What do you do when something you poured your heart into doesn’t go the way you dreamed—but still changes lives?

In this honest, heartfelt episode, Michael shares a major update about the Pause, Breathe, Reflect app and the pivot he’s making as we head into 2026. After three years of building something meaningful in the mindfulness space, he reveals why the app will now be free, what’s changing, what’s staying the same, and how the community can continue practicing together in new ways.

1. Understand the lessons learned from creating and growing a digital wellness app
2. Hear why Michael is moving live guided practices to Substack—and how to join
3. Discover the mindset behind knowing what to quit and when to keep going

Press play to hear the full story behind the app pivot, to celebrate what’s been built, and to discover how you can stay connected with live practices, community teachings, and support in the year ahead.

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With Whole Again: A Fresh Approach to Healing, Growth & Resilience after Physical Trauma through Kintsugi Mindfulness, listeners explore resilience through personal stories of trauma, scars, and injury while learning to overcome PTSD, imposter syndrome, self-doubt, and perfectionism with self-compassion, self-love, and self-worth. Through insightful discussions on building resilience, fitness, and stress management, as well as mindfulness practices and digital wellness, the show offers practical tools such as breathwork, micro-dose meditation, grounding techniques, visualization, and daily affirmations for anxiety relief and stress reduction. Inspired by the art of kintsugi, the podcast embodies healing as a transformative process, encouraging a shift in perspective from worry and overwhelm to gratitude and personal growth. By exploring the mind-body connection, micro-dosing strategies for emotional well-being, and holistic approaches to self-care, this podcast empowers listeners to cultivate emotional resilience and live with greater balance and intention.

 Hey there, it's Michael on Fridays. I love sharing a shorter episode with you. Usually it's a bit of a mindset shift, which today I have something for you, but I also have an announcement. So let me start here, and today I'll ask for your patience as I struggle with a head cold that my dear old dad gave me a few days ago.

As the stereotype goes, guys my age, when we go through a midlife crisis, we go off and buy a fancy sports car. We get a hair weave, and for the real douche bags out there, they get some 25-year-old girlfriend. I didn't do any of those. Instead, I decided to create an app. Now history will say that it may have been cheaper to buy a Lamborghini, but I persisted.

I decided to stay with the app. For the past three years, I have been pouring my heart and soul into our paws. Breathe, reflect app. I wanted it to become a sense of community. I believed it wasn't just about putting meditations on an app and people practicing all by themselves. That's why I offered a lot more than the traditional meditation app.

That's why I offered live practices because something happens when we practiced together. Plus, we did some really cool things around digital health, like microdose eq that help people scroll less. Less doom. Scrolling is a good thing, right? And find time for things that bring them more joy. I've asked thousands of people, if you had an extra hour in your day, how would you use it?

And most people said that they would spend more time on their health, which is a good thing. Or spending more time with friends and family, which is amazing. Or getting outside. Which is absolutely fantastic. So our app was about all of that, and I made a call early on that I wasn't gonna take venture capitalist money or give Zuckerberg more Facebook or Instagram ad revenue because I'm not really into that dude.

And that probably impacted how many people found out about the Pause, breathe, reflect app. I bootstrapped the whole thing because I wanted it to be aligned with the values that we hold dear. Values like kindness and compassion and community and belonging as a practice and as an app. It's changed lives.

Heck, it's saved lives. It's done some really remarkable things. This truth is humbling, but this truth. Is also humbling. I didn't do enough for the app to break even each month of the last three years, and change has been a losing month. Sometimes I joke, the next book I write is titled, so You Wanna Create an app because the app world.

It's crazy, it's noisy and it's hard to break through even when you have something as amazing as the app we developed earlier this year. I was about to pull the app from the Apple App Store in Google Play. I thought the universe was trying to tell me something, but I didn't because we were so close to launching Microdose eq.

That's the feature in the app that I mentioned that allows us to block distracting apps and websites so we have more time for things that bring us more joy. I thought it might be the thing that will break through all the clutter, and although it's helped so many people, it just wasn't enough. So I've decided to listen to the universe and make a pivot.

It'll have all the wonderful meditation greeting cards that we created and those wonderful shoulder tap notifications that remind you to slow it down and breathe. What is changing is that I'm pausing any work, a new features and new meditations, as well as all the different third party relationships that we have.

Our live practices will still happen. They'll just happen through Substack because I believe that we still need to show up in this moment and there's still value in practicing together through my substack. You can join us and I'll put the link to join in the show notes, and if you already have our app, just reach out, let me know and I'll give you a promo code.

So you can join us for our live practices as well as something I'm adding, a bit of teaching, midweek teaching and support that can help you move forward with clarity and go through your seasons with more grace as well as handle the stress and uncertainty of the moment. We all share, share. Plus I'll share teaching from my practice of mindfulness and gratitude that can help you.

Feel grounded, especially in these times. There's a quote from the greatest hockey player of all time, Wayne Gretzky. He said, you missed a hundred percent of the shots that you don't take. So I am really grateful that I took this shot in creating the Pause, breathe, reflect app. Yes, it didn't work out the way I envisioned, but still it was so meaningful.

It was a shot worth taking, even though I missed the target. There's also a saying that winners never quit, and I don't believe that. I believe that winners know what to quit when. So this year I've listened to the universe and decided to quit trying to make pause, reflect into the next Calm app. As an example, the app space is just not my jam.

I am so excited to continue to share our pause, breathe, reflect method with the world and with companies that I go out and speak with. Because today our approach, which is now being backed up by science, our approach of micro meditations throughout the day simply works. It's the easiest way to weave the practice of mindfulness into our lives, so it becomes the way we live.

If you've been part of this life chapter, or should I say my midlife crisis for one day or every, every day over the last three years, I thank you. I thank you for believing in the practice, in being here. I know we'll continue to encourage the world and our companies to spend more time. Taking a minute, if you will, to pause, take a deep breath or two or three, and reflect.

Reflect on how we wish to show up in the world. Reflect on what makes us feel grateful. A practice like pause, breathe, reflect, as we know, can change lives and can save lives. So thank you for being here, and I hope you'll continue accessing the app and joining us on Substack for our live practices and teaching as we go forward.

And as always, thank you for being part of our whole again, community. Remember, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. So take some shots and have the wisdom to know what to quit when. That's how you create a wonderful ripple effect in the world.

And if you wish to further enhance your digital health, I'll invite you to take my smartphone wellness check, and you can access it through the link in the show notes. Or you can visit my website, which is Michael O'Brien shift.com, and it's absolutely free. And it will help you scroll less and live more.

And of course, I hope you'll join us here on whole again every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and discover how to heal, grow, and become more resilient and celebrate our scars as golden symbols of strength and resilience. Until then, remember, you can always come back to your breath. You've got this. And we've got you.