

You will settle into your body, bring to mind something you are working on personally or professionally, and gently keep asking "and something else" until new possibilities rise to the surface.

There is no judging what comes up, just an open curiosity designed to help you get unstuck and move forward.

You can now download my Pause Breathe Reflect App with Microdose EQ for FREE on Apple’s App Store or Google Play. Discover how to spend less time on your phone and more time on things that bring you joy. Also, find the support you need to navigate today’s uncertainty with more calm and grace.

Receive a FREE copy of my book: “My Last Bad Day Shift.”

We can also connect on LinkedIn.

Subscribe to be sure you don’t miss any of the micro-meditations, wellness tips, and guidance that I publish every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7:11 am.

The Whole Again Podcast: Mindfulness and Resilience through Kinstugi Wisdom airs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with Pause Breathe Reflect Microdose Meditations, Growth Mindset and Mindfulness Tips, to help us transform our scars into healing and resilience.

And between May and October, I'm sharing a new series I'm calling: A Perfectly Imperfect Union. It's about connecting with every day folks as they reflect on America at 250. Conversations will air every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

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In the latest episode of A Perfectly Imperfect Union, we stay in Maryland and have our second conversation. Today it's with Ashley Houghton.

I love her question and how it frames her thinking of America: What if we stopped electing boxers and started electing legislators?

Ashley talks about America the way you'd talk about a beloved, frustrating family member, someone you love deeply even when they disappoint you.

She traces her path from national security and civil liberties work to her work today on democracy reform, and lays out her belief that structural fixes like proportional representation and ranked-choice voting could change who we elect and why.

To discover more about Ashley, visit her at FairVote.org

And her question for you and our next guest is: What are some tangible small things you're doing right now to build community and resilience where you live?

Share your thoughts in the comments and share this episode with one of your neighbors.

You can now download my Pause Breathe Reflect App with Microdose EQ for FREE on Apple’s App Store or Google Play. Discover how to spend less time on your phone and more time on things that bring you joy. Also, find the support you need to navigate today’s uncertainty with more calm and grace.

Receive a FREE copy of my book: “My Last Bad Day Shift.”

We can also connect on LinkedIn.

Subscribe to be sure you don’t miss any of the micro-meditations, wellness tips, and guidance that I publish every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7:11 am.

The Whole Again Podcast: Mindfulness and Resilience through Kinstugi Wisdom airs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with Pause Breathe Reflect Microdose Meditations, Growth Mindset and Mindfulness Tips, to help us transform our scars into healing and resilience.

And between May and October, I'm sharing a new series I'm calling: A Perfectly Imperfect Union. It's about connecting with every day folks as they reflect on America at 250. Conversations will air every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

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In this episode, Michael shares Growth Mindset Tip #30 as he celebrates 25 years since his Last Bad Day.

This one comes straight from life with his dog-loving wife: the idea that our energy travels down the leash. Just as our pets can sense when we're joyful or anxious, the people around us pick up on our energy, whether it's at a concert, in a stadium, or as we walk into a room.

Michael revisits the acronym GRACE he created during his hospital recovery and reminds us that, no matter what we're going through, we always have a choice about the energy we bring into any space. And that doesn't mean bypassing hard emotions. Sometimes the most honest thing we can do is feel them fully, maybe with a good snuggle from a fur baby along the way.

You will discover:

• Why your energy travels down the leash, and how your pets (and people) can sense it
• The GRACE framework Michael created in the hospital: Gratitude, Reframing, Awareness/Acceptance/Action, Community, and Energy
• Why choosing your energy doesn't mean suppressing your real emotions
• A simple reminder that you're always at choice, even in hard moments

Press play and share this episode with one of your neighbors.

You can now download my Pause Breathe Reflect App with Microdose EQ for FREE on Apple’s App Store or Google Play. Discover how to spend less time on your phone and more time on things that bring you joy. Also, find the support you need to navigate today’s uncertainty with more calm and grace.

Receive a FREE copy of my book: “My Last Bad Day Shift.”

We can also connect on LinkedIn.

Subscribe to be sure you don’t miss any of the micro-meditations, wellness tips, and guidance that I publish every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7:11 am.

The Whole Again Podcast: Mindfulness and Resilience through Kinstugi Wisdom airs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday with Pause Breathe Reflect Microdose Meditations, Growth Mindset and Mindfulness Tips, to help us transform our scars into healing and resilience.

And between May and October, I'm sharing a new series I'm calling: A Perfectly Imperfect Union. It's about connecting with every day folks as they reflect on America at 250. Conversations will air every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

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In the latest episode of A Perfectly Imperfect Union, we travel to Maryland and sit down with Heather Wagner.

She runs a nonprofit in DC, works in the anti-human trafficking space, and identifies openly as an autistic ADHD leader raising two neurodivergent kids. She's also been a minister, an executive coach, and a "rail fan mom" chasing trains with her son across Maryland.

Heather shares that her views of America have shifted across different seasons of her life, from the girl who grew up near Seneca Falls believing she could change the world, to someone who now sees the country's story as a bit of a tragedy, one she still holds hope for.

She shares a vivid image from a trip to Italy, sitting near the Colosseum and realizing America is like a petulant teenager, sure it has all the answers but still nowhere near fully grown.

Her prescription for healing isn't complicated. Stop looking for difference. Start anchoring into what we all actually share: grief, love, fear, the wish to be seen and valued.

To discover more about Heather, please use this link to connect on LinkedIn.

And Heather's question for you and our next guest is: If you could sit down and have coffee with one person, past, present, or future, who would it be?

Share your thoughts in the comments and share this episode with one of your neighbors.

You can now download my Pause Breathe Reflect App with Microdose EQ for FREE on Apple’s App Store or Google Play. Discover how to spend less time on your phone and more time on things that bring you joy. Also, find the support you need to navigate today’s uncertainty with more calm and grace.

Receive a FREE copy of my book: “My Last Bad Day Shift.”

We can also connect on LinkedIn.

Subscribe to be sure you don’t miss any of the micro-meditations, wellness tips, and guidance that I publish every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7:11 am.