Podcast appearances and mentions of Leo Tolstoy

 It's just too easy to fall into the game of creating your art and producing your results because you're afraid that if you don't, you'll be forgotten. Or you'll fall behind.But creating and producing from this frame of energy means you're scared, not strong. And consumers of your output feel the emotion you're feeling when you make the work.The real game to play is one where your work influences, affects and uplifts multiple generations. Short-term producers are consumed by trends, algorithms and immediate visibility. Creative giants (like Tolstoy, Salinger and Monet, for example) did the work to honor gift. And to express their voice. Lasting relevance was the inevitable result.By the way, I've created a really special and deeply tactical new course that will help you significantly increase your productivity and performance over the next 30 days. It's called The Amazing Day Blueprint. Here are the details to get full access now. Enrolment ends in a few days.FOLLOW ROBIN SHARMA:InstagramFacebookYouTube

Calendario de la Sabiduría fue la última obra importante de León Tolstoi. En ella, quiso hacer un compendio de la sabiduría de los siglos. Lo planteó a modo de calendario, con una recopilación de citas y pensamientos diario. En palabras suyas: "Sé que comunicarse con grandes pensadores como Sócrates, Epicteto., Arnold, Parker, etc., proporciona una gran fuerza interior, calma y felicidad... Nos hablan de lo que es más importante para la humanidad, del sentido de la vida y de la virtud... Me gustaría crear un libro... en el que pudiera hablar a una persona acerca de su vida, y acerca del Buen Camino de la Vida".

Calendario de la Sabiduría fue la última obra importante de León Tolstoi. En ella, quiso hacer un compendio de la sabiduría de los siglos. Lo planteó a modo de calendario, con una recopilación de citas y pensamientos diario. En palabras suyas: "Sé que comunicarse con grandes pensadores como Sócrates, Epicteto., Arnold, Parker, etc., proporciona una gran fuerza interior, calma y felicidad... Nos hablan de lo que es más importante para la humanidad, del sentido de la vida y de la virtud... Me gustaría crear un libro... en el que pudiera hablar a una persona acerca de su vida, y acerca del Buen Camino de la Vida".

Andrei lies moaning from a head wound on the Pratzen Heights, symbolic of the numerous souls dead or wounded.  The depiction of Andrei chasing military glory but falling short, was influenced by how Kutuzov historically lost his son-in-law, Theodor von Tiesenhausen, at Austerlitz.   Kutuzov sent the young noble, who served as an aide-de-camp, to rally retreating troops. After Tiesenhausen seized a fallen standard and ran forward, he was quickly shot in the chest. Frenchmen swarmed him and there was a barbaric scuffle over his military decorations. When Napoleon took a victory lap, he noticed the “glorious” sight of the barely alive Tiesenhausen still holding the flagstaff. Andrei is a physical causality but was imbued with a realization of the baseness of war. Going in and out of consciousness, Andrei held onto the value of his vision. Unable to open his eyes, he thought, “Where is it, that lofty sky that I did not know?” He did not remember the intricate battle plans nor leading the charge. What brought him back to earth was the burning pain in his head. When he heard the sound of approaching horses and French voices, he finally opened his eyes and captured the clouds floating majestically and the blue infinity beyond. Tolstoy has Napolean have a fictional interaction with Andrei while making his triumphant walk.  Napolean comments on the gallantry of the fallen, notably a grenadier whose body was swelling and blackening. It is sinking in for Andrei that there is very little admirable about such a man's life being wasted. Napolean approached Andrei, whose hand was still on the flagstaff and asserted: “That's a fine death!” Andrei now regarded Bonaparte's words as the buzzing of a fly. Napoleon seemed insignificant compared with the sky, which is representative of the Almighty.Andrei desperately wished to be assisted back to life. He collected all his strength to utter a sickly groan. Napoleon immediately ordered Andrei to be treated and rode on met Marshal Lannes, who congratulated his Master. Andrei remained in agony, but regained his bearings after he was placed with other wounded officers. Napoleon encounters Andrei once again when he inspects the overflow of valuable prisoners. The senior officer captured was Nikolai Repnin-Volkonsky, an Imperial Guard Colonel, who Andrei recognized from Petersburg.  Napoleon commended Repnin, saying: “Your regiment was honorable in fulfilling their duty.” Repnin responded “The praise of a great commander is a soldier's highest reward.” More kind yet superficial words were bestowed on a young lieutenant. Napoleon then sees and remembers Andrei and calls him, “mon brave” an old fashioned term meaning “my good fellow” or “my good man.” Andrei remains silent on the only occasion he would meet his one-time idol. All the vain interests that absorbed men like Napoleon now seemed so insignificant. This is Tolstoy's comment on the value of military glory. Andrei thought of the pettiness of such men compared to the lofty, equitable and gentle sky.  His mind was on a plane of solemnity. Various factors led to his mental state including: the loss of blood, nearness of death and appreciation of the divine. Napoleon instructed that Andrei and others be cared for by his own doctor and bid Prince Repnin, Au revoir!” He galloped away -- shining with satisfaction. Frenchmen who had carried Andrei had stolen the gold icon his sister gave him. However, seeing the favor the Emperor bestowed, quickly returned the charm. Beholding the icon made Andrei consider: “it would be good if everything were as clear and simple as it seems to Mar'ya.” He yearns to know where he should seek for help and what to expect beyond the grave. Andrei considered the nature of the Almighty and how to address his prayers. Andrei realizes that he understands the greatness of something incomprehensible but paramount.  He conceptualized the Almighty's ineffable power and contrasted this with image on his amulet, which is a critique of graven images. When Andrei's stretcher moved on, he again felt pain that was difficult to endure. He experienced visions of his father, wife, sister, and future son.  He considered his quiet home life and peaceful happiness that he never appreciated. He realized only the heavens promised a similar peace.Upon examination, Napoleon's doctor pronounced a grave prognosis: “He is a nervous and sickly subject…and will not recover.” Inevitably, the doctor and War Machine moved on leaving Andrei and others to the care of the inhabitants of the district.And that finally ends analysis Book 1 and about 25% of the novel.

Calendario de la Sabiduría fue la última obra importante de León Tolstoi. En ella, quiso hacer un compendio de la sabiduría de los siglos. Lo planteó a modo de calendario, con una recopilación de citas y pensamientos diario. En palabras suyas: "Sé que comunicarse con grandes pensadores como Sócrates, Epicteto., Arnold, Parker, etc., proporciona una gran fuerza interior, calma y felicidad... Nos hablan de lo que es más importante para la humanidad, del sentido de la vida y de la virtud... Me gustaría crear un libro... en el que pudiera hablar a una persona acerca de su vida, y acerca del Buen Camino de la Vida".

