Follow the Tingle with Justina Blakeney

Summary of Follow the Tingle with Justina Blakeney

by Treat Media and Glennon Doyle

1h 0m•January 27, 2026
Listen to Episode

Overview of Follow the Tingle with Justina Blakeney

This episode of We Can Do Hard Things (hosted by Glennon Doyle) features designer/artist/author Justina Blakeney. The conversation centers on trusting delight — what Justina calls the “tingle” — as a guide to creativity, decision‑making, and living an enlivened life. They explore belonging, self‑respect (distinct from self‑love), meditation and interoception, balancing creativity with discipline, the role of objects and home as self‑expression, and practical ways to tune into life force and make choices that give you energy.

Guest snapshot

  • Justina Blakeney: artist, designer, painter, illustrator, author, and creative entrepreneur. Multiracial, raised Jewish in Berkeley. Known for vibrant home design, collectibles, and recently painting and gallery work. Working on a book (Grow) with her mother and launching a “song club.”

Key themes and main takeaways

  • The tingle as guidance
    • Small sensations of delight or curiosity (the “tingle”) are reliable clues to what will energize and sustain you creatively and personally.
  • Self‑respect over deprivation
    • Frame healthy choices as acts of self‑respect and sovereignty — “what is good for me is good for the realm” — rather than punishment or shame.
  • Belonging as freedom
    • Not fitting neatly into one category can become a strength: it can enable belonging everywhere and create freedom to explore identity and creativity.
  • Listen to the body (interoception)
    • Meditation and somatic practices help translate bodily signals into actionable insights (e.g., when a project drains or restores you).
  • Vitality as decision metric
    • Evaluate opportunities by asking “is this giving me life or taking it away?” — use felt life force to guide business and personal choices.
  • Intrinsic motivation & creative integrity
    • Creative work that starts from intrinsic desire (the tingle) is more sustainable; external validation can dilute the magic if the work becomes purely judged from outside.
  • Maintenance vs. challenge energy
    • Maintaining wellbeing and stable rhythms is a different energy than goal‑driven challenges — and learning to be comfortable with maintenance is its own practice.

Notable quotes and insights

  • “Trust your delight — the tingle — it tells you what you desire, what you want, what you love.”
  • “What is good for me is good for the realm.” (Reframing self‑care as service.)
  • “It feels good to be known.” (The creative impulse as a way of being known and of knowing.)
  • “If everybody was following their tingle to their most tinglyest tingle, the world would be perfect.” (Playful, earnest vision of collective authenticity.)

Practical takeaways / Action items

  • Start small with meditation: 5 minutes a day to develop interoception and hear bodily signals.
  • Use vitality as a decision filter: after meetings or when considering projects, notice whether you feel energized or drained.
  • Create a morning ritual to anchor creativity: meditation + journaling (e.g., morning pages or “Dear Love” prompts) + a small creative act.
  • Reframe habits as self‑respect: speak to yourself kindly but firmly (e.g., encourage sleep rather than shame for scrolling).
  • Follow small tingles: allow intrinsic curiosities (painting, singing, collecting) to be pursued even if they don’t immediately scale.
  • Try a “song club” or small creative community to restore embodied harmony and shared joy.
  • If you’re stuck, journal about maintenance vs. challenge — identify ways to make maintenance feel meaningful.

Topics and episode flow

  • Opening: Glennon’s framing about New Year resolutions and trusting delight.
  • Introduction to Justina and first impressions (eye‑staring anecdote).
  • Belonging and upbringing (multiracial identity, Berkeley, parents’ message).
  • Self‑sovereignty and the “for the good of the realm” ethos.
  • Self‑respect vs. self‑love and how language shifts inner voice.
  • Meditation, interoception, and listening to bodily signals (health story).
  • Using life force to evaluate work and partnerships.
  • Creative practice: painting, faces series, collecting, home as story.
  • Discipline vs. intrinsic motivation; routines and rituals.
  • Current struggles: maintenance energy, sustaining health, “now what” after goals.
  • Future projects: book with her mother (Grow + card deck) and song club.
  • Closing: harmony as a design principle for spaces and lives.

Tools, practices & resources mentioned

  • Meditation (begin with 5 minutes; consider a class to start)
  • Somatic therapy / interoception practice (pay attention to body sensations)
  • Morning ritual: meditation, journaling (morning pages / “Dear Love” prompt), oracle cards, tea
  • Oracle / tarot cards as reflective practice
  • Song club / communal singing for embodied harmony
  • Upcoming book: Grow (co‑written with her mother), with an accompanying card deck

Sponsors & promotions (brief)

The episode includes sponsor spots and offers from:

  • Viori (clothing) — 20% off first purchase (promo)
  • NetSuite — AI cloud ERP, CFO guide to AI (free resource)
  • Masszymes / Bioptimizers — digestive enzyme products (promo code)
  • Function Health — comprehensive lab testing and membership (promo)
  • Acorns — micro‑investing platform (promo) (These were read as in‑episode ad segments.)

Why this episode matters

This conversation reframes creativity, health, and decision making around embodied delight and self‑sovereignty. Listeners get a practical framework — the tingle/life‑force filter — plus concrete practices (meditation, rituals, journaling) to better tune into what makes them feel alive and to make choices that sustain rather than deplete them.