284. Brilliantly Bad Ideas: How to Keep Your Humor and Sanity in the Face of Absurdity

Misguided ideas surface in healthcare settings all the time.  With warmth and loving amusement, we reflect on how these initiatives—often wrapped in corporate optimism—miss the mark.  yet don't have to steal our peace.  Brilliantly bad ideas aren't about you and tehy don't have to steal your peace. 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. Pearls of Wisdom: • Bad ideas often come with good intentions—they're usually more about systemic gaps than personal disrespect. • You get to choose how much energy to bring to these initiatives—humor and grace are powerful tools. • "Wellness" programs often miss the mark because they don't reflect the lived reality of those they're meant to support. • Expecting and accepting mismatched ideas can bring lightness—and maybe even loving amusement. Reflection Questions: • What is your favorite "brilliantly bad idea?"  • How might you use humor to help you when the next one comes your way? Please send us the brilliantly bad ideas you have witnessed.  We would love to hear them! If you're navigating burnout, frustration, or the absurdities of healthcare, we offer coaching, retreats, and workshops to help you find clarity, compassion, and joy again. Jessie offers 1:1 coaching and mindful retreats designed to bring back peace, purpose, and presence in your work and life.  Learn more at www.jessiemahoneymd.com/coaching and www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats. CME is available for most Pause & Presence offerings. If you'd like to bring humor, mindfulness, and meaning to your institution or event, we both offer also offer keynotes and workshops. Learn more here: Jessie Mahoney, MD: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/speaking Ni-Cheng Liang, MD: www.awakenbreath.org Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice.  

What if there isn't one right way to do things, but many? Letting go of being right can open the door to creativity, flexibility, and even liberation. This episode offers a mindful and compassionate reframe: seeing our approaches as preferences—shaped by our experiences, values, and identities.  Pearls of Wisdom: • Softening into the idea of preferences fosters collaboration, both in medicine and at home. • Mindfulness helps us notice when judgment or irritation is a sign of unmet preferences. • Letting go of the need to be 'right' invites deeper trust, compassion, and innovation. • Seeing differences as diversity—not wrongness—can transform teams, relationships, and institutions. Reflection Questions: • Where in your life are you attached to doing things the "right way"? • How might it feel to see your way as simply your preference? • Whose preferences might you be overlooking at work or at home? • What would it look like to honor your own preferences without needing agreement? • How might this create more peace and possibility in your relationships? If you'd like support shifting from perfectionism to preference, or from rigidity to freedom, we would love to work with you. Jessie offers 1:1 mindful coaching and retreat experiences that integrate exactly these insights—visit www.jessiemahoneymd.com/coaching and www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats to explore upcoming options. End-of-year CME can be available with virtual coaching. We also speak and teach on these topics to healthcare teams, medical institutions, and professional conferences. To bring this mindful conversation about preferences, teamwork, and connection to your organization, learn more about inviting us to speak: Jessie Mahoney, MD: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/speaking Ni-Cheng Liang, MD: www.awakenbreath.org Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice.

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.  Pearls of Wisdom: Letting go of trying to fix others not giving up—it's trusting others to be on their own journey. Trying to manage, fix, or protect everyone is a hidden source of burnout and energy depletion. Showing up with "loving amusement" rather than control is a powerful act of mindful compassion. The gesture of "hands wide open" brings curiosity, calm, and even play into the present moment. Choosing peace often looks like not engaging, not defending, and simply saying: "How interesting." Reflection Questions: Where am I over-functioning in my relationships or at work? Where can I release control and choose presence and curiosity instead? What might it feel like to meet life with hands wide open? What do I notice when I stop managing and fixing?   If this episode resonated with you, explore coaching at www.jessiemahoneymd.com/coaching. Join an upcoming retreat at www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats.  They are both beautiful opportunities to cultivate authenticity, presence, and peace. If you'd like to bring this work to your team, institution, or conference, I would love to speak or lead a workshop. You can reach out through www.jessiemahoneymd.com/speaking.  Dr. Ni-Cheng Liang is also available for speaking engagements via www.awakenbreath.org. Thank you for listening and being part of this community. Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice.  

