Building Resilience

Latest Episodes:

How to Shift a Story Oct 29, 2025

Show notes

Two people can live through the same experience—a breakup, a job loss, or a childhood wound—and walk away with entirely different realities because of the story they tell about it. In this episode of the Building Resilience Podcast, Leah Davidson explores how your inner narrative shapes both your mindset and your nervous system, and how stories can become survival codes that keep you stuck. She shares three powerful ways to shift your story through your lens, your language, and your nervous system state, offering simple, compassionate tools to help you rewrite your narrative from a place of safety, growth, and self-compassion.

We’ll explore:

How shifting your lens changes the meaning of your story
The power of words and how to choose ones that free you
Why “story follows state” and the role of regulation
Simple tools to calm your body before rewriting your story
Changing your story expands safety and possibility, not denial

LINKS AND RESOURCES:

📌IT'S NOT JUST YOUR THOUGHTS, IT'S YOUR NERVOUS SYSTEM (WITH A CREATIVE TWIST): A workshop mini course with bonus resources

📌IBS NERVOUS SYSTEM RESET (Workbook and Worksheets)

📌NERVOUS SYSTEM STRESS TEST: Take the test to see how dysregulated you really are?

MENTAL HEALTH STATIONERY - RESILIENT BRILLIANCE PRODUCTS:

1) RESILIENCE JOURNAL: A guided journal for emotional well-being and nervous system care

📌 Amazon US

📌 Amazon CA

2) MY SAFE SPACE : AFFIRMATION AND JOURNAL PROMPT SET

📌Amazon US

📌Amazon CA

COMMUNITIES

📌NERVOUS SYSTEM JOURNALING CLUB : Doodle, journal and heal in community

📌CONNECTIONS - MONTHLY MEMBERSHIP: Coursework, Coaching, Creative Doodling and Community

📌THE ADVANCED TRAINING IN NERVOUS SYSTEM RESILIENCE: A 6 month immersive experience for personal and professional training.

LET'S STAY CONNECTED

📌INSTAGRAM

📌FACEBOOK

📩 Subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter

ENJOYED THIS EPISODE?

Please leave a 5 star rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. It helps more people discover these tools for healing and resilience.

WANT TO CREATE YOUR OWN SKOOL COMMUNITY: 🔗 Check it out here

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why Stories Matter Oct 22, 2025

Show notes

Have you ever noticed that your nervous system doesn’t just react to what happened? It reacts to the story you tell about it.

In this episode of the Building Resilience Podcast, Leah unpacks how the stories we carry, those we’ve inherited, absorbed, or created, shape the way we think, feel, and move through the world.

You’ll learn how these stories can become survival codes that your nervous system still follows and why awareness is the first step toward shifting them. Leah also shares three simple metaphors: camera lenses, playlists, and weather patterns, to help you see your stories with more clarity and choice.

This episode is an invitation to notice your own stories and begin gently reshaping them in a way that supports safety, growth, and connection.

We’ll explore:

How your nervous system reacts to the stories you tell
The difference between inherited, assigned, and protective stories
Why even “positive” labels can keep you stuck
The role of awareness in shifting long-held narratives
Three metaphors that help your body and brain understand story work
How curiosity, not criticism, creates the foundation for change

Links and Resources:

📌IT'S NOT JUST YOUR THOUGHTS, IT'S YOUR NERVOUS SYSTEM (WITH A CREATIVE TWIST): A workshop mini course with bonus resources

📌IBS NERVOUS SYSTEM RESET (Workbook and Worksheets)

📌NERVOUS SYSTEM STRESS TEST: Take the test to see how dysregulated you really are?

MENTAL HEALTH STATIONERY - RESILIENT BRILLIANCE PRODUCTS:

1) RESILIENCE JOURNAL: A guided journal for emotional well-being and nervous system care

📌 Amazon US - https://a.co/d/7DpuyVj

📌 Amazon CA - https://a.co/d/7DpuyVj

2) MY SAFE SPACE : AFFIRMATION AND JOURNAL PROMPT SET

📌Amazon US - https://a.co/d/2mANQs4

📌Amazon CA - https://a.co/d/7JtdlUM

COMMUNITIES

📌NERVOUS SYSTEM JOURNALING CLUB : Doodle, journal and heal in community.

