Don't Cut Your Own Bangs
Episode: Planting Good Seeds (A Gentle Start to 2026)
Host: Danielle Ireland
Release Date: January 12, 2026
Overview
In this thoughtful solo episode, therapist Danielle Ireland weaves together personal stories, client reflections, and expert inspiration to guide listeners toward a gentle, intentional start to 2026. Rather than succumbing to the pressure of resolutions or the hustle of the new year, Danielle reframes January as a season for rest, curiosity, intention, and creative renewal—inviting listeners to plant “good seeds” for the year ahead by honoring rest and embracing creativity.
Main Themes & Purpose
- Redefining the Start of a New Year: Danielle questions the societal intensity around January and offers permission to ease into new intentions instead of striving for rigid goals.
- Planting Good Seeds: Using the metaphor of seeds lying dormant, she explores how invisible work—rest, dreaming, gentle action—fuels meaningful growth.
- Honoring Rest as Resistance: Drawing on Tricia Hersey’s teachings, Danielle unpacks the radical act of rest in a culture obsessed with productivity.
- Creativity Over Calm: Drawing on Martha Beck’s concept, Danielle suggests the antidote to anxiety isn’t always calmness, but engaging creative acts, no matter how small.
- Inviting Gentle Self-Reflection: She closes by offering four deep questions to spark insight and gentle self-renewal.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. January: The Misunderstood Month
[03:00–06:15]
- Danielle describes January as poorly “branded”—a time that should allow for dormancy and gentle beginnings, rather than pressure and performance.
- She urges listeners to listen inward and “start the year off on the right foot—which is whatever feels right to you, because you are the expert in you.”
- Reflects on her own slowness to adjust to the new year, normalizing the feeling of not being “caught up” yet.
Memorable Quote:
"My interpretation of the right foot is whenever feels right to you, because you are the expert in you. Nobody knows you better than you." —Danielle [05:30]
2. The Seed Metaphor: Growth Below the Surface
[06:15–13:50]
- Danielle likens new ideas and changes to seeds: “There is a lot happening when that seed is beneath the soil, actively happening... long before we’re able to see above the surface."
- She encourages patience and respect for the invisible processes that precede outward change, both in nature and human growth.
- Promotes giving oneself “space and grace”—letting intentions germinate without urgency.
Memorable Quote:
"If you were to give yourself time and that space, knowing that that might look like you doing nothing... that’s still sacred, necessary work." —Danielle [09:55]
3. Rest as Resistance: Learning from Tricia Hersey & The Nap Ministry
[13:50–20:45]
- Shares insights from Tricia Hersey’s “Rest is Resistance,” highlighting the fundamental need to honor our bodies, not treat them as machines.
- Cautions against using productivity as an identity and warns how “fusion” to roles can fracture our sense of self during transitions.
- Connects rest, dreaming, and assimilation of experience as vital for healing and growth.
Notable Quote (from Tricia Hersey, shared by Danielle):
“Rest is a generative space. There is information for your healing in the dream space. Our liberation is doomed without it. Rest is resistance. Your body's not a machine.” —Tricia Hersey, quoted by Danielle [15:40]
- Discussion of Gabor Maté’s ideas on old coping models no longer serving us, explaining why discomfort and irritability often emerge when we’re not aligned with our present needs.
4. Creativity as the Antidote to Anxiety
[23:35–28:45]
- Danielle shares Martha Beck’s wisdom: “The opposite of anxiety is not calm. It’s creativity.”
- Explains that even small creative acts (making a sandwich differently, rearranging a shelf, doodling, or trying origami) can quiet the anxious mind.
- Emphasizes that creativity is accessible and doesn’t require expensive or time-consuming projects.
Memorable Quote:
“The opposite of anxiety is not calm. It’s creativity.” —Martha Beck, quoted by Danielle [23:45]
5. Personal Stories: Learning Tap Dance, Sitting in Stillness
[29:00–35:10]
- Danielle shares her decision to try an adult tap dance class—a new, creative challenge outside her comfort zone.
- Highlights the joy and energy that emerged from embracing novelty as a beginner and how it reawakened a sense of play.
- Reflects on her experience with acupuncture: Realized, despite being a therapist and meditation practitioner, she had been “cutting corners” on her own rest and stillness.
- Explains the difference between “knowing” and “practicing” self-care.
Memorable Quote:
“Letting myself be a novice… letting myself be unfamiliar. Like I don’t have any competence when it comes to tap. But I’ll keep you informed, and maybe if I get really brave, I’ll share a video—because it will look like a beginner. But that’s okay because that’s what I am.” —Danielle [32:55]
6. Four Reflective Questions for the New Year
[35:15–37:30]
Danielle encourages listeners to sit with the following questions, shining a light on lost joy and dormant potential:
- When did you stop dancing?
- When did you stop singing?
- When did you stop feeling enchanted by stories?
- When did you stop sitting in stillness?
She underscores the importance of wonder, awe, creativity, and rest, inviting listeners to notice insights without rushing to change anything.
Memorable Reflection:
“The gift of insight: once you see something more clearly, it is almost... it’s like gravity. You feel this internal pull, just like taking a screen grab of someone talking about a dance class. I didn’t know what that meant, but that was a breadcrumb for me to pick up, and I am so glad I said yes.” —Danielle [37:10]
Notable Quotes & Moments
-
On Community in Struggle:
“Odds are, there is somebody right next to you dealing with the exact same thing, wanting to know the exact same answer to a question.” —Danielle [03:05]
-
On Rest:
“Softening—rest—is resistance in a world that tells you to be more, do more, have more.” —Danielle [16:12]
-
On Creativity in Everyday Life:
“Sometimes even the act of trying to think of something creative to do—that’s a creative act in and of itself.” —Danielle [28:15]
Timestamps for Important Segments
| Timestamp | Segment | |---------------|-------------------------------------------------------| | 01:03 | Episode intro & intentions for a gentle new year | | 06:15 | Seed metaphor: Growth unseen | | 13:50 | Tricia Hersey & Rest as Resistance | | 17:10 | Gabor Maté and shedding old coping strategies | | 23:35 | Martha Beck: “Creativity, not calm, soothes anxiety” | | 29:00 | Adult tap class story—embracing beginner’s mind | | 33:30 | Acupuncture story—realigning with stillness | | 35:15 | Four questions for reflection | | 37:10 | The gravity of insight & breadcrumbs towards change |
Tone and Style
Danielle speaks with warmth, wit, and a therapist’s gentle authority—blending professional insight, humor, and vulnerability. She normalizes feeling stuck, lost, or “behind,” and persistently re-centers the listener’s agency and self-compassion.
Closing Thoughts
Danielle’s “Planting Good Seeds” episode truly delivers a nervous-system-soothing alternative to the noisy, pressured narrative of New Year goal-setting. Listeners walk away reminded that rest and creativity are not luxuries, but essentials for genuine renewal. The episode offers not just a gentler start to the year, but practical insights, reflective questions, and wholehearted encouragement to embrace imperfection, process, and play.
Learn More & Connect
- Get Danielle’s Treasure Journal and Wrestling a Walrus (children’s book) – links in show notes.
- Download a free meditation: danielleireland.com/free
- Email questions: danielle@danielleireland.com (subject: "bangs")
Summary by Podcast Summarizer AI | January 2026