The Peace by Piece Podcast: Recent Episodes
Mackenzie Hixson
A podcast for the overwhelmed, anxious, and fearful...simple practices to point us back to peace.
Welcome to the Peace by Piece podcast! My name is Mackenzie and if you’re anything like me, sometimes (or a lot of the time) balancing everything in your life seems next to impossible and you feel drained and distracted. If you’re wondering how you can find joy in every situation, magic in the mundane, rest for your soul, and peace in a fast-forward world, I’d love to have you join me as we uncover practical steps we can incorporate in our daily lives to live abundantly and full of freedom.
If you feel behind, distracted, overwhelmed by decisions then this episode is for you! Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/
What were you passionate about when you were younger? Did you follow those dreams or pursue different ones? Today we're talking about how the activities and dreams we had as children may impact our goals and careers today. Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/ and my website www.mackenziehixson.com :)
This episode is for you if you feel overwhelmed and scattered in your mind and soul. A practice of spring cleaning your soul can bring space and a fresh perspective! Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/ and my website www.mackenziehixson.com :)
Gratitude gets talked about a lot because it actually works! What does your gratitude practice look like, or what could it look like to bring more joy into your life? That's what we are talking about today! Follow me on instagram at peacebypiecewithmack :)
If winter is your least favorite season - this episode is for you! One of the practices that has helped me embrace winter is HYGGE (hoo-gah). That's what we're talking about today! Follow me on instagram at peacebypiecewithmack :)
I'm happy to be back recording these episodes for you! Today is about why I stopped uploading a few months ago, and what it looks like to be a beginner and embrace imperfection. Follow me on instagram at peacebypiecewithmack :)
What is your purpose in life? That’s what we’re talking about today! Obviously we’ll have it all figured out in about ten minutes or so - totally kidding but hopefully it just gets you thinking! Also, stay tuned for the very end for an important announcement! Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/ and my website www.mackenziehixson.com :)
I’ve said magic in the mundane a lot, in every single episode, and yet I’ve never really explained what I mean by it so that is what we’re doing today! Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/
Our November intention is...ABUNDANCE! Tune in to hear more! Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/
Our October intention is...GROUNDED! Tune in to hear more! Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/
Life can be overwhelming - in both good and bad ways. The older I get, the more I find there are so many things to think about and manage that I need to find ways to ground myself. In this episode, I share four ways to reconnect and feel hopefully a little less overwhelmed! Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/
If you’re like me you have a list of things you would like to start or stop or change in your life. They aren’t necessarily life-changing things, but you just know they could improve areas of your life. If something came to mind just reading that, then this episode is for you :) Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/
If you’re feeling stuck or unmotivated in some part of your life - this is the episode for you! Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/
Our September intention is...RENEWAL! Tune in to hear more! Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/
What does it look like to have self-control, the final fruit of the spirit in this series? That’s what we are talking about today! Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/
Do you have to be weak to be gentle? How can you bring more gentleness into your life? What does that even look like? Today we are talking all about the fruit of the spirit: gentleness! Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/
Our August intention is...INWARD! Tune in to hear more! Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/
What does it mean for us that God is faithful? And what does it look like in our lives to be faithful? That’s what we are talking about today! Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/
What does it look like to produce a life of goodness? That’s what we are talking about today! Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/
What does it look like to be truly kind? That’s what we are talking about today! Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/
Waiting for something is a natural part of life, but that doesn’t make it any easier. What does it look like to have patience even when you feel like that’s the last thing you will be able to find? That’s what we are talking about today! Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/
How do we be peace-filled people who aren’t anxious or controlling about our lives? That’s what we are talking about today! Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/
A lot of times people equate joy with happiness, but that isn’t what Biblical joy is talking about. What does it mean to be joyful all the time? Does that mean you can never feel sad? That’s what we are talking about today! Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/
What does it mean to actually love other people? What does that look like? That’s what we are talking about today! Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/
Our June intention is...GROWTH! Tune in to hear more! Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/
I am someone who has a tendency to get overwhelmed quickly. Like we talked about last week, I can quickly become a desert shrub trying to do everything in my own power rather than trusting God and being a blooming tree next to a flowing river. Today we are going to stick with the plant theme and talk about vines and branches and how that can lead to less overwhelm in our lives! Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/
Do you ever have those seasons of life where no matter what you’re thinking about, fear comes first? That’s how I have felt lately. My first thoughts are filled with worry. I was reading Jeremiah 17 the other day and it hit me really hard about fear and what it means about where I’m placing my trust so that is what we are talking about today! Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/
Spring makes me want to de-clutter and organize EVERYTHING in my house. If you find yourself feeling blah at the end of winter physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, maybe it’s time for some spring cleaning in your life too! Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/ and see me documenting life on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqH4U8In_ZxlFCuDILksewA
May’s intention is EXPAND! I recap how I practiced savoring the month of April, and why I chose the word expand for May...aka why I want to be a pond instead of a glass of water. It’ll make sense once you listen, I promise! Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/ and see me documenting life on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqH4U8In_ZxlFCuDILksewA
Last week I had a day where I was feeling down about some circumstances in my life. And I was thinking about this phrase “choose delight over defeat” and how that can be incredibly difficult some days, we don’t know where to start to even begin choosing delight or maybe we don’t want to. That’s what today’s episode is all about! Follow me on instagram for peace-filled truth: https://www.instagram.com/peacebypiecewithmack/
This is a reminder for you and me that when we feel stuck, trapped, and we aren’t where we want to be -- that is not the end of our story!
24 hours doesn’t seem like enough time for all I want to get done. When I get to this mindset of thinking I will never have enough time, I know there are a few things out of whack. Today I’m sharing five simple practices to help you feel like you have more time in your day.
My husband and I don’t have a human child, so our Aussiedoodle puppy is the closest thing we have so far. In the last two months of owning him, I’ve learned a lot about my own life by watching and learning from him - and they are universal practices everyone can apply! Listen in if you’re wondering what you could possibly learn from a puppy.
I’ve been thinking a lot about suffering lately. As a counselor-in-training, this comes up a lot in my classes as we learn about our emotions and thought patterns. There is suffering in our lives - we can’t escape it, but when we learn how to find purpose in our pain and if we change our thoughts, we can change everything.
Our March intention is expectation! Tune in to recap February's intention and hear more about expectation!
We have the opportunity to view every day and moment as a gift, or to just see every moment as a stepping stone to somewhere else we would rather be. The choice is ours, and I hope you choose to be where your feet are. Find me on instagram: peacebypiecewithmack!
Last week we talked about why creating space in our lives is important, and today we are talking about how to actually find an imbalance in our lives and create that space.
Do you wake up listing all of the things you need to get done? Do you have lists everywhere of what you need to do or buy or check up on? Is there always a nagging feeling in the back of your head that you should be doing something more “productive”? Do you try to multi-task and do multiple things at once in order to feel like you’re accomplishing a lot? If you answered yes to any of these questions, this episode is for you! Connect with me on instagram!: peacebypiecewithmack
Have you ever felt uninspired or weighed down by your routines? Or maybe you don’t have any sense of order in your life and you don’t know where to start? I’m embracing a new and freeing way to order my life and maybe it’ll help you too!
It's our first monthly intentions video! And our February intention is...contentment!! Tune in to today’s episode to reflect on January's intention, and more on contentment for this month!
There are plenty of sayings about the depth of life being more important than the length, or that we can’t control the length but we can control the depth. Today I want to flip that and talk about why length actually matters more than depth in some areas of our life.
Follow me on Instagram!: Peace by Piece with Mack
How do we thrive mentally, emotionally, and physically in the middle of winter? What do we do when our souls experience the emptiness of winter? Tune in to today’s podcast about what winter invites us to, both physically and spiritually.
If you’re like me and get frustrated by “failing” at your goals and resolutions, this episode is for you! I am going to talk about a mindset that has changed my life, and how it can serve you in 2021. ✦ Follow me on instagram! peacebypiecewithmack
A thrill of hope is the title of many Advent reading series and Christmas sermon series. It’s on art prints, Christmas knick knacks, Christmas cards. But is it in your heart? That’s what we will be talking about today!
I take for granted things I’ve known for a long time. I can quickly lose focus on the real story and magic of Christmas. I hope today’s episode lifts some of the heaviness of this year off of you as it did for me, and that we can hear the Christmas story from a fresh perspective and live out of the reality of what it means for us.
It’s easy to be distracted by everything that comes with Christmas: the lights, cookies, presents, etc. But focusing our hearts on the truest meaning of Christmas brings hope and peace at a time we need it the most. We’re talking about Advent and the history of a Christmas carol today!
My feelings have been a bit all over the place lately, and maybe you understand exactly what I mean. Today we are talking about how it’s okay to create space for both the comfortable and uncomfortable feelings.
If your childhood was similar to mine, learning to say thank you was one of your first lessons in having good manners. Saying thank you is more than being polite though-it’s a way of acknowledging you saw what someone has done. Today we’re talking about when to say thank you!
Do you find yourself focusing on matters that defeat the way you are trying to live? What you focus on has power in your life, for good or bad, and we are going to discuss that today. Mentioned in the podcast: Atomic Habits by James Clear.
If you're quick to jump to all of the worst case scenarios in any situation, this episode is for you! How do we stop the downward spiral of worrying about what could go wrong? How do we change this line of thinking? Let’s talk about that today!
In a world of polar opposites and division, let's be people who decrease that gap and step closer together. How do we see people as humans rather than their beliefs, opinions, and ideas? That's what we are talking about today!
Beginnings are exciting and overwhelming and filled with anticipation. Endings can be full of accomplishment or lessons learned. But the middle is hard because that is where we do the unseen work, it's quiet, it seems too long, we don't know how much longer we have to go because we still can't see the finish line. How you strengthen your middle muscle will help you in every area of your life.
Do you get overwhelmed with big projects, goals, and ideas? Did thinking through the inventory from last week's episode leave you feeling discouraged? If you're like me, you are greatly aware of the gap between the starting line and the finish line of who you are and who you want to be. Let's look at how to make this an exciting place to be instead of a discouraging beginning.
This is your quick and practical inventory to your mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional health. There is no shame or guilt here; just an honest assessment of how you’re doing right now. To get to the finish line you have to know where you are starting. Transcript available at mackenziehixson.com.
Maybe you're like me and you're convinced you need to have it all at once or not at all, whatever it is. Maybe you hold yourself back because you don't want to fail or let people down. Decisions, plans, goals, people, life in general may feel overwhelming and you are longing for the pieces to come together. May this be your reminder that life is made up by many bits and pieces and it's okay if you can't see how it all fits yet. You can find peace and joy and rest here wherever you are.