Let It Be Simple: A Pause, A Shift, A New Season

July 31, 2025 - Season 1, Episode 56

Where to Listen:

“Being this gentle observer of your own experience… it sounds simple. But it’s life-changing.”

In this episode, I’m sharing where I am right now, personally and with this podcast. I’ve been feeling the nudge to slow down, to shift the rhythm, and to give myself permission to stop doing things out of obligation. That includes releasing the idea that I need to show up here every week just because I said I would.

You’ll hear about why it’s okay to follow your energy instead of the “shoulds,” how honoring your own cycles creates more impact (not less) and why you don’t need to force anything to make it meaningful. I also talk about the power of presence, simple practices that truly change your brain, and how this work continues—even when I’m not in your ears every week.

Thank you for being here. I’m not disappearing. I’m just giving myself some breathing room. And I hope this episode gives you permission to do the same.

Topics:

Why simple grounding practices are actually life-changing
The power of letting go when something no longer feels aligned
What happens when we stop doing things out of obligation
Releasing the pressure to do things the “right” way
What’s next for Calmer Conversations and how to stay connected

Episode Resources:

Click here for a raw, unedited episode transcript

Cecelia Baum Mandryk (00:00.962)

Hey, and welcome to Calmer Conversations. I’m Cecelia, your host. Thanks for being here. Let’s start with a moment, a few breaths to yourself. You might see if you can take five or 10 breaths or maybe even just three breaths, connecting with yourself, connecting with this present moment.

Cecelia Baum Mandryk (00:21.514)

and landing here. As you do this, you might become aware of what’s happening around you, maybe sounds or smells, and you might become aware of what’s happening within you. becoming aware of those physical sensations that are present, becoming aware of thoughts that are present, or maybe emotions.

Cecelia Baum Mandryk (00:49.896)

and seeing if you can let them be.

Being this gentle observer of your own experience, calling it into your consciousness and being in the present moment is one of the most powerful life changing skills you can learn. And it sounds so simple the way I describe it here.

turning in.

shutting out noise, allowing yourself to be. That sounds so simple. It is hard. It is easy to skip through this. It is easy to say, I’ll do it later or think it’s too simple to actually work. But I promise if you do just this for, I don’t know, regularly for a month or so, you’ll see pretty big differences. You’ll notice so much about yourself. And I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this on the podcast before, but if you’d like that meditation in a slightly longer form,

You get it free when you join my email list. If you go to my website and you sign up and you subscribe, then you get that for free and you can listen to it all the time. I listen to it myself a lot actually. And it’s a grounding that we do in almost every session that I run.

Okay. I’m here on the podcast. We’ve been going with this one for about a year and it’s been fun. And thank you for listening. I am going to take a bit of a break. I have found so much in my life.

Cecelia Baum Mandryk (02:15.042)

I’m not very into human design in the sense that I don’t have a lot of background in it. I do, I’m like vaguely familiar with it. Probably, I like know enough to be a little dangerous, but not enough to actually know anything. And I know that for me and my type and my authority and all those different things is that I actually do really well when I’m feeling inspired and called to something. And it feels like something is draining my energy that it is best to actually let it go.

I in the past have continued doing things out of obligation or because I think I have to or because I think it would look bad for me to stop or to pause and I don’t think I want to do that anymore. I I want to let it go. So I think the future of this podcast is probably going to look a little bit more like seasons and I’ll kind of put bursts out of a number of episodes around some topic or when I feel really called to talk about something. It’s not going to be consistent from week to week, I don’t think. I’m just not sure that that’s exactly how my brain works and exactly how my body works. And I know that that’s perhaps what’s expected. But in this season of growth and of, I don’t know, continuing to do this work and continuing to honor what works for me, that’s where I’m headed. I wanna send you off from this podcast, perhaps,

as we started, is tuning into basics and really knowing how powerful speaking your own truth, how powerful paying attention to yourself, how powerful watching your own brain and nervous system actually are. I do this work with, I mean, I’ve done it with hundreds of people in person and even more than that, a little bit removed and

