The Power of Choice: How to Break Free from Shame, Anger, and Grief with Shaka Senghor

The One You Feed

Eric Zimmer, The One You Feed

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

4.6 • 2.5K Ratings

🗓️ 30 September 2025

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode, Shaka Senghor discusses the power of choice, and how to break free from shame, anger, and grief, which can be the hardest prisons to escape. Shaka spent 19 years in prison and seven of those in solitary confinement. But he’ll tell you that he was imprisoned long before handcuffs, and that his freedom came long before his release. His new book, How to Be Free. A Proven Guide to Escaping Life’s Hidden Prisons, is about finding the doors we often don’t notice and walking through them. We need your help! We all know ads are part of the podcast world, and we want to improve this experience for you. Please take 2 minutes and complete this survey, it’s a quick and easy way to support this podcast. Thank You! Feeling overwhelmed, even by the good things in your life? Check out Overwhelm is Optional — a 4-week email course that helps you feel calmer and more grounded without needing to do less. In under 10 minutes a day, you’ll learn simple mindset shifts (called “Still Points”) you can use right inside the life you already have. Sign up here for only $29! Key Takeaways: Shaka’s journey of transformation and healing after 19 years in prison. The concept of “hidden prisons,” including emotional and psychological struggles like shame, grief, and anger. The role of literacy and mentorship in personal growth The impact of grief, including the loss of his brother and his son’s health challenges The relationship between anger and unresolved emotional pain, and how it can hinder healing. The significance of accountability and self-forgiveness in overcoming past mistakes. The societal challenges faced by formerly incarcerated individuals and the need for systemic change. The complexity of personal agency and responsibility in the context of life choices and circumstances. The importance of embracing life’s messiness and the ongoing journey of healing and growth. If you enjoyed this conversation with Shaka Senghor, check out these other episodes: Dr. Tererai Trent on Incredible Perseverance Improvising in Life with Stephen Nachmanovitch Life Lessons with Dr. Edith Eger For full show notes, click here! Connect with the show: Follow us on YouTube: @TheOneYouFeedPod Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify Follow us on Instagram This episode is sponsored by: NOCD If you're struggling with OCD or unrelenting intrusive thoughts, NOCD can help. Book a free 15 minute call to get started: https://learn.nocd.com/FEED Grow Therapy - Whatever challenges you're facing, Grow Therapy is here to help. Sessions average about $21 with insurance, and some pay as little as $0, depending on their plan. (Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plans. Visit growtherapy.com/feed today! Persona Nutrition delivers science-backed, personalized vitamin packs that make daily wellness simple and convenient. In just minutes, you get a plan tailored to your health goals. No clutter, no guesswork. Just grab-and-go packs designed by experts. Go to PersonaNutrition.com/FEED today to take the free assessment and get your personalized daily vitamin packs for an exclusive offer — get 40% off your first order. BAU, Artist at War opens September 26. Visit BAUmovie.com to watch the trailer and learn more—or sign up your organization for a group screening. LinkedIn: Post your job for free at linkedin.com/1youfeed. Terms and conditions apply. 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	there is the duality of holding disappointment, but also recognizing purpose.
0:05.0	And what I always come back to is like whenever there's adversity, whenever there's an obstacle,
0:10.0	there's also opportunity.
0:15.0	Welcome to the one you feed. Throughout time, great thinkers have recognized the importance of the
0:24.4	thoughts we have. Quotes like, garbage in, garbage out, or you are what you think, ring true. And yet,
0:31.9	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
0:40.9	don't have instead of what we do. We think things that hold us back and dampen our spirit.
0:46.5	But it's not just about thinking. Our actions matter. It takes conscious, consistent, and
0:51.9	creative effort to make a life worth living.
0:54.9	This podcast is about how other people keep themselves moving in the right direction,
0:59.3	how they feed their good wolf.
1:03.9	Sometimes the hardest prisons to escape are the ones that we can't see.
1:09.1	Shame, grief, anger. These can keep us more trapped than any cell.
1:14.7	Shaka Sengor knows this firsthand. He spent 19 years in prison and seven of those in solitary
1:20.7	confinement. But he'll tell you that he was imprisoned long before handcuffs and that his freedom
1:26.5	came long before his release. His new book,
1:29.7	How to Be Free, a proven guide to escaping life's hidden prisons, is about finding the doors
1:35.2	we often don't notice and walking through them. Today we talk about that journey. I'm Eric Zimmer
1:42.0	and this is the one you feed. Hi, Shaka, welcome to the show. Hey, thanks so much for having me, Eric. I'm super excited to be here, and I've been looking forward to this conversation. We're going to be discussing your book, which is called How to Be Free, a proven guide to escaping life's hidden prisons. But before we do that, we'll start like we always do with the parable. And in the
2:02.3	parable, there's a grandparent who's talking with their grandchild, and they say in life, there are
2:06.1	two wolves inside of us that are always at battle. One is a good wolf, which represents things like
2:11.6	kindness and bravery and love. And the other's a bad wolf, which represents things like greed and hatred and fear.
	...

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