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

Season 2 Preview: Connecting with Inner Guidance

In Season 1 of Returning to Soul, we explored what aligning our career with our authentic self looks like. In Season 2, which launches later this month, we'll explore how to strengthen our connection with our inner guidance so we can make those courageous, aligned choices we long to make. We'll also explore some of the common obstacles in connecting with our inner wisdom and how to go from confusion to clarity. Tune in for solo episodes and interviews with intuition experts to discover how being guided from within can help you design your most authentic and fulfilling career and life. Connect with Jessie at returningtosoul.com

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/]