If You're Going Through Something, This is For You - Yin/Yang Mindfulness and Resilience (365) - Whole Again: Mindfulness and Resilience Through Kintsugi Wisdom

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Where in your life are you pushing too hard—or not giving yourself enough grace—while going through something difficult?

When life gets overwhelming—whether you're caring for someone, juggling responsibilities, or simply feeling stretched thin—it’s easy to fall into the trap of “shoulding” all over yourself. You may feel torn between slowing down and pushing forward, unsure how to balance rest with responsibility. This episode speaks directly to that tension and offers a grounded, human way to navigate it.

Discover how to balance compassion and action without falling into burnout or avoidance
Learn a simple, daily self-check to stay aligned with your values during challenging times
Feel reassured that you can move forward without being perfect—and without beating yourself up

Tune in now to learn how to find your balance between grace and effort so you can keep moving forward with clarity and self-compassion.

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Hey there, it's Michael. Welcome to Whole again, the show that's here in support of the person you're becoming and if you're going through something on your way to the person you're becoming this episode's for you because I'm going through something and as I go through what I'm going through. I got a whole bunch of different thoughts in my head.

As I sit here, I'm pretty tired. So much of my attention and energy is going to someone I'm caring for, but as a partner, as a dad, and also running my own business as a coach and a speaker, there are plenty of shoulds on my. I should do this list, which by the way is a meditation I have on my pause, breathe, reflect out that you might wish to check out if you happen to be shoulding all over yourself.

And when I get into that space, the shoulding space, I'm really not at my best for the person I'm caring for or for anyone else or myself. And I bet you can relate to that. So I find myself coming back into something I think you're familiar with from Taoism, the ying and the yang, that black and white circle.

The yin part of the circle is softer, more receptive energy, think, rest, compassion, and grace. The yang is more active, more outward, more forward moving. When I think of Yang, I think of action momentum and something I learned as a 10-year-old in little league, when the going gets tough, the tough get going, sometimes you just gotta suck it up and get the job done.

And the cool thing about Ying and Yang is that they're not opposite energies trying to fight for control. It's more of a cosmic dance. And that's where I'm trying to be. I'm trying to offer myself grace as I go through what I'm going through, as I care for someone and at the same time, I do have certain things I get to do that's helpful to my business, my role as providing for my family.

So there's a little yang energy too. I'm trying to find that relationship or that intersection with the two energies. And the thing is, neither energy is full of wisdom just by itself. In fact, if you look at a picture of the ying yang, there's a dot of the other in the other. So there's just a little sample, if you will, a little pink spoon if you know what Baskin Robbins is, just a little taste.

So together these two energies will take grace as an example. Grace doesn't become avoidance and effort. When the going gets tough, the tough get going doesn't become some type of self punishment. Yin says, be kind to yourself. Says, keep your word to yourself, and our words can quite easily map back to our values.

So as I think of myself as a provider, as someone who is caring for others, I'm trying to keep my word to myself and in a way, honor my values because that's how I wish to show up in the world. I wish to show up in alignment to my values. So if you're going through something right now that makes you incredibly human, 90% of us will go through something.

And I recorded this episode for you, and by design I'm keeping it short because there's a lot going on. My encouragement as you continue toward the person you're becoming. Is ask yourself, where can you offer yourself a bit more grace today? And you can also ask yourself, where do you need to make more effort?

And the answers you provide are not forever answers. They're simply just for today to help you take a step forward. But as you do, offer yourself some self-compassion and grace. Don't beat yourself up for all the things that you think you should be doing.

And as always, thank you for being here. Thanks for listening. If this episode spoke to you and you think someone else in your life could value it, I hope you'll share it with them. On Friday, I'll have another one of my tips that I'm offering up each week as I celebrate the 25th anniversary of my last bad day, and I hope you'll come back to listen to it.

Until then though, let's celebrate our scars as golden symbols of our strength and resilience, and don't forget to have fun. Storm in the castle,

and if you wish to learn more about creating beautiful ripples and how to prevent a bad moment from turning into a bad day, please visit my website, Michael O'Brien schiff.com. And sign up for my newsletter called The Ripple Effect, and join us each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday here at Whole Again, and discover how you can heal, grow, and become more resilient and celebrate our scars as golden symbols of strength and resilience.

Until then, remember, you can always come back to your breath. You've got this. And. We've got you.