In Real Time with Katoya Palmer

In this episode of Mindfulness in the Middle, I explore how mindfulness reshaped my relationship with desire—food, comfort, beauty, longing, pleasure, and the parts of wanting that were once considered off-limits. Growing up, desire wasn’t named; it was managed, judged, or tucked into silence. But noticing desire through a mindful lens changed everything. This week’s reflection looks at why the th...

In this episode, I explore what happens when the labels we once wore like armor start to feel more like chains. This week’s mindfulness card challenged me to look at the identities I defended out of habit—daughter, church girl, overachiever—and ask myself which ones actually belonged to me, and which ones I kept out of fear. I share how old beliefs about success, gender, politics, and “being right...

In this episode, I sit with a card that asks me to notice the signs of aging—and it takes me somewhere deeper than wrinkles or birthdays. I explore what time has taught me about work, networks, class ceilings, and the uncomfortable truth that effort alone doesn’t always change the room you walk into. I talk about the wisdom that only comes with age: slowing down before entering new spaces, reading...

This four-part reflection invites you to explore what it means to care for your body—especially in seasons of stress, transition, or healing. From grounding rituals and breathwork to family beauty legacies and honest truths about weight, this episode holds space for both grace and growth. You’ll hear how I’m redefining care—not as performance, but as practice. This episode includes: A mindfulness...

I almost didn’t share this one. But this is where the work starts. According to Buddhist tradition, aversion is one of the three afflictive mind-states—alongside greed and delusion. It’s the quiet repulsion we feel when we just want someone or something gone. This week, I felt it in my chest. Lingering trauma. Workplace flashbacks. Deep resentment that bubbled into dreams. But mindfulness asks us...

This is where it begins—my journey to reclaim peace, presence, and purpose after burnout and transition. Mindfulness in the Middle is a series about meeting life where it actually happens: between the past that shaped us and the future we’re still becoming. In this intro, I share what mindfulness really means to me—not as a buzzword, but as a daily practice of awareness, compassion, and truth-tell...