wavePod

Get Wave AI

Follow the Tingle with Justina Blakeney - We Can Do Hard Things | Wave AI Podcast Notes

Back to We Can Do Hard Things

Follow the Tingle with Justina Blakeney

We Can Do Hard Things

Tue Jan 27 2026

Summary

Podcast Summary: We Can Do Hard Things

Episode: Follow the Tingle with Justina Blakeney
Hosts: Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach, Amanda Doyle, Brené Brown (guest hosting)
Guest: Justina Blakeney
Release Date: January 27, 2026

Overview

In this rich and uplifting episode, the Pod Squad — Glennon, Abby, Amanda, and Brené — are joined by designer, artist, and creative force Justina Blakeney. The conversation centers around the idea of "the tingle": that spark of creativity and delight that leads us back to our authentic selves. Justina shares how she finds and follows her own tingle, cultivating self-respect and harmony in her art, home, and life. The episode dives deep into belonging, sovereignty, discipline, intuition, and the challenges of both chasing and maintaining joy.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Reframing Resolutions (00:00–02:58)

The Pod Squad opens the conversation by poking fun at failed resolutions, championing self-acceptance over self-fixing.
Amanda suggests, "Why don't we resolve to not change ourselves and just get to know who the hell we are underneath all that we desire to change?" (00:34)
The path to authenticity: Instead of forcing change, trust what delights you — your "tingle" — as a clue to who you are.

2. Meet Justina: Living Close to the Wild (02:58–05:35)

Glennon admires Justina's authentic, inside-out way of living: "You seem like a human being who lives very from the inside out and not from the outside in." (02:58)
A memorable anecdote: Justina and Emily forge a connection through an awkward post-pandemic eye-staring exercise, symbolizing instant intimacy.

3. On Belonging & Finding Freedom (06:27–11:22)

Justina’s multicultural background gave her both ambiguity and adaptability — a "hack" for feeling belonging wherever she went.
"My parents made a pretty concerted effort not to put any kind of identity onto us as we were growing up... it allowed me the freedom to be on a journey to figure out what that meant for myself." (Justina, 09:48)
Glennon connects Maya Angelou’s wisdom: "You are only free when you realize you belong no place. You belong every place — no place at all... And more and more, I belong to myself." (10:22)

4. The Power of Self-Sovereignty & Self-Respect (11:35–17:53)

Brené recounts Justina’s mantra at a lunch: “It’s for the good of the realm,” emphasizing individual choices that serve broader well-being (12:15).
Justina expands on this with a focus on self-respect: "Something that really hit me hard that I don’t feel like is as much part of the conversation is self respect... it’s making myself feel respected by myself that I think is really important." (13:00–15:13)
Self-respect as an encouraging — not shaming — inner voice: "It’s a kind voice, but it’ll kind of whoop your ass a little bit."
Emily observes: "If I think through that lens, like of needing to have respect for myself, automatically that voice softens a little." (17:16)

5. How Meditation & Listening to the Body Unfolded (23:03–29:54)

Justina shares a turning point: ignoring her persistent digestive issues until an "inner voice" finally screamed, "You are not listening." (23:41)
Starting small, with five minutes of meditation and somatic awareness, led her to slowly decode her body’s signals and needs.
"Now, three years in, I am so much healthier and happier... that mindfulness piece... is a game changer." (Justina, 28:14)

6. Intuition, Life Force, and Making Decisions (29:54–33:54)

Meditation has helped Justina feel her "life force" — clarity on what drains or feeds her.
Business decisions are now filtered by whether they “add to or drain” her life force: "That is the measure by which I'm currently evaluating all my business decisions. Is it giving life or is it taking it away?" (Justina, 31:02)
Glennon recognizes this as the spark behind Justina’s Jungleo style: seeking vitality, color, and vibrancy.

7. Following the Tingle & Intrinsic Motivation (33:54–37:50)

Glennon: "Is following the tingly how you do all of your next creative decisions?" (33:54)
Justina: "Yeah, I am just trying to follow the tingly... I actually have this, like, wacky woo woo theory that if everybody in the world was following their tingle... the world would be perfect." (34:13)
Intrinsic motivation remains key, especially as Justina transitions from design to painting. She finds joy in loving her own art more over time, cherishing her unique voice regardless of external validation.

