Pulling The Thread with Elise Loehnen

Stacey Lindsay, journalist and author of Being 40, reflects on midlife, personal history, and cultural scripts for women. She recounts family ruptures and leaving an abusive relationship. Conversations cover forgiveness, self-authoring, nature as solace, the Autumn Queen archetype, and practical rituals for resilience.

Alexandra Sifferlin, health and science journalist and author of The Elusive Body, investigates why diagnostic errors happen and who is trying to fix them. She explores the rise of missed or delayed diagnoses, how modern testing and time pressures changed clinical care, the Undiagnosed Diseases Network’s multidisciplinary model, AI’s role as a diagnostic aid, and the tension between early detection and overdiagnosis.

Reflections on feeling unmoored and the challenge of accepting stillness. A discussion of making space intentionally versus having it forced upon you. Exploration of seeding, growing, and harvesting as life-cycle metaphors. Thoughts on creative surrender, resisting growth-obsessed culture, and living in a seeding phase. Personal travel and family moments woven through the reflections.

Rachel Goldberg-Polin, author and mother who wrote When We See You Again after the kidnapping and death of her son Hersh. She talks about writing through fresh grief, love intertwined with pain, faith and meaning, stories of survival and honor, and how a single why can sustain people in impossibly hard times.

Psychiatrist Amir Levine, MD, is the coauthor of the mega-bestseller Attached. In his new book, Secure, he takes another look at the four attachment styles and the myths surrounding them to show how each of us—regardless of our starting point—can flex and become more secure in our relationships. In this (delightful) conversation, he also explains why certain seemingly insignificant minor interactions (which he calls SIMIs) have an outsize effect on our brains and our intimate relationships. He offers some advice for turning down the volume on the insecure attachments in your life. And we talk about more psychological phenomena that I think will resonate with many of you—from attachment gaslighting to the protest-regret cycle. For the show notes, head to my Substack.

Janine Slome, a numerologist and intuitive reader who maps life cycles and karma. She explains numerology’s roots and systems. She explores karma’s origins and repeating lessons. She outlines personal nine-year cycles and collective shifts from ‘one’ to ‘two.’ She predicts local resilience, artisanal resurgence, and multidimensional cultural change.

Eric Zimmer, author and podcast host who writes on recovery and habit change, shares a hard-won practical approach to lasting change. He contrasts epiphanies with thousands of small choices. He explores values versus desires, how to plan structurally and emotionally, why community matters, and how to stay compassionate through lapses.

A meditation on why we struggle to really listen and how pausing enables deeper expression. A retelling of a Yeshua channeling and a favorite Michael Meade myth about endings as beginnings. A shift from chasing purpose to offering contribution and a practical cycle for channeling creativity. Reflections on power versus force, political extremes, energy transitions, and early thoughts on using AI.

Meg Josephson, psychotherapist and author of Are You Mad At Me?, maps the fawn response and five archetypes of people-pleasing. She explores why fawning feels protective, how culture reinforces it, delayed anger after placating, and practical ways to notice feelings and set boundaries. Short, relatable archetypes help listeners recognize patterns without judgment.

Satya Doyle Byock, a Jungian psychotherapist and author, explores the tension between individuation and community. She contrasts true inner formation with herd mentality. Conversations touch on communal initiation, building retreat containers, archetypal forces shaping change, and listening to your inner daemon as a creative guide.