Dr. Lindsay Jernigan

12/06/2025

Right before my 22nd birthday, I hopped in a car with a friend and moved from Boston to San Francisco. I didn’t have a plan other than finding an apartment with my college bud. Luckily he already had a job, which gave me a little wiggle room — he could cover rent until I could pitch in.

It didn’t take long. I signed on with a temp agency and started working random jobs covering for sick receptionists and filing backlogged projects in staffed offices.

After a few weeks I landed a job as front line staff, second shift, at a residential program for teenage boys in Lower Haight…and so began the adventure!

I couldn’t have predicted, then, where that path would lead. But I’m grateful. I couldn’t have known that the risks would pay off. But I am grateful.

And I couldn’t have know that now, thirty years later, my brave and intrepid daughters would be launching themselves into the world fueled by their own courageous curiosity and thirst for adventure, and that they would give me a chance to return to my youthful haunts and see it fresh through their eyes. But I am grateful.

Coming back here taps me into parts of myself that live in the quiet whispers of my established adult life. The parts that don’t need to know what comes next. The parts that see a whole life full of opportunity and wonder stretching ahead. The parts that know my wings are strong.

And I am grateful.

11/29/2025

Sometimes the contributions you make will be things you didn’t know would be so powerful. Little decisions. Creative decisions. Even playful decisions.

Like my sister-in-law telling me to wear her clothes while I am staying at her place — it’s like getting a hug from her every morning.

Or like the person who chose the color of the lifeguard stands on the beach (huts? shacks? booths? cottage-itas? What are they called?).

Whoever made that choice adds to the aesthetic peace and joy and beauty for thousands of beach walkers every day. Do you think they had any idea how wide reaching the impact of that little decision would be? Do you think it even occurred to them, after the fact, that it was enhancing a million moments for a million people? My guess is they are more focused on evaluating the decision, wondering if they made the right choice, wondering if people like it.

You’re like that, too. You have an impact you probably don’t know you have. Something you do, or something you are, or something you say, or some way you show up is a contribution and a gift beyond your wildest dreams. Maybe you know the people you impact. Maybe you don’t. Maybe you even know you’re having that impact. But most likely you don’t.

Chances are you have no idea how important your light is.

ps - The color choice on the lifeguard hobbit house in the second photo is pretty great, too. :-)

11/29/2025

A reminder as the sun sets on Thanksgiving week…

Sometimes holidays are really hard.

If you are missing someone you loved and lost,
if you are alone not by choice,
if you know this might be your last Thanksgiving with someone who holds a special seat at your table,
you are not alone.

Grief during the holidays can make what we want to feel light feel heavy, instead.

Let it roll through you. Try not to resist it. Your grief is a version of love, and it honors the people you hold in your heart.

Let it come in waves. No need to shrink it. Your grief has the power of the ocean, and like the ocean, it will rise and fall, all on its own, no effort required.

Let it rise and let it set. No need to dim it. Your grief has the beauty of a sunset— a rich and nuanced celebration of a day gone by.

Let it be. Tomorrow is a new day.

11/25/2025

This isn’t where I meant to be, but I stumbled into this incredible spot and, along with it, a reminder of all that can happen when you let go of expectations.

I fell in love with a trail on the cliffs above this beach in La Jolla last month, but when I went back yesterday it was closed for construction. I was disappointed. I had wanted to share it with my daughter, and we didn’t really have an alternative plan that fit in our free window of time. We started to drive away, plan-less and wishing for a good way to enjoy the California sun for an hour, but we asked one more question before we drove off: “Can we walk on the beach?”

The answer was yes.

“Can we walk for a pretty good distance on the beach?”

Yes.

So we did.

When I walked on the top of this cliff, I had no idea how gorgeous it would be from below. Thank goodness for broken plans and unmet expectations.

Sometimes the best moments happen when things don’t go as planned, when the smooth path gets bumpy, and when what we had hoped for doesn’t come to pass.

May your path be full of happy accidents that gift you beautiful views.

10/20/2025

Recently, a thoughtful friend reminded me to not play small.

After I posted a series of pics in my story taken out the airplane window as I flew across country, a friend DM’ed me to thank me for “never ever posting a bad picture, ever,” and for boosting the loveliness of her online world.

And ya know what I did?

I did the good old poopoo-the-compliment move like any modest, self-respecting female has learned to do. I played small. I claimed there was no way to take a bad photo in such a beautiful place.

But I’m so grateful to this friend for not accepting my demurring response. “Just take it, girl,” she said. And she went on to honor my eye, my presence to what’s around me, and my ability to capture it in a tiny box through a tiny lens. She doubled down on her original message, thanking me for not “subjecting” the people who share this space with me to the kind of visual crap that pops up in front of us all day long.

