How to Break Free from the Mental Prisons That Hold You Back with Dr. Edith Eger

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

Eric Zimmer, The One You Feed

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

4.5 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 15 May 2026

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, Holocaust survivor, psychologist, and author Dr. Edith Eger explores how to break free from the mental prisons that hold you back. Drawing from her experiences in Auschwitz, Edith explores these mental “prisons” people create – victimhood, guilt, shame, judgment, and secrets and offers practical ways to break free. She emphasizes that true freedom comes from within, through conscious thinking, self-love, and personal responsibility. Her powerful insights remind listeners that while suffering is universal, how we respond to it remains our choice. Have you ever ended the day feeling like your choices didn’t quite match the person you wanted to be? Maybe you slipped into autopilot, or self-doubt made it harder to stick to your goals. If so, The Six Saboteurs of Self-Control can help you recognize the hidden patterns that quietly derail your progress and offers simple, effective strategies to move past them. If you’re ready to take back control and make meaningful, lasting change, download your free copy at oneyoufeed.net/ebook. Exciting News!!! ⁠How a Little Becomes a Lot: The Art of Small Changes for a More Meaningful Life is out NOW! Order today!⁠ Key Takeaways: Insights from a Holocaust survivor on finding inner freedom and empowerment. Discussion of mental “prisons” such as victimhood, guilt, shame, judgment, and secrets. The importance of self-love and responsibility in personal growth. The impact of conscious thinking on shaping one’s identity and choices. Emotional expression as a pathway to healing and overcoming depression. The significance of honesty and authenticity in personal relationships. Strategies for reframing negative experiences and reclaiming personal power. The role of compassion and understanding in addressing judgment and hatred. Encouragement to view challenges as temporary and to practice resilience. The belief in spiritual freedom and inner strength as unassailable by external circumstances. For full show notes:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you enjoyed this episode with Dr. Edith Eger, check out these other episodes: The Power of Choice: How to Break Free from Shame, Anger, and Grief with Shaka Senghor Dr. Tererai Trent on Incredible Perseverance Improvising in Life with Stephen Nachmanovitch By purchasing products and/or services from our sponsors, you are helping to support The One You Feed, and we greatly appreciate it. Thank you! This episode is sponsored by: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Aura Frames⁠⁠⁠: Named #1 by Wirecutter, you can save on the gifts moms love by visiting AuraFrames.com. For a limited time, listeners can get 25 dollars off their best-selling Carver Mat frame with code FEED. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout! ⁠⁠⁠Rocket Money⁠⁠⁠ Let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join at ⁠⁠⁠rocketmoney.com/feed⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠Taskrabbit:⁠⁠⁠ When life happens, your to-do list grows. Get ahead of it now and get fifteen dollars off your first task at ⁠⁠⁠Taskrabbit.com⁠⁠⁠ or on the Taskrabbit app using promo code FEED. Taskers book up fast, especially for same-day tasks, so book trusted home help today. ⁠⁠⁠Hello Fresh⁠⁠⁠ – Get 10 free meals + a FREE Zwilling Knife (a $144.99 value) on your third box. Offer valid while supplies last. ⁠⁠⁠Alma⁠⁠⁠ has a directory of 20,000 therapists with different specialities, life experiences, and identities, and 99% of them take insurance. Visit ⁠⁠⁠helloalma.com⁠⁠⁠ to learn more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	We got to think about our thinking and pay attention what we're paying attention to,
0:05.5	because any behavior you pay attention to, you reinforce that behavior.
0:14.5	Welcome to the one you feed.
0:20.5	Throughout time, great thinkers have recognized the importance of the thoughts we have. Quotes like garbage in, garbage out, or you are what you think, ring true. And yet, for many of us, our thoughts don't strengthen or empower us. We tend toward negativity, self-pity, jealousy, or fear. We see what we don't have
0:41.0	instead of what we do. We think things that hold us back and dampen our spirit. But it's not just
0:46.9	about thinking. Our actions matter. It takes conscious, consistent, and creative effort to make a life
0:53.1	worth living. This podcast is about how
0:55.7	other people keep themselves moving in the right direction, how they feed their good wolf.
1:03.1	I think most of us believe that if our circumstances were different, we'd feel more free.
1:08.0	But what Edith Eager makes clear in this conversation is that freedom doesn't
1:12.1	work that way. Edith, who passed away recently, survived Auschwitz. And like fellow concentration camp
1:18.1	survivor Victor Frankel, she arrived at the conclusion that even when everything is taken from you,
1:24.2	there's still one place where you have a say, and that's your inner world.
1:28.4	In this conversation, we talk about the prisons we build in our own minds, victimhood, guilt,
1:33.7	judgment, secrets, and how easy it is to live inside them without realizing it, and we also
1:39.5	talk about how to begin to step out. I'm Eric Zimmer, and this is the one you feed.
1:46.6	Hello, Dr. Eager. Welcome to the show. Hello. I am really honored to have you on today, and it is
1:52.3	such a treat to get a chance to talk with you. Thank you. In a moment, we're going to talk about your
1:57.4	book called The Gift. But before we do that, there's a parable we read at the
2:02.4	beginning of the show, and I'd like to ask you for your thoughts on it. In life, there are two wolves
2:07.4	inside of us that are always at battle. One is a good wolf, which represents things like kindness and
2:13.6	bravery and love. And the other's a bad wolf, which represents things like greed and hatred and
	...

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