Bringing Soul Into Your Role with Lea Abrams

Bringing Soul Into Your Role with Lea Abrams

Are you a busy lawyer or other professional seeking more peace, presence, and joy in your work day? If so, this episode is for you. Lea Abrams, founder of RiseWell Coaching, shares practical strategies you can implement starting today to feel and perform at your best. Lea spent the bulk of her career working in organizations while raising a family, so she knows firsthand the challenges busy professionals and working parents face. Lea now works as a somatic and mindfulness coach, Courage and Renewal Facilitator, grief guide, and SoulCollage facilitator. She is also a published author and poet. Through individual coaching and facilitating circles and retreats, Lea helps people embody their most authentic, soulful selves in work and life. Tune in to learn how to bring more soul into your role. Connect with Lea: https://www.risewellcoaching.com/

From Big Law in DC to a Spiritual Awakening in India: One Lawyer's Journey

Like podcast host Jessie Brown, Haley Morrisson spent years trying to make law work. From transactional law in Boston, to a federal clerkship, to litigation at Gibson Dunn in DC, exploring practice areas searching for a fit. In this episode, Haley shares the turning point that changed everything: a Kundalini yoga retreat in India in March 2020 — just as COVID began reshaping the world. What emerged from that experience wasn't a plan, but a profound clarity. She couldn't go back to living the way she had been living. We explore: — What it felt like to keep pushing despite sensing something was off — The role financial security played in staying in Big Law — and what it meant to finally let that go — How breathwork and meditation helped her access a felt sense of trust in the body, not just the mind — Her discovery of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and why it has become the center of her life's work — What becomes possible in organizations and families when people learn to connect through feelings and needs Haley is now a conscious communication trainer, helping individuals and organizations build emotional awareness, improve listening, and navigate conflict with care. Her story is one of courage and coming home to yourself. Connect with Haley: Website: haleymorrisson.com [https://www.haleymorrisson.com/] LinkedIn: Haley Morrisson [https://www.linkedin.com/in/haley-morrisson/] Returning to Soul is a podcast for lawyers and high achievers seeking deeper meaning, purpose, and fulfillment in their work and lives. Hosted by Jessie Brown, JD, PCC — career alignment coach, purpose guide, meditation teacher, breathwork facilitator, Reiki practitioner, and forest bathing guide.

Betting on Yourself: How One Lawyer Curated a Career That Fits

What does it look like to leave a demanding corporate legal role — not out of burnout, but out of recognition that something more aligned is possible? In this episode, I sit down with Maria Flanagan, JD, founder of Flanagan Law PLLC in North Carolina. Maria's story isn't a dramatic escape from law — it's something more nuanced: she found a way to do the work she enjoys while reshaping it to fit her life. We talk about her unconventional path to law school, her decision to leave a senior counsel role after realizing she was doing GC-level work without the title or pay, and what finally gave her the courage to go out on her own. Maria also shares what her life looks like now — kayaking with her rescue dog, visiting her 102-year-old grandmother every other weekend, volunteering at animal shelters, and doing pro bono immigration work she calls the most rewarding thing she's done with her law license. This episode is for anyone who wonders: Is a different way of practicing law actually possible? Can I really have this kind of life? Maria's answer is yes — and she breaks down exactly how she got there. In this episode, we explore: * How Maria put herself through evening law school while working full-time — and what that taught her about doing hard things * The moment she realized she was doing the work of a GC without the title or compensation — and what she did about it * Why the unknown is scarier than the reality, and how one conversation changed everything * What "set it and forget it" actually looks like for a solo practitioner * How she thinks about work-life harmony * The question she asks herself: Is this the hard thing I actually want to do? * Why reputation and fear of "losing face" keeps many lawyers from making the changes they long to make Connect with Maria: * LinkedIn: Maria Flanagan [https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-flanagan-3a368b7/] Connect with Jessie: * LinkedIn: Jessie Brown, JD, PCC [www.linkedin.com/in/returningtosoul] Returning to Soul is a podcast for lawyers and high achievers seeking deeper meaning, purpose, and fulfillment in their work and lives. New episodes explore what it looks like to return to who you actually are — and build a career and life from that place.

Burning the Plaques: Releasing Achievement Identity to Find Your Soul's Purpose

What would it be like to let go of the titles, the awards, and the accolades to make space for who you are becoming, which is who, deep down, you already are? In this rich and deeply moving conversation, Jessie is joined by Michael Tender Heart Denmeade, faculty member at the Purpose Guides Institute, longtime therapist, fire keeper, and vision quest guide. Drawing on 40+ years of participation in indigenous ceremonial traditions, Michael shares wisdom about what it means to live from the soul. In this episode, you'll hear: * Why Michael held a sacred ceremony to burn his professional awards and what that freed in him * How culture conditions high achievers to seek recognition through achievement rather than through being * The necessity of creating space to discover our true purpose * Why purpose isn't something we need to find outside of ourselves, it’s the jewel at the center of our being  * How to begin reconnecting with your deeper self even when you're working long hours with a full family life This episode is for any lawyer or high achiever who senses that what they've built may no longer be what they're meant for and who wonders what it would look like to listen more deeply to the longing of their soul. About Michael Tender Heart Denmeade: Michael serves as faculty at the Purpose Guides Institute and has worked as a therapist for many years. He currently serves as a mentor, fire keeper, and vision quest guide, drawing on indigenous ceremonial wisdom he has received over four decades from elders. To connect with Michael, reach out to Jessie at jessie@jessiebrown.org for his contact information. Resources & Links Mentioned: The ⁠Purpose Guides Institute⁠ [https://www.purposeguides.org/]

Who Are You Beyond Your Title? A Conversation with Peggy O'Neal

What happens when you let go of the identity you've built your career around? In this episode, I sit down with Peggy O'Neal — lawyer, business advisor, strategist — for an intimate conversation about career pivots, identity, and what it means to listen to your own inner knowing. Peggy left a 12-year legal career to pursue work in human potential and coaching. And the external leap turned out to be far easier than the internal one. What she discovered: even when we know a change is right, our being takes time to catch up. The discomfort and the inner voice asking what are you doing? — these aren't signs we've made the wrong choice. They're signs we've been deeply identified with a role. In this episode, we explore: * Why saying "I am a lawyer" is different from "I practice law" — and what that distinction reveals about how we understand ourselves * What Joseph Campbell meant when he said people don't want more meaning — they want more aliveness * How our body, language, and mood shape the possibilities we can perceive * The "breadcrumbs" that point us toward what we truly want, even when we can't articulate it yet * Why so many high achievers reach a ceiling — and why it's often an identity issue in disguise * What it looks like to help a business go from $8.5M to $12.25M in nine months by doing this inner work We also talk about a client of mine who became a lawyer to fulfill her mother's dream — and what her story reveals about how many of us are living someone else's vision of a life well-lived. If you've ever felt stuck between who you are and what you do, this conversation is for you. Connect with Peggy O'Neal: LinkedIn: Peggy O'Neal [https://www.linkedin.com/in/peggy-oneal] Email: peggy@peggy-oneal.com Returning to Soul is a podcast for lawyers and other high achievers seeking deeper meaning, purpose, and fulfillment in their work and lives. If this episode resonated with you, please rate and share the show — and download my free Career Alignment Map [https://stan.store/JessieBrownCoaching/p/the-career-alignment-map] to begin exploring what true motivation looks like in your own life.