316. What Following Your Inner Knowing Actually Looks Like

What does following your inner knowing actually look like — not in theory, but in real life, with a mortgage, three kids, and twenty years practicing medicine inside an institution?

In this solo episode, Jessie shares the long-form version of her story: how she went from Kaiser pediatrician of 20 years to leading 38 retreats, coaching hundreds of physicians, building Pause & Presence with her husband Mark, moving to Nicasio Creek Farm, and stepping onto the TEDx stage. 

Every turn was an act of trust. None of it was a plan.

This is not a story about leaving medicine. 

It is a story about what becomes possible when you stop overriding your inner knowing — and what changes for the people around you when you do.

Listen to hear:

• Why every turning point was an act of trust, not a plan

• Where the name Pause & Presence actually came from

• Working backward from how you want to feel

• The catalyst that actually moves physicians to change

• Why making decisions from depletion keeps you stuck

• What intentional healing spaces make possible

• The unexpected ripple effect on family, marriage, and kids

Pearls of Wisdom

• Every turn we take toward our inner knowing is an act of trust — and trust grows by following it.

• What we model is far more powerful than what we say.

• The biggest gift of change is often the ripple effect on the people we love most.

• You cannot know the how until you get there — you can only set yourself up well for the process.

• Your best ideas come in a parasympathetic state, not when you are pushing.

• Without the pause, we react. Without the presence, we miss our own life.

• Working backward from how we want to feel is one of the most underused tools in medicine.

• Suffering is not required to make meaningful change.

Reflection Questions

• Where in your life are you choosing fine over alive?

• How do you want to feel most days — and how do you feel now?

• What is one small act of trust you could make this week?

• What are you modeling for the people we love, whether you mean to or not?

• Where might support help you trust your own inner knowing more?

Ways to work with Jessie Mahoney MD

1:1 Coaching: www.jessiemahoneymd.com CME Wellness Retreats: www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats

Nothing shared in the Healing Medicine Podcast is medical advice.
The Healing Medicine Podcast was formerly known as the Mindful Healers Podcast.