Your Daily Dose of Hope

Latest Episodes:

Permission to Pause EP 341 Jun 02, 2026

Show notes

Sometimes the most hopeful thing you can do is hit pause. In this episode, Phyllis shares why she chose not to publish episodes she had already recorded and explores the difference between consistency and obligation. A reminder that pauses aren't failures, they can be the very thing that helps us move forward with greater clarity and purpose.

Celebrate People While They’re Here EP 340 May 22, 2026

Show notes

Encouragement matters most while people are here to receive it. Today’s episode explores the power of celebrating and appreciating others in real time.

Make Space for Fun Again EP 339 May 21, 2026

Show notes

Today’s Daily Dose of Hope is a reminder that fun, play, and lightness aren’t distractions from life, they’re part of what helps us live it well.

Joy Is For Everyday EP 338 May 20, 2026

Show notes

Joy isn’t something we earn once life is perfect. This episode is a reminder that hope often grows through small moments of delight in ordinary days.

Hope Helps Us Ask Better Questions EP 337 May 19, 2026

Show notes

The questions we ask ourselves shape what we notice, believe, and pursue. Today’s episode explores how better questions can create more hope and possibility.

Tiny Celebrations Matter EP 336 May 18, 2026

Show notes

Hope grows when we stop waiting for huge milestones and start celebrating the small moments that matter every day

3 Ways to Actually Practice Mindfulness (Without Overhauling Your Life) EP 335 May 08, 2026

Show notes

What do you think when you hear the term mindfulness? I know for a long time, I connected it to meditation that had to take an hour and be done in just the right way. That also meant I couldn’t ever get to it. It was something I aspired to, but never seemed to get around to.

I can’t be the only one, right?

What if mindfulness is meant to be part of our day to day? Not something else on the to-do list but something we do like washing our hands or brushing our teeth? Part of daily life. I’ve been working on this and wanted to share a few things that work for me.

1. Attach it to something you already do. Pick one daily habit like brushing your teeth, waiting for your smoothie to blend, and treat it as a moment of presence. No phone, no mental to-do list. Just the sensation of being exactly where you are. James Clear of Atomic Habits calls this habit-stacking. It works because instead of adding something new to try and remember, we’re just changing how you show in the moment for things that are already part of our day to day. This works for me pretty well, and I like that it’s okay if it’s just a few minutes. It doesn’t have to be 30 minutes on a cushion to count.

2. Use discomfort as a cue. Stress, irritation, restlessness, anxiety. When these show up instead of reacting or suppressing, try pausing for one breath and naming what you feel. Not fixing it. Just noticing. I'm anxious. I'm frustrated. I'm overwhelmed. That single act of labeling activates the prefrontal cortex and creates a tiny but real gap between stimulus and response. That gap is where mindfulness lives. This helps me a lot when I remember to do it. If I’m anxious or upset, it can be hard to hit pause, but worth it when I can do it.

3. End the day with one honest question. Before sleep, ask yourself: Where was I actually present today? It retrains your brain to notice presence in real time, because you know you'll be looking for it later.

That’s what mindfulness is. Being in the present, without agenda, without worrying about tomorrow or obsessing over something that happened yesterday.

The best part is that none of this requires a ton of time or a special app, just your willingness to notice and be present.

Hope Is Your Brain Escaping Its Own Algorithm EP 334 May 07, 2026

Show notes

Our minds have a default playlist. The same worries, the same doubts, the same mental reruns and thoughts are looping in the background whether we realize it or not. Neuroscientists call this the default mode network: the brain's idle state, which often defaults to rumination, worst-case scenarios, and unresolved emotional business.

Hope is what interrupts the loop.

When you feel genuine hope, your brain isn't being naive. It's doing something cognitively important. It's simulating futures that don't exist yet. The prefrontal cortex lights up, pulling attention forward, away from the grooved track of habitual thought. Hope is, in a very literal sense, your brain's ability to think outside its own patterns.

Dr. Paul Baker writes about this in detail in his book, The Hopeful Brain if you’d like to learn more about how our brain functions. It’s fascinating.

Today I want to remind you that hopeful people aren't just "happier." They're more flexible mentally. That means we can hold the present moment and a different version of it at the same time, something our brain can do, but it’s all that common unless we focus on it, unless we practice.

We all know the loop is loud. It's familiar and feels like truth because we’ve thought these thoughts thousands of times. Every day for years!

Hope doesn't silence it. It just reminds you that the loop is not the whole story, and that our brain is bigger than its habits.

Mindfulness is how hope breaks our brain’s algorithm!

Numerology and Hope EP 333 May 06, 2026

Show notes

Have you ever been driving home or walk into the kitchen and glance at the clock, and it says 11:11. You grab your coffee, the receipt says $3.33. Your parking spot? 444.

This is episode 333 which is what got me thinking about this. When I see these sequences it feels like the universe is winking at me. I watched a few videos about this and what I learned is kind of interesting.

Essentially our brain is doing exactly what it has evolved to do. Our brain is always looking for patterns. It’s how our ancestors spotted predators in the grass and understood which berry was safe to eat. That same wiring means we unconsciously filter out the random sequences we see and zero in on the repeating sequences. It's called the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon (or frequency illusion). You notice 111 three times today because your brain is looking for it. It’s why we see red cars when we buy a red car. It’s referred to as selective intention and cognitive bias. Our brain is helping us see what it thinks we need or want to see.

One of the videos I watched called this phenomenon angel numbers and said that the number sequences are how they message us. I don’t know if that’s true but I do know that seeing sequences over and over reminds me that everyday patterns exist all around us.

When someone sees 444 and feels calmed or sees 1111 and feels like they're on the right path, that feeling is real. The number is like a permission slip to trust yourself.

That’s a good thing. If a repeated number makes you pause, breathe, and check in with yourself for 10 seconds, that's a mindfulness practice that feels like a bit of serendipity, divinely inspired or not.

You don’t need to read any other message into seeing sequences other than, my brain (my inner knowing, my intuition) is reminding me to pause, be in the moment. That’s a good thing however it happens because in the moment is also where hope lives.

Here’s to recognizing patterns that help you be your best, most hopeful self.

Hope and Your Intuition EP 332 May 05, 2026

Show notes

Today I want to share a story about listening to your intuition. We all have it, but most of us have been told not to pay attention to it. Except sometimes we do. I’m sure you’ve had an experience where you made a decision to do something, or not do something and it ended up serving you well, but you really don’t have a logical reason for the “knowing”.

A friend of mine who has children says she has what she calls her “spidy” sense and when one of her kids needs her, she just knows. Now they are adults, but it still happens. She doesn’t have to run to the rescue, but she’ll text and check in because she’s learned to trust those messages.

About 2 years ago, I had a crazy example of this in my life. I was driving to an event to see an author who was doing a book tour to promote her new book. It had been on my calendar for a couple months, and I was looking forward to it.

The closest event was in another city about 2 hours away by car and I thought it was worth the drive so I blocked off the time and looked forward to it. The day of the event arrived and I hopped in the car ready to go.

I was only about 30 minutes into the 2ish hour drive when I got the strongest sense that I should turn around and go back home. I was passing an exit on the highway just then, but I didn’t pull off because it seemed so weird. I couldn’t figure out why or where this was coming from. It just didn’t make any sense.

The next exit was about 10 miles way and as it neared, I knew I was going to have to take it. I couldn’t explain it but there’s no way I could drive for another hour and a half feeling like this.

So I turned around. I called my husband to let him know I was on my way home and I wasn’t sure why but it felt like the right thing to do. About 30 minutes after I got home, I received an email from the author’s team.

The event was being postponed because her flight was cancelled and she couldn’t make it. They even said they waited until the last possible minute to make the call.

When I left, the event was still on, but as I was driving, it was cancelled.

I know this sounds crazy, but I also know that was my intuition, the universe, spirit, whatever term you use, looking out for me.

I’m trying to pay attention, and I hope you will too. Your intuition wants the best for us, and I find that the most hopeful thing of all.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected