Whole Again: Mindfulness and Resilience Through Kintsugi Wisdom

It's time for another Friday Growth Mindset Tip.

This episode packs two tips into one word: Sorry.

In 2026, to celebrate My Last Bad Day, I'm sharing tips I've learned over the last twenty-five years to help you step into the person you're becoming and build a meaningful life.

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 ne...

In the latest episode of A Perfectly Imperfect Union, I travel to The Cornhusker State and connect with Sofia Gibson.

For her, America means community. Wherever you go, someone knows someone. Still, she sees many people stuck in their ways. Her ask is simple: set your stubbornness aside and listen. You don’t have to change your mind. Just widen the view.

To learn more about Gravel Worlds, head to their website.

Her birthday wish for America is to break out of our shells, and her question for you and our next guest is...

What if the best way to prevent sexual assault starts long before anyone walks into a fraternity house?

Since the news broke about The Cornell 7 and Jane Doe, many have weighed in on how to make things right. Some want Cornell's President to resign; others suggest banning frats or making them co-ed.

These might work, but they are also downstream solutions.

What I haven't heard people talk about is what influenced these men long before they arrived on campus, and that is the focus of this episode.

You can now download...

In the episode of A Perfectly Imperfect Union, I travel to The Equality State to connect with John Ramer.

We start here: What happens when you put a beagle in a room full of politicians?

John Roemer knows. He’s the executive director of Kindness Ranch Animal Sanctuary, a home for animals retired from laboratory research.

For years, John and his beagle, Uno, have traveled to Capitol Hill to advocate for research animals. On one trip, they met with members of Congress from both ends of the political spectrum. Every single one of th...

Having trouble focusing?

Here's a simple microdose meditation to help you start again. You can also find it in the free Pause Breathe Reflect app, available on Apple's App Store or Google Play.

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 m...

In the latest episode of A Perfectly Imperfect Union, I travel to The North Star State to connect with Jaime Pellegrene.

What would change if we led with our hearts a little more?

Jamie is a holistic wellness coach who specializes in Ayurveda and mindfulness, teaches meditation, and leads retreats worldwide.

Jamie sees America as a melting pot full of freedom we often take for granted. She also sees the polarization, and she believes much of it comes down to fear versus trust.

She also shares a memory from a few...

In the latest episode of A Perfectly Imperfect Union, I travel to The Gem State to connect with Randy'L Teton.

We talk about a range of topics, including how well we know the history of the land beneath your feet.

Randy’L Teton does. She’s a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and the model for the Sacagawea golden dollar coin.

She asks us to slow down long enough to honor the land. Learn whose land you live on. Talk about it at the dinner table. Build a real relationship with your tribal neig...

When was the last time you closed a social media app feeling better than when you opened it?

In Tip #40 of 25 Lessons in 25 Years, Michael moves up a tip he had been saving for December. The night before recording, he saw The Social Reckoning, Aaron Sorkin’s new film about Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen.

Michael is honest about loving to hate social media. He needed it to build his coaching business after leaving corporate America. He watched his daughters get pulled into the comparison trap of Instagram, and he noticed his own mental health dip du...

In the latest episode of A Perfectly Imperfect Union, I travel to The Wolverine State and meet Rich Sheridan, whose mission is to bring joy to work.

He believes we can.

In his mid-30s, Rich had everything on paper. Raises, promotions, praise. Inside, he wasn’t happy, and he was ready to quit tech and open a canoe camp in the Boundary Waters. Instead, he chose a different path, built around two simple questions: Who do you serve, and what would delight look like for them?

You can check out his book he...

What does it take to finally stop waiting and start living?

Rebecca asks a version of that question near the end of the Ted Lasso season four finale.

Here's the final episode in my Ted Lasso Season 4 series, and it captures what is beautiful about life. It's its messiness. We spend so much energy chasing hacks, shortcuts, and frictionless tech, yet we still wonder why we aren’t happier.

As I share, it's Rumi’s poem “The Guest House.”

Welcome every visitor, even the sorrows, because each one arrives as a guide.<...

Early in the series, I asked people what kind of birthday cake they would serve for America's 250th.

So I thought it would be fitting to connect with Grace Pak, who, with help from Capitol Hill, baked America's 250th birthday cake.

Something happened in those offices. The politics fell away, and people were just people. Her prescription for a divided country is simple: get in a room together, get your hands busy, and laugh.

She also shares another cool thing that happened, but you need to listen to discover what it is.