These things that sound simple, but we never implement are game changers. And so if I leave you with anything, if you’ve learned anything from this, it’s that you are incredibly powerful as a creator. Your brain is incredibly powerful. When you tune into your brain and your nervous system and you strip away the layers, this like external identity that you have, that you’re actually seeing the world through, you behind that,

Cecelia Baum Mandryk (04:41.998)

are just magnificent, magical beings worthy of so much. And you get to layer on top of that whatever you’d like. And you should be careful what you layer on top of it because a lot of us take on identities that perhaps we don’t want or don’t bring us joy or happiness. There are ideas that we, you know, I was thinking when I was in this process of deciding whether to this or not, I stopped and started like six different podcast episodes today.

And you know, they’re everything from like ideas on aging and mental like housework, like the upkeep that we do on our brains. I mean, all different kinds of things. And there things that I love and I want to talk about, but I’m not sure how I want to talk about them or where I want to talk about them yet. And I’m not sure this is quite the place right now, or at least doing it in this rhythm is working for me at this time. So to wrap that back around, thank you for being here. If you found this podcast helpful,

come let me know, like let me know what you liked about it or what you took away from it, why you enjoyed it being part of your week. If you’d like me to take a different venture going forward with a podcast or a different direction, please let me know that too. And I hope you go forth and honor what you want. And then I’m gonna, the final wrap up will be is that if you want to work with me,

There are a couple ways to keep doing this. I have free workshops that happen. There was just one that happened a few days ago when this comes out. And so you can actually sign up for it you can get the replays. are, you can follow me on TikTok and Instagram. I put a lot out there. And then if you want to work with me at a pay level, and there’s actually, get so much more when you pay, not just because I’m giving you more, but because…

There’s this interesting thing that happens that when you buy in, you actually get more out of it. And for $275 a month, you can join the Life Lab. And the Life Lab is this incredible program. It’s full of the most amazing women doing this work. And not only do you get to come in and get your own brain coached by me, you get to have weekly workshops together. You get to have weekly somatic sessions. You get to be part of this community that will build you up, that will hold space for you.

Cecelia Baum Mandryk (07:06.882)

that will honor what it’s like to be human and your human experience. And I cannot say I feel so honored to be part of it. And everyone who’s been called into it so far has been such an amazing fit. So if you are feeling called and you would like to come in, you can either join or if you want to have a conversation about it, you can sign up for that and we can chat about what you’re looking for in life and whether you are a good fit. But it’s really

I mean honestly, someone had told me 10 years ago that I could do something like this for $275 a month I would be like, thank you, please, I like waste that amount of money at the bar. Like I waste that much money buying stuff that I don’t need or want to make myself feel better and so please like put me in a room where I at least have the chance to like myself and love myself and make changes to my brain and nervous system and that’s what you get there. Okay.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for listening. It is such a pleasure and honor to show up to get to do these things. I’m not going away. I’m just not gonna be here for a little while. And when I come back, it might be this podcast, maybe we’ll change the name, who knows, but thank you for being here. I really appreciate it. And I will see you whenever and wherever I see you. I love you so much.

About Your Host

I’m Cecelia, and I am passionate about helping people live the life they want to live and feel how they want to feel in their life. We do this together using mindset tools, nervous system regulation, and curious inquiry. I know that enjoying your life, feeling calm and even joyful is available to you.

If you’re ready to start right now, grab a recent workshop replay here on creating momentum.

Personally, I manifest in many ways- partner, mother, coach, sister, friend, daughter, citizen, feminist. I live with my husband and children way downeast Maine on a little bridge-connected island (after spending my first 35 years in cities). It’s beautiful here with the ocean and the wind.

I help my clients make big and small changes in life one step at a time.

No matter what’s happening in your life right now, I know you can feel different. I know that by working with your brain and nervous system, you can feel calm, content, joyful, AND you can still go after the big and small goals in your life (getting there will just feel different).

This process is simple and approachable.

You’re probably thinking- but it won’t work for me. I’ve tried it all or I was recently diagnosed with ADHD or I’m too old. But I promise, if you’re open to it, this work is not only transformative but suited for so many different kinds of people and brains.