Calendario de la Sabiduría fue la última obra importante de León Tolstoi. En ella, quiso hacer un compendio de la sabiduría de los siglos. Lo planteó a modo de calendario, con una recopilación de citas y pensamientos diario. En palabras suyas: "Sé que comunicarse con grandes pensadores como Sócrates, Epicteto., Arnold, Parker, etc., proporciona una gran fuerza interior, calma y felicidad... Nos hablan de lo que es más importante para la humanidad, del sentido de la vida y de la virtud... Me gustaría crear un libro... en el que pudiera hablar a una persona acerca de su vida, y acerca del Buen Camino de la Vida".

Calendario de la Sabiduría fue la última obra importante de León Tolstoi. En ella, quiso hacer un compendio de la sabiduría de los siglos. Lo planteó a modo de calendario, con una recopilación de citas y pensamientos diario. En palabras suyas: "Sé que comunicarse con grandes pensadores como Sócrates, Epicteto., Arnold, Parker, etc., proporciona una gran fuerza interior, calma y felicidad... Nos hablan de lo que es más importante para la humanidad, del sentido de la vida y de la virtud... Me gustaría crear un libro... en el que pudiera hablar a una persona acerca de su vida, y acerca del Buen Camino de la Vida".

Calendario de la Sabiduría fue la última obra importante de León Tolstoi. En ella, quiso hacer un compendio de la sabiduría de los siglos. Lo planteó a modo de calendario, con una recopilación de citas y pensamientos diario. En palabras suyas: "Sé que comunicarse con grandes pensadores como Sócrates, Epicteto., Arnold, Parker, etc., proporciona una gran fuerza interior, calma y felicidad... Nos hablan de lo que es más importante para la humanidad, del sentido de la vida y de la virtud... Me gustaría crear un libro... en el que pudiera hablar a una persona acerca de su vida, y acerca del Buen Camino de la Vida".