Exhaustion and disconnection don't always stem from doing too much, often they stem from pretending too much. In today's episode, we explore surprising truths about energy, authenticity, and what it really means to show up as yourself in medicine and in life.  What if the path to healing, for ourselves and for others, comes from standing out, not blending in? Conformity has a significant cost. Deep-seated energy leaks often stem from hiding our true selves.  We hope you will take us up on the invitation to uncover and embrace the most radiant, wholehearted version of you. Pearls of Wisdom: Authenticity is the most efficient and sustainable way to manage your energy. Conforming and performing often disconnects us from joy and purpose. Your originality and uniqueness are not liabilities because they are your greatest offering. Standing out with sincerity makes you a beacon of safety and belonging for others. Peace and presence are found not in perfection, but in being whole. Reflection Questions: Where in your life do you feel most like your authentic self? Where do you find yourself performing or people-pleasing, and what does that cost you? What would it feel like to walk through your day radiantly, peacefully you– without apology or armor? If this conversation speaks to your heart and you're ready to live, lead, and love with more authenticity, we invite you to join us for a mindfulness-based retreat: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats.  For personalized support, explore coaching at www.jessiemahoneymd.com/coaching. If you'd like to bring this message to your team, organization, or conference, reach out to have us speak or lead a workshop: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/speaking. Dr. Ni-Cheng Liang is also available for speaking through her site: www.awakenbreath.org. Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice.  

Empowerment isn't about pretending everything is fine; it's about remembering that we always can choose our response. Today, Dr. Jessie Mahoney and Dr. Ni-Cheng Liang explore the healing power of choice. We share how we can shift from complaining into creativity and how we can move from victimhood to agency, mindfully. 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. Pearls of Wisdom • Empowerment is not toxic positivity, it's remembering our response-ability, our ability to choose how we meet what is. • A growth mindset asks, "What now?" even when circumstances feel stuck or unfair. • Boundaries are an act of love, not rebellion. They protect our empathy and preserve our capacity to care. • Micro-agency, tiny acts of intentionality throughout the day, rebuilds trust in ourselves and renews energy. • Shifting from complaining to creativity transforms not just us, but the culture around us.  Reflection Questions Where do we have choice, even if it's seemingly small? What would it look like to lead with agency today? How can we show up as a lighthouse in healthcare, rather than a rescue raft? If this conversation resonates, I invite you to explore coaching with me to help you name and shift patterns of disempowerment in your life and career: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/coaching You can also join me at a Pause & Presence Retreat. A nurturing, transformational space to reconnect to what matters most: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats If you would like to bring a more mindful, compassionate approach to your institution, team, or training program, I'd be honored to speak or lead a workshop: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/speaking You can also invite Dr. Liang to speak or lead a breathwork workshop for your group: www.awakenbreath.org Together, one mindful choice at a time, we can shift the culture of medicine. *Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice.  

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. We invite you to listen with curiosity and self-compassion, knowing that if you've found yourself here—tired, discouraged, or resigned—you are not alone, and nothing is wrong with you. Rather than shaming or simplifying, we offer this conversation as a compassionate mirror and a naming of what's real with clarity, awareness, and care.  We unpack moral injury, systemic betrayal, learned helplessness, and the quiet culture of resignation that seeps into even the most well-intentioned among us. Naming where we are is the essential first step to healing. This is part one of a two-part series. In this episode, we shine a mindful light on the roots of victimhood. In part two, we will offer mindful paths forward from powerlessness to purpose.   Pearls of Wisdom: Victimhood is not weakness, it's a human, protective response to chronic dysfunction. And it's not where you want to live. Naming victimhood with empathy, not judgment, allows us to reclaim agency, even within a broken system. Noticing where we give away our power is the first mindful step toward healing and change. Systemic "solutions" like suggestion boxes may unintentionally reinforce helplessness unless paired with authentic engagement and choice.   Reflection Questions: When have you felt the most powerless in medicine? What helps you feel safe and what erodes that sense of safety? What would it mean to believe that you still have influence, even in a broken system?     Don't miss the Mindful Moment at the end of this episode. It's an opportunity to ground, reflect, and reconnect to your inner wisdom with clarity and compassion. If this conversation resonates, I invite you to explore coaching with me to help you name and shift patterns of disempowerment in your life and career: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/coaching You can also join me at a Pause & Presence Retreat—a nurturing, transformational space to reconnect to what matters most: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats If you would like to bring a more mindful, compassionate approach to your institution, team, or training program, I'd be honored to speak or lead a workshop: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/speaking You can also invite Dr. Liang to speak or lead a breathwork workshop for your group: www.awakenbreath.org Together, one mindful conversation at a time, we can shift the culture of medicine. Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice.  

What if love doesn't look like fixing, managing, and controlling?  What if letting go is the most loving thing you could do? Today's episode shares the story of what becomes possible when we choose peace over control.  Our guest is Carol Howe, a school psychologist whom I met through a virtual Women of Dartmouth event in 2023. Her story is a testament to how the tools and wisdom of coaching are helpful well beyond the realm of healthcare. Her story illustrates how the most significant change always comes from within. Carol shares how coaching helped her move from feeling overwhelmed, resentful, and helpless in the wake of family mental health struggles and marital stress, to a place of peace, trust, and presence - without anyone else having to change. Pearls of Wisdom: You don't have to fix it to love it. Real love doesn't come from fixing, managing, or controlling—it comes from presence, compassion, and acceptance (even when you don't like something). Be the lighthouse. When others are riding waves of emotion, your steadiness is the greatest gift you can offer. It starts with caring for yourself first. Just like me. This simple phrase softens resentment and reconnects you to the humanity in the people around you, even when they can't or don't want to change. Change begins with you. Nothing outside you has to change for you to feel more peaceful and empowered inside. Your story shapes your life. Carol's powerful insight came when she realized the life she had once written as a "future story" had come true—because of how she chose to think, feel, and show up. Reflection Questions: What might "being the lighthouse" look like in your life today? Where are you stuck in fixing, managing, or controlling? What if letting go created more connection? What story are you telling yourself about your relationships—and what story do you want to tell in the future? Whether you're navigating challenges in your marriage, with your children, or within yourself, coaching offers the kind of compassionate, forward-focused support that can truly change your life—no matter your profession or background. If Carol's story inspired you or you're feeling stuck, lost, or desperate for change, 1:1 and/or group coaching may be precisely the shift you need. Learn more and sign up for coaching here: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/coaching If you're craving peace, rest, and a beautiful place to begin your own transformation, I warmly invite you to join me on retreat: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats If you'd like to bring this kind of compassionate, healing conversation to your institution, conference, or organization, I would love to come speak to your group. Learn more about my talks and workshops here: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/speaking My co host Dr. Ni-Cheng Liang, also brings mindfulness to the broader healthcare community through breath, presence, and healing workshops. Learn more about her offerings here: www.awakenbreath.org Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice.  

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 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" and 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. Reflection Questions: What would love do for you in menopause? What's on your personal "menopause menu"? What are you choosing to nourish yourself with? How might you meet yourself with more grace and curiosity in this phase of life? What story are you telling about your body, and what would it feel like to tell a more generous one? If you're seeking deeper support during your own transition into midlife or menopause. I invite you to join me for 1:1 coaching, where you can rediscover ease, purpose, and peace in this next phase of life: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/coaching Or nourish yourself at a restorative, plant-forward retreat with me and like-minded women physicians: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats If you're interested in inviting me or Dr. Susan Bange to speak or lead a workshop for your team, conference, or institution, reach out here: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/speaking You can find Susan and her work including her book, "The Menopause Menu", and her new conversation series "Voices with Vigor" at www.menopausemenu.com. Her refreshing and wise perspective offers a breath of fresh air in today's noisy menopause space.   More about Dr. Susan Baumgaertel She began her internal medicine practice in 1996, encompassing a wide range of clinical work over the years. In 2021, she stepped away from direct patient care to expand her impact through myMDadvocate, a virtual consultation and advocacy service that serves as a bridge between patients and the often-complex healthcare system. As a physician consultant, healthcare navigator, and medical advocate, she helps people navigate a range of issues, from referral advocacy and chronic condition management to aging gracefully and supporting caregivers through their most challenging moments. Her passion for helping women through life transitions led to the creation of MenopauseMenu, a comprehensive online resource offering evidence-based information and holistic support. This work formed the foundation for her 2023 book, "The Menopause Menu"—an all-in-one guide that transforms medical complexity into accessible wisdom. She has just launched a talk show, Voices With Vigor, showcasing guests from diverse backgrounds who share common threads of curiosity, kindness, dedication, and resilience.  Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice.

