STOPTIME: Live in the Moment.

Let us know what you enjoy about the show!

In this deeply honest and reflective conversation, I sit down with Hanako Greensmith—actor, artist, and series regular on Chicago Fire—to explore what happens between the milestones.

I’ve had the joy of knowing Hanako since her training years at Pace University, and here she speaks with remarkable openness about ambition, self-worth, burnout, and the inner work required to sustain a creative life.

We talk about the pressure to constantly do more, the belief that rest must be earned, and how easily high achievers learn to equate worth with productivity. Hanako reflects on learning to trust herself without over-preparing, on noticing when familiar patterns no longer serve her, and on what it means to reconnect with creativity beyond external validation.

This conversation also touches on:

• Navigating the “in-between” seasons of an artistic career
• The tension between stability and creative freedom
• Sensitivity as a strength rather than a flaw
• Why nature can be a powerful emotional and energetic reset
• Letting go of identities that once felt essential
• Redefining success beyond credits, roles, or outcomes

At its heart, this episode is about learning to listen inwardly, honoring what you need now, and allowing yourself to evolve—without rushing the process.

A note from Lisa

As STOPTIME: Live in the Moment approaches five years of conversations (almost six!), I’m revisiting and re-sharing a few favorite episodes—conversations that continue to resonate and meet us exactly where we are. This one felt especially worth returning to.

Thank you for listening—and for being part of this journey.

— Lisa 💜

If you are enjoying the show please subscribe, share and review! Word of mouth is incredibly impactful and your support is much appreciated!

Support the show

🌟✨📚 **Buy 'The Places Where There Are Spaces: Cultivating A Life of Creative Possibilities'** 📚✨🌟 
Dive into a world where spontaneity leads to creativity and discover personal essays that inspire with journal space to reflect. Click the link below to grab your copy today and embark on a journey of self-discovery and unexpected joys! 🌈👇 
🔗 Purchase Your Copy Here: https://a.co/d/2UlsmYC

🌟 **Interested in finding out more about working with Lisa Hopkins? Want to share your feedback or be considered as a guest on the show?** 
🔗 Visit Wide Open Stages https://www.wideopenstages.com

📸 **Follow Lisa on Instagram:** @wideopenstages https://www.instagram.com/wideopenstages/

💖 **SUPPORT THE SHOW:** [Buy Me a Coffee] https://www.buymeacoffee.com/STOPTIME

🎵 **STOPTIME Theme Music by Philip David Stern** 
🔗 [Listen on Spotify]
https://open.spotify.com/artist/57A87Um5vok0uEtM8vWpKM?si=JOx7r1iVSbqAHezG4PjiPg

Let us know what you enjoy about the show!

Airports buzz. Cabins hum. And yet your body often stays braced—as if it still needs to steer.
 This guided meditation offers something different: a chance to soften, settle, and let yourself rest while you travel.

Designed especially for long flights and extended journeys, this practice invites you to let the seat support you, the motion carry you, and your nervous system stand down from vigilance. We begin by easing the body—relaxing the jaw and tongue, noticing points of contact, and grounding into natural breathing without forcing pace or depth. Each exhale becomes an invitation to release a little more effort.

To quiet the mind, you’ll be guided to gently set aside thoughts, plans, and to-do lists—placing them in an imagined overhead compartment or beside you for later. This isn’t about letting go of responsibility, but about traveling light for a few minutes. A slow, soothing body scan follows, moving from head to toe and guiding the body from tension into heaviness and ease.

Sleep is welcome if it comes, but not required. Rest alone is enough.

Whether you’re on a long flight, a train crossing time zones, or a late-night drive as a passenger, this meditation is here to help you experience stillness inside movement—and arrive feeling calmer, lighter, and more at ease.

If this practice supports your journey, consider subscribing, sharing it with a fellow traveler, or leaving a brief review so others can find their way to rest on the road.

Support the show

🌟✨📚 **Buy 'The Places Where There Are Spaces: Cultivating A Life of Creative Possibilities'** 📚✨🌟 
Dive into a world where spontaneity leads to creativity and discover personal essays that inspire with journal space to reflect. Click the link below to grab your copy today and embark on a journey of self-discovery and unexpected joys! 🌈👇 
🔗 Purchase Your Copy Here: https://a.co/d/2UlsmYC

🌟 **Interested in finding out more about working with Lisa Hopkins? Want to share your feedback or be considered as a guest on the show?** 
🔗 Visit Wide Open Stages https://www.wideopenstages.com

📸 **Follow Lisa on Instagram:** @wideopenstages https://www.instagram.com/wideopenstages/

💖 **SUPPORT THE SHOW:** [Buy Me a Coffee] https://www.buymeacoffee.com/STOPTIME

🎵 **STOPTIME Theme Music by Philip David Stern** 
🔗 [Listen on Spotify]
https://open.spotify.com/artist/57A87Um5vok0uEtM8vWpKM?si=JOx7r1iVSbqAHezG4PjiPg

Let us know what you enjoy about the show!

We pause to honor nearly six years of conversations that still feel alive because we keep changing. We invite you to revisit a curated set of episodes that meet you where you are and deepen themes of presence, courage, identity, joy, and letting go of perfection.

• reflecting on five to six years of the show
• choosing presence over chasing answers
• why certain conversations feel timeless
• themes of courage, identity, joy and letting go
• how returning listeners hear new layers
• invitation to explore the stoptime archives
• promise of new conversations coming soon

Find something that you want to celebrate in the space that we've created together, one moment at a time

If you are enjoying the show please subscribe, share and review! Word of mouth is incredibly impactful and your support is much appreciated!

Support the show

🌟✨📚 **Buy 'The Places Where There Are Spaces: Cultivating A Life of Creative Possibilities'** 📚✨🌟 
Dive into a world where spontaneity leads to creativity and discover personal essays that inspire with journal space to reflect. Click the link below to grab your copy today and embark on a journey of self-discovery and unexpected joys! 🌈👇 
🔗 Purchase Your Copy Here: https://a.co/d/2UlsmYC

🌟 **Interested in finding out more about working with Lisa Hopkins? Want to share your feedback or be considered as a guest on the show?** 
🔗 Visit Wide Open Stages https://www.wideopenstages.com

📸 **Follow Lisa on Instagram:** @wideopenstages https://www.instagram.com/wideopenstages/

💖 **SUPPORT THE SHOW:** [Buy Me a Coffee] https://www.buymeacoffee.com/STOPTIME

🎵 **STOPTIME Theme Music by Philip David Stern** 
🔗 [Listen on Spotify]
https://open.spotify.com/artist/57A87Um5vok0uEtM8vWpKM?si=JOx7r1iVSbqAHezG4PjiPg

Let us know what you enjoy about the show!

Begin your day with intention, gratitude, and gentle presence.

This guided morning meditation invites you to wake slowly and begin again—before the day fills your attention with plans, responsibilities, and expectations. Designed to be listened to just after waking, this practice helps you clear yesterday, release worries about the future, and create a blank canvas for the day ahead.

Through breath, gentle visualization, and gratitude-based affirmations, you’ll be guided to:

• Wake the body with ease and awareness
• Set a simple, embodied intention for the day
• Cultivate gratitude for your body, mind, and experiences
• Align with possibility rather than probability

A calming, energizing practice you can return to whenever you want to start fresh and meet the day with openness and appreciation.

Support the show

🌟✨📚 **Buy 'The Places Where There Are Spaces: Cultivating A Life of Creative Possibilities'** 📚✨🌟 
Dive into a world where spontaneity leads to creativity and discover personal essays that inspire with journal space to reflect. Click the link below to grab your copy today and embark on a journey of self-discovery and unexpected joys! 🌈👇 
🔗 Purchase Your Copy Here: https://a.co/d/2UlsmYC

🌟 **Interested in finding out more about working with Lisa Hopkins? Want to share your feedback or be considered as a guest on the show?** 
🔗 Visit Wide Open Stages https://www.wideopenstages.com

📸 **Follow Lisa on Instagram:** @wideopenstages https://www.instagram.com/wideopenstages/

💖 **SUPPORT THE SHOW:** [Buy Me a Coffee] https://www.buymeacoffee.com/STOPTIME

🎵 **STOPTIME Theme Music by Philip David Stern** 
🔗 [Listen on Spotify]
https://open.spotify.com/artist/57A87Um5vok0uEtM8vWpKM?si=JOx7r1iVSbqAHezG4PjiPg

Let us know what you enjoy about the show!

What if your favorite creative mantra is quietly making your work worse?

In this episode, we explore how well-worn phrases like “story is king” and “trust the process” can feel grounding—while subtly eroding responsibility, discernment, and engagement. Drawing inspiration from Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull, we look at how language meant to guide us can become a stand-in for the deeper work it’s meant to represent.

We reflect on how “trust the process” can quietly drift into “the process will fix it,” and why that shift can make even talented, well-intentioned teams more passive over time.

This conversation invites a more grounded approach:

• Turning values into visible habits
• Letting meetings, rhythms, and review practices reveal what we actually prioritize
• Creating space for early questioning instead of last-minute heroics
• Rewarding awareness, not just outcomes

Rather than relying on clever lines to carry us through, we explore what it looks like to live inside the work—testing assumptions, noticing what’s fragile, and staying present with what’s being asked of us in real time.

If you’ve ever pinned a slogan on the wall and hoped it would steady a wobbly project, this episode offers a quieter, more reliable path. One that asks us to look at our calendars, our conversations, and our choices—and notice where the real standards are being set.

Thanks for listening. And as always, remember: the words don’t do the work. We do.

If you are enjoying the show please subscribe, share and review! Word of mouth is incredibly impactful and your support is much appreciated!

Support the show

🌟✨📚 **Buy 'The Places Where There Are Spaces: Cultivating A Life of Creative Possibilities'** 📚✨🌟 
Dive into a world where spontaneity leads to creativity and discover personal essays that inspire with journal space to reflect. Click the link below to grab your copy today and embark on a journey of self-discovery and unexpected joys! 🌈👇 
🔗 Purchase Your Copy Here: https://a.co/d/2UlsmYC

🌟 **Interested in finding out more about working with Lisa Hopkins? Want to share your feedback or be considered as a guest on the show?** 
🔗 Visit Wide Open Stages https://www.wideopenstages.com

📸 **Follow Lisa on Instagram:** @wideopenstages https://www.instagram.com/wideopenstages/

💖 **SUPPORT THE SHOW:** [Buy Me a Coffee] https://www.buymeacoffee.com/STOPTIME

🎵 **STOPTIME Theme Music by Philip David Stern** 
🔗 [Listen on Spotify]
https://open.spotify.com/artist/57A87Um5vok0uEtM8vWpKM?si=JOx7r1iVSbqAHezG4PjiPg

Let us know what you enjoy about the show!

This short, guided pause is designed to help you reset your focus—without effort, without fixing anything.

In this 5-minute practice, you’re invited to step away from whatever you’re doing, soften your gaze, and gently gather your attention. Through simple breath cues, subtle physical release, and intentional focus, this meditation helps quiet mental noise and bring you back to center.

Perfect for moments when:

• your attention feels scattered
• you’re transitioning between tasks
• you’re preparing for a conversation or meeting
• you want to refocus without pushing or forcing

You don’t need to clear your mind or change your state.
 Just allow yourself a moment to arrive.

Return to this reset whenever you need it.
 Your attention is something you can gently choose—again and again.

Support the show

🌟✨📚 **Buy 'The Places Where There Are Spaces: Cultivating A Life of Creative Possibilities'** 📚✨🌟 
Dive into a world where spontaneity leads to creativity and discover personal essays that inspire with journal space to reflect. Click the link below to grab your copy today and embark on a journey of self-discovery and unexpected joys! 🌈👇 
🔗 Purchase Your Copy Here: https://a.co/d/2UlsmYC

🌟 **Interested in finding out more about working with Lisa Hopkins? Want to share your feedback or be considered as a guest on the show?** 
🔗 Visit Wide Open Stages https://www.wideopenstages.com

📸 **Follow Lisa on Instagram:** @wideopenstages https://www.instagram.com/wideopenstages/

💖 **SUPPORT THE SHOW:** [Buy Me a Coffee] https://www.buymeacoffee.com/STOPTIME

🎵 **STOPTIME Theme Music by Philip David Stern** 
🔗 [Listen on Spotify]
https://open.spotify.com/artist/57A87Um5vok0uEtM8vWpKM?si=JOx7r1iVSbqAHezG4PjiPg

Let us know what you enjoy about the show!

What if the words you’re waiting for are already in the room? We explore a simple, disarming question—what do you most need to hear today—and discover how a small, overlooked detail becomes a compass for calm. A ceiling sconce turns into a living metaphor for the quiet constants that hold us, even when we don’t flip the switch. The story moves from pressure and creative block to permission and presence, inviting a shift from grit to grace without losing strength.

I share how staring at a blank page led me to lie on the floor, look up, and notice the design above me: nine lines radiating from a calm center, ruby points at the edges, balance without noise. That image unlocks a deeper truth about resilience and choice. We don’t have to force clarity; we can invite it. We don’t have to earn support; we can remember it’s always there. By reframing need as invitation, we create room for the exact message that helps—whether it’s rest, release, or simply turning on a light when we’re ready for illumination.

This conversation is a short, grounding reset for anyone feeling stretched, stuck, or unsure what would actually make today feel better. If you’ve been valuing output over inner alignment, you’ll find practical ease in small shifts of attention: listening with kind curiosity, using your surroundings as friendly mirrors, and trusting steady anchors you’ve been too busy to see. If this resonated, share it with someone who might need a gentle nudge, and subscribe for more reflective, real moments. Leave a review to tell us: what message are you ready to invite today?

If you are enjoying the show please subscribe, share and review! Word of mouth is incredibly impactful and your support is much appreciated!

Support the show

🌟✨📚 **Buy 'The Places Where There Are Spaces: Cultivating A Life of Creative Possibilities'** 📚✨🌟 
Dive into a world where spontaneity leads to creativity and discover personal essays that inspire with journal space to reflect. Click the link below to grab your copy today and embark on a journey of self-discovery and unexpected joys! 🌈👇 
🔗 Purchase Your Copy Here: https://a.co/d/2UlsmYC

🌟 **Interested in finding out more about working with Lisa Hopkins? Want to share your feedback or be considered as a guest on the show?** 
🔗 Visit Wide Open Stages https://www.wideopenstages.com

📸 **Follow Lisa on Instagram:** @wideopenstages https://www.instagram.com/wideopenstages/

💖 **SUPPORT THE SHOW:** [Buy Me a Coffee] https://www.buymeacoffee.com/STOPTIME

🎵 **STOPTIME Theme Music by Philip David Stern** 
🔗 [Listen on Spotify]
https://open.spotify.com/artist/57A87Um5vok0uEtM8vWpKM?si=JOx7r1iVSbqAHezG4PjiPg

Let us know what you enjoy about the show!

As joyful as the season is meant to be, the holidays can quietly carry a lot of weight — expectations, pressure, comparison, and the sense that we’re somehow supposed to feel more festive than we do.

In this episode, I share an excerpt from my book The Places Where There Are Spaces, a short reflection called “Holiday Hangovers.” It’s a story about noticing how easily we slip into expectation, how quickly joy can turn into self-pressure, and how gently everything can shift when we pause long enough to return to ourselves.

Through a moment of honesty, a little humor, and a reminder about the quiet power of presence, this episode invites you to soften your grip on “how it’s supposed to be” and reconnect with what’s already here.

✨ You don’t need to do more to be worthy of joy.
 ✨ You don’t need to perform the season perfectly.
 ✨ The light you’re looking for already lives within you.

At the end, I offer a simple reflection you can return to anytime this season — a small doorway back to gratitude, ease, and self-compassion.

If this resonates, you can find The Places Where There Are Spaces: Cultivating a Life of Creative Possibilities wherever books are sold.

If you are enjoying the show please subscribe, share and review! Word of mouth is incredibly impactful and your support is much appreciated!

Support the show

🌟✨📚 **Buy 'The Places Where There Are Spaces: Cultivating A Life of Creative Possibilities'** 📚✨🌟 
Dive into a world where spontaneity leads to creativity and discover personal essays that inspire with journal space to reflect. Click the link below to grab your copy today and embark on a journey of self-discovery and unexpected joys! 🌈👇 
🔗 Purchase Your Copy Here: https://a.co/d/2UlsmYC

🌟 **Interested in finding out more about working with Lisa Hopkins? Want to share your feedback or be considered as a guest on the show?** 
🔗 Visit Wide Open Stages https://www.wideopenstages.com

📸 **Follow Lisa on Instagram:** @wideopenstages https://www.instagram.com/wideopenstages/

💖 **SUPPORT THE SHOW:** [Buy Me a Coffee] https://www.buymeacoffee.com/STOPTIME

🎵 **STOPTIME Theme Music by Philip David Stern** 
🔗 [Listen on Spotify]
https://open.spotify.com/artist/57A87Um5vok0uEtM8vWpKM?si=JOx7r1iVSbqAHezG4PjiPg

Let us know what you enjoy about the show!

As the year winds down, many of us find ourselves feeling heavier—not physically, but energetically. In this episode, I explore the idea of psychological baggage: the unprocessed memories, regrets, worries, hopes, and fears we’ve grown used to carrying as if they’re part of who we are.

Drawing from Chapter 24 of my book, The Places Where There Are Spaces, I share an excerpt that invites us to consider a lighter way of traveling through life—one where no extra baggage is required, and where curiosity replaces judgment.

I close the episode with a simple, powerful exercise to help you distinguish between what you can control and what you can’t, and to consciously put down what was never yours to hold in the first place.

Because when we release responsibility for what’s beyond our control, we reclaim energy for what truly matters.

If you are enjoying the show please subscribe, share and review! Word of mouth is incredibly impactful and your support is much appreciated!

Support the show

🌟✨📚 **Buy 'The Places Where There Are Spaces: Cultivating A Life of Creative Possibilities'** 📚✨🌟 
Dive into a world where spontaneity leads to creativity and discover personal essays that inspire with journal space to reflect. Click the link below to grab your copy today and embark on a journey of self-discovery and unexpected joys! 🌈👇 
🔗 Purchase Your Copy Here: https://a.co/d/2UlsmYC

🌟 **Interested in finding out more about working with Lisa Hopkins? Want to share your feedback or be considered as a guest on the show?** 
🔗 Visit Wide Open Stages https://www.wideopenstages.com

📸 **Follow Lisa on Instagram:** @wideopenstages https://www.instagram.com/wideopenstages/

💖 **SUPPORT THE SHOW:** [Buy Me a Coffee] https://www.buymeacoffee.com/STOPTIME

🎵 **STOPTIME Theme Music by Philip David Stern** 
🔗 [Listen on Spotify]
https://open.spotify.com/artist/57A87Um5vok0uEtM8vWpKM?si=JOx7r1iVSbqAHezG4PjiPg

Let us know what you enjoy about the show!

What would your day feel like if the pressure to prove eased by even ten percent?

In this guided meditation, we open a gentle, grounded space to notice the quiet expectations that hum beneath the surface—the subtle “I should have” and “I need to” messages that drain focus and blur what truly matters. Rather than arguing with these stories, we meet them with curiosity. We trace where they come from—family, culture, industry—and ask a simple but powerful question: Do these expectations still belong to me?

Using a clear, vivid image, each expectation appears as a small card you can name and set down. Performance pressure. Perfection myths. Approval-seeking. Fear-rooted rules. You choose where they go—a bowl, a river, a fire—and with each exhale, you practice releasing the need to meet every demand. The breath becomes a tool for nervous system calm: inhaling to create space, exhaling to soften attachment. As the body unwinds, relief or uncertainty may arise—and both are welcome. This is a practice of clarity without judgment.

From that new spaciousness, we listen for values that feel true right now—presence, kindness, courage, steadiness, creativity. One value may rise to the surface and settle like a compass. From there, we ask a practical, human question: How might I live from this value just a little more today?
The answer can be small and still powerful—a slower morning, a kinder email, a boundary that protects your focus.

This meditation is for anyone ready to release urgency, soothe the nervous system, and move from external approval toward internal alignment. Press play when you’re seeking calm clarity—and notice the value you choose to lead with today.

If this practice supports you, consider subscribing, leaving a brief review, or sharing it with someone who could use a gentler pace.

Support the show

🌟✨📚 **Buy 'The Places Where There Are Spaces: Cultivating A Life of Creative Possibilities'** 📚✨🌟 
Dive into a world where spontaneity leads to creativity and discover personal essays that inspire with journal space to reflect. Click the link below to grab your copy today and embark on a journey of self-discovery and unexpected joys! 🌈👇 
🔗 Purchase Your Copy Here: https://a.co/d/2UlsmYC

🌟 **Interested in finding out more about working with Lisa Hopkins? Want to share your feedback or be considered as a guest on the show?** 
🔗 Visit Wide Open Stages https://www.wideopenstages.com

📸 **Follow Lisa on Instagram:** @wideopenstages https://www.instagram.com/wideopenstages/

💖 **SUPPORT THE SHOW:** [Buy Me a Coffee] https://www.buymeacoffee.com/STOPTIME

🎵 **STOPTIME Theme Music by Philip David Stern** 
🔗 [Listen on Spotify]
https://open.spotify.com/artist/57A87Um5vok0uEtM8vWpKM?si=JOx7r1iVSbqAHezG4PjiPg