The Daily Ascent

Operation Podcast
Operation Podcast
  • 4.7 (146)
  • Mental Health
  • Updated Daily

Welcome to The Daily Ascent. I'm Molly Carmel — and this is the podcast I always wished existed: a bite-sized, on-the-ground spiritual note that can shift your thinking and your outlook on life. Because sometimes, that's all it takes — a small shift in what we choose to believe — to make the day a little better, and to make us a little more awake, alive… and ascending. Each weekday, we climb together — rising above the noise, finding the flow, and getting grounded in what really matters so you can live your day with more meaning, connection, and ease.

  1. 3h ago

    [FAVORITE] Why the First Time Through Is Always the Hardest

    My yoga teacher said something at the end of a brutal sequence that stopped me cold. And I immediately thought of my best friend, who had just started a dream job and was completely falling apart trying to adjust. This episode is about why the first time through anything feels like drowning, and why that's not evidence you made a mistake. It's just evidence that you don't have rhythm yet.  Question to carry into your day: What transition are you in right now where you're still on the first side, and how would it feel to trust that rhythm is coming?  Ready to do this work with real support? Book a strategy call and let's talk about whether the Stop Starting Over System is right for you. https://link.mollycarmel.com/widget/bookings/mc-discoverycall-organic  Let's Stay Connected:  Subscribe on YouTube Instagram: @mollycarmel Check out my Pocket Sages on my Amazon Storefront Questions or want to share your story? Email me at dailyascentpod@gmail.com  An Operation Podcast production | @OperationPodcast

  2. 1d ago

    Why You Always Think You're Stuck (When You're Not)

    I've been out on the East End of Long Island, where the whole place runs on a couple of roads with almost no traffic lights, so making a left turn means sitting and waiting with no help coming.  And every single time, I catastrophize: I'm going to be late, this'll take forever, I'm never getting out of this lane.  And every single time, the traffic clears and I make the turn. Sometimes a generous stranger even stops and waves me through. It hit me that this is exactly what the mind does with every hard thing, it looks at a temporary jam and swears it's permanent.  This is an episode about the lie that you're stuck forever, and why the tide always turns. This is an episode about why the mind treats every hard moment as permanent, and how to remember the turn is always coming.  Question to carry into your day: Where are you treating a temporary hard stretch like it's your permanent address?  Want to work together? Me too! Book a discovery call and let's talk about whether the Stop Starting Over System is right for you. https://link.mollycarmel.com/widget/bookings/mc-discoverycall  Let's Stay Connected:  Subscribe on YouTube Instagram: @mollycarmel Check out my Pocket Sages on my Amazon Storefront Questions or want to share your story? Email me at dailyascentpod@gmail.com  An Operation Podcast production | @OperationPodcast

  3. 2d ago

    15 Years Sober: Why I Had to Surrender to Win

    Today I'm fifteen years sober, and I want to tell you about the day it happened. I always had a hard time with alcohol, and by my early thirties I was doing the things I swore I never would. After I browned out at my own thirty-fourth birthday party, I drove to Cape Cod carrying a shame I couldn't shake, went down to the beach alone, and called a sober woman I was sure wouldn't answer.  She answered. And when she gently asked if I'd drink that night, I heard myself negotiating, the line went quiet, and she just said my name. Something broke open. Standing in front of the ocean, I knew I couldn't stop on my own, and instead of defeat I felt relief.  The fight was over. This is an episode about surrender, about how the white flag is where you start winning, and about the trust and connection that catch you once you let go. This is an episode about how surrender isn't losing the fight, it's admitting you can't win it alone, and what becomes possible once you stop believing the thing you were most sure of. Question to carry into your day: What are you still insisting you've got handled, that actually has you?  Want to work together? Me too! Book a discovery call and let's talk about whether the Stop Starting Over System is right for you. https://link.mollycarmel.com/widget/bookings/mc-discoverycall  Let's Stay Connected:  Subscribe on YouTube Instagram: @mollycarmel Check out my Pocket Sages on my Amazon Storefront Questions or want to share your story? Email me at dailyascentpod@gmail.com  An Operation Podcast production | @OperationPodcast

  4. 3d ago

    [FAVORITE] The Night I Sobbed in a Parking Lot After a Book Launch

    I stood in a parking lot completely falling apart. Convinced my creative life was over. And my friend looked at me and said, one day we are both going to laugh about this. I did not believe her. This episode is about what unfolding actually looks like when you're inside it, and why the middle of the story is not evidence that the story is over.  Question to carry into your day: What moment in your life are you treating as proof that something is over, when it might actually be the beginning of something you can't see yet?  Ready to do this work with real support? Book a strategy call and let's talk about whether the Stop Starting Over System is right for you. https://link.mollycarmel.com/widget/bookings/mc-discoverycall-organic  Let's Stay Connected:  Subscribe on YouTube Instagram: @mollycarmel Check out my Pocket Sages on my Amazon Storefront Questions or want to share your story? Email me at dailyascentpod@gmail.com  An Operation Podcast production | @OperationPodcast

  5. 6d ago

    What I Wish I'd Known About Being Alive in My Darkest Years

    It's my birthday week, and birthdays make me honest. I lost a lot of my life, years of it, to my eating disorder, to addiction, to depression, long stretches where I was here but stuck behind a glass wall, unable to feel any of it.  What put the first crack in that wall was realizing I could think differently, though at the start choosing a new thought felt like pushing a boulder uphill. With practice it became a pebble. I'm not behind the glass anymore and I love my life now. But the old thinking still drifts back, and this year's intention is to keep catching it and reclaiming the life I fought for. This is an episode about recovery, guarding the good you fought for, and reclaiming appreciation for your life on purpose.  Question to carry into your day: Where has the old thinking quietly drifted back in, that it's time for you to reclaim?  Want to work together? Me too! Book a discovery call and let's talk about whether the Stop Starting Over System is right for you. https://link.mollycarmel.com/widget/bookings/mc-discoverycall  Let's Stay Connected:  Subscribe on YouTube Instagram: @mollycarmel Check out my Pocket Sages on my Amazon Storefront Questions or want to share your story? Email me at dailyascentpod@gmail.com  An Operation Podcast production | @OperationPodcast

  6. Aug 27

    [FAVORITE] How I Taught Myself to Love Something I Hated (The Hot Yoga Experiment)

    Two years ago I was completely sure I hated hot yoga. My best friend Josh twisted my arm, I went, and I hated every single minute of it.  And then I had one small thought: what if I could teach myself to love it? Not tolerate it. Not white-knuckle through it. Actually love it.  So I got a two-week pass and went every single day. Whether I felt good or terrible. Whether I wanted to or not. Just showed up. This episode is about what happened next, and why commitment will always carry you further than motivation ever could.  Question to carry into your day: What's something you've written off as "I just don't like that," and what would it look like to commit to showing up for it and see what changes?  Ready to do this work with real support? Book a strategy call and let's talk about whether the Stop Starting Over System is right for you. https://link.mollycarmel.com/widget/bookings/mc-discoverycall-organic  Let's Stay Connected:  Subscribe on YouTube Instagram: @mollycarmel Check out my Pocket Sages on my Amazon Storefront Questions or want to share your story? Email me at dailyascentpod@gmail.com  An Operation Podcast production | @OperationPodcast

  7. Aug 26

    Why You Can't Find What You've Already Decided Isn't There

    A friend of mine was apartment hunting with an agent who kept insisting there was nothing good out there, and this genuinely positive woman started to catch his hopelessness.  So I stopped her. You don't need fifty apartments, you need one, and there's always one good one, so don't make his belief your belief. And I told her what my spiritual advisor used to tell me: God is the ultimate real estate broker. She shifted her belief, and found the top floor of a two-family home with everything on her list. This is an episode about how belief shapes perception, why the brain shows you what you expect to find, and how spirituality is really a shift in how you choose to see.  Question to carry into your day: Where have you decided there's nothing, before you've actually looked with hopeful eyes? Want to work together? Me too! Book a discovery call and let's talk about whether the Stop Starting Over System is right for you. https://link.mollycarmel.com/widget/bookings/mc-discoverycall  Let's Stay Connected:  Subscribe on YouTube Instagram: @mollycarmel Check out my Pocket Sages on my Amazon Storefront Questions or want to share your story? Email me at dailyascentpod@gmail.com  An Operation Podcast production | @OperationPodcast

  8. Aug 25

    [FAVORITE] Loving Your Family Without Losing Yourself

    A client and I came up with an analogy years ago: she's the unicorn in a family of horses. And if you've ever felt like the different one, the too-sensitive one, the one who just doesn't quite fit, you already know exactly what that feels like.  A unicorn is still a horse. Just a magical one. This episode is about how to love your family without expecting them to be something they're not, and how to stop punishing people for limits they can't help, while still getting your own needs met.  Question to carry into your day: Where are you asking someone to give you something they simply don't have, and what might shift if you let them be who they are while giving yourself permission to find the people who truly see you?  Ready to do this work with real support? Book a strategy call and let's talk about whether the Stop Starting Over System is right for you. https://link.mollycarmel.com/widget/bookings/mc-discoverycall-organic  Let's Stay Connected:  Subscribe on YouTube Instagram: @mollycarmel Check out my Pocket Sages on my Amazon Storefront Questions or want to share your story? Email me at dailyascentpod@gmail.com  An Operation Podcast production | @OperationPodcast

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4.7
out of 5
146 Ratings

About

Welcome to The Daily Ascent. I'm Molly Carmel — and this is the podcast I always wished existed: a bite-sized, on-the-ground spiritual note that can shift your thinking and your outlook on life. Because sometimes, that's all it takes — a small shift in what we choose to believe — to make the day a little better, and to make us a little more awake, alive… and ascending. Each weekday, we climb together — rising above the noise, finding the flow, and getting grounded in what really matters so you can live your day with more meaning, connection, and ease.

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