Start your day with a Pause Breathe Reflect Mircodose Mediation to support your mindfulness and resilience. This one is about milkshakes and stress, which, in the right amounts, I'm a fan of both.

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...

Please help me co-create the future of Whole Again by completing our community survey. You start here.

In the latest episode of A Perfectly Imperfect Union, I travel to The Gem State and connect with a fellow cyclist who likes to get dirty, Heidi Dohse.

She calls herself a professional heart patient, endurance athlete, and digital health innovator.

Heidi believes America is still the land of the free for anyone willing to be brave and do the work.

Her prescription for a divided country is simple and hard: stop getting spun...

Please help me co-create the future of Whole Again by completing our community survey. You start here.

Why celebrate episode 502 instead of 500?

Because 502 is two more than 500. And because most podcasts never make it this far.

When I started podcasting back in 2019 under the show's old name, The Kintsugi Podcast, I had no idea if I'd ever reach 500 episodes.

Honestly, I had no idea what I was doing. Listening back to those early episodes proves the old adage that you're usually bad before you get better.

But I kept...

Please help me co-create the future of Whole Again by completing our community survey. You start here.

In the latest episode of A Perfectly Imperfect Union, I stay in The Garden State and connect with Anita Rivers.

She's a lifelong educator and the heart behind Fairleigh Dickinson University's 250 Acts of Kindness movement.

For Anita, America is about honoring the people who laid its foundation, starting with Native Americans and enslaved Africans whose full story the history books still don't tell. During our conversation, we talk about her grandmother, who lived to 104, and what...

Please help me co-create the future of Whole Again by completing our community survey. You start here.

We like to think life arrives in tidy chapters. A season of struggle, then a season of joy. A season of grief, then a season of happiness. But life doesn't work that way. Life be lifing.

I know this firsthand. Only a few days before my near-death cycling accident, I was riding one of the highest peaks of my life. Then life came in like Hulk Hogan and body slammed me.

In this episode of Wh...

For the latest episode of A Perfectly Imperfect Union, I stay right here in The Garden State and connect with Dr. Beatrice Anduze-Faris.

What if some of the weight you're carrying was never yours to begin with?

Beatrice was born in Canada, raised in Paris, and became a US citizen in 2011. After more than 20 years as an MD and pharma executive, she's now a life transformation Sherpa.

She's also a fan of Kintsugi, which helps people heal, and she believes the same golden repair can work for a country. Much of what weighs...

Here's a microdose meditation to help you boost your mood as you start the week.

Will you help me co-create the future of Whole Again by taking a minute to fill out our community survey? Start here.

Discover how to scroll less and live more by taking my Free Smartphone Wellness Audit by clicking phone.

Did you know that stickers are wonderful visual cues to help you create healthy habits? You can get one of my free Pause Breathe Reflect sticker by clicking sticker.

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In the latest episode of A Perfectly Imperfect Union, I travel to The Buckeye State to connect with Dr. Mike Roizen and we talk about this question.

What would you do with 25 more good years?

Dr. Mike Roizen believes this is possible for most of us.

For him, America means freedom of opportunity and his vision for us starts with health. He led a wellness program that cut the Cleveland Clinic's employee healthcare costs by 38%, and he believes we can do the same as a nation.

He's all about staying younger...

How tightly are you gripping the handlebars right now?

I explore why so many of us are clenching against a world of accelerating uncertainty, why that grip leaves us exhausted and feeling every bump in the road, and how easing up lets us absorb setbacks without losing momentum. You don't give up control. You let balance do its job.

My invitation for you this week?

Notice when you start to tense up. Acknowledge the fear, then release the tension, using your breath, mindful movement, or yoga to come back to center. Make small...

In the latest episode of A Perfectly Imperfect Union, I travel to The Sunshine State and connect with Robert Mixon.

He served 33 years as a soldier, became a corporate executive, and now runs Level 5 Associates, a leadership company, from Melbourne, Florida, where his wife, Ruthie, declared their 20th move would be their last.

We talk about his service, the value of waiting two seconds, and what happens every time he comes back home.

You can connect with Robert here, and you can also check out his books while you are there.

...

What happens when the concern fades, and all that's left is silence?

Alice knows. And in episode eight of Ted Lasso season four, she finally says it out loud.

I know it too.

Apple titled this one "Follow the Anger." Michael has a better name for it: The Road Back. It's the stage of the hero's journey (or in Alice's case, the she-ro's journey) where our hero believes she's found her way home, only to be tested one more time.

