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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In this episode of Whole Again, Michael shares a story from a recent corporate off-site where a team had been running on empty for six months. So they paused and did the thing most of us never do: took a deep breath.

It turns out we take somewhere between 20,000 and 25,000 breaths a day, and we're rarely present for a single one. That's the tension at the heart of this episode: we're moving through our days on autopilot, and our energy is leaking out into every space we enter without us even noticing.

The anchor here is a sign Michael found at an Indiana University Health Center years ago, asking people to take responsibility for the energy they bring into a space before they enter it. It's a simple idea with a big ripple effect: when we're reactive, our words and behaviors can cause real harm. When we're intentional, they can do real good.

This episode also builds on yesterday's A Perfectly Imperfect Union conversation with Robina from Maui, who left listeners with a question of her own: Are you breathing deeply?

Before you go, try this: take one deep breath before your next meeting, conversation, or doorway you walk through today.

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 of A Perfectly Imperfect Union, we travel to Hawaii and visit with Robena.

We talk about aloha as currency, life on an isolated island where everyone has to take care of each other, and why she believes America is, at its core, an aspirational line of thinking.

She traces her family's roots back to 1600s Virginia and a long westward pull that eventually landed her in Hawaii.

Her prescription for healing the country is simple and hard at the same time: more empathy, more patience, and more deep breathing to calm a nervous system stuck in fear.

And her question for you and our next guest is: Are you breathing deeply?

Visit Robena's Galley via this link.

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 Microdose Monday practice from the Pause, Breathe, Reflect app, Michael shares the Ho'oponopono prayer, a healing meditation that originated in Hawaii and carries a simple but profound message: I am sorry. Please forgive me. I love you. Thank you.

Michael first learned to repeat this mantra while cycling up Mount Haleakala in Maui, and he brings that same spirit of forgiveness and connection into this guided practice.

Rooted in the belief that we are all one and that changing the world begins with changing ourselves, this meditation invites you to place your hands on your heart, breathe into it, and let your higher self offer you the compassion you may be withholding from yourself.

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 does it look like when honesty becomes the foundation for healing?

In our next episode of A Perfectly Imperfect Union, we travel to the great state of Mississippi and sit down with Jessica Starks, entrepreneur, writer, storyteller, and community builder.

I love how Jessica pushes back on Mississippi's reputation, pointing to a state full of hospitality and accomplished, well-read people that outsiders rarely see.

As a creative, she's candid about AI too, calling it a "frenemy" that can help the process but can never replace the human soul behind real art. And through her genealogy work, she's uncovered a family story that includes both the weight of slavery and the surprise of being welcomed by white relatives she once feared would turn away.

You can discover more about her via this link.

And Jessica's question for you and our next guest is:

If you could build a museum on anything you chose, what would it be about?

Share your thoughts in the comments and share this episode with someone you love.

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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Once you're gone, will anyone remember your Strava feed?

We are up to Growth Mindset Tip #29, as I celebrate 25 years since my Last Bad Day.

Fitness apps like Strava can be genuinely useful. They track progress, map new routes, and connect you with other athletes. But Michael digs into the flip side.

These same platforms can quietly pull us into comparison, ego, and shoulding all over ourselves, chasing a version of fitness that has nothing to do with the life we actually want to build. He's honest that his own posts still matter to him, but his happiness can't be tied to them.

Because at the end of it all, no one will remember your mile splits. They'll remember how you made them feel.

If you've ever caught yourself comparing your pace, your body, or your progress to someone else's feed, this one's for you.

Share your thoughts in the comments and share this episode with an athlete you love.

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, I sit down with Nelson Wang, a huge NY Knicks fan, at a Capital One Cafe in New York City.

Nelson believes America's real strength is the willingness to be stronger for our differences instead of weaker because of them, and he's watched that play out on the streets of New York every day.

The story that anchors it all is his father's, a man who fled Shanghai for Hong Kong ahead of the Cultural Revolution and eventually built a new life in America, a life Nelson was the first in his family to be born into here.

You can discover more about Nelson via this link.

And Nelson's question for you and our next guest, Jessica, is:

What subject do you wish documentarian Ken Burns would tackle next?

Share your thoughts in the comments and share this episode with someone you love.

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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Do you need someone's permission to change?

That's the question a leader Michael coaches recently put to him: before his accident, was he ever given permission to become someone new?

It's a question most of us are quietly asking ourselves too, even if we've never said it out loud. In this episode, Michael unpacks why we don't need anyone's permission to shift, evolve, or outgrow the groove we've settled into, and why staying stuck there creates a quiet, constant tension.

He calls out the corporations that profit from our self-doubt, the ones selling us a fix for a story we were never meant to believe in the first place. He also revisits the rocks in our backpack, the DO HAVE BE trap so many of us live inside without realizing it, and why finding the right peloton matters more than finding permission.

You will discover:

• Why change never actually requires anyone else's approval, including your own past self's
• How to recognize when you're stuck in a groove that no longer fits who you're becoming
• The DO HAVE BE trap and how corporate culture profits from keeping us in it
• A simple set of questions to ask yourself about what still fits and what you've outgrown
• Why surrounding yourself with the right peloton matters more than waiting for permission.

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 is something you wish almost everyone truly understood?

That's the question Shannon Ross asks in this episode of A Perfectly Imperfect Union: Reflecting on America 250.

Shannon is the founder of The Community, a criminal justice reform organization based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, doing work with advocates, impacted individuals, and crime survivors alike.

Shannon spent 17 years in prison, from age 19 to 36. For Shannon, the real fracture in this country isn't politics. It's narrative. It's how we tell our stories, and how quickly we let those stories calcify into ideology before we've paused long enough to actually think them through.

He also shared something essential: we like to believe we live our lives off truth and facts, when really we live off stories. You don't realize you're living inside one until you tell yourself a different story and your life changes.

Here's Shannon's question for you and our next guest:

What is something you have heard in your time that you wish almost everyone you meet understood well?

Share your thoughts in the comments and share this episode with a fellow neighbor or friend.

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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That's the invitation behind this week's Microdose Monday meditation from Michael's app, Pause, Breathe, Reflect. In a season where uncertainty seems to be everywhere, Michael offers a gentle reminder that joy and worry can coexist. You don't have to wait for the hard things to pass before you're allowed to feel good again.

This short practice walks you through settling into stillness, softening the extra weight we carry (the rocks in our backpack, as Michael likes to call them), and opening space for two simple doorways into joy: gratitude and mudita, the appreciative joy we feel when someone else is thriving. It's a practice designed to meet you exactly where you are, even on your heaviest days.

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 does it mean to keep becoming, even when the road isn't a straight line up?

I recently sat down with John Dye on our Perfectly Imperfect Union Series. He works at the intersection of faith and media, trying to make culture a little more faith-fluent and a little more curious about difference.

He sees America not as a melting pot, but a big salad bowl. Different ingredients, still distinct, still whole, sitting right next to each other and somehow making something better together.

He talks about empathy as the glue, about having bigger ears than mouths, and about a thing called the human library, where you can sit down with a stranger and check out their story like a book.

His wish for the country is that it keeps becoming, unevenly, imperfectly, but always moving toward more freedom and more room for people to be different and still belong.

And his question for you and our next guest is:

What are the three most important characteristics you see in others that you'd like to adopt, for yourself or for society as a whole?

Share your thoughts in the comments and share this episode with someone you love.

You can discover more about John via LinkedIn.

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.