Join here: https://www.skool.com/nervous-system-journaling-club/about

📌CONNECTIONS - MONTHLY MEMBERSHIP: Coursework, Coaching, Creative Doodling and Community

Join the waitlist here: https://leahdavidsonlifecoaching.com/CONNECTIONS/

📌THE ADVANCED TRAINING IN NERVOUS SYSTEM RESILIENCE: A 6 month immersive experience for personal and professional training.

Join the waitlist here: https://leahdavidsonlifecoaching.com/coach-training/

LET'S STAY CONNECTED

📌INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/leahdavidsonlifecoaching/

📌FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/leahdavidsonlifecoaching

Subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter: leahdavidsonlifecoaching.com/newsletter

WANT TO CREATE YOUR OWN SKOOL COMMUNITY:

🔗 Check it out here - https://www.skool.com/signup?ref=06e003b61b8148ebbafd3a067f3cc2e1

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why Kindness Changes Everything About Healing and Relationships Oct 15, 2025

Show notes

We often think resilience means pushing through, staying strong, toughing it out, and keeping a brave face. But what if true resilience comes from something softer, kindness?

In this grounding episode, Leah Davidson shares how kindness, especially self-kindness, can shift your nervous system from survival to safety. You’ll learn how harsh self-talk activates stress in your body, while even tiny acts of gentleness, a pause, a breath, a kind word, begin to rewire your system for healing and calm.

Leah also explores how kindness shows up in parenting, relationships, and everyday moments of struggle. Whether you’re recovering from burnout, navigating chronic illness, or simply feeling overwhelmed, this episode will remind you that kindness isn’t weakness, it’s your most powerful tool for resilience, connection, and healing.

We’ll explore:

Resilience grows in environments of safety, not self-criticism.
Your body responds to inner dialogue, harsh words trigger threat; kind words signal safety.
Micro kindnesses, like resting without guilt or using gentler self-talk, can shift your physiology.
True kindness honours boundaries, it’s not about people-pleasing or self-erasure.
Kindness is daily medicine for your nervous system and the key to sustainable healing.

Links and Resources:

New: Worry Time PreSale Bundle (limited time offer) (ends October 17th, 2025)

Resource: IBS Nervous System Reset

Get: My Safe Space: Affirmation and Journal Prompt Set

📝 Get My Resilience Journal

A guided journal for emotional well-being and nervous system care

📌 Amazon US

📌 Amazon CA

🎓 Join the Nervous System Journaling Club

Doodle, journal, and heal in community

Want to create your own Skool Community?

🔗 Check it out here

Let’s Stay Connected:

Instagram & Facebook: @leahdavidsonlifecoaching

Subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter: leahdavidsonlifecoaching.com/newsletter

Enjoyed the episode?

Please leave a 5 star rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. It helps more people discover these tools for healing and resilience.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kindness vs Metrics - The Real Secret to Real Success Oct 08, 2025

Show notes

Is it possible that the true key to success, in business, healthcare, and life, isn’t found in data, but in kindness?

In this episode of the Building Resilience Podcast, Leah Davidson explores how kindness, far from being a “soft skill,” is actually a powerful nervous system practice that sustains growth, connection, and creativity.

From medical school ceremonies to entrepreneurial struggles, Leah reflects on how we often measure success by numbers and performance while overlooking the biological and relational power of kindness. She shares how kindness can reframe our understanding of success, foster nervous system safety, and even become a smart business strategy, something AI will never replicate.

Whether you’re a leader, entrepreneur, or healer, this episode will remind you that kindness isn’t just a moral choice, it’s a biological intervention and the foundation of sustainable success.

We’ll explore:

Kindness isn’t weakness, it’s a nervous system regulator that fosters safety, healing, and creativity.
Metrics and performance can’t measure the depth of human connection or trust.
Bringing kindness into business leads to more sustainable success and healthier relationships.
AI can replicate data, but not human compassion or co-regulation.
The way you make others feel may be your most powerful business advantage.

Links and Resources:

New: Worry Time PreSale Bundle (limited time offer)

Resource: IBS Nervous System Reset

Get: My Safe Space: Affirmation and Journal Prompt Set

📝 Get My Resilience Journal

A guided journal for emotional well-being and nervous system care

📌 Amazon US

📌 Amazon CA

🎓 Join the Nervous System Journaling Club

Doodle, journal, and heal in community

Want to create your own Skool Community?

🔗 Check it out here

Let’s Stay Connected:

Instagram & Facebook: @leahdavidsonlifecoaching

Subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter: leahdavidsonlifecoaching.com/newsletter

Enjoyed the episode?

Please leave a 5 star rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. It helps more people discover these tools for healing and resilience.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“She Rises” with special Guest Molly Claire Oct 01, 2025

Show notes

In this milestone episode, Leah is joined by bestselling author and master coach Molly Claire to talk about her new book, She Rises.

Together, they explore what it really means to rise through adversity, whether that’s grief, burnout, perfectionism, or life transitions, and how emotions, nervous system health, and community all play a role in building resilience.

You’ll hear powerful stories from She Rises and learn simple, practical ways to embrace growth, process grief, and find strength in life’s hardest seasons.

We’ll explore:

Why resistance to life’s challenges can keep us stuck
How grief shows up in unexpected ways
The role of emotions in resilience and nervous system health
Practical ways to lean into growth when you feel stuck
Why community and connection are essential for rising strong

Links and Resources:

Lean more about Molly Claire

Life, Mastered with Molly Claire Podcast

Free resources: https://www.mollyclaire.com/freebie

—-------------------------

New Resource : IBS Nervous System Reset

NEW: My Safe Space: Affirmation and Journal Prompt Set

📝 Get My Resilience Journal

A guided journal for emotional well-being and nervous system care

📌 Amazon US

📌 Amazon CA

🎓 Join the Nervous System Journaling Club

Doodle, journal, and heal in community

Want to create your own Skool Community?

🔗 Check it out here

Let’s Stay Connected:

Instagram & Facebook: @leahdavidsonlifecoaching

Subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter: leahdavidsonlifecoaching.com/newsletter

Enjoyed the episode?

Please leave a 5 star rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. It helps more people discover these tools for healing and resilience.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

IBS Isn’t Just in Your Gut — It’s in Your Nervous System Sep 24, 2025

Show notes

If you’ve ever struggled with IBS, you know it’s about more than digestion. It’s the discomfort, unpredictability, anxiety, and sometimes even shame that come along with it. And while food lists and symptom trackers may help a little, they rarely get to the root of the problem.

In this episode of Building Resilience, Leah explores IBS from a nervous system perspective. She unpacks the fascinating connection between the gut and the brain, why stress makes symptoms worse, and how your body’s protective “alarm system” may be keeping you stuck in flare cycles.

We’ll explore:

Why IBS is a functional disorder (your gut looks fine, but it’s not working as it should)
How the “second brain” in your gut constantly communicates with your actual brain
The role stress plays in digestion, inflammation, and the microbiome
The protection loop that keeps symptoms alive long after the threat has passed
Practical ways to expand your safety zone and support your nervous system in healing

New Resource : IBS Nervous System Reset

NEW: My Safe Space: Affirmation and Journal Prompt Set

📝 Get My Resilience Journal

A guided journal for emotional well-being and nervous system care

📌 Amazon US

📌 Amazon CA

🎓 Join the Nervous System Journaling Club

Doodle, journal, and heal in community

Want to create your own Skool Community?

🔗 Check it out here

Let’s Stay Connected:

Instagram & Facebook: @leahdavidsonlifecoaching

Subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter: leahdavidsonlifecoaching.com/newsletter

Enjoyed the episode?

Please leave a 5 star rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. It helps more people discover these tools for healing and resilience.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Common Habits That are making you sick Sep 17, 2025

Show notes

What if the very things you do to manage your health are actually keeping you stuck?

In this episode of Building Resilience, Leah uncovers the common habits that may be making you sick, like constantly talking about symptoms, compulsive Googling, avoiding activities, or delaying joy. These everyday patterns can keep your nervous system locked in protection mode, fueling chronic pain and stress. The good news? With awareness and small, practical shifts, you can begin to rewire your system toward safety, calm, and healing.

We’ll explore:

• Why symptom-focused talk and reassurance seeking backfire

• How avoidance and hyper-monitoring shrink your world

• The power of micro-habits that retrain your brain toward safety

• Why joy and gratitude are essential to nervous system healing

New Resource : IBS Nervous System Reset

NEW: My Safe Space: Affirmation and Journal Prompt Set

📝 Get My Resilience Journal

A guided journal for emotional well-being and nervous system care

📌 Amazon US

📌 Amazon CA

🎓 Join the Nervous System Journaling Club

Doodle, journal, and heal in community

Want to create your own Skool Community?

🔗 Check it out here

Let’s Stay Connected:

Instagram & Facebook: @leahdavidsonlifecoaching

Subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter: leahdavidsonlifecoaching.com/newsletter

Enjoyed the episode?

Please leave a 5 star rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. It helps more people discover these tools for healing and resilience.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Nervous System Side of Your Relationship with Food Sep 10, 2025

Show notes

Have you ever felt like food has all the power, that you can’t trust yourself around it, or that no matter how hard you try, you keep falling into the same patterns of overeating, restricting, or guilt?

What if your struggles with food aren’t really about willpower at all, but about your nervous system?

In this episode of Building Resilience, I’m joined by Jane Pilger, a coach who helps people move from fighting with their bodies to building food freedom and body trust. Jane shares her own 25-year journey with binge eating and how learning about the nervous system became the missing piece in her healing.

We’ll explore:

Food struggles are signals from your nervous system, not lack of willpower
Shame and judgment keep you stuck, curiosity and compassion help you heal
Food often acts as a safety strategy but can also feel unsafe (the safety paradox)
Black-and-white thinking about food is a sign of dysregulation
The Three Powerful Questions: What do I notice? What do I need? What’s next?

Links mentioned:

Connect with Jane Pilger

Binge Eating Breakthrough

Mini Series on food and the nervous system

Free resource: IBS Nervous System Reset

NEW: My Safe Space: Affirmation and Journal Prompt Set

📝 Get My Resilience Journal

A guided journal for emotional well-being and nervous system care:

🛍️ Amazon US

🛍️ Amazon CA: Buy Here

🎓 Join the Nervous System Journaling Club

Doodle, journal, and heal in community

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Gen Z Walks Away: The Gen X Parent Perspective Sep 03, 2025

Show notes

More and more parents are quietly noticing a growing distance with their adult children, and many Gen Z kids are just as quickly setting boundaries or even stepping away completely. If you’ve wondered why this is happening, you’re not alone.

In this episode of Building Resilience, I explore the generational nervous system gap and why relationships between Gen X parents and Gen Z children can feel so strained. This isn’t about blame, it’s about understanding how cultural shifts, nervous system regulation, and different approaches to mental health have shaped how each generation sees family, boundaries, and connection.

We’ll unpack research on rising family estrangement, why Gen Z is more likely to see boundaries as survival rather than betrayal, and how Gen X parents, who often poured decades of effort, time, and sacrifice into raising their kids, are making sense of this new reality. I’ll also talk about the risks on both sides: what Gen Z might lose when they disconnect too quickly, and what Gen X could face as they age without the support they expected.

We’ll explore:

The nervous system's role in feeling safe or unsafe
Gen Z's emotional vocabulary, its strengths and challenges
Why Gen X parents feel blindsided despite their best efforts
The difference between healthy boundaries (bridges) and isolating ones (walls)

Links and Resources:

IBS Nervous System Reset

📝 Get My Resilience Journal

A guided journal for emotional well-being and nervous system care:

🛍️ Amazon US

🛍️ Amazon CA: Buy Here

🎓 Join the Nervous System Journaling Club

Doodle, journal, and heal in community

Let’s Stay Connected:

Instagram & Facebook: @leahdavidsonlifecoaching

Subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Silence Helps… and When It Hurts Aug 27, 2025

Show notes

Silence can be one of the most powerful tools we have but it can also become one of the most damaging. In this episode of Building Resilience, we talk about the double-edged nature of silence: when it truly helps regulate your nervous system, and when it tips into avoidance, shutdown, or even self-abandonment.

You’ll learn five different ways silence shows up: from a healthy reset to a symptom of trauma - and how to tell the difference. we also explore silence as a boundary, a relational message, and even as a quiet container for grief.

If you’ve ever wondered, “Am I choosing silence from a place of strength, or from fear?”- this conversation will give you clarity, compassion, and practical insights to navigate your own patterns with silence.

We’ll explore: