In Real Time with Katoya Palmer

Katoya Palmer
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  • Personal Journals

In Real Time with Katoya Palmer is a space for honest thinking, lived experience, and the kind of perspective you only gain by moving through life with your eyes open. Each episode breaks down something real — a moment, a question, a system, a relationship, a story — and considers what it means as it’s happening. Katoya brings together her experience as a leader, a strategist, a storyteller, and a mother to explore how life and systems shape each other. Some days it’s a deep dive into housing, community safety, nonprofits, or public accountability. Other days it’s a reflection on healing, bur

Episodes

  1. Mindfulness in the Middle - Episode 5: Mindfulness, Pleasure, and the Compass of Wanting

    11/18/2025

    Mindfulness in the Middle - Episode 5: Mindfulness, Pleasure, and the Compass of Wanting

    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 things we’re told not to want become more magnetic, how the science of anticipation shapes our cravings, and how desire can be a guide toward nourishment—or a warning toward depletion. I talk about the difference between chasing sparks and listening for alignment, and how pausing to ask “Will this feed me or empty me?” has become part of my inner compass. This episode invites you to consider your own relationship with wanting: Which desires have you honored without apology? And which ones are still waiting for your attention? Next week’s card is Say Yes—an exploration of what we agree to, why, and whether our yeses are truly aligned. A written companion to this episode is available on Substack.

    3 min
  2. Mindfulness in the Middle - Episode 4: Shedding Labels, Choosing Curiosity

    11/13/2025

    Mindfulness in the Middle - Episode 4: Shedding Labels, Choosing Curiosity

    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” shaped me for years, and how learning to let them go felt like molting—uncomfortable, vulnerable, and strangely freeing. Through reflection and mindfulness practice, I began to realize that not every battle deserves my energy, and not every identity is meant to travel with me into adulthood. This episode is an invitation to question what you’re still holding on to: Which labels no longer fit? Which beliefs are draining more than they serve? And what might become possible if you loosened your grip? Mindfulness reminds us that identity is fluid, curiosity is a teacher, and release can be a form of self-protection.

    3 min
  3. Mindfulness in the Middle - Episode 3: Things I Wish I Knew When I Was Younger

    11/12/2025

    Mindfulness in the Middle - Episode 3: Things I Wish I Knew When I Was Younger

    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 the room, noticing how people move before deciding how I’ll move. And I name the other side of aging—the quiet, accumulating losses no one warns you about, the kind that only make sense when you look back across decades. You’ll hear reflections across three generations: my mother in her 60s, my 19-year-old son stepping into adulthood, and me at 43, watching us all shift in real time. Even the objects in my life—my Cadillac, my old but faithful devices—carry their own stories about time, memory, and change. Aging, in this conversation, becomes less about decline and more about perspective: knowing what matters, what to release, and what to protect. I close with a preview of next week’s card, Defending and Defining, where I’ll explore the identities we inherit, the ones we outgrow, and the ones we choose.

    6 min
  4. Mindfulness In the Middle - Episode 2: Be Loving and Kind To Your Body

    11/12/2025

    Mindfulness In the Middle - Episode 2: Be Loving and Kind To Your Body

    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 exercise from the weekly card A sensory deep dive into my “everything shower” ritual Reflections on legacy, body image, and sacred self-expression A closing reminder that rest is not weakness—it’s wisdom 🪞✨ Listen, reflect, and return to your body with love. 📖 Read the full written companion on Substack: katoyapalmer.substack.com #MindfulnessInTheMiddle #RestAsResistance #LovingKindness #BodyCompassion #HealingInProgress #BlackWomenHealing

    5 min
  5. Mindfulness in the Middle - Episode 1 Notice Dislike

    11/11/2025

    Mindfulness in the Middle - Episode 1 Notice Dislike

    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 to notice—not numb. To track the moment aversion arises, and what sense impression may have triggered it: a sound, a smell, a memory. “Anger does not cease through anger, but through love alone.” So I stayed with the discomfort. I let it speak. And today, I practiced love—not just for others, but for the parts of me that still hurt. Card from Mindfulness on the Go by Dr. Jan Chozen Bays

    5 min
  6. Mindfulness in the Middle Intro (Reclaiming Myself)

    11/11/2025

    Mindfulness in the Middle Intro (Reclaiming Myself)

    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-telling. This video sets the stage for Episode 1: Notice Dislike. Topics: mindfulness, healing, emotional wellness, self-recovery, personal growth, trauma recovery, mental health awareness

    3 min
  • 6 Episodes

About

In Real Time with Katoya Palmer is a space for honest thinking, lived experience, and the kind of perspective you only gain by moving through life with your eyes open. Each episode breaks down something real — a moment, a question, a system, a relationship, a story — and considers what it means as it’s happening. Katoya brings together her experience as a leader, a strategist, a storyteller, and a mother to explore how life and systems shape each other. Some days it’s a deep dive into housing, community safety, nonprofits, or public accountability. Other days it’s a reflection on healing, bur

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