Ahead of her new book What's So Great About the Great Books? coming out in April, Naomi Kanakia and I talked about literature from Herodotus to Tony Tulathimutte. We touched on Chaucer, Anglo-Saxon poetry, Scott Alexander, Shakespeare, William James, Helen deWitt, Marx and Engels, Walter Scott, Les Miserables, Jhootha Sach, the Mahabharata, and more. Naomi also talked about some of her working habits and the history and future of the Great Books movement. Naomi, of course, writes Woman of Letters here on Substack.TranscriptHenry Oliver: Today, I am talking with Naomi Kanakia. Naomi is a novelist, a literary critic, and most importantly she writes a Substack called Woman of Letters, and she has a new book coming out, What's So Great About the Great Books? Naomi, welcome.Naomi Kanakia: Thanks for having me on.Oliver: How is the internet changing the way that literature gets discussed and criticized, and what is that going to mean for the future of the Great Books?Kanakia: How is the internet changing it? I can really speak to only how it has changed it for me. I started off as a writer of young adult novels and science fiction, and there's these very active online fan cultures for those two things.I was reading the Great Books all through that time. I started in 2010 through today. In the 2010s, it really felt like there was not a lot of online discussion of classic literature. Maybe that was just me and I wasn't finding it, but it didn't necessarily feel like there was that community.I think because there are so many strong, public-facing institutions that discuss classic literature, like the NYRB, London Review of Books, a lot of journals, and universities, too. But now on Substack, there are a number of blogs—yours, mine, a number of other ones—that are devoted to classic literature. All of those have these commenters, a community of commenters. I also follow bloggers who have relatively small followings who are reading Tolstoy, reading Middlemarch, reading even much more esoteric things.I know that for me, becoming involved in this online culture has given me much more of an awareness that there are many people who are reading the classics on their own. I think that was always true, but now it does feel like it's more of a community.Oliver: We are recording this the day after the Washington Post book section has been removed. You don't see some sort of relationship between the way these literary institutions are changing online and the way the Great Books are going to be conceived of in the future? Because the Great Books came out of a an old-fashioned, saving-the-institutions kind of radical approach to university education. We're now moving into a world where all those old things seem to be going.Kanakia: Yes. I agree. The Great Books began in the University of Chicago and Columbia University. If you look into the history of the movement, it really was about university education and the idea that you would have a common core and all undergraduates would read these books. The idea that the Great Books were for the ordinary person was really an afterthought, at least for Mortimer Adler and those original Great Books guys. Now, the Great Books in the university have had a resurgence that we can discuss, but I do think there's a lot more life and vitality in the kind of public-facing humanities than there has been.I talked to Irina Dumitrescu, who writes for TLS (The Times Literary Supplement), LRB (The London Review of Books), a lot of these places, and she also said the same thing—that a lot of these journals are going into podcasts, and they're noticing a huge interest in the humanities and in the classics even at the same time as big institutions are really scaling back on those things. Humanities majors are dropping, classics majors are getting cut, book coverage at major periodicals is going down. It does seem like there are signals that are conflicting. I don't really know totally what to make of it. I do think there is some relation between those two things.Ted Gioia on Substack is always talking about how culture is stagnant, basically, and one of the symptoms of that is that “back list” really outsells “front list” for books. Even in 2010, 50 percent of the books that were sold were front-list titles, books that had been released in the last 18 months. Now it's something like only 35 percent of books or something like that are front-list titles. These could be completely wrong, but there's been a trend.I think the decrease in interest in front-list books is really what drives the loss of these book-review pages because they mostly review front-list books. So, I think that does imply that there's a lot of interest in old books. That's what our stagnant culture means.Oliver: Why do you think your own blog is popular with the rationalists?Kanakia: I don't know for certain. There was a story I wrote that was a joke. There are all these pop nonfiction books that aim to prove something that seems counterintuitive, so I wrote a parody of one of those where I aim to prove that reading is bad for you. This book has many scientific studies that show the more you read, the worse it is because it makes you very rigid.Scott Alexander, who is the archrationalist, really liked that, and he added me to his blog roll. Because of that, I got a thousand rationalist subscribers. I have found that rationalists at least somewhat interested in the classics. I think they are definitely interested in enduring sources of value. I've observed a fair amount of interest.Oliver: How much of a lay reader are you really? Because you read scholarship and critics and you can just quote John Gilroy in the middle of a piece or something.Kanakia: Yeah. That is a good question. I have definitely gotten more interested in secondary literature. In my book, I really talk about being a lay reader and personally having a nonacademic approach to literature. I do think that, over 15 years of being a lay reader, I have developed a lot of knowledge.I've also learned the kind of secondary literature that is really important. I think having historical context adds a lot and is invaluable. Right now I'm rereading Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. When I first read it in 2010, I hardly knew anything about French history. I was even talking online with someone about how most people who read Les Miserables think it's set in the French Revolution. That's basically because Americans don't really know anything about French history.Everything makes just a lot more sense the more you know about the time because it was written for people in it. For people in 1860s France, who knew everything about their own recent history, that really adds a lot to it. I still don't tend to go that much into interpretive literature, literature that tries to do readings of the stories or tell me the meaning of the stories. I feel like I haven't really gotten that much out of that.Oliver: How long have you been learning Anglo-Saxon?Kanakia: I went through a big Anglo-Saxon phase. That was in 2010. It started because I started reading The Canterbury Tales in Middle English. There is a great app online called General Prologue created by one of your countrymen, Terry Richardson [NB it is Terry Jones], who loved Middle English. In this app, he recites the Middle English of the General Prologue. I started listening to this app, and I thought, I just really love the rhythms and the sounds of Middle English. And it's quite easy to learn. So then, I got really into that.And then I thought, but what about Anglo-Saxon? I'm very bad at languages. I studied Latin for seven years in middle school and high school. I never really got very far, but I thought, Anglo-Saxon has to be the easiest foreign language you can learn, right? So, I got into it.I cannot sight read Anglo-Saxon, but I really got into Anglo-Saxon poetry. I really liked the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Most people probably would not like the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle because it's very repetitive, but that makes it great if you're a language learner because every entry is in this very repetitive structure. I just felt such a connection. I get in trouble when I say this kind of stuff, because I'm never quiet sure if it's 100 percent true. But it's certainly one of the oldest vernacular literatures in Europe. It's just so much older than most of the other medieval literature I've read. And it just was such a window into a different part of history I never knew about.Oliver: And you particularly like “The Dream of the Rood”?Kanakia: Yeah, “The Dream of the Rood” is my favorite Anglo-Saxon poem. “The Dream of the Rood” is a poem that is told from the point of view of Christ's cross. A man is having a dream. In this dream he encounters Christ's cross, and Christ's cross starts reciting to him basically the story of the crucifixion. At the end, the cross is buried. I don't know, it was just so haunting and powerful. Yeah, it was one of my favorites.Oliver: Why do you think Byron is a better poet than Alexander Pope?Kanakia: This is an argument I cannot get into. I think this is coming up because T. S. Eliot felt that Alexander Pope was a great poet because he really exemplified the spirit of the age. I don't know. I've tried to read Pope. It just doesn't do it for me. Whereas with Byron, I read Don Juan and found it entertaining. I enjoyed it. Then, his lyric poetry is just more entertaining to read. With Alexander Pope, I'm learning a lot about what kind of poetry people wrote in the 18th century, but the joy is not there.Oliver: Okay. Can we do a quick fire round where I say the name of a book and you just say what you think of it, whatever you think of it?Kanakia: Sure.Oliver: Okay. The Odyssey.Kanakia: The Odyssey. Oh, I love The Odyssey. It has a very strange structure, where it starts with Telemachus and then there's this flashback in the middle of it. It is much more readable than The Iliad; I'll say that.Oliver: Herodotus.Kanakia: Herodotus is wild. Going into Herodotus, I really thought it was about the Persian war, which it is, but it's mostly a general overview of everything that Herodotus knew, about anything. It's been a long time since I read it. I really appreciate the voice of Herodotus, how human it is, and the accumulation of facts. It was great.Oliver: I love the first half actually. The bit about the Persian war I'm less interested in, but the first half I think is fantastic. I particularly love the Egypt book.Kanakia: Oh yeah, the Egypt book is really good.Oliver: All those like giant beetles that are made of fire or whatever; I can't remember the details, but it's completely…Kanakia: The Greeks are also so fascinated by Egypt. They go down there like what is going on out there? Then, most of what we know about Egypt comes from this Hellenistic period, when the Greeks went to Egypt. Our Egyptian kings list comes from the Hellenistic period where some scholar decided to sort out what everybody was up to and put it all into order. That's why we have such an orderly story about Egypt. That's the story that the Greeks tried to tell themselves.Oliver: Marcus Aurelius.Kanakia: Marcus Aurelius. When I first read The Meditations, which I loved, obviously, I thought, “being the Roman emperor cannot be this hard.” It really was a black pill moment because I thought, “if the emperor of Rome is so unhappy, maybe human power really doesn't do it.”Knowing more about Marcus Aurelius, he did have quite a difficult life. He was at war for most of his—just stuck in the region in Germany for ages. He had various troubles, but yeah, it really was very stoic. It was, oh, I just have to do my duty. Very “heavy is the head that wears the crown” kind of stuff. I thought, “okay, I guess being Roman emperor is not so great.”Oliver: Omar Khayyam.Kanakia: Omar Khayyam. Okay, I've only read The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam by Edward Fitzgerald, which I loved, but I cannot formulate a strong opinion right now.Oliver: As You Like It.Kanakia: No opinions.Oliver: Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson.Kanakia: Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson. I do have an opinion about this, which is that they should make a redacted version of Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson. I normally am not a big believer in abridgements because I feel like whatever is there is there. But, Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson, first of all, has a long portion before Boswell even meets Johnson. That portion drags; it's not that great. Then it has all these like letters that Johnson wrote, which also are not that great. What's really good is when Boswell just reports everything Johnson ever said, which is about half the book. You get a sense of Johnson's