When Gemma goes down mid-match chasing a hat trick, all of...

In the latest episode of A Perfectly Imperfect Union, I travel to the Sooner State to connect with Andy Moore.

We discuss whether America is a noun or a verb.

He runs Let's Fix This, a nonpartisan civic hub for Oklahoma, and serves as executive director of the National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers.

We also discuss voting and the power of witnessing who comes and goes at gas stations and seeing that we are all just trying to get by. In that ordinary moment, it's hard to miss how alike we really are.<...

A microdose meditation to start the day with more mindfulness and resilience.

Today, we tap into one of the most powerful words in the English language: And.

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 Sh...

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 travel to The Peace Garden State and connect...

What do a splinted finger and a fifteen-year-old fingernail groove have to do with your health?

More than you'd think.

In this episode, I share tip number 38 in his year-long series celebrating the 25th anniversary of my last bad day, and it comes straight from personal experience.

A small groove in his fingernail that he first noticed nearly two decades ago slowly grew more pronounced, and after finally committing this year to solve it, surgery revealed a ganglion cyst around his knuckle.

Now recovering with his hand in a splint, I'm...

In the latest episode of A Perfectly Imperfect Union, I stay in Maine to connect with my very first Chief Love Officer, Mia Kyricos.

Mia built her career on a simple bet: that love, the highest form of positivity, can be a real business strategy, not just a nice idea.

Mia's family story runs straight through the American promise.

Her mother immigrated from Greece as a child with nothing but the clothes on her back, and her grandmother spent her whole life revering what it meant to become a citizen here.

...

What does saying "yes" actually cost you if there's nothing after it?

As I continue diving into season 4 of Ted Lasso, this question can help us strengthen our resilience and mindfulness practices.

In this episode, Alice is mid-transformation, working her way out of what Michael calls the messy middle. She's been told to lean into the power of "yes," but tries it on like an allergic reaction, saying yes to everyone and everything with no boundaries at all.

That's not resilience. It's passive surrender. It's Ted and Beard who help her find the...

In the latest episode of A Perfectly Imperfect Union, I travel to the Vacationland State to visit with Jack Wilson.

We talk about how you only really understand freedom once you've lived outside this country and come back.

Jack doesn't think the divide we're in is unfixable. He thinks it's a communication problem, not a values problem. We've got more ways to talk to each other than any generation before us, and somehow we're worse at it. He pushes back on the idea that disagreement has to mean disrespect, and he means it.

...

It's just 10 breaths. An intentional way to start the day for more mindfulness and resilience.

Join me most Mondays and Fridays for live practices to start and end your week in community.

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 b...

In the latest episode of A Perfectly Imperfect Union, I travel to The Mountain State, cue up the John Denver, to connect with poet Vincent Caruso.

We talk about whether or not we've been measuring success in America by all the wrong things

He's watched teachers pay out of pocket for their classrooms and nurses burn out while CEOs and athletes get treated like heroes, and he thinks our money priorities are simply out of whack.

Vince's story is one that many Americans have experienced and it's a story worth listening to.

Can doing something less than perfect actually be the better choice?

That's the question behind this week's tip, number 37 in the 25 Lessons in 25 Years series. It starts with a line from Anne-Marie Bonneau, "The Zero-Waste Chef," who said back in 2019, "We don't need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly."

Michael takes that idea and runs it through a memory from 1997, when he and his wife stood in line at the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa for the first time -- supposedly the world's most...

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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On this episode of A Perfectly Imperfect Union, I travel to the Pelican State and connect with Joshua...

Can you actually rush your way to resilience, or does healing only happen once you're willing to sit in the mess?

Welcome to episode six of season 4 and the messy middle.

Jamie's back, and he's still, with love, a bit of a prick. Roy's nursing an injury and some relationship drama. Coach Beard is having an identity crisis. Ted and Michelle are working through the wreckage of divorce. And Alice looks like she's being quietly set up for the biggest Kintsugi moment of the whole season.

If you're expecting the usual warm, fluffy...

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 travel to The Dominion State and connect with...

A simple way to welcome the day.

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...

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 travel to the Tar Heel State to speak...

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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Where were you twenty-five years ago today?

Michael was in a rehab session at the Kessler...

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 Imperfectly Union, I travel to the Big Sky State to connect...

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 build trust with your team is to let them see you at...