Finding the Throughline with Kate Hanley

Eating is something you do every day. It’s tasty. AND it can be a portal into a calmer state of mind. The catch is, eating probably isn’t going to help you be present unless you decide that you want it to be. Otherwise, you’ll probably revert to just getting the food in your mouth without much thought. ALSO: a story about how I ate mindfully with 500 other people in a theater in New York City. Lea...

Setting an intention before you head into any kind of holiday situation, whether that’s a family gathering, or doing some kind of chore, or shopping, or traveling, can help you achieve those twin goals of reducing stress and enjoying more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen, I get that there is a lot of work that goes into holiday celebrations and it is so natural and tempting to kind of groan your way through them or talk about how you hate them. You may not feel 100% at peace with all the stuff you’ve got to do all the time, but even just remembering that you could choose to accept that this is just part of it can help you get to a place where you’re not hat...

Today I want to talk specifically about how to navigate family gatherings. And to help with that, I’m interviewing Amy E. Smith, a life coach and communications specialist who specializes in all things self-worth and confidence. Amy has been on the show before sharing how to enforce a boundary without being a jerk. Her e-workbook is called "Stand Up for Yourself without Being a Dick," so I think y...

Today’s big idea is that you can really up your enjoyment of the holidays by getting really clear on what it is about them that you love and focusing on those things--and letting everything else recede into the background.  So at this juncture, it’s really helpful to take a moment to remember what the holidays are all about --and to be clear, there are so very many holidays that happen in December...

I’ve got a tool for you that will help you figure out what parts of the holiday you want to prioritize and which you might dial back on. It’s a priority-making matrix that I learned as a tool to help you figure out how to maximize your impact and reduce your stress at work, but it’s really cool to use it on your life stuff too. To make your own priority-making matrix, you need a piece of paper and...

When you start to look back on your daily writing over time, something really cool happens. You can start to discern patterns and insights that are deeper than your daily concerns. They help you see the arc your life is currently on. You have to do two things to discern these deeper message, which is exactly what I'm sharing today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s nothing that can kick up resistance and self-doubt more quickly for a lot of people than to sit down and pick up a pen or open a blank document.  That’s because your inner critic is going to prick up its ears the second you decide to write something down because writing is THAT POWERFUL. In this episode, I share with you how to zoom past that inner critic and get those fingers flying. Lear...

Today I'm interviewing Kristin Manieri, a certified mindfulness teacher, host of the excellent podcast "60 Mindful Minutes" and author of several books on mindfulness, including The Mindfulness Journal: Daily Check-in. Kristen shares her insight on why written check-ins are invaluable, as well as how to build the habit of doing them, and what to actually write about when you do them. Learn more ab...

While, yes, writing is a great way to get to know yourself better, it can also help you be more productive. And not the whirling dervish, work on a ton of things at once and end the day in an exhausted heap, kind of productivity. But peaceful productivity, where you can get in a zone because you know you’re working on the right thing for the right reason and the right time. Yes, please! Learn more...

Writing has this mystique, like it’s something only for certain people, and that’s just a darned shame because writing is just a magical, and powerful way to get to know, understand, and even like and appreciate yourself more. It’s a tool that you just don’t want to leave on the table simply because there’s a story in your head that you’re ‘not a writer.’  Today’s big idea is an elemental truth: w...

Consuming wellness content is kinda like that board game for kids Chutes and Ladders. It starts off like a ladder Take these steps to get your health to a better place. It’s cool, you’re learning things, getting ideas, trying them out in your own life, hopefully enjoying some tangible evidence of feeling better.  But you can also be moseying along and then boom, fall down a chute into some pretty...

One of the problems with wellness is that it’s freaking expensive. And for that reason, it’s also elitist. Buying organic, grass-fed, Fair Trade all costs more. Add to that supplements, like omega 3s, and probiotics, and protein powders, organic mattresses and infrared saunas and it's like an exclusive realm only for 1 percenters. Today I'm sharing five FREE and powerful ways to boost your health...

This week on the podcast we’re taking a look at some of the aspects of the health world that maybe deserve some re-thinking. And one of those things is weight. Today I’m interviewing Dr. Kara Fitzgerald, a functional medicine doctor, author of the soon-to-be-released book Younger You, and award-winning clinician and researcher who has a cutting-edge and evidence-based way to assess health and redu...

The issue with wellness that I’m taking aim at today is that it can be awfully shaming--whether that judgment is coming from your doctor, an article or podcast or book, a friend or loved one, or even yourself. Let's unpack this. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on the podcast I’m taking a look at health and wellness and trying to help you and me and everyone navigate this super important topic that also can be, for lack of a better term, crazy-making. And the first issue I’m taking aim at is the fact that when it comes to health advice, it is confusing as hell. How in the heck can you figure out what's the right way to be healthy?? Learn more a...

There’s a positive emotion that can help you be happy with what you have and shift out of that mental state where you’re feeling incomplete and like you might need something to fill a hole in your life. It's contentment. Not the "I have the remote, a blanket, and a cup of tea" kind of contentment. That's nice, but this is way deeper. And if you play along, you can feel it by the end of this episod...

Today’s big idea is, no surprise about gratitude. After all, it’s Thanksgiving in the US--essentially a national day of gratitude. But it's about a specific way of sharing your gratitude that's been shown by science to have long-lasting beneficial effects (like, months or even years). Plus, two tiny gratitude stories that are still fueling me. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/a...

Wonder is a positive emotion that has tremendous benefits, in addition to being so much fun to seek. But it’s not something we tend to think about much in the midst of the daily grind. I hope today’s interview will help change that. I’m talking with Andrea Scher, author of the brand new book called Wonder Seeker that is literally wonderful, and has been called a “Beacon of joy in a book.” Follow A...

You know how in Goodfellas, Joe Pesci gets upset when someone calls him funny and he gets ticked off and says, "Am I clown? Do I amuse you?" all menacingly, like amusement is some kind of offense? Well, it's not. It's actually a SUPER powerful positive emotion and I've got an embarrassing story to tell that I think will help you experience it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/a...

Imagine that your emotional wellbeing is a see-saw. On one side are all the negative emotions, and on the other are the positive emotions. We tend to not focus on the positive emotions that much, and that's a darn shame because they have SO MUCH to offer in terms of refilling your well, making you more resilient, and just feeling more alive. Luckily, you can build and broaden your experience of th...

We all make financial mistakes. No one has a track record of doing the precisely right thing with their money 100% of the time. It’s really really easy to spend money in ways that don’t pan out the way you’d hoped. It’s also really really easy to beat yourself up about those money mis-steps because you can quantify the mistake. So let's talk about how to forgive yourself for those inevitable mista...

Spending money isn’t the only way to procure the things you want and need. There are online communities and social networks where people are giving and receiving all kinds of things that have value for free. And one of these are the Buy Nothing groups on Facebook. I am completely obsessed with my local Buy Nothing group. Let me tell you why. Sign up for the How to Be a Better Person newsletter and...

Today, I’m talking with Brittni Sennett, a professional financial planner who helps womxn take a whole self approach to improving their financial lives. Brittni isn’t your typical, buttoned up financial planner and her clients aren’t your typical already wealthy investors. She makes it a point to help womxn reduce their overwhelm and increase their confidence around money, and she’s here today to...

There are two primary ways to have more money in your pocket--you can spend less, or you can earn more. And far too many of us--particularly women--are focused solely on the “spend less” portion of that equation. Let's change that. Sign up for the How to Be a Better Person newsletter and never miss an episode! Got a comment or a question? I'm all ears! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megap...