Finding the Throughline with Kate Hanley

Finding the Throughline: Conversations about the Creative Process invites you into the minds of writers and other creatives as they open up about their process, their doubts, and what kinds of changes they’re thinking about making. The questions are mildly invasive, honestly, and the answers are unvarnished…and so refreshing! 

Whether your creative work is writing, painting, making music, parenting, or simply living, Finding the Throughline can help you get—and stay—inspired. Invigorated, even. 

For detailed show notes on each interview, visit katehanley.substack.com. And if you’d like to hear these interviews in one ad-free episode (as opposed to broken up into three shorter episodes with a few ads sprinkled in to keep the lights on), become a paid subscriber once you’re there.

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Education
Self-Improvement
How To
826
Restore Thyself: Processing a Nutty Year So You...
Something that makes this whole process a lot more effective is processing what’s come before, so that you don’t have to keep carrying it around with you. My dear friend Paige Chapman, a self-care coach and owner of the virtual yoga studio...
13 min
827
Restore Thyself: The No. 1 Secret to Getting Mo...
One of the best ways to restore yourself is to sleep. Now, sleep is a huge topic that could fill many episodes. Just for today, I’m going to talk about the number one way to make sure you get the rest you need.
4 min
828
Restore Thyself EP: 347
This week is the final week of 2020. Normally, I’d be talking to you about finishing strong, or taking stock of the year that just happened, or setting goals for next year. But this is not that time. This final week of the year on the podcast is...
6 min
829
A Poem that Perfectly Captures My Wish for 2021...
To keep things short today, so that no matter what plans you do or don’t have to celebrate Christmas or not celebrate Christmas you’ll have a few extra minutes, I’m sharing a poem I recently discovered that has been like a balm for my soul. It's...
5 min
830
Spotlight on Anxiety: Your Return Ticket from A...
Anxiety is often the result of living in the future--thinking about what hasn’t happened yet, perhaps even dreading it, or just trying to anticipate what might be coming down the pike. The way out of anxiety is to pull your attention back to the...
7 min
831
Spotlight on Anxiety: Two Important Supplements...
There are two supplements that crop up in articles and books, as well as in the scientific literature, over and over as being important players in brain health, mood, and in things like depression and anxiety. But most of us don't think of them...
9 min
832
Spotlight on Anxiety: Try This Breath to Get Ou...
In the coaching world anxiety is often described as excitement without breath. So let's do a REALLY easy--and calming!--breathing exercise to help redirect your body and your attention away from anxiety.
6 min
833
Spotlight on Anxiety: Build Your Trust Muscles ...
A fairly common trigger of anxiety is thinking about all the things that are left to be done. We want to feel like everything is taken care of before we allow ourselves to settle down and just chill. But here’s the thing: That’s never gonna happen.
8 min
834
Spotlight on Anxiety: Are You Rehearsing Unhap...
So often, when you are feeling anxious, if you examine the thoughts you’ll find that you’re pre-living out an imagined situation--and generally not a positive situation. It's like you're rehearsing unhappiness. Here's how to stop.
7 min
835
Spotlight on Anxiety: Schedule Your Worry Time ...
Taking a page from project management, today I’m talking about scheduling your worry time so that you can put up some boundaries around your attention without having to try to stop worrying altogether, which is a pretty tall--as in...
6 min
836
Spotlight on Anxiety: Tips from an Anxiety Pro ...
Today I’m interviewing the fabulous Leigh Medeiros, author of The 1-Minute Writer, a developmental editor, and a creativity coach. and someone who has lived with at times severe anxiety for over 30 years for her tips on anxiety's lessons, as well as...
19 min
837
Spotlight on Anxiety: Two Acupressure Points to...
There are two spots on your body that really help quiet the swirling thoughts of anxiety according to Traditional Chinese Medicine. Today I talk you through how to find them and stimulate them.
7 min
838
Spotlight on Anxiety: What It Is & Where It Com...
When something feels as high-stakes and as interior as anxiety does, it’s really helpful to shine a light on it and observe it, which helps you see it as something that is separate from you. That's what we're doing today.
10 min
839
Calm the Eff Down, Revisited: Finding Your Way ...
Rolling with tough times requires acceptance. Which might seem like you're giving up, but really it's just laying down your resistance. When you can access acceptance, you get to stop putting effort into trying to change things you can’t...
7 min
840
Calm the Eff Down, Revisited: The Need for Alon...
Alone time is also how we catch up to ourselves, process our emotions, and just be, without having to respond to anyone. For those of us quarantined with other people--especially parents with kids--it is also scarce.
11 min
841
Calm the Eff Down, Revisited: How to Be Real wi...
It’s a lot harder to be patient and thoughtful -- and honest! -- with your kids when you're with them all the livelong day. Today I’m happy to have my friend Judi Ketteler, author of the book Would I Lie to You? Here with us to talk about how to...
25 min
842
Calm the Eff Down, Revisited: Eff the F Bomb EP...
Are you overrelying on the F bomb? It's awfully easy to do... but it’s a slippery slope, and the next thing you know you can be dropping F bombs all over the place, including when it's just not appropriate. (Been there!) (Caution: There is cursing...
13 min
843
Calm the Eff Down, Revisited: Tap Back into Emp...
These are intense, extreme times. Everyone is triggered. And that means it's really hard for us to have empathy for each other--and for ourselves--thanks to something called 'amygdala highjack'. Here's a way out.
10 min
844
Calm the Eff Down, Revisited: You Do You (Let T...
You don’t get to say how the people you love handle their stress. You do get to talk with them about it, but you don’t get to tell them how to do it. Here's what you can do instead to truly support them.
11 min
845
Calm the Eff Down, Revisited: Be Here Now EP: 330
Right now, it’s impossible to make plans. And our pre-COVID lives already feel like a distant memory. Where does that leave us? Right here, right now. And for the vast majority of us, that is someplace we are not at all used to being.
8 min
846
Calm the Eff Down, Revisited: How to Stop Self-...
You probably think you KNOW what to do when you’re stressed. But Carey Davidson, author of The Five Archetypes, says that the things we typically to do try to calm ourselves down actually only make our stress WORSE. And, naturally, she shares what...
9 min
847
Calm the Eff Down, Revisited: Oh the Joy of Win...
Let's take an objective, non-judgmental, genuinely curious look at the things we are using to numb out now. Like, oh, I don’t know… WINE. Because while there’s a time and a place for everything, if you’re automatically choosing to numb instead...
9 min
848
Calm the Eff Down, Revisited: We Are on an Emot...
Let's take an objective, non-judgmental, genuinely curious look at the things we are using to numb out now. Like, oh, I don’t know… WINE. Because while there’s a time and a place for everything, if you’re automatically choosing to numb instead...
9 min
849
Do Gratitude and Money Mix? (I Say Yes) EP: 326
On this Black Friday, instead of focusing on buying what’s on sale, you think about your holiday spending as a way to express your gratitude for the businesses that sell the things you buy.
7 min
850
Feeling Grateful During a Pandemic--It IS Poss...
It may take a little more mental flexibility to be grateful this year, but the things you appreciate will be even more meaningful. Because having things taken away from us tends to highlight what remains, and forces us to appreciate stuff that we...
5 min