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.
Latest episodes
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12 min
We Never Know How the Story Ends
Last November, I made myself a promise: a small spiritual note every single day, then check in and see how I feel. In the year since, I traveled, built new things, found new homes,…
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13 min
Pray Like a Crazy Person
When I first got sober, I didn't know how to pray, so I read other people's prayers off a card, morning and night. Then a teacher said four words that changed everything, and someo…
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13 min
Why My First Meditation Felt Like a Fistfight
For years I avoided meditation. I was scared of my own monkey mind, and my stepdad was so annoying about his practice that I swore I'd never do it. Then, a few years into my recove…
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12 min
Why You Don't Need a Guru (You Need a Power Circle)
In 2015, I pressed play on a recording by a woman I'd never heard of, and within minutes I was thinking, where has this woman been my whole life? That started a decade with a teach…
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12 min
How to Let Something Go Without Feeling Selfish
I have news, and I almost told it to you prettier than it is. I had a lovely version written, and when I read it back, I realized it wasn't true. So instead I'm giving you the real…
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10 min
The Diamond Bracelet I Almost Talked Myself Out Of
I went to a benefit as my friend Eileen's date, a little under the weather, and when they ran a game where the winner took home a diamond bracelet, I bought two chances and then al…
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12 min
The Hidden Cost of Being the One Everyone Relies On
I got sick this week and had to miss an event my best friend Michelle and I had been planning for a month. Staying home was the right call. But then, from my sickbed, I found mysel…
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12 min
When You've Drifted From a Good Friend (And Feel Bad About It)
I got invited to a small dinner this week by a friend I'd drifted from, no falling out, life just loosened us, and it touched me that she'd want me at such an intimate table. Then…
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11 min
What People Are Really Handing You When They Give You Advice
I went on a date, and it flopped, and I was completely fine with it. Then a friend I love said four words trying to help, and I felt myself get tight. I knew right away she meant w…
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9 min
What Losing My Cell Signal Taught Me About Connection
I was staying somewhere beautiful on the east end of Long Island, where the cell service is so spotty it's almost a joke. I was thriving out there, but I couldn't reach my power ci…
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12 min
How to Talk Yourself Into What You Already Decided
I was deep in a brutal workout class, everybody shaking, and the teacher said: don't negotiate with yourself, because the minute you start negotiating, you've already lost yourself…
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11 min
Why You Keep Walking Away From What You Need Most
At my fifteen-years-sober party, I invited a friend from my recovery community, someone who's in the rooms but stays on the edges. I figured he'd drop in for five minutes. Instead…
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11 min
Why Feeling Jealous Isn't Something to Be Ashamed Of
A friend told me she was jealous of a couple at a party, and she said it like a confession, like she'd done something wrong. It reminded me of a client I had years ago, a sweet man…
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11 min
Why It's So Hard to Let People Help You
I threw myself a party for fifteen years sober, and I planned every piece of it alone, right down to buying my own birthday cake. For days my friends kept asking what they could br…
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12 min
Why Pushing Yourself Harder Keeps Backfiring
I do this wild Pilates class on a crazy machine, where you can work off the front, which is the regular hard, or off the back, which is brutal. First day back this fall, the instru…
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9 min
Why You Don't Reach Out to the People You Love Most
One of my closest friends, a gorgeous storyteller who puts her real life online, posted the other day about how lonely she was feeling. And my stomach dropped, because I don't reac…
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11 min
How to Stop Letting Little Things Bother You
I sent a friendly note to someone I barely know, the kind you forget about in an hour, and got something clipped back. So I wrote again and asked if she was okay. What came back wa…
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12 min
[FAVORITE] Why Comparing Your Pain to Someone Else's Doesn't Help Anyone
My spiritual advisor was in Africa, shoveling garbage to clear a path to where people were living. And I sent her a voice memo about something bothering me, with a big disclaimer a…
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12 min
How to Stop Saying Yes to Things You'll Regret
About five years ago I was deep in a yoga retreat phase, and an email came in about one, and I read half of it. Then I put down the full deposit that same afternoon, glowing. Ready…
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12 min
[FAVORITE] Catching Sadness Before It Becomes Despair
My friend put off a root canal because she didn't have time. By January she was in agony. And that same week, a woman in one of my groups was asking how to get out of despair. And…