

The One You Feed | Personal Growth, Emotional Resilience & Purpose
Eric Zimmer
Build resilience. Cultivate self-compassion. Live with purpose. The One You Feed brings conversations with leading thinkers — James Clear, Susan Cain, Tara Brach, and more — to help you navigate life’s challenges and feed your good wolf. No perfection, just direction, insight, and the small, consistent actions that make a meaningful life.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Mar 27, 2018 • 50min
Rick Hanson on Growing Positive Qualities
Please Support The Show with a DonationRick Hanson, PhD is a Neuropsychologist, teacher and author of many books. He is the founder of the Wellspring Center for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom and an affiliate of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkley. This is the 2nd time Dr. Hanson has been a guest on the show and we invited him back because of how great his work really is. In this episode, he talks all about the fact that who we become is a result of what we grow inside of ourselves. Using the analogy of tending a garden, he teaches us very practical ways to grow and enrich ourselves through the experiences in our lives. Get a pen and paper - you'll probably want to take notes on this one!Visit Bombas www.bombas.com/wolf and enter offer WOLF at checkout for 20% off the most comfortable socks in the worldIn This Interview, Rick Hanson and I Discuss...
The Wolf Parable
His book, Resilient: How to grow an unshakable core of calm, strength, and happiness
Who we become is a result of what we grow inside ourselves
How you manage your challenges, protect your vulnerabilities, Increase your resources: out in the world, in the body, and in the mind
Growing resources in our mind is a good focus
Converting an experience into lasting change
Slowing down content delivery so that the nervous system in our brains has a chance to receive it and rewire accordingly
5 ways to enrich a beneficial experience:
Extend the experience (make it longer)
Intensify the experience (really lean into it)
Embody the experience (how does it feel in your body and your mind)
Freshen the experience (see what's novel about it? Bring a beginners mind)
Value the experience (see the relevance to you)
Asking what is the challenge? What resource would be the most beneficial?
The mind is like a garden - to grow things, focus on:
Mindful witnessing
Mindful releasing of what's negative
Mindful receiving (replace what we release or simply receive what would be beneficial)
Fighting what's negative only makes it work
Growing a fundamental core of resilient wellbeing
Safety, Satisfaction, and Connection are basic needs we have
How it takes time to tend a garden
How adversity isn't the only way to grow in life
We have to experience what we want to grow inside
We have to turn that experience into some kind of lasting change in the brain
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Mar 24, 2018 • 7min
Questions to Ask Yourself About Stress
This an an excerpt from our The One You Feed Stress Reducer CourseThe course is available for a limited time. Click here for more detailsSee 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.
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Mar 20, 2018 • 51min
Jeff Warren on How to Meditate with a Busy Brain
Check out our new Stress Reducer CourseJeff Warren is a former journalist and more recently is a researcher, writer, and teacher of meditation and personal growth practices. His most recent book, written with Dan Harris, is called, Meditation for Fidgitty Skeptics: A 10% Happier How to Book. Jeff is a likable, relatable guy who carries a lot of practical wisdom in his conversational style of communicating. If you've ever felt like you're not good at meditating or that meditation just isn't for you because your brain never turns off, this interview is for you because that's how Jeff would describe himself, particularly at the beginning of his practice years ago. We all know that meditation is good for us but for many, it just feels inaccessible and out of reach. If that is how you feel, what Jeff has to share in this interview will make that gap shrink in size so much so that you can hop right over it and try again.Audible www.audible.com/oneyoufeed 500-500 text oneyoufeedRxBar www.rxbar.com/wolf Promo code WOLF 25% off your first order= Casper www.casper.com/oneyoufeed use promo code ONEYOUFEED for $50 off select mattressesIn This Interview, Jeff Warren and I Discuss...
The Wolf Parable
His book with Dan Harris, Meditation for Fidgitty Skeptics: A 10% Happier How to Book
The role of meditation in living with depression
The voice in our heads
Not identifying with the voices in our heads
Coming out of the conversation in our heads
The idea of "I can't meditate"
Thinking we're supposed to stop thinking when we meditate
Changing the relationship with your thoughts
Focusing on an anchor, getting lost in thought, realizing you're lost in thought and coming back to your anchor = mediation
How quick we are to conclude that meditation isn't for us
That meditation is a practice
Celebrating the coming back from thought in meditation
Training affability during meditation
Finding enjoyment and curiosity during meditation
Asking "What's the attitude in my mind right now?" during meditation
That attitude is what you're training during meditation
Looking at the world with interest
Equanimity = a lack of pushing and pulling on experience
Opening to experience so that there's no friction
When everything has permission to express its self fully
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Mar 14, 2018 • 56min
Robert Wright on Why Buddhism is True
Please Support The Show with a DonationRobert Wright is an author and a scholar. His most recent book, Why Buddhism is True, is an analytical look comparing the ancient concepts of Buddhism and the more recent findings of modern science. The title of his book may be a bit provocative, but we challenge you to hear him out before assuming what he writes about in his book on the topic. We think you'll find this interview thought provoking and interesting as well as instructive and helpful. Whatever your reaction to the episode, we'd love to hear about it. $30 off your first week of Hello Fresh www.hellofresh.com Enter Promo Code Feed30 UltraMax 3 Ultra Pure Omega 3s www.tryomax.com/wolf box of Omax 3 UltraPure for freeIn This Interview, Robert Wright and I Discuss...
The Wolf Parable
His book, Why Buddhism is True
Evolutionary Psychology
That according to Evolutionary Psychology we're wired to do what's best to propagate our genes into the next generation
And how sometimes doing that might not be what's best for ourselves or the world
That we're wired for a recurring dissatisfaction or discontented so we'd keep doing the things that would move us toward our goal of passing our genes on to the next generation
Craving and Aversion
Not following craving and aversion as guides are central to Buddhism
According to Buddhism if we don't run from unpleasant feelings like sadness, anxiety etc, they will actually become less painful over time
That the Buddha intuited a lot of things that we now know to be true according to modern science and evolutionary psychology
How our thoughts can sometimes subtlely influence us - ex Cognitive Bias
Cognitive Bias being driven by emotion rather than being rational & Buddhism teaches that
The Buddhist conception of the mind/brain and modern psychology's conception of the mind/brain are very aligned
In the cognitive battle for attention, the thought that "wins" is the one that has the most feeling attached to it
How meditation can help give you clarity on thoughts and feelings and the difference between the two
CBT & questioning your thoughts and feelings in Buddhism
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Allowing and observing rather than acting on our strong feelings
The anguish we add to physical pain by the anticipation of it or the lamenting of it
Essences that we impute into things
The idea of not self and what it means
The benefit of parceling out the things that we identify - like anxious feelings - as not being ourselves
Thinking you're not cut out for meditation
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Mar 10, 2018 • 9min
Living the Questions
We all want answers, but often they aren't forthcoming. Learning to live within and with the questions is a art to learn.If you like these mini episodes Patrons get a bonus episode every month. Details hereSee 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.
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Mar 7, 2018 • 51min
Catherine Gray on the Joy of Being Sober
Please Support The Show with a DonationCatherine Gray is an award-winning writer and editor. Her most recent book is called, The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober. What a brilliant title and what a brilliant book. In it - and in this interview - Catherine offers so many good ideas, phrases, and pearls of wisdom to take away and keep close by. She shares a bit about her journey to and through sobriety with Eric and the critical "ah ha" moments along the way that really helped her build the life she's living today. If you don't have a revelatory moment when listening to her in this interview, we'll be surprised.Our sponsor this week is Casper Mattress visit www.casper.com/oneyoufeed and use the promo code theoneyoufeed for $50 off your purchaseIn This Interview, Catherine Gray and I Discuss...
The Wolf Parable
Her book, The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober
The challenge of training our brains to look for the good stuff in life
The question: Would my life be better sober? instead of Am I an alcoholic?
Rock bottom being a different place for different people at different times
The challenge of moderation
The beautiful clarity of zero
The limbic system in distress with indecision
Controlling vs Enjoying drinking
Alchohol being like a cheat code in a video game when it comes to inhibition
That no one regrets being sober
The awful feelings at the beginning of getting sober are what you feel like because of the drinking, not the getting sober
Learning the skills to enjoy life sober
Addictive voice recognition
Negative Thought Patterns:
B&B
Children in a car
Bird watching
That there are many different ways to get sober
How expectations are resentments under construction
Day counting in being sober
I don't vs I can't
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Feb 28, 2018 • 37min
Paul Dolan on Designing Your Life for Happiness
Please Support The Show with a DonationPaul Dolan is a Professor of Behavioral Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He's an expert on human behavior and happiness. Paul is also the author of the best selling book, Happiness By Design: Change What You Do Not What You Think. We all want happiness in our lives yet happiness is something that so often eludes most people. It seems like a feeling that happens to us rather than a feeling that we can cultivate with intention. In this interview, Paul teaches some really practical, research-based, action-oriented approaches to life that we can take today to increase our feelings of happiness. The first step? Listen to this informative and interesting interview. Omax3 Ultrapure go to www.tryomax.com/wolf and try a box for freeIn This Interview, Paul Dolan and I Discuss...
The Wolf Parable
His book, Happiness By Design: Change What You Do Not What You Think
The power of designing your environment
Find a balance of purpose and pleasure and you have a happy life
How a large part of how you feel is connected to what you do
The role of attention in happiness
What we think would make us happy vs what does make us happy
That we're not very good at predicting what will make us happy
The AREA model
How we must make sense of what's happened in order to adapt to it
Key to happiness is also to pay more attention to what makes you happy and less attention to what doesn't make you happy
Why somethings that are so obvious are so often overlooked
If you can't change what you do, change what you pay attention to in the experience
If you want to do something, make it easy for yourself to do it
Less about willpower and more about design power
Habit loops
Queuing your environment, commitment and norm
Deciding, Designing and Doing
If you want to do something, make it easy. If you don't want to do something make it hard
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Feb 21, 2018 • 46min
Ellen Bass: Ellen Bass on the Power of Poetry in Your Life
Please Support The Show with a DonationEllen Bass is a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. Her work has won award after award and rightly so - there's something so powerful, beautiful, true and often times darkly funny in her work. She says that writing poetry - as well as reading it - is an inquiry more than a description. Isn't that an interesting perspective to consider? In this episode, you'll hear her read some of her work, share her insights and experiences in life, talk about the process of writing poetry and offer some ideas that perhaps you had not considered before - especially in the way she does. Regardless of whether or not you think of yourself as a lover of poetry, you'll be touched by this episode.She is the author of Like a Beggar, The Human Line, Mules of Love, and The Courage to HealSponsorswww.audible.com/oneyoufeed or text oneyoufeed 500-500 to get a free book www.casper.com/oneyoufeed and get $50 toward select mattresses promo code: oneyoufeed In This Interview, Ellen Bass and I Discuss...
The Wolf Parable
Her book, Like a Beggar
That poetry is an inquiry more than a description
Discovering something about oneself when writing and reading poetry
Her poem, Relax
Tasting life
Thinking about how you are "right now"
The role of finding similarities in disparate things when using metaphor
The oneness of the world
Working hard in the chair to be a poet
How no one would expect a person to pick up a saxophone and immediately be able to play and the same is true for writing poetry
Her poem, Asking Directions in Paris
Using God in her poetry
Her poem, If You Knew
How because of mortality, one day, we as individuals are going to lose everything
That poetry helps us to see deeply into the beauty of things that are right in front of us
Introducing poetry to others as you would a novel
The important role of humor
Poets she mentioned:
Marie Howe
Jericho Brown
Natalie Diaz
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Feb 14, 2018 • 49min
Will Schwalbe: On the Love of Reading Books
Please Support The Show with a DonationWill Schwalbe is an author, entrepreneur, and journalist. He is also perhaps the most delightful, interesting and thoughtful person you've come across in a while. His love of books is infectious and as you know, Eric is a bibliophile himself so when the two talk about books and reading as they do in this episode, the result is one blissful experience. Do you love reading? Did you used to love reading but it's moved out of the spotlight of your life? Have you wanted to cultivate a love of reading? Are you looking for some really wonderful books to read? Are you alive and breathing? If your answer to any of these questions is yes, then this interview is for you.He is the author of Thoughts on Reading, Reflecting and Embracing Life, The End of Your Life Book Club and SEND: Why People Email So Badly and How to Do It Better Omax3 Ultrapure go to www.tryomax.com/wolf and try a box for freeIn This Interview, Will Schwalbe and I Discuss...
The Wolf Parable
His book, Books for Living, Some Thoughts on Reading, Reflecting and Embracing Life
The importance of reading
That reading isn't binary
That every time we read, we become better at reading
How reading can promote empathy
How we connect through books
The practice of "visiting your books"
How he chooses which book to read next
The way books can be a bio of your life
The primary emotion he has at the beginning of reading a book
Live to work vs work to live
The freedom to quit
The freedom of mediocrity
Good being the enemy of great
You write the books you need
That our devices allow us to rob ourselves of silence
How reading is an art
The "can't you tell I'm reading" face
His favorite books that he's read recently that were written recently
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Feb 7, 2018 • 38min
David Loy on the Intersection of Buddhism and Modern Culture
Please Support The Show with a DonationDavid Loy is a professor, prolific writer, and teacher in the Japanese Zen Buddhism tradition. Much of his work has to do with what has happened as Buddhism has encountered modern western culture and vice versa. In this episode, we dive into this topic via a discussion of his book, A New Buddhist Path: Enlightenment, Evolution, and Ethics in the Modern World. David presents us with a different lens through which to look at this intersection of cultures which will also thereby change the way you look at yourself. Casper Mattress (www.casper.com/oneyoufeed) promo code oneyoufeed and get $50 off select mattresses In This Interview, David Loy and I Discuss...
The Wolf Parable
His book, A New Buddhist Path: Enlightenment, Evolution, and Ethics in the Modern World
Buddhism in the West today
The mindfulness movement
The play between Buddhism and Psychotherapy
The role of the self
The danger of spiritual by-pass
The delicate line of feeling our difficult emotions and foregoing our emotions
Transcend the world? Adapt to the world? or See the world differently?
That the sense of self that we think we have is not as solid or real as we think
How meditation helps us let go of delusional perceptions of the world
Our true nature
The true nature of the world
Buddhism and emptiness
The sense of self is obscuring the nature or our minds which in themselves have no form or characteristics in and of themselves
Liberating our awareness from being stuck on things we're thinking about
A collection of psychological processes that are happening within us
The process of trying to find the self
Realizing the truth of "that which is looking is that which we are looking for"
Non-dualism
The illusion perpetuated by a sense of lack
Pursuing "things" to deal with the sense of lack because we don't really know what else to do to deal with it
Consumerism
Greed
Ill will
Our militarized society
The institutionalized systems that are running of their own accord
The duality of good vs evil and vilifying the "other" in the Judeo Christian West
The importance of personal transformation in our cultural transformation
What Buddhism is loosing as it moves into the modern world
What Buddhism is gaining as it moves into the modern world
The meditative and contemplative practices of Buddhism that can help us transform ourselves
Social transformation and Individual transformation
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