She saw me. And then she saw me acting like I shouldn’t be seen. And she said nu-uh, not on my watch.

Many of us are raised to see pride as toxic; we find it more natural and automatic to feel shame than to feel pride. Think about that for a second…we are socialized to believe it’s better to feel badly about ourselves than to feel good about ourselves!

We are raised to believe it is honorable to be invisible and selfless.

We are taught to minimize our strengths and our capacities, rather than risk rising.

We are taught our light might make others uncomfortable. So we dim it down, again and again.

This is a space to say, “nu-uh, not on my watch!” Be big. Be bold. Be proud. Love yourself. Know your strength and your power and your creativity and the majesty of your SELF. Know your own beauty. Know you are one with all the beautiful things around you, and you deserve to take up space just like the sea, and the rocks, and the trees. You deserve to shine just like the sunset.

To my friend who didn’t let me get away with pushing the dimmer, you know who you are, and thank you!!

10/17/2025

OPPORTUNITY ALERT!

Hi! I’m over here offering awakening work for women and transformational couples therapy, and I’ve just expanded my schedule! Now is the time to reach out, before my new spots fill up.

I offer Intensives, which are longer sessions that meet less frequently than typical psychotherapy. The traditional “53 minute hour” is entirely arbitrary and driven by insurance regulations, but the truth is, it usually leads to getting cut off right when the work is really opening up. I prefer to work in a rhythm that optimizes your process and helps us meet your goals and desires more efficiently, more deeply, and with the freedom for more creativity.

I work in two or three hour sessions, which gives us time to settle in, dive deep, and get into and through the gray matter to where the light starts to shine back through — the light of insight, clarity, hope, potential, healing, and new vibrancy. Intensives give us time to uncover the critical cycles that are holding you back, pull the invisible dynamics to the surface, and actually experience the freedom of stepping into something new.

With deeper work like this, we don’t need to meet every week. In fact, I recommend that we don’t! Our goal is to avoid having repetitive conversations, and instead experience real change that needs a little time to integrate between sessions.

You can schedule a series of four sessions spread out every two weeks, guaranteeing yourself the commitment to and the space for a two month growth process. I also offer Intensives on an as needed basis; you can start with one, and if you want more, we will schedule based on what feels most supportive and convenient for you.

My new openings come with a new office in Waterbury, VT, which I’m decorating as we speak! Too far away? Telehealth is always an option, too. Now’s the time to jump into all this new spaciousness.

You can learn more at www.DrLindsayJernigan.com, and you can reach out via email at info@drlindsayjernigan.com

See you soon!

09/17/2025

I really want to know! How are rural empty nesters expanding in their next chapter? Inspire me!

Some of my visions are in the hashtags…but what shape does it all really take? What do you do?

09/02/2025

New sights, new sites. New scenes, new things seen.

When I go to Maine I almost always do all the same things I usually love. Because I love it!

But when I step out of routine and go see something new, I’m always glad. I don’t even regret it.

It’s a good reminder.

Say yes to the new thing. Go someplace new. Break a pattern. Do the unexpected, take a risk, be less comfortable.

Routines are grounding and nourishing, but the new stuff keeps expanding our edges.

08/27/2025

What if your shadows are just art?

What if the things you think mar you are your murals?

What if your imperfections are your complexity, your interesting layers, your unexpected, nuanced beauty?

What would it feel like to love all of you?

08/23/2025

It’s hard to express how lucky I feel to live in a place where these are the sites I see on a single walk that starts and ends at my own front door. I posted them chronologically so you could join me on my stroll!

The best part? Being invited in by friends when I walked past their house thirsty. But first, you know what I had to do? I had to ask. I had to say out loud “I HAVE A NEED!” before I could be met with “let us help you!”

Sometimes it feels silly to ask for help. I have a lot more tolerance for tending to others than I have for asking for tending. My brain said “you’ll be home soon,” “you’re being dramatic,” “just keep going,” “what if you’re an imposition?”

Our brains are sneaky like that — thinking that they’re helping when they’re really driving us into isolation. But the abundance of these views somehow helped me gift myself the grace to allow myself to be supported. And it was the best cold seltzer with fresh squeezed lemon ever. :-)

The gifts from Mother Nature and the gift of community. The riches that matter.

Life isn’t always easy, but it’s often beautiful.

03/10/2025

Join me!!

Link in bio.

02/27/2025

My latest article!

When love gets lost in translation, hidden assumptions create conflict. Discover how understanding your partner’s perspective can turn miscommunication into deeper connection.