8. The Sacredness of Stuff, Spaces, and Beauty (41:20–49:44)

Justina collects objects and art that tell her life story. Her home becomes an evolving autobiography and a way to be "known."
"I love experiencing that not just with myself, but with others... it’s stories, you know, it’s beautiful stories." (Justina, 49:13)
She draws parallels to visiting Frida Kahlo’s home and feeling her presence in her possessions.
Acknowledges the personal nature of beauty and the need to “find the resonances” that spark joy.

9. Creativity, Discipline, and Maintenance Energy (44:01–54:05)

Justina admits, "I'm not at risk of becoming too rigid... I definitely lean in the other direction of the too wild." (44:01)
She needs discipline for non-creative tasks, not for creativity itself, and relies on routines/rituals (meditation, journaling) to keep centered.
The struggle of "maintenance energy" versus "challenge energy" comes up: maintaining wellness goals, business rhythms, and a slower life pace can feel less tingly but are vital.
- Glennon: "Maintenance energy is very different than challenge energy.” (52:58)
- Justina: "It's really hard to feel the tingles when you're moving really quickly... and getting more comfortable in that maintenance energy." (53:42)

10. Harmony, Dreams, and What’s Next (56:04–59:44)

Justina is co-authoring a book with her mom (a psychologist) about growing through transitions, complete with an oracle card deck: "That's been just such a beautiful, soulful project." (58:05)
She’s also starting a “Song Club,” returning to her love for communal singing and harmony: "I think it's so incredibly healing to sing in community." (58:33)
Brené ties it together: “How you make a beautiful space and how you make a beautiful life, and harmony is part of all of that.” (59:02)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Amanda: “Why don’t we resolve to not change ourselves and just get to know who the hell we are underneath all that we desire to change?” (00:34)
Justina: “It feels good to be known.” (05:50)
Glennon: “Much of my anorexia control, rigidity was about suppressing life force.” (32:20)
Justina: “If everybody in the world was following their tingle to their most tingliest tingle, the world would be perfect.” (34:30)
Brené: “What you’re doing — it’s not just about spaces. It’s about making your life express who you are and having harmony in it.” (58:57)

Important Timestamps

00:00–02:58: Rejecting resolutions; introducing the “tingle”
06:27–11:22: Belonging, identity, and freedom
13:00–17:53: Self-respect and self-sovereignty
23:41–28:24: Justina’s crisis, ignoring her body, and starting meditation
31:02–33:54: Life force as a guide for decisions
34:13–37:50: The global necessity of “following the tingle”
44:01–46:08: Creativity and discipline: rituals over rigidity
49:44–50:06: Minimalism vs. maximalism: the art of making a home your own
52:58–54:05: The challenge of "maintenance energy"
56:04–59:44: Upcoming projects: the “Grow” book and “Song Club,” ending with a harmony metaphor

Tone & Style

The conversation is playful, candid, and encouraging, warm with laughter, self-deprecation, and mutual admiration. The Pod Squad’s trademark chemistry is present, and Justina’s wisdom radiates as accessible and actionable, especially for listeners feeling stuck or yearning for more creative delight in everyday life.

Conclusion

This episode is a celebration of living from the inside out, following what lights you up, and respecting yourself enough to listen deeply. Through honest stories, practical rituals, and soulful encouragement, Justina inspires the Pod Squad and listeners alike to “track your tingle” — and shape a life and home that sing in harmony with your truest self.

Loading summary...

Transcript

Amanda (0:00)

Hello, Pod Squad. Welcome back to we can do hard things. This is the last week of January settling into a new year. And I think by the last week of January, we have all realized that every one of our resolutions were bullshit and that we were, in fact, never going to do any of those.

Brené (0:24)

And we might begin to wonder why.

Amanda (0:26)

We resolved to resolve only to be.

Brené (0:30)

Defeated by ourselves by the third week. So if that is you, welcome back.

Amanda (0:34)

We, too are with you on the journey. So instead of resolving to change ourselves, because that has worked exactly zero times, why don't we resolve to not change ourselves and just get to know who the hell we are underneath all that we desire to change? So here's the deal. Getting back to who we are, which.

Brené (1:06)

Is where we were always going in the first place.

Amanda (1:09)

Let's start there, okay? And one way to get to know who we actually are, if we are brave enough to trust it, is to trust our.