conversation and his personality, and that is very gripping. I've definitely thought that with a different presentation, this could still be popular. People would still read this.Oliver: The Communist Manifesto.Kanakia: The Communist Manifesto. It's very stirring. I love The Communist Manifesto. It has very haunting, powerful lines. I won't try to quote from it because I'll misquote them.Oliver: But it is remarkably well written.Kanakia: Oh yeah, it is a great work of literature.Oliver: Yeah.Kanakia: I read Capital [Das Kapital], which is not a great work of literature, and I would venture to say that it is not necessarily worth reading. It really feels like Marx's reputation is built on other political writings like The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte and works like that, which really seem to have a lot more meat on the bone than Capital.Oliver: Pragmatism by William James.Kanakia: Pragmatism. I mean, I've mentioned that in my book. I love William James in general. I think William James was writing in this 19th-century environment where it seemed like some form of skepticism was the only rational solution. You couldn't have any source of value, and he really tried to cut through that with Pragmatism and was like, let's just believe the things that are good to believe. It is definitely at least useful to think, although someone else can always argue with you about what is useful to believe. But, as a personal guide for belief, I think it is still useful.Oliver: Major Barbara by George Bernard Shaw.Kanakia: No strong opinions. It was a long time ago that I read Major Barbara.Oliver: Tell me what you like about James Fenimore Cooper.Kanakia: James Fenimore Cooper. Oh, this is great. I have basically a list of Great Books that I want to read, but four or five years ago, I thought, “what's in all the other books that I know the names of but that are not reputed, are not the kind of books you still read?”That was when I read Walter Scott, who I really love. And I just started reading all kinds of books that were kind of well known but have kind of fallen into literary disfavor. In almost every case, I felt like I got a lot out of these books. So, nowadays when I approach any realm of literature, I always look for those books.In 19th-century American literature, the biggest no-longer-read book is The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper, which was America's first bestseller. He was the first American novelist that had a high reputation in Europe. The Last of the Mohicans is kind of a historical romance, à la Walter Scott, but much more tightly written and much more tightly plotted.Cooper has written five novels, the Leatherstocking Tales, that are all centered around this very virtuous, rough-hewn frontiersman, Natty Bumppo. He has his best friend, Chingachgook, who is the last of the Mohicans. He's the last of his tribe. And the two of these guys are basically very sad and stoic. Chingachgook is distanced from his tribe. Chingachgook has a tribe of Native Americans that he hates—I want to say it's the Huron. He's always like, “they're the bad ones,” and he's always fighting them. Then, Natty Bumppo doesn't really love settled civilization. He's not precisely at war with it, but he does not like the settlers. They're kind of stuck in the middle. They have various adventures, and I just thought it was so haunting and powerful.I've been reading a lot of other 19th-century American literature, and virtually none of it treats Native Americans with this kind of respect. There's a lot of diversity in the Native American characters; there's really an attempt to show how their society works and the various ways that leadership and chiefship works among them. There's this very haunting moment in The Last of the Mohicans, where this aged chief, Tamenund, comes out and starts speaking. This is a chief who, in American mythology, was famous for being a friend to the white people. But, James Fenimore Cooper writing in the 1820s has Tamenund come out at 80 years old and say, “we have to fight; we have to fight the white people. That's our only option.” It was just such a powerful moment and such a powerful book.I was really, really enthused. I read all of these Leatherstocking Tales. It was also a very strange experience to read these books that are generally supposed to be very turgid and boring, and then I read them and was like, “I understand. I'm so transported.” I understand exactly why readers in the 1820s loved this.Oliver: Which Walter Scott books do you like?Kanakia: I love all the Walter Scott books I've read, but the one I liked best was Kenilworth. Have you ever read Kenilworth?Oliver: I don't know that one.Kanakia: Yeah, it's about Elizabeth I, who had a romantic relationship with one of her courtiers.Oliver: The Earl of Essex?Kanakia: Yeah. She really thought they were going to get married, but then it turned out he was secretly married. Basically, I guess the implication is that he killed his wife in order to marry Queen Elizabeth I. It's a novel all about him and that situation, and it just felt very tightly plotted. I really enjoyed it.Oliver: What did you think of Rejection?Kanakia: Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte? Initially when I read this book, I enjoyed it, but I was like, “life cannot possibly be this sad.” It's five or six stories about these people who just have nothing going on. Their lives are so miserable, they can't find anyone to sleep with, and they're just doomed to be alone forever. I was like, “life can't be this bad.” But now thinking back over it, it is one of the most memorable books I've read in the last year. It really sticks with you. I feel like my opinion of this book has gone up a lot in retrospect.Oliver: How antisemitic is the House of Mirth?Kanakia: That is a hotly debated question, which I mentioned in my book. I think there has been a good case made that Edith Wharton, the author of House of Mirth, who was from an old New York family, was herself fairly antisemitic and did not personally like Jewish people. What she portrays in this book is that this old New York society also was highly suspicious of Jewish people and was organized to keep Jewish people out.In this book there is a rich Jewish man, Simon Rosedale, and there's a poor woman, Lily Bart. Lily Bart's main thing is whether she's going to marry the poor guy, Lawrence Selden, or the rich guy, Percy Gryce. She can't choose. She doesn't want to be poor, but she also is always bored by the rich guys. Meanwhile, through the whole book, there's Simon Rosedale, who's always like, “you should marry me.” He's the rich Jewish guy. He's like, “you should marry me. I will give you lots of money. You can do whatever you want.”Everybody else kind of just sees her as a woman and as a wife; he really sees her as an ally in his social climbing. That's his main motivation. The book is relatively clear that he has a kind of respect for her that nobody else does. Then, over the course of the book, she also gains a lot more respect for him. Basically, late in the book, she decides to marry him, but she has fallen a lot in the world. He's like, “that particular deal is not available anymore,” but he does offer her another deal that—although she finds it not to her taste—is still pretty good.He basically is like, “I'll give you some money, you'll figure out how to rehabilitate your reputation, and later down the line, we can figure something out.” So, I think with a great author like Edith Wharton, there's power in these portrayals. I felt it hard to come away from it feeling like the book is like a really antisemitic book.Oliver: Now, you note that the Great Books movement started out as something quite socially aspirational. Do you think it's still like that?Kanakia: I do think so. Yeah. For me, that's 100 percent what it was because I majored in econ. I always felt kind of inadequate as a writer against people who had majored in English. Then I started off as a science fiction writer, young adult writer, and I was like, “I'm going to read all these Great Books and then I'll have read the books that everybody else has read.” In my mind, that's also what it was—that there was some upper crust or literary society that was reading all these Great Books.That's really what did it. I do think there's still an element of aspiration to it because it's a club that you can join, that anyone can join. It's very straightforward to be a Great Books reader, and so I think there's still something there. I think because the Great Books movement has such a democratic quality to it, it actually doesn't get you to the top socially, which has always been the true, always been the case. But, that's okay. As long as you end up higher than where you started, that's fine.Oliver: What makes a book great?Kanakia: I talk about it this in the book, and I go through many different authors' conceptions of what makes a book great or what constitutes a classic. I don't know that anyone has come up with a really satisfying answer. The Horatian formulation from Horace—that a book is great or an author is great if it has lasted for a hundred years—is the one that seems to be the most accurate. Like, any book that's still being read a hundred years after it was written has a greatness.I do think that T. S. Eliott's formulation—that a civilization at its height produces certain literature and that literature partakes of the greatness of the civilization and summarizes the greatness of the civilization—does seem to have some kind of truth to it.But it's hard, right? Because the greatest French novel is In Search of Lost Time, but I don't know that anyone would say that the France in the 1920s was at its height. It's not a prescriptive thing, but it does seem like the way we read many of these Great Books, like Moby Dick, it feels like you're like communing with the entire society that produced it. So, maybe there's something there.Oliver: Now, you've used a list from Clifton Fadiman.Kanakia: Yes.Oliver: Rather than from Mortimer Adler or Harold Bloom or several others. Why this list?Kanakia: Well, the best reason is that it's actually the list I've just been using for the last 15 years. I went to a science fiction convention in 2009, Readercon, and at this science fiction convention was Michael Dirda, who was a Washington Post book critic. He had recently come out with his book, Classics for Pleasure, which I also bought and liked. But he said that the list he had always used was this Clifton Fadiman book. And so when I decided to start reading the Great Books, I went and got that book. I have perused many other lists over time, but that was always the list that seemed best to me.It seemed to have like the best mix. There's considerable variation amongst these lists, but there's also a lot of overlap. So any of these lists is going to have Dickens on it, and Tolstoy, and stuff like that. So really, you're just thinking about, “aside from Dickens and Tolstoy and George Eliot and Walt Whitman and all these people, who are the other 50 authors that you're going be reading?”The Mortimer Adler list is very heavy on philosophy. It has Plotinus on it. It has all these scientific works. I don't know, it didn't speak to me as much. Whereas, this Clifton Fadiman and John Major list has all these Eastern works on it. It has The Tale of Genji, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Story of the Stone, and that just spoke to me a little bit more.Oliver: What modern books will be on a future Great Books list, whether it's from someone alive or someone since the war.Kanakia: Have you ever heard of Robert Caro?Oliver: Sure.Kanakia: Yeah. I think his Lyndon Johnson books are great books. They have changed the field of biography. They're so complete, they seem to summarize an entire era, epoch. They're highly rated, but I feel like they're underrated as literature.What else? I was actually a little bit surprised in this Clifton Fadiman-John Major book, which came out in 1999, that there are not more African Americans in their list. Like, Invisible Man definitely seemed like a huge missed work. You know, it's hard. You would definitely want a book that has undergone enough critical evaluation that people are pretty certain that it is great. A lot of things that are more recent have not undergone that evaluation yet, but Invisible Man has, as have some works by Martin Luther King.Oliver: What about The Autobiography of Malcolm X?Kanakia: I would have to reread. I feel like it hasn't been evaluated much as a literary document.Oliver: Helen DeWitt?Kanakia: It's hard to say. It's so idiosyncratic, The Last Samurai, but it is certainly one of the best novels of the last 25 years.Oliver: Yeah.Kanakia: It is hard to say, because there's nothing else quite like it. But I would love if The Last Samurai was on a list like this; that would be amazing.Oliver: If someone wants to try the Great Books, but they think that those sort of classic 19th-century novels are too difficult—because they're long and the sentences are weird or whatever—what else should they do? Where else should they start?Kanakia: Well, it depends on what they're into, or it depends on their personality type. I think like there are people who like very, very difficult literature. There are people who are very into James Joyce and Proust. I think for some people the cost-benefit is better. If they're going to be pouring over some book for a long time, they would prefer if it was overtly difficult.If they're not like that, then I would say, there are many Great Books that are more accessible. Hemingway is a good one and Grapes of Wrath is wonderful. The 19th-century American books tend to be written in a very different register than the English books. If you read Moby Dick, it feels like it's written in a completely different language than Charles Dickens, even though they're writing essentially at the same time.Oliver: Is there too much Freud on the list that you've used?Kanakia: Maybe. I know that Interpretation of Dreams is on that list, which I've tried to read and have decided life is too short. I didn't really buy it, but I have read a fair amount of Freud. My impression of Freud was always that I would read Freud and somehow it would just seem completely fanciful or far out, like wouldn't ring true. But then when I started reading Freud, it was more the opposite. I was like, oh yeah, this seems very, very true.Like this battle between like the id and the ego and the super ego, and this feeling that like the psyche is at war with itself. Human beings really desire to be singular and exceptional, but then you're constantly under assault by the reality principle, which is that you're insignificant. That all seemed completely true. But then he tries to cure this somehow, which does not seem a curable problem. And he also situates the problem in some early sexual development, which also did not necessarily ring true. But no, I wouldn't say there's too much. Freud is a lot of fun. People should read Freud.Oliver: Which of the Great Books have you really not liked?Kanakia: I do get asked this quite a bit. I would say the Great Book that I really felt like—at least in translation—was not that rewarding in an unabridged version was Don Quixote. Because at least half the length of Don Quixote is these like interpolated novellas that are really long and tedious. I felt Don Quixote was a big slog. But maybe someday I'll go back and reread it and love it. Who knows?Oliver: Now you wrote that the question of biography is totally divorced from the question of what art is and how it operates. What do you think of George Orwell's supposition that if Shakespeare came back tomorrow, and we found out he used to rape children that we should—we would not say, you know, it's fine to carry on to doing that because he might write another King Lear.Kanakia: Well, if we discovered that Shakespeare was raping children, he should go to prison for that. No. It's totally divorced in both senses. You don't get any credit in the court of law because you are the writer of King Lear. If I murdered someone and then I was hauled in front of a judge and they were like, oh, Naomi's a genius, I wouldn't get off for murder. Nor should I get off for murder.So in terms of like whether we would punish Shakespeare for his crime of raping children, I don't think King Lear should count at all, but it's never used that way. It's never should someone go to prison or not for their crimes, because they're a genius. It's always used the other way, which is should we read King Lear knowing that the author raped children, but I also feel like that is immaterial. If you read King Lear, you're not enabling someone to rape children.Oliver: There's an almost endless amount of discussion these days about the Great Books and education and the value of the humanities, and what's the future of it all. What is your short opinion on that?Kanakia: My short opinion is that the Great Books at least are going to be fine. The Great Books will continue to be read, and they would even survive the university. All these books predate the university and they will survive the university. I feel like the university has stewarded literature in its own way for a while now and has made certain choices in that stewardship. I think if that stewardship was given up to more voluntary associations that had less financial support, then I think the choices would probably be very different. But I still think the greatest works would survive.Oliver: Now this is a quote from the book: “I am glad that reactionaries love the Great Books. They've invited a Trojan horse into their own camp.” Tell us what you mean by that.Kanakia: Let's say you believed in Christian theocracy, that you thought America should be organized on explicitly Christian principles. And because you believe in Christian theocracy, you organize a school that teaches the Great Books. Many of these schools that are Christian schools that have Great Books programs will also teach Nietzsche. They definitely put some kind of spin on Nietzsche. But they will teach anti-Christ, and that is a counterpoint to Christian morality and Christian theology. There are many things that you'll read in the Great Books that are corrosive to various kinds of certainties.If someone who I think is bad starts educating themselves in the Great Books, I don't think that the Great Books are going to make them worse from my perspective. So it's good.Oliver: How did reading the Mahabharata change you?Kanakia: Oh yeah, so the Mahabharata is a Hindu epic from, let's say, the first century AD. I'm Indian and most Indians are familiar with the basic outline of the Mahabharata story because it's told in various retellings, and there's a TV serial that my parents would rent from the Indian store growing up and we would watch it tape by tape. So I'm very familiar with it. Like there's never been a time I have not known this story.But I was also familiar with the idea that there is a written version in Sanskrit that's extremely long. It is 10 times as long as the Iliad and the Odyssey combined. This Mahabharata story is not that long. I've read a version of it that's about 800 pages long. So how could something that's 10 times this long be the same? A new unabridged translation came out 10 years ago. So I started reading it, and it basically contains the entire Sanskrit Vedic worldview in it.I had never been exposed to this very coherently laid-out version of what I would call Hindu cosmology and ethics. Hindus don't really get taught those things in a very organized way. The book is basically about dharma, the principle of rightness and how this principle of rightness orders the universe and how it basically results in everybody getting their just deserts in various ways. As I was reading the book, I was like, this seems very true that there is some cosmic rebalancing here, and that everything does turn out more or less the way it should, which is not something that I can defend on a rational level.But just reading the book, it just made me feel like, yes, that is true. There is justice, the universe is organized by justice. It took me about a year to read the whole thing. I started waking up at 5:00 a.m. and reading for an hour each morning, and it just was a really magical, profound experience that brought me a lot closer to my grandmother's religious beliefs.Oliver: Is it ever possible to persuade someone with arguments that they should read literature, or is it just something that they have to have an inclination toward and then follow someone's example? Because I feel like we have so many columns and op-eds and “books are good because of X reason, and it's very important because of Y reason.” And like, who cares? No one cares. If you are persuaded, you take all that very seriously and you argue about what exactly are the precise reasons we should say. And if you're not persuaded, you don't even know this is happening.And what really persuades you is like, oh, Naomi sounds pretty compelling about the Mahabharata. That sounds cool. I'll try that. It's much more of a temperamental, feelingsy kind of thing. Is it possible to argue people into thinking about this differently? Or should we just be doing what we do and setting an example and hoping that people will follow.Kanakia: As to whether it's possible or not, I do not know. But I do think these columns are too ambitious. A thousand-word column and the imagined audience for this column is somebody who doesn't read books at all, who doesn't care about literature at all. And then in a thousand-word column, you're going to persuade them to care about literature. This is no good. It's so unnecessary.Whereas there's a much broader range of people who love to read books, but have never picked up Moby Dick or have never picked up Middlemarch, or who like maybe loved Middlemarch, but never thought maybe I should then go on and read Jane Austen and George Eliot.I think trying to shift people from “I don't read books at all; reading books is not something I do,” to being a Great Books card-carrying lover of literature is a lot. I really aim for a much lower result than that, which is to whatever extent people are interested in literature, they should pursue that interest. And as the rationalists would say, there's a lot of alpha in that; there's a lot to be gained from converting people who are somewhat interested into people who are very interested.Oliver: If there was a more widespread practice of humanism in education and the general culture, would that make America into a more liberal country in any way?Kanakia: What do you mean by humanism?Oliver: You know, the old-fashioned liberal arts approach, the revival of the literary journal culture, the sort of depolitical approach to literature, the way things used to be, as it were.Kanakia: It couldn't hurt. It couldn't hurt is my answer to that question.Oliver: Okay.Kanakia: What you're describing is basically the way I was educated. I went to Catholic school in DC at St. Anselm's Abbey School, in Northeast, DC, grade school. Highly recommend sending your little boys there. No complaints about the school. They talked about humanism all the time and all these civic virtues. I thought it was great. I don't know what people in other schools learn, but I really feel like it was a superior way of teaching.Now, you know, it was Catholic school, so a lot of people who graduated from my school are conservatives and don't really have the beliefs that I have, but that's okay.Oliver: Tell us about your reading habits.Kanakia: I read mostly ebooks. I really love ebooks because you can make the type bigger. I just read all the time. They vary. I don't wake up at 5:00 a.m. to read anymore. Sometimes if I feel like I'm not reading enough—because I write this blog, and the blog doesn't get written unless I'm reading. That's the engine, and so sometimes I set aside a day each week to read. But generally, the reading mostly takes care of itself.What I tend to get is very into a particular thing, and then I'll start reading more and more in that area. Recently, I was reading a lot of New Yorker stories. So I started reading more and more of these storywriters that have been published in the New Yorker and old anthologies of New Yorker stories. And then eventually I am done. I'm tired. It's time to move on.Oliver: But do you read several books at once? Do you make notes? Do you abandon books? How many hours a day do you read?Kanakia: Hours a day: Because my e-reader keeps these stats, I'd say 15 or 20 hours a week of reading. Nowadays because I write for the blog, I often think as I'm reading how I would frame a post about this. So I look for quotes, like what quote I would look at. I take different kinds of notes. I'll make more notes if I'm more confused by what is going on. Especially with nonfiction books, I'll try sometimes to make notes just to iron out what exactly I think is happening or what I think the argument is. But no, not much of a note taker.Oliver: What will you read next?Kanakia: What will I read next? Well, I've been thinking about getting back into Indian literature. Right now I'm reading Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. But there's an Indian novel called Jhootha Sach, which is a partition novel that is originally in Hindi. And it's also a thousand pages long, and is frequently compared to Les Miserables and War and Peace. So I'm thinking about tackling that finally.Oliver: Naomi Kanakia, thank you very much.Kanakia: Thanks for having me. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.commonreader.co.uk

Calendario de la Sabiduría fue la última obra importante de León Tolstoi. En ella, quiso hacer un compendio de la sabiduría de los siglos. Lo planteó a modo de calendario, con una recopilación de citas y pensamientos diario. En palabras suyas: "Sé que comunicarse con grandes pensadores como Sócrates, Epicteto., Arnold, Parker, etc., proporciona una gran fuerza interior, calma y felicidad... Nos hablan de lo que es más importante para la humanidad, del sentido de la vida y de la virtud... Me gustaría crear un libro... en el que pudiera hablar a una persona acerca de su vida, y acerca del Buen Camino de la Vida".

This project is approaching the final chapter of Book I, a critical juncture with Napoleon victorious and holding the greatest reputation man can bestow.  Even after Napoleon suffered a string of defeats years later, his reputation was colossal when Tolstoy wrote War &Peace. Many readers coming to this book do not realize Napoleon is something of a dark force utilized to portray how to view those who send others to die for a ruler's vain ambitions. In this regard, it is important to recall how Tolstoy was influenced the Bible book of Ecclesiastes, which comments on vainglorious ambitions as well as the meaningless of everything without an appreciation of the Transcendent. Tolstoy is reaching to you from another age, highlighting how you can recognize War's profane nature compared to what is above.  Tolstoy recognizes how calls to war are a siren's song as well as how easy it is to get young men to answer, usually via a small bounty or appeal to patriotism.Acknowledging the idiosyncratic pacifist Tolstoy became, his work still recognizes how a defensive war is more justified than the type of conflict at Austerlitz. Further, Tolstoy was exceptionally critical of his own government, which makes War & Peace so relevant in our times. In this spirit, I bring up the following story:Upon Russia's mass invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, Aleksei Nikitin, a regular citizen from Moscow, tried to make a difference and stood up to power.Aleksei recognized crossing his neighbors' border and unleashing the largest land invasion since the Second World War is the type of aggression Tolstoy condemned.   Aleksei brought Tolstoy into his public protest by writing an excerpt on a poster-board from the 1894 essay “On Patriotism.” It read:“Patriotism is the abdication of human dignity, reason and conscience and a slavish submission to those in power. Patriotism is slavery.”It was a controversial sentiment then and remains so.  This essay described Tolstoy's conception of patriotism -- in that militaristic age -- as a vulgar sentiment used by governments to justify their war machines. He argued it is opposite to what he took out of the Bible, namely Christian brotherhood. Aleksei's use of the essay speaks to what Tolstoy has Andrei grasp as Andrei views the senselessness of a red-haired Russian artilleryman squaring off against a French attacker – both Christians struggling over a mop as if it was the Holy Grail. Tolstoy was speaking to the baseness of what he witnessed, as a soldier on campaigns in Chechnya and being on the losing side of the Crimean War.Tolstoy points out that men mercilessly hacking one another have a great deal more in common with one other – than the men of supposedly higher status, who sent them to die.  Tolstoy described, in another part of the essay:"It is even impossible to imagine, how and for what, Russian and German workmen, peacefully and conjointly working on the frontiers or in the capitals, should clash. And much less easily can one imagine animosity between some Kazan peasant who supplies Germans with wheat, and a German who supplies the peasant with scythes and machines. It is the same between French, German, and Italian workmen."Aleksei Nikitin was arrested and the Moscow police statement on the proceeding was carefully worded and likely came from their Intelligence Service:“This writer's (Tolstoy's) works and articles were harshly critical of the ruling (Czarist) regime, including justifying violence against the government.   Therefore, the actions of Citizen Nikitin should be interpreted as a call to overthrow the existing authorities and also to follow the ideology of Tolstoy.”This was a revealing acknowledgement that the philosophy of Tolstoy is threat to a system throwing countless men into their War Machine. Nevertheless, the Russian government succeeded in stunting that portion of citizenry who were in line with the ideals of Tolstoy. Once the internal dissension was suppressed, the Russian leader found it prudent to create, a “Tolstoy Peace Prize.”Over his career, Tolstoy brought out how such aggression brings out an ever-lasting hatred by those affected. Some of such work involves Chechnya.  One of Tolstoy's first short stories, “The Raid,” from 1853, explored amidst the Chechen  landscape -- what motivates man to kill his fellow. Further, one of final works, “Hadji Murad,” tells the story of  brutal campaigns against Chechnya, which  involved the burning of villages, fields, and livestock. Tolstoy took to heart how raids would leave the helpless crying in despair;He recognized, how such aggression promotes a natural resistance, like many Chechens have demonstrated for generations; and like the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians have capably demonstrated in our times.

Calendario de la Sabiduría fue la última obra importante de León Tolstoi. En ella, quiso hacer un compendio de la sabiduría de los siglos. Lo planteó a modo de calendario, con una recopilación de citas y pensamientos diario. En palabras suyas: "Sé que comunicarse con grandes pensadores como Sócrates, Epicteto., Arnold, Parker, etc., proporciona una gran fuerza interior, calma y felicidad... Nos hablan de lo que es más importante para la humanidad, del sentido de la vida y de la virtud... Me gustaría crear un libro... en el que pudiera hablar a una persona acerca de su vida, y acerca del Buen Camino de la Vida".

Calendario de la Sabiduría fue la última obra importante de León Tolstoi. En ella, quiso hacer un compendio de la sabiduría de los siglos. Lo planteó a modo de calendario, con una recopilación de citas y pensamientos diario. En palabras suyas: "Sé que comunicarse con grandes pensadores como Sócrates, Epicteto., Arnold, Parker, etc., proporciona una gran fuerza interior, calma y felicidad... Nos hablan de lo que es más importante para la humanidad, del sentido de la vida y de la virtud... Me gustaría crear un libro... en el que pudiera hablar a una persona acerca de su vida, y acerca del Buen Camino de la Vida".

Calendario de la Sabiduría fue la última obra importante de León Tolstoi. En ella, quiso hacer un compendio de la sabiduría de los siglos. Lo planteó a modo de calendario, con una recopilación de citas y pensamientos diario. En palabras suyas: "Sé que comunicarse con grandes pensadores como Sócrates, Epicteto., Arnold, Parker, etc., proporciona una gran fuerza interior, calma y felicidad... Nos hablan de lo que es más importante para la humanidad, del sentido de la vida y de la virtud... Me gustaría crear un libro... en el que pudiera hablar a una persona acerca de su vida, y acerca del Buen Camino de la Vida".

Calendario de la Sabiduría fue la última obra importante de León Tolstoi. En ella, quiso hacer un compendio de la sabiduría de los siglos. Lo planteó a modo de calendario, con una recopilación de citas y pensamientos diario. En palabras suyas: "Sé que comunicarse con grandes pensadores como Sócrates, Epicteto., Arnold, Parker, etc., proporciona una gran fuerza interior, calma y felicidad... Nos hablan de lo que es más importante para la humanidad, del sentido de la vida y de la virtud... Me gustaría crear un libro... en el que pudiera hablar a una persona acerca de su vida, y acerca del Buen Camino de la Vida".

Calendario de la Sabiduría fue la última obra importante de León Tolstoi. En ella, quiso hacer un compendio de la sabiduría de los siglos. Lo planteó a modo de calendario, con una recopilación de citas y pensamientos diario. En palabras suyas: "Sé que comunicarse con grandes pensadores como Sócrates, Epicteto., Arnold, Parker, etc., proporciona una gran fuerza interior, calma y felicidad... Nos hablan de lo que es más importante para la humanidad, del sentido de la vida y de la virtud... Me gustaría crear un libro... en el que pudiera hablar a una persona acerca de su vida, y acerca del Buen Camino de la Vida".

Dropping you into a modern rendition of Tolstoy, like it's the early 2000's, here we are with Bernard Rose's IVANSXTC.  A breakthrough in "digital filmmaking," it became the first feature to be shot on digital HD, revolutionizing what became a very popular aesthetic, especially in television. Starring Danny Huston, we follow the death and final days of Ivan, a popular talent agent in Hollywood who's all about the decadence of the lifestyle and hanging with his most popular client, played by Peter Weller.  Oh, yeah, ROBOCOP himself! If the inclusion of Peter Weller and HD video didn't grab you, literally nothing will!

Soy por primera vez el invitado en Kapital. Aprovechando la publicación de Fuck you money le pedí a mi amigo Luis Torras que me entrevistara. Nadie mejor que Luis, con su estilo entusiasta y su pasión por la lectura, a quien asignar esta tarea. Tengo que reconocer que nunca había sentido el síndrome del impostor… hasta que le mandé mi libro a Luis. Él que ha reseñado tantos buenos libros, dudé si el mío sería digno de su tiempo. Supongo que la vida va un poco de esto. De atreverse, a pesar de las dudas.El libro Fuck you money ya está entre los más vendidos de Amazon.La presentación en Barcelona será el próximo jueves a las 19h en la librería +Bernat.Índice:0:32 Cómo llevarte un poco mejor con el dinero.7:06 El ahorro presente compra libertad futura.11:25 Franjo von Allmen ganó tiempo.18:41 Abrazar el cactus.25:21 El capital humano de Gary Becker.28:55 Bill Ackman en el podcast de Lex.33:43 Michael Caine lee If de Kipling.42:44 Nunca corras para coger el tren.50:54 Impuestos que destruyen el capital.57:05 El 5% que se sumerge.1:06:42 Enterrar a Samuelson.1:15:46 La torre de Montaigne.1:21:18 Los más ricos no son los más libres.1:23:18 Si quieres aprender economía conductual, lee a Tolstoi.1:25:51 La sabiduría de Calvin & Hobbes.1:32:54 Ordena tus finanzas antes de intentar cambiar tu vida.Apuntes:Fuck you money Joan Tubau.Business secrets of the Trappists monks. August Turak.La acción humana. Ludwig von Mises.Jugarse la piel. Nassim Nicholas Taleb.El precio del tiempo. Edward Chancellor.La esencia de Becker. Ramón Febrero & Pedro Schwartz.Freakonomics. Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner.El economista camuflado. Tim Harford.Los ensayos. Michel de Montaigne.El cuaderno gris. Josep Pla.Some thoughts on the real world by one who glimpsed it and fled. Bill Watterson.

Calendario de la Sabiduría fue la última obra importante de León Tolstoi. En ella, quiso hacer un compendio de la sabiduría de los siglos. Lo planteó a modo de calendario, con una recopilación de citas y pensamientos diario. En palabras suyas: "Sé que comunicarse con grandes pensadores como Sócrates, Epicteto., Arnold, Parker, etc., proporciona una gran fuerza interior, calma y felicidad... Nos hablan de lo que es más importante para la humanidad, del sentido de la vida y de la virtud... Me gustaría crear un libro... en el que pudiera hablar a una persona acerca de su vida, y acerca del Buen Camino de la Vida".

The continuation is from the previous episode, The Sebastapol Sketches, about the 1850s Crimean War and the Tolstoy stories set there.  Because so much has been happening, it's a ramblling look at a lot of possibilities and how the generational model might make sense of it all. As such, there's not a lot here for further investigation besides the previous podcast episodes and a few tweets of mine.... On the other hand, it is an an unusually long episode, so be ready for that. Previously these were in the episode notes, but they aren't linking now. I'll try to delete them if I can't figure out why...   https://x.com/generationalize/status/1496006671851986948?s=20 https://twitter.com/generationalize/status/1496139226659840018?s=21   https://twitter.com/generationalize/status/1496016572112158724?s=21 https://twitter.com/generationalize/status/1496006671851986948?s=21 https://twitter.com/generationalize/status/1495223269225484290?s=21 https://twitter.com/generationalize/status/1492255773237284864?s=21

On the four year anniversary of start of "Special Military Operation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, I thought I'd repost a couple of my relevant episodes from back then.  A look at Leo Tolstoy's Sevastopol Sketches, and what we can learn from them about recent activity in Crimea and Ukraine. Can't say for certain that the Orthodox Church of Ukraine has a lot to do with this, but it is recent enough to raise the question. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthodox_Church_of_Ukraine And the Wall Street Journal does just that: https://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-orthodox-church-and-ukraine-christianization-greek-catholic-prince-vladimir-great-empire-invasion-11643296236 Text of The Sevastopol Sketches https://www.gutenberg.org/files/47197/47197-h/47197-h.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-catherine-great-invaded-crimea-and-put-rest-world-edge-180949969/    

Calendario de la Sabiduría fue la última obra importante de León Tolstoi. En ella, quiso hacer un compendio de la sabiduría de los siglos. Lo planteó a modo de calendario, con una recopilación de citas y pensamientos diario. En palabras suyas: "Sé que comunicarse con grandes pensadores como Sócrates, Epicteto., Arnold, Parker, etc., proporciona una gran fuerza interior, calma y felicidad... Nos hablan de lo que es más importante para la humanidad, del sentido de la vida y de la virtud... Me gustaría crear un libro... en el que pudiera hablar a una persona acerca de su vida, y acerca del Buen Camino de la Vida".

Calendario de la Sabiduría fue la última obra importante de León Tolstoi. En ella, quiso hacer un compendio de la sabiduría de los siglos. Lo planteó a modo de calendario, con una recopilación de citas y pensamientos diario. En palabras suyas: "Sé que comunicarse con grandes pensadores como Sócrates, Epicteto., Arnold, Parker, etc., proporciona una gran fuerza interior, calma y felicidad... Nos hablan de lo que es más importante para la humanidad, del sentido de la vida y de la virtud... Me gustaría crear un libro... en el que pudiera hablar a una persona acerca de su vida, y acerca del Buen Camino de la Vida".

Calendario de la Sabiduría fue la última obra importante de León Tolstoi. En ella, quiso hacer un compendio de la sabiduría de los siglos. Lo planteó a modo de calendario, con una recopilación de citas y pensamientos diario. En palabras suyas: "Sé que comunicarse con grandes pensadores como Sócrates, Epicteto., Arnold, Parker, etc., proporciona una gran fuerza interior, calma y felicidad... Nos hablan de lo que es más importante para la humanidad, del sentido de la vida y de la virtud... Me gustaría crear un libro... en el que pudiera hablar a una persona acerca de su vida, y acerca del Buen Camino de la Vida".

Calendario de la Sabiduría fue la última obra importante de León Tolstoi. En ella, quiso hacer un compendio de la sabiduría de los siglos. Lo planteó a modo de calendario, con una recopilación de citas y pensamientos diario. En palabras suyas: "Sé que comunicarse con grandes pensadores como Sócrates, Epicteto., Arnold, Parker, etc., proporciona una gran fuerza interior, calma y felicidad... Nos hablan de lo que es más importante para la humanidad, del sentido de la vida y de la virtud... Me gustaría crear un libro... en el que pudiera hablar a una persona acerca de su vida, y acerca del Buen Camino de la Vida".

Calendario de la Sabiduría fue la última obra importante de León Tolstoi. En ella, quiso hacer un compendio de la sabiduría de los siglos. Lo planteó a modo de calendario, con una recopilación de citas y pensamientos diario. En palabras suyas: "Sé que comunicarse con grandes pensadores como Sócrates, Epicteto., Arnold, Parker, etc., proporciona una gran fuerza interior, calma y felicidad... Nos hablan de lo que es más importante para la humanidad, del sentido de la vida y de la virtud... Me gustaría crear un libro... en el que pudiera hablar a una persona acerca de su vida, y acerca del Buen Camino de la Vida".

What if dying is not an ending, but a moment of radical clarity? In his new novel "Vigil," George Saunders conjures a strange and often comic world of bickering angels visiting a dying, deeply flawed man—debating and waiting to see whether he can face the truth about himself before it's too late.In this conversation, Steve Paulson talks with Saunders about the evolution of his ideas about death and the possibility of an afterlife. Dying, he says, may be “the ultimate experