The Transforming Anxiety Podcast

We're doing it...we almost made it to the end of 2022. Can you believe it? I know we always say that because humans seem to be mesmerized by time passing, but honestly, in this case, I almost can't believe it. What we've all been through, the tumult of this moment in history, is so intense. Our nervous systems are on fire. And...we're doing it. Hard, messy, icky though it may be, we. are. doing. it. This week on  The Transforming Anxiety Podcast  we're going to look at our thinking...specifically  metacognition  and how we can think about our thinking. It's a very cool mind ninja trick that we can use our thinking to consider our thinking; and it's a really meaningful skill to employ when we want to better understand ourselves, what we're up to, and what we want. Join me for this episode and let's talk about metacogntion and get to thinking about our thinking together ... Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/198 

This one goes out to the version of you that is IN IT...that is having the worst time, feeling the most intense feelings, and can barely imagine how things will ever feel okay or normal again. I hear you. I see you. I've been there. And this week's episode of  The Transforming Anxiety Podcast  speaks directly to THIS moment:  when you're in it . This is a pretty heavy heart-to-heart. Keep this episode handy.  Bookmark this page . Because when you're IN IT, you can't get clever and creative and resourceful. You can't pull yourself out. You need something to refer to say step 1, step 2, step 3. And this episode, I hope, can be that for you... You've got this. You're doing it. This is figureoutable. I can help. Full show notes located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/197 

On this week's episode of  The Transforming Anxiety Podcast  I want to challenge the notion that  outer order creates inner calm...because maybe NOT . I mean...have you seen Monica on Friends? Have you ever been around someone who is a complete neat freak? Are YOU kinda sorta obsessed with tidiness? Is it working to create that *inner calm* promised with the whole "outer order" fantasy? Just seems like if this were really true, then cleaning up and decluttering would basically equate to feeling calm. And I've yet to run into even ONE example of that.  Let's talk about it today . And challenge this idea, sure, but also explore what this might look like for you and how you can ease yourself down off this perfectionist ideal. Full show notes located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/196 

This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast  we're going to explore  protecting your headspace . Think of your mind as a plot of land, all the real estate that you have in your mind, just like a city. When we aren't paying attention, the real estate in our minds get rented out to low-level thoughts, phone notifications, and other people's ideas about what we should do. We gotta be better stewards of our headspace. This is a practice in awareness and challenging our habitual patterns and tendencies. It's a matter of waking up and asking: does this work for me? It's the work of prioritizing our headspace like it's our most important asset. Psst: it is. Join me for this week's episode and let's talk about it more...  Full show notes located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/195 

The holidays are almost here and that means a lot of get-togethers and family time. So I thought it might be helpful to explore  mindful communication  on this week's episode of  The Transforming Anxiety Podcast . Mindful communication pulls in, yup, elements of mindfulness and gives us a framework to think about how we're communicating. Because: communication is so ordinary, yet so powerful. What we say matters. We're going to explore some different elements of mindful communication in this episode, namely: Show up and be present Lead with curiosity and kindness Remember what matters Join me this week to zoom in on communication and consider how this could impact your experience of anxiety, stress, and overwhelm...and how practicing here could transform all of that for the better this holiday season. Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/194 

This week on  The Transforming Anxiety Podcast  we're discussing thoughts, but in a way we've never talked about it before: we're going to explore  the quality of your thinking . Here's what I mean. We talk a lot about WHAT you think about. And how your thoughts affects your emotions, your actions, and how your life goes overall. But this week we're going to talk about the content, the focus, the *substance* of your thinking. Where does your mind go? What form do your thoughts take? When you zoom out and consider the bigger arc of your thinking mind, where does it typically go? Now, this isn't about high quality or low quality thinking. It's not about good or bad thinking. I'm talking more about the makeup of your thoughts, the qualities your mind returns to. Join me for this week's episode and let's dig in together... Full show notes are located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/193 

Now, for this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, we're talking about anxiety, specifically how ​anxiety is okay​​. Because there's an underlying assumption that anxiety is bad, that it's something to be avoided, that we need to resist it. This is how we react to it. Even in our conversations about transforming anxiety, there's the unspoken idea that we'd want to because: anxiety = bad. So this week, let's talk about it. Is anxiety all bad? Can it be okay? How else can we think about anxiety? We're going to explore: ​The fight-or-flight stress response The rest-and-digest relaxation response The excite-and-delight challenge response The tend-and-befriend bonding response There's more than one way to go about this. And I want to invite you to consider that anxiety as we know it is only one option... Full show notes located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/192 

This week on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going back to the basics; we're going to talk about the foundation of you. A foundation is the lowest level of a structure, the load-bearing support that holds everything up. And THAT is what I want to consider with you today. What is *your* lowest level? The part of you that's below ground, totally behind the scenes, holding everything up? When you are on the path of transforming anxiety, cultivating healthy habits, living mindfully, and creating a sustainable life that fulfills you, it's tempting to skip to the most triggering, or most exciting, parts. To try and fix the juiciest and most attention-grabbing problems right away. But we HAVE to start with the foundation. We have to fortify and solidify there first. Without a solid foundation, nothing else matter. With it? The sky's the limit. We're going to talk through 3 primary basics...and then 4 other elements to consider as you strengthen your own foundation. We have to start here. And then? Game on...

Well, this sounds super fun. Let's talk about feeling UNCOMFORTABLE on purpose, yeah?

Now, despite the word "efficiency" in the title of this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, this is NOT a discussion about time management, life hacks, and getting more done. In fact, this is about the *opposite* of that stuff. We're talking about protecting your efficiency today. So, let's back up. I had a moment on a tall mountain in Colorado during a long hike when I thought to myself, "I bet there are people out there who are way more efficient with their hiking." People who aren't distracted, who aren't fiddling with their packs, who aren't spending time and energy doing things that don't serve them while they're on a tough hike at high altitude. And this shows up in our minds and our emotions, too. We get distracted with planning thoughts, judgmental thoughts, thoughts about how a conversation went yesterday or how we want something to go tomorrow. And when we get lost in those thoughts, we can't use our minds efficiently with what we find valuable, meaningful, and important. We feel anx

As you go through the motions of your day, it's easy to lose track of the bigger picture. We get so mired in our to-do lists, the work deadlines, the kids' activities, and just trying to keep our heads above water, that we can completely miss the larger perspective. Or any perspective, really. Everything starts to feel important. Little things add up and we get stressed out. Overwhelm comes in waves as we try to do more, keep it together, and press forward. I know this all too well. I hear you. Which is why I want to offer you a reframe on this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast: it matters...and it doesn't matter. Is it important that you get you get your work done, get dinner on the table, send a well-timed "happy birthday" message to a close friend, and clean out the basement? Sure. It matters. ...and it just doesn't matter at all. I offer you this concept as a portal to freedom. Of course it all matters. It's meaningful to you. You value the things you're doing and the experiences you're h

Well, it's no secret that life can be hard. In all of its amazingness, life throws in plenty of challenges, difficulties, and pain. And I see the suffering life hands us in 2 ways: there's the suffering that creates more suffering. And the suffering that creates *freedom*. When something bad happens we can choose to be with that pain, we can feel what it feels like to have something bad happen. Or we can suffer MORE. And for why? Let's not suffer more. A couple examples of how to create more suffering when you're already in pain: Complain about it Keep doing the same thing that created the initial suffering in the first place. But...you could point yourself in the direction of freedom instead. When suffering comes knocking, you could: Kick off from rock bottom Be with the discomfort Do it anxious On this week's episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast, we're going to explore the 2 kinds of suffering: the kind that leads to more suffering, and the kind that leads to FREEDOM... Full show notes are locate

  Has anyone ever told you to "be the bigger person?" Or to look for the "silver lining?" Yeah, these are helpful ideas. Valuable concepts. Things I teach my kids even. I can be the bigger person and show patience, compassion, and kindness. I can find the silver lining in a tough situation. Sure. But sometimes? Sometimes I don't want to. Today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast we're going to talk about those little teachings and aphorisms that we wind up using against ourselves. We're going to talk about those times when you want to be a regular person, not the bigger person...those times when you see the whole damn cloud, not that tiny silver lining on the perimeter. We're going to talk about spiritual weaponizing. In this episode, I want to highlight what we're doing when we use these ideas against ourselves + invite you to drop those weapons. If the idea works, great. If the teaching points you in the direction of freedom, awesome. But if you're using concepts like these to push yourself harder and faste

Y'know on your phone how you can set your notifications to ping you in real-time, so that every time you get an email it pops up on your screen? Orrrrr you can set it so that you have to open the app and actually *check* your email to see what's new? Yeah, that's kinda sorta what we're talking about today on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast. Because we do this with: our to-do lists, requests from family and neighbors, societal norms and expectations, text messages, and work projects. We tend to walk around with our "push notifications" from the external world wide open, setting ourselves up to be virtual antennas for whatever messages are coming our way. But I want to consider what would shift if we moved towards a "pull" system instead. What if we didn't allow our attention, energy, focus, and awareness to be yanked around by whatever "they" wanted from us? What if we checked in with ourselves first...and determined whether we had the capacity or bandwidth for whatever request was landing in our laps? What i

Most of us have a tendency to mentally time-travel into the future and, while we're there, tell wild stories about how everything is going to HORRIBLY wrong. You know what I mean? The project is going to bomb The savings account is going to shrink to nothing The friends / kids / partner are going to find out I have no idea what I'm doing and leave me alone and destitute Our minds fill our attention with such scary stories of doom and gloom and instead of remembering that these predictions aren't REAL, we fall for those tales and wind up filled with dread, overwhelm, and anxiety. So here's what we're going to talk about on The Transforming Anxiety Podcast this week: anticipation is worse than reality. If you ever find yourself losing the plot, fully immersed in the story your mind is weaving, worried sick about how to control the future, this episode is for you. Full show notes located at: www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/podcast/184 

I'm baaaack! And oh it feels good to be with you, bringing you a brand-new episode of The Transforming Anxiety Podcast. And ha, we're going to kick it off with a killer topic; we're diving back in talking about why it doesn't suck. Which...well, let me explain.

Come join the 6-week How to Meditate to Transform Anxiety course by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/howtomeditate  This course will teach you: All about mindfulness meditation + debunk the myths around it The key to shifting your relationship with anxiety How meditation can work for you day after day after day How to slow things down and quiet the infernal chatter in your mind Why meditation hasn't worked before...but can support you moving forward Sign up by September 12, 2022 by visiting www.kellyhanlinmccormick.com/howtomeditate 

August is here! And I'm traveling like a pre-COVID jetsetter this month. So I'm going to practice what I preach and go a little easy on myself...and I'm hoping that this proves supportive and valuable for both of us.

Welcome to a 4-part series that I'm doing through The Transforming Anxiety Podcast feed called: Mindfulness Monday. Each Monday from August 8 - August 29 we're going to explore a different aspect of mindfulness meditation. By now, no doubt you've heard about the benefits of meditation. Maybe you've tried it yourself, but it hasn't stuck...or maybe you're not sure where to start. Whatever your experience so far with meditation, you're *here* because you want to find relief from anxiety. And I've heard from many of you that you're looking for a way in with meditation. A way to practice. Some more of the "how and why" behind meditation...and practical ways this approach could support you on your path out of anxiety. These short podcast episodes will give you: An overview of mindfulness meditation (what is it?) What to expect with a meditation practice (why do it?) How meditation supports those of us who tend towards anxiety (will this help me?) This week we're going to be taking a look at practice. Cuz h

August is here! And I'm traveling like a pre-COVID jetsetter this month. So I'm going to practice what I preach and go a little easy on myself...and I'm hoping that this proves supportive and valuable for both of us.