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
901
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
902
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
903
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
904
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
905
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
906
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
907
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
908
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
909
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
910
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
911
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
912
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
913
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
914
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
915
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
916
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
917
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
918
Gratitude for Lazy People EP: 324
I’m talking with Polly Campbell, author of How to Live an Awesome Life and You: Recharged, who is a great source of guidance for personal development in the real world. (And keeps it real for us lazy folks.)
17 min
919
How Gratitude Can Get Your Butt into Gear EP: 323
Here's a fun Jedi mind trick for you: Rehearse the gratitude you’ll feel in the future as a way to get yourself motivated to do something that feels hard, scary, or even boring today. 
5 min
920
Gratitude Is About Attention EP: 322
If thinking about gratitude as something just horribly virtuous is not appealing, you can think of it as an exercise in attention.
6 min
921
Judgment 101: Examine Your Hidden Beliefs EP: 321
Our hidden beliefs have a lot of sway over what we do and think, and if you haven’t gone looking for them, ever, or in a while, you’re in for some real a-ha moments. 
4 min
922
Judgment 101: Try on “Maybe” EP: 320
A way to get out of the black and white thinking that goes hand in hand with judgment is to embrace the concept of maybe. 
4 min
923
Judgment 101: Outsmarting Judgment, an Intervie...
To really break judgment down, today I’m interviewing Suzanne Kingsbury--founder of Gateless Writing, a method of teaching the art and craft of writing that melds brain science, Zen practice, and craft tools. A cornerstone of Suzanne's teaching is...
17 min
924
Judgment 101: Go on Impression, Not Assumptions...
While you may know that to assume makes an “ass” out of “u” and “me,” are you aware of how many blanks you subconsciously fill in every day? Whenever you do, you mistake opinion for fact. Luckily, there’s a way out of this.
5 min
925
Judgment 101 - Examine Your Biases EP: 317
A crucial part of the journey to being a better person is to examine your biases--the things you judge without even realizing.
6 min