Parenting doesn't end when our children turn 18—it simply changes. Parenting young adult children encompasses a full spectrum of emotions such as joy, pride, longing, and grief. It requires a reevaluation of what it means to be a mother. In this heartfelt solo episode, I share truths about parenting grown children, a role that is rarely talked about. I share the joys, grief, and surprising lessons of parenting young adult children. I offer what I hope is grounding wisdom for embracing the ongoing transitions. Whether your kids are in college, starting careers, or building families of their own, this stage is filled with change, growth, and the need for a new kind of connection.  It is a tender, bittersweet season of parenting. A phase that requires a reevaluation of what it means to be a mother. I explore how to stay connected while letting go, how to trust your adult children, and how to show up with curiosity, compassion, and love even as your role shifts from daily involvement to occasional invitations.  Parenting young adults is a long game. Your relationship as adults will last far longer than the childhood years. Curiosity, compassion, trust, and emotional spaciousness are the keys to connection in this season. You can let go while still feeling deeply and accepting change doesn't mean you stop caring. Reflection Questions: How do you want to show up as a parent in this new chapter? What would love do in your relationship with your young adult child? If you are ready to step more fully into this next chapter of life—whether you are redefining your role as a parent, finding your passions, or learning to let go with love—join me at one of my upcoming retreats at www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats.  For coaching support as you navigate these transitions, visit www.jessiemahoneymd.com/coaching. If you would like to hire me or Dr. Liang to speak or lead a workshop for your team, institution, or conference, please reach out at www.jessiemahoneymd.com/speaking or www.awakenbreath.org. Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice.  

What if one introduction could change the entire trajectory of your career or someone else's? This week's episode is an invitation to reflect on the ripple effect of referrals, recommendations, and authentic support, especially among women in medicine. As women in medicine, we haven't always supported one another well.  In honor of Women in Medicine Month, this episode is an encouragement to change that. I share how one beautiful moment of being recommended felt - a sense of deep gratitude, renewed purpose, and the powerful realization that women have the capacity to lift one another in ways that shift not just careers, but culture. Building circles of support can bring  joy, meaning, and positive change into our personal and professional lives.  Whether you're a natural connector or a quiet introvert, listen for practical ways to build deeper relationships, give generously, and receive with grace. Pearls of Wisdom: Referrals and recommendations aren't promotion, they're acts of trust, generosity, and cultural change. Supporting another woman in medicine creates ripple effects far beyond what you may see or know. Authentic connections are more impactful than loud visibility. One meaningful recommendation is powerful. Don't need to amplify everything. Simply share what you genuinely love and believe in. Deep, one-on-one conversations are as powerful and more meaningful than large-scale networking. Reflection Questions: Who is one woman in medicine you could lift up this week through a referral, recommendation, or kind word? How would it feel to give that kind of support freely, with love? What ripple effect might you create by sharing authentically the work of someone you admire? We close this episode with an invitation to become a connector. Even if you're an introvert, even if you're just starting out, one referral, one introduction, or one moment of amplifying someone else's light can change everything for that person - and for you! If this conversation inspires you, consider sharing it with a woman in medicine you admire.  If you're ready to create deeper, more aligned connections in your own life and career, I'd love to support you with mindful coaching www.jessiemahoneymd.com/coaching. To retreat with me and step into more aligned leadership and connection, explore upcoming retreats at www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats. 2025 retreats are all sold out but I would love to meet you in 2026. To bring conversations like this to your team or institution, connect with Dr. Jessie Mahoney at  www.jessiemahoneymd.com/speaking or connect with Dr. Liang at www.awakenbreath.org. Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice.