George Saunders on Writing and Transformation

The One You Feed | Personal Growth, Emotional Resilience & Purpose

Eric Zimmer, The One You Feed

Self-improvement, Education, Religion & Spirituality, Health & Fitness, Mental Health, Buddhism

4.5 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 18 May 2021

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

George Saunders is the author of eleven books including, Tenth of December, which was a finalist for the National Book Award and won the inaugural Folio Prize in 2013 (for the best work of fiction in English) and the Story Prize (best short story collection). He has received MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships, the PEN/Malamud Prize for excellence in the short story, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. George also teaches in the Creative Writing Program at Syracuse University. In this episode, Eric and George discuss his book, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain. But wait – there’s more! The episode is not quite over!! We continue the conversation and you can access this exclusive content right in your podcast player feed. Head over to our Patreon page and pledge to donate just $10 a month. It’s that simple and we’ll give you good stuff as a thank you! Registration for the Spiritual Habits Group Program is open now! Visit spiritualhabits.net to learn more about how to bring forth real transformation in your life! In This Interview, George Saunders and I discuss Writing and Transformation and… His book, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain That we are not powerless to decide what kind of person we’ll become Some key Cognitive Distortions from which we all suffer The Darwinian Confusions that we have Living with the Ego while also renouncing the Ego The question of can people change and if so, how? How and why small adjustments do matter in the grand scheme of things The exponential impact of setting an intention The way he maintains a beginners mind amidst repetition The “urgent patience” he’s cultivated within himself The “cousins” of meditation Valuing and blessing our own reactions to what we read How to know when we should trust ourselves George Saunders Links: George’s Website Facebook Twitter BiOptimizers: Just 2 capsules of their Magnesium Breakthrough taken before bed gives you all 7 forms of magnesium so that you sleep better at night. Go to www.magbreakthrough.com/wolf and use the promo code WOLF10 at checkout to save 10%. Skillshare is an online learning community that helps you get better on your creative journey. They have thousands of inspiring classes for creative and curious people. Sign up via www.skillshare.com/feed and you’ll get a FREE trial of Skillshare premium membership. If you enjoyed this conversation with George Saunders on Writing and Transformation, you might also enjoy these other episodes: Improvising in Life with Stephen Nachmanovitch Todd Henry See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	In every moment, the mind is asking you what you want it to do.
0:03.6	And if you say, uh, you know, let's neurotically
0:05.7	obsess about all the ways in which we've been shortchanged in life.
0:08.7	And then the mind is happy to do that.
0:18.4	Welcome to the one you feed.
0:20.5	Throughout time, great thinkers have recognized the importance of the thoughts we have.
0:25.1	Quotes like garbage in, garbage out, or you are what you think.
0:29.4	Ring true.
0:30.7	And yet for many of us, our thoughts don't strengthen or empower us.
0:35.0	We tend toward negativity, self pity, jealousy, or fear.
0:39.7	We see what we don't have instead of what we do.
0:42.6	We think things that hold us back and dampen our spirit.
0:46.0	But it's not just about thinking our actions matter.
0:49.5	It takes conscious, consistent, and creative effort to make a life worth living.
0:54.4	This podcast is about how other people keep themselves moving in the right direction,
0:58.7	how they feed their good walls.
1:15.2	Hi, I'm Adam Grant, and you may know me from the podcast Work Life.
1:18.9	I've started a new show with a TED audio collective called Rethinking,
1:22.4	where I talk to some of today's greatest minds about how they see the world.
1:26.3	Here from scientists, artists, and entrepreneurs, on the assumptions they challenge,
1:30.6	and the mindset that fueled their success.
1:33.2	Guests include Brunei Brown, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mark Cuban, and more.
	...

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