The world has a way of teaching us to harden- to protect ourselves by closing off, pulling back, or carrying unspoken resentment. But wisdom doesn’t require hardness, and discernment doesn’t have to turn into bitterness.

In this episode, I reflect on what it means to stay soft without losing your wisdom- to practice discernment as clarity rather than resentment, and to protect your heart without closing it.

I talk about how unresolved hurt can quietly shape our posture toward life, and how choosing discernment with compassion can help purify the heart so we’re able to walk in love- even when relationships, seasons, and people are imperfect.

In this episode, I share:

• The difference between discernment and resentment
• How wisdom can coexist with tenderness
• Why forgiveness is a practice, not a bypass
• How to guard your heart without hardening it
• My three North Stars for 2026- the values I’ll return to when life feels heavy
• Being “labeled” for taking space from hurtful communities or church should be more acceptable and understood
• Thanking past relationships for leaving

This episode isn’t about fixing yourself or forcing outcomes. It’s about choosing the posture you want to live from- one rooted in clarity, love, and grounded faith.

✨ If you’re entering this year wanting to live wisely without becoming hardened, this episode is for you.

Connect with Host, Ella

🎞️ Earth Tones Podcast Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/earthtones.podcast

🎞️ Personal Instagram https://www.instagram.com/earthmamaella

🎬 TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@earthtones.podcast

🎥 YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@earthtones-podcast

As we step into a new year, Episode 22 of Earth Tones offers a gentle alternative to the pressure of New Year’s resolutions!

This episode explores why mantras are more invitational than resolutions — why they don’t demand perfection, discipline, or constant self-correction, but instead invite us back to ourselves again and again. Mantras are not about mastery. They’re about maintenance. About staying. About returning.

At the beginning of the episode, I take a moment to look back on 2025 — not only through the lens of Earth Tones but through my own personal becoming.

✨ Earth Tones reached 796 downloads, listeners in 31 countries, and over 130 cities — something I never imagined when this podcast began. But beyond the numbers, 2025 was a year of stillness. A year of choosing presence over escape. Of learning how to stay with myself in difficult moments instead of running from them.

This year also reshaped how I see God.

I share how my understanding of God has deepened — how God is no longer attached to outcomes, blessings, or perceived rewards. I don’t believe God deals “good hands” or “bad hands” based on worthiness. Our environments, systems, and circumstances create much of what we experience — and God sits with us through all of it.

When we tie God only to outcomes, we risk underestimating the quiet, constant presence of God in the world — especially in moments that don’t resolve neatly.

The episode closes with me sharing my personal mantra and intention for 2026, centered on forgiveness — forgiving others, forgiving myself, and learning how deeper love often lives on the other side of that work.

This episode isn’t about becoming someone new. It’s about learning how to stay with who you already are!

🌿 In this episode:

• Why mantras are more sustainable than resolutions
• Maintenance vs. mastery as a spiritual and emotional practice
• A reflective look back at 2025 — personally and with Earth Tones!
• Reframing how we understand God, presence, and circumstance
• My 2026 mantra centered on forgiveness

Connect with Host, Ella

🎞️ Earth Tones Podcast Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/earthtones.podcast

🎞️ Personal Instagram https://www.instagram.com/earthmamaella

🎬 TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@earthtones.podcast

🎥 YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@earthtones-podcast

Today’s episode is a little different.

I was recently interviewed by a dear friend and fellow single mother on her podcast about navigating the holidays when the kids aren’t with you.

She generously allowed me to share the raw audio here on Earth Tones, because the reflections are deeply personal- and come directly from my own lived experience over the last six years!

While this is a conversation, this episode is really a personal reflection about grief, perspective, ego, and what has helped me move through the holidays when they feel complicated.

Interview conducted by a fellow single parent and close friend, whose thoughtful questions helped guide this reflection!

Hope you enjoy, and please take care of your heart if this is a year you are navigating alone. My heart is with you!

Connect with Elli, host of Mammafeststion Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mammafestation-podcast/id1806898768

Mammafestation Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mammafestation.pod?igsh=MXRwc2s3c3ZkeGY2ZA==

Mammafestation Podcast TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@mammafestation.pod?_r=1&_t=ZT-92RaMhkT1CA

Connect with Host, Ella

🎞️ Earth Tones Podcast Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/earthtones.podcast

🎞️ Personal Instagram https://www.instagram.com/earthmamaella

🎬 TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@earthtones.podcast

🎥 YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@earthtones-podcast