The Lulu Essey Podcast
Welcome to The Lulu Essey Podcast — a raw, unedited space for honest conversations about building a life that feels deeply aligned with who you truly are.
Here we explore the full spectrum of well-being: mental fitness, emotional resilience, authentic confidence, and the courage to create a life on your own terms. Through lived experience and evidence-informed approaches, you'll discover that transformation is truly an inside job.
Each episode offers practical tools and tiny, consistent steps for navigating anxiety, uncertainty, and life's challenges. You'll learn how to build confidence from within, find calm in chaos, and deepen connection with yourself and others — one small, powerful action at a time.
Come as you are — no judgment, no quick fixes. Because creating a meaningful life isn't about perfection; it's about progress with self-compassion, acceptance, and the willingness to embrace both light and shadow on your journey.
The Lulu Essey Podcast
The Gift Guide That Changes Everything (And Costs Nothing)
Most gift guides tell you what to buy. This one invites you to rethink what it truly means to give.
As the holiday season ramps up, many of us feel the pressure to spend more, do more, and prove our love through price tags. But the gifts that create the deepest connection - the ones we remember years later - rarely cost anything financially. They cost something far more meaningful: our presence, our attention, our time, and our willingness to show up for the people we love.
In this episode, I share four powerful gifts that cost zero dollars yet have the potential to transform your relationships and your emotional wellbeing. Grounded in neuroscience and heartfelt lived experience, these gifts reveal how small, intentional acts can change someone’s biology, strengthen connection, and invite more joy into your life.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by gifting this season - or craving a more meaningful way to show love without financial pressure - this conversation is for you.
🌱 What You’ll Learn
• Why traditional gift-giving can create pressure, comparison, and emotional distance
• The four gifts that cost nothing but change everything:
- Full Undivided Attention and the oxytocin-based science behind presence
- The Gift of Remembering and why being “held in someone’s mind” strengthens attachment
- Your Presence in Hard Moments and how social buffering reduces stress and supports regulation
- The Gift of Fun and how joy creates physiological coherence and emotional resilience
• Why so many of us struggle to receive support, love, and presence
• How these gifts impact the nervous system, connection, belonging, and wellbeing
• Small, practical ways to bring these gifts into your relationships today
• How to give these same gifts to yourself - especially during emotionally intense seasons
💬 Powerful Quotes
“Some gifts don’t come wrapped in paper. They come wrapped in presence, attention, and genuine care.”
“When you sit with someone in their hard moment, you are changing their stress physiology. That is not small.”
“Being remembered is a form of love. It tells us we matter, even when we’re not in the room.”
“Joy isn’t frivolous. It changes our biology and strengthens our capacity to connect.”
⏱️ Chapters
00:00 – When was the last time someone gave you full attention?
02:01 – A different kind of gift guide (beyond expensive lists)
03:37 – The escalation trap of gifting and love-as-price-tag
05:42 – Gift #1: Full Undivided Attention (presence and oxytocin)
08:23 – Gift #2: The Gift of Remembering (being held in someone’s mind)
10:13 – Gift #3: Presence in Hard Moments (social buffering & stress)
13:55 – Gift #4: The Gift of Fun (joy, coherence, and play)
17:10 – Why we struggle to receive these gifts
19:07 – Giving these gifts to yourself
19:48 – Recap: four gifts that change us (and cost nothing)
This is an inside job. Share this episode with those you love. 💛
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Let's Connect:
https://www.luluessey.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@luluessey
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucille-marie-essey/
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Free Guide: Break Free from the Success Trap – https://www.luluessey.com/freetool
Thank you for being here. You are enough. ✨