In this solo episode, I invite you to step into a new understanding of your patterns without judgment or shame.

Explore the "overs" and the "toxics" - the subtle (and not so subtle) ways our best traits become burdens when they’re overdone.

If you’ve ever felt depleted by the traits that once helped you succeed, or wondered why awareness alone isn’t shifting your patterns, this episode is for you.

As we celebrate FIVE years of the Healing Medicine podcast next week, we reflect on what has sustained us —intention, alignment, and choosing with awareness. 

Consistency rooted in love, not obligation, leads to energy, creativity, and sustainability. Sustainability isn’t about willpower; it’s about choosing with presence and letting alignment lead.

Whether you’re a parent, teacher, or someone passionate about helping children regulate emotions, this conversation offers a fresh, creative way to connect. It’s a powerful reminder that when we pause to breathe, we open the door to presence, empathy, and resilience for children and ourselves.

This episode is a powerful guide for healthcare professionals who find themselves caught between the desire to protect and the practice of presence.

Whether your expertise is welcomed or dismissed, this conversation is about staying connected, grounded, and compassionate, even when it’s complicated.

This episode offers a strengths-based perspective on holiday dynamics while focusing less on what goes wrong and more on the mindful choices that cultivate ease, joy, and connection, even amidst grief, change, and complexity.

This week, Jessie is joined by Helena Rosenthal, MBA, MPH, and Nikki Macdonald, CFP®, financial advisors from Northwestern Mutual who specialize in supporting women and women-led households. 

Money is emotional, relational, and often a mirror of what matters most in life. Awareness of your money “story” creates spaciousness for something more compassionate.

Brilliantly bad ideas aren’t about you. They're structural, impersonal, and often just disconnected from the day-to-day reality of clinical life.

We invite you to laugh with us, reflect, and most importantly, not to take them personally.

What if there isn’t one right way to do things, but many?

Letting go of being “right” opens the door to creativity, flexibility, and even liberation.

Today’s episode offers a mindful and compassionate reframe: seeing our approaches as preferences—shaped by our experiences, values, and identities. 

Peace and joy await when you allow others to make their own decisions, even if you think they are bad decisions. 

It is deeply freeing and surprisingly energizing when you stop trying to fix other people.

Your originality and uniqueness are not liabilities. They are your greatest offering.

This episode is an invitation to uncover and embrace the most radiant, wholehearted version of you.

Why? Conformity has a significant cost.

Your originality and uniqueness are not liabilities. They are your greatest offering.

We invite you to stop waiting for permission or for the system to fix itself, and instead to lead with integrity, clarity, and love.
While we can’t fix the entire system, we can always choose how we show up within it.  

That is where true healing begins.

A mindful, honest, and hopeful exploration of victimhood in medicine—what it is, how it shows up, and why so many of us feel trapped, powerless, and unseen within a deeply flawed system.

Today's episode shares the story of what becomes possible when we choose peace over control. 

Whether you're in perimenopause, menopause, or postmenopause—or supporting someone who is—this episode is full of gentle truths and nourishing permission to live this season with intention, softness, and spaciousness.

Dr. Susan Baumgaertel is our special guest. She is a profoundly thoughtful and creative physician who passionately reframes menopause around nourishment, pleasure, and presence at its center. With decades of experience in internal medicine and a unique blend of architectural and artistic insight, Susan offers a menu of supportive, holistic, and empowering approaches for midlife and beyond.

Susan shares her own personal and professional pivots, the birth of her book The Menopause Menu, and how she is using her voice and wisdom to help women navigate midlife on their own terms—without overwhelm, shame, or shoulds.

Pearls of Wisdom:

• Menopause can be a time of pleasure, choice, and curiosity—not just a list of things to fix. Think of it as a nourishing multi-course "menu", not a checklist.

• Small, thoughtful shifts, what Susan calls “micro-pivots,” can lead to meaningful transformation. You don’t have to throw it all out to create a new path.

• Rather than immediately reaching for a solution, take time to pause, reflect, and listen to your body. Sustainable nourishment comes from alignment, not urgency.

• Food, body image, and health can all be approached with compassion and joy. Sugar can be healing. A walk can be creative. Your body can be art.

• The system may be broken, but your experience doesn’t have to be. Personal time, presence, and honest conversations with yourself can make a profound difference.

Parenting doesn’t end when our children turn 18—it simply changes. Parenting young adult children encompasses a full spectrum of emotions, including joy, pride, longing, and grief. It requires a reevaluation of what it means to be a mother.

Women have the capacity to lift one another in ways that shift not just careers, but culture. In honor of Women in Medicine Month, we reflect on the ripple effect of referrals, recommendations, and authentic support, especially among women in medicine.

We haven’t always supported other women in medicine optimally. This episode serves as an encouragement to make a change. Whether you're a natural connector or a quiet introvert, there are practical ways to build deeper relationships, give generously, and receive with grace in the episode.

This week, we invite you into a mindful conversation about the powerful concept of graduating and outgrowing roles rather than quitting.

What if moving on didn’t mean giving up—but meant you’ve outgrown, evolved, and are ready for what’s next? Listen to learn how to recognize that moment, navigate it with grace, and honor the growth that brought you to this turning point.

Have you ever felt there had to be more to practicing medicine? That healing could happen beyond prescriptions and procedures? In this powerful and heartwarming episode, we welcome Dr. Amy Valasek, a Presidential Award winning pediatric sports medicine physician, group fitness instructor, and mom of two athletes, as she shares how she integrated movement and joy into her medical practice.

In this conversation, we explore the parallels between tending plants and tending ourselves. From planting seeds to harvesting fruit, every stage in the garden offers lessons about patience, presence, letting go of control, and trusting the natural rhythm of growth. Whether you’re an experienced gardener, a houseplant enthusiast, or simply plant-curious, you’ll hear insights, humor, and inspiration to deepen your connection to nature—and yourself.

We explore the countercultural truth that success doesn’t always mean scaling up—it can mean rooting down. Inspired by Bo Burlingham’s book Small Giants, we reflect on companies and people who intentionally choose depth, intimacy, and meaning over sheer size.