Title: Elevating Your Self-Talk: The Voice That Shapes Your Life

Episode Summary: Your inner dialogue shapes your confidence, your stress levels, and your growth. In this episode, Mercy walks you through how to identify your Inner Critic, understand why harsh self-talk feels productive, and strengthen your Inner Coach so you can grow without shame.

In This Episode You’ll Learn:

• The three internal voices driving your behavior

• Why shame doesn’t create sustainable growth

• How to regulate self-talk using the Notice-Name-Neutralize-Nurture framework

• Real-life examples of upgrading internal dialogue

Reflection Questions:

1. What phrase does my Inner Critic repeat most often?

2. When did I first learn to talk to myself this way?

3. What would my Inner Coach say instead?

Action Step This Week: Rewrite one recurring critical thought into a calm coaching statement and practice it daily.

Find more resources here

What if growth this year was not about discipline, but trust?

In this final episode of the January Mindset Series, we explore self-leadership as a grounded, sustainable approach to personal growth.

This conversation invites you to replace urgency with integrity and pressure with presence, and to lead yourself with awareness instead of control.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why motivation matters less than self-trust

• What self-leadership looks like in everyday moments

• How presence creates clarity

• A new way to approach growth without pressure

This episode is for anyone who wants to move forward without abandoning themselves.

Reflection questions:

• What does self-trust look like for me right now?

• Where am I ready to lead myself differently?

• What mindset am I choosing to release?

• What am I ready to carry forward?

Resources & Next Steps: Explore the January Mindset Series, reflection tools, and deeper self-coaching support here: https://linktr.ee/mercyrice

Your mindset shows up most clearly in real-time moments, not quiet reflection.

In this episode, we explore how expectations and emotional triggers influence your reactions and how emotional autopilot can quietly shape your behavior if left unchecked.

This conversation brings mindset work into everyday situations and relationships, helping you respond with intention instead of habit.

In this episode, we explore:

• How expectations shape emotional responses before anything happens

• Why triggers are signals, not problems

• The role of the nervous system in emotional reactions

• How pausing creates space for choice and clarity

This episode is for anyone who wants to understand their reactions without judgment and build emotional awareness in real life.

Reflection questions:

• Where do I tend to go on emotional autopilot?

• What situations activate my strongest reactions?

• What expectation might be shaping those moments?

Resources & Next Steps: Explore the January Mindset Series, reflection tools, and deeper self-coaching support here: https://linktr.ee/mercyrice

What if the patterns you want to change are not flaws, but protection?

In this episode, we explore how many of our current mindsets were formed to keep us emotionally safe and why understanding this changes everything about personal growth.

This conversation invites compassion instead of criticism and curiosity instead of force.

In this episode, we explore:

• The difference between growth mindsets and protective mindsets

• Why willpower fails when safety is involved

• How behaviors like people-pleasing or overworking once served a purpose

• A powerful reframe that turns self-judgment into self-understanding

This episode is for anyone who feels stuck and wonders why change feels harder than it should.

Reflection questions:

• What behavior in my life may actually be protecting me?

• What did I need when this pattern first developed?

• What does this part of me need now?

Resources & Next Steps: Continue the January mindset work here:

January often invites pressure to become someone new. This episode offers a different starting point.

Instead of rushing into goals, we slow down and explore what has actually been shaping your patterns, choices, and emotional responses beneath the surface.

This conversation is about awareness before action and depth before direction.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why goal-setting alone often leads to frustration

• The difference between desires and beliefs

• How unconscious patterns quietly shape your outcomes

• A more honest question to ask at the beginning of a new year

This episode is an invitation to stop forcing clarity and start building it from within.

Reflection questions:

• What patterns followed me into this year?

• What belief may be shaping my choices without my awareness?

• Where have I confused pressure with growth?

Resources & Next Steps: Connect with me and explore deeper work here: https://linktr.ee/mercyrice

Subtitle: Creating Soft Goals for the Year Ahead Release: First Episode of 2026

The beginning of a new year often comes with pressure to improve, fix, or prove ourselves. In this opening episode of 2026, Mercy invites you into a different way of starting again. One rooted in God’s grace rather than performance.

This episode introduces the concept of soft goals. Goals shaped by awareness, compassion, and alignment instead of hustle and self-criticism. Together, we explore how grace changes the way we approach growth, why inner work requires partnership instead of pressure, and how to set intentions that support who you are becoming rather than who you think you should be.

This conversation is reflective, faith-centered, and spacious. It is designed to help you begin the year grounded, honest, and open to transformation without force.

• Why traditional goal-setting often creates pressure instead of peace

• How God’s grace shifts the foundation of personal growth

• What “soft goals” are and why they support real change

• The difference between striving and partnering with grace

• How inner work helps you understand patterns instead of fighting them

• Questions to help you shape intentions for 2026

• Why drifting does not mean failing and how grace brings us back

• A closing reflection to help you enter the year with clarity and trust

You may want to pause the episode or journal with these questions afterward:

• What emotions do I want to experience more consistently this year?

• Where have I been striving instead of trusting?

• What patterns am I noticing without judgment right now?

• What might it look like to partner with grace in this season of my life?

• What is one soft goal I want to return to throughout the year?

You are not starting this year behind. You are not here to prove your worth.

You are allowed to grow with grace.

Soft goals are not about doing less. They are about becoming more aware, more aligned, and more rooted in who God created you to be.

If this episode resonated with you and you’d like to stay connected, explore resources, reflections, and current offerings here:

👉 Linktree:

Inside the link, you’ll find ways to:

• Continue your inner work journey

• Listen to more podcast episodes

• Join the Self-Coaching Club

• Access reflections, tools, and resources

If this conversation supported you:

• Share it with a friend who may need permission to soften their expectations

• Leave a review so others can find the podcast

• Subscribe so you don’t miss future episodes

Thank you for being here and for starting the year with intention and grace.

As the year comes to a close, this episode is an invitation to slow down.

Instead of jumping straight into goals, resolutions, or “what’s next,” we’re taking a gentle pause to reflect on how far you’ve come—and how much healing has already happened through the inner work you’ve done this year.

In this final episode of the year, we talk about why acknowledging growth matters, how healing often shows up in quiet ways, and how to take inventory without judgment or pressure. This conversation is lighthearted, encouraging, and designed to help you enter the new year grounded rather than rushed.

You’re not starting over. You’re starting from experience.

• Why we often skip reflecting on our growth—and what it costs us

• How healing shows up in subtle but powerful ways

• The difference between “arriving” and becoming more aware

• How to take inventory of your inner work without self-criticism

• Why you don’t lose your progress when the calendar changes

• What feels different about me today than it did a year ago?

• Where do I notice more self-awareness or emotional regulation?

• What patterns am I catching sooner—even if I’m still working through them?

• What did I survive this year that I once thought I couldn’t?

• Where am I offering myself more grace?

You don’t need perfect answers—just honesty.

If this podcast has supported you this year, I’d love to stay connected.

• Visit mercyrice.com for resources, reflections, and coaching support

• Sign up for my monthly newsletter for encouragement, mindset shifts, and gentle prompts

• Follow or subscribe to The Self-Coaching Club Podcast so we can continue this work together in the new year

And if this episode resonated, consider sharing it with someone who may need permission to pause and honor their growth too.

You are not behind. You are not starting from scratch. You are carrying wisdom, awareness, and healing forward with you.

Thank you for being here—and for doing the work.