Glennon (1:19)

Our delight.

Amanda (1:21)

That is a big clue to us. The thing that taps and makes us feel like maybe that was like a little tiny baby itch of curiosity, of creativity, of delight of what our guest today, the remarkable, delightful Justina Blakeney, calls the tingle. When we have lost such touch with ourselves that we're not real sure how to get back in, the tingle is a great clue for us. Okay, so we want to get closer to our wild. We want to sense our tingle. We want to trust it, because our tingle tells us what we desire, what we want, what we love. And those are the things, incidentally, that we will be very good at. Justina talks about her design life, her creativity, her. Her home as an extension of herself. Each object is a story that makes her life more beautiful. She shares ways to bring more joy and meaning into your spaces, to get to know your creativity and bring more joy and meaning into your life. She respects herself so greatly. She respects her creativity greatly. She brings it out of everyone else. She is a designer, but also has designed a damn good life. Please listen and be inspired. Inspired. And please track your tingle with our conversation with Justina Blakeney.

Glennon (2:58)

All right, so real quick, Justina, since I first met you, I think I've. We've only been in rooms together a few times. I just. I feel like you are someone to me that it feels like you live very close to your wild, like, meaning, not wild like I think. What. Sometimes people think of that as, like, necessarily loud or. No, just. I mean wild like your truest self. You seem like a human being who lives very from the inside out and not from the outside. In I can feel it in how you create and how you speak and how you dress and how you parent and you're always that. What I want for everyone listening is just to be more of who they are. And so what I try to remind myself when I'm around you is not that I need to be more like Justina, but that I need to be more me. But I don't know if you remember this. We sat in a room together at a, like a really cool thing we do with a bunch of other women. And we're supposed to go around at the end and all say what our brave goal is for the future after this get together. And everybody was saying things like for their companies or whatever. And I said, my goal is that I'm gonna call Justina and ask her.

Justina Blakeney (7:57)

So, yeah, I grew up in a very multicultural, very big, boisterous, loud, raucous family, and we grew up in Berkeley. So there was this spirit of kind of individualism in the sense that, you know, everyone was sort of allowed to be themselves more in Berkeley, I think, than in a lot of places in the world where it's sort of celebrated. But I think growing up multiracial, and I'm Jewish, and I was raised Jewish, I always felt a little bit. A little bit like an outsider in different places. And we traveled a lot. And what I noticed when we started traveling was that my sister and brother and I, we could go places, and so many different places in the world, people thought that we were from there because they just didn't know. They couldn't tell and were sort of ambiguous in that way. And I think that's one of the reasons why I have a good ear for languages. I sort of started picking up different languages and really being able to kind of transition, just figure out how to blend in into different places so that I could feel like I belonged. And that was almost like a hack for me to Sort of feel a belonging in different circles. And I think that what that orientation did for me as I was growing up was it started to make me feel comfortable not fitting in and being okay with standing out more and having just a general sort of comfort with people staring at me or feeling like I didn't totally know what was going on or didn't belong in that way. And so, yeah, I think there's always the balance of the ricochet between, oh, I feel like I fit in here, and I feel like I belong, and oh, my gosh, I feel like a total outsider. And I feel like there was a lot of ping ponging between feeling both of those things. But I feel like my parents made a pretty concerted effort not to put any kind of identity onto us as we were growing up. And so, in part, that hindered some of my feelings of belonging in the sense that, you know, I didn't necessarily grow up feeling like, oh, this is what I am. But on the other side of it, it allowed me the freedom to be on a journey to figure out what that meant for myself.

Justina Blakeney (12:56)

I've been thinking a lot about this over the past few years because I feel like in the ether we are talking a lot about self love and self care. And something that really hit me hard that I don't feel like is as much part of the conversation is self respect. And it's an angle on self love that I think about a lot because you can love in so many different ways and sometimes loving can look a little bit too much like smothering or loving can look too much, a little too much like spoiling or indulging. And I think sometimes for me I can get into a place where that's true for myself as well. So one of the things that I've been thinking a lot about and that helps me get out of that sort of deprivation feeling. You know, if I'm trying to be more conscious about what I'm putting in my mouth or how much I move my body or how much time I spend in front of a screen or any of these things is this idea of self respect and this idea of what is good for me is good for the realm. And that that looks different from indulging at every moment. What that might mean sometimes is restraint. And just finding that in between place in that and temperance is something I've been thinking a lot about lately because I can get into a state of overwhelm or I can get into a state of go, go, go, go, go. And everything's, you know, and so I have to like, pull myself back and breathe and practice temperance and remind myself self sovereignty. Not just for my good, for the good of the realm, the higher purpose. So it's just these little. These little reminders, these mini mantras and things that help me and bring me back when I'm not feeling grounded or when I feel myself starting to go into. Yeah. Feeling like, oh, I'm so deprived. Like, I can't have that dessert because I'm not eating dairy. Instead of that, it's like, oh, actually, this is an opportunity to practice self sovereignty. It's just a way of making myself feel respected by myself that I think is really important.

Sponsor Voice (20:32)

Every business I talk to is trying to figure out the same exact thing how to actually use AI in a way that helps, not just adds more noise. Okay, the idea sounds exciting, but guessing your way through it can get pretty expensive. That's where NetSuite comes in. It's the number one AI cloud ERP trusted by over 43,000 businesses, and it's built to help you use AI in real, everyday ways. NetSuite brings together your financials, inventory, commerce, HR and CRM in one system so everything is finally connected. And when your data lives in one place, AI can actually be useful. And with NetSuite AI connector, you can use the AI tools you already like and connect them directly to your real business data. If your revenues are at least in the seven figures, get our free business guide Demystifying AI at netsuite.com HardThings the guide is free to you at netsuite.com Hardthings netsuite.com HardThings let's be real. Every year starts the same we say we'll eat cleaner, train harder, and feel lighter. But if your digestion is sluggish, your body can't keep up. That's where Massimes comes in. Your simple digestive ritual for 2026 Massim is loaded with 18 powerful enzymes, including four times more protease than leading competitors to help break down protein, carbs and fats more efficiently. That means better nutrient absorption, less bloating, and more real energy from the food you're already eating. It's a hardworking yet smooth enzyme blend that's been a customer favorite for over 20 years. And once you feel the difference, you'll understand why this is the ritual your stomach will thank you for. No more post meal food hangovers. No more bloating holding you back. Just clean energy, better digestion and the comfort you need to crush your goals all year long. For a limited time, get up to 26% off select products and bundles during the New Year New you sale when you use my code, we can do hard things at checkout and select bundles are on sale for up to 45% off. Visit bioptimizers.com we can do hard things and Use code. We can do hard things to get the best deal on mass Zymes and all biOptimizers products. Start 2026 with a stronger gut because better digestion and more energy starts in your stomach.

Justina Blakeney (23:41)

I remember a conversation I had with a dear friend a few years ago. I said, and, you know, this is sort of right after Covid and right after we went through and lived in a whole big house renovation. And, you know, I was just not in a good place and working a lot. And I told her, I said, I don't have any free time, but if I did, I'm not even sure what I would do in it. You know, I remember telling her that, like, I was just like, I don't know what I do for fun anymore at this stage in my life. Like, I'm just not sure, like, if I were to go away by myself for a weekend to, like, Palm Springs or something, like, I don't know what I would do. And that thought really scared me because I've always felt really clear about sort of my passions and my purpose, and I just felt, yeah, really unsure and really run ragged, and I wasn't feeling good in my body. And I'd been dealing with years and years of, like, a nervous tummy, and just. I just wasn't. I wasn't in a good place. And I knew. I knew I wasn't in a good place. But, I mean, I'm gonna get real with the pod squad. I think y' all can handle it. But, you know, I'd had diarrhea for, like, five years straight and just sor. Ignored it and just was like, oh, yeah, well, you know, this is how my tummy is, you know, And I never really did anything about it or paid any attention to it. And one day I was on the throne, and my tummy was just feeling so bad, and I just heard this voice coming from inside, and it was just like, you are not listening. You are not listening. She kept saying that over and over again. You're not listening. And she said, I've been telling you everything you need to know for so long, and you're not listening. And that was a real turning point for me. I was like, okay, okay, I'm going to start listening now. And I did. And so that was really the beginning of my meditation practice, which I was very resistant to. I'm an Aries. I have go, go, go energy, all of that. So the idea of sitting in quiet stillness, I was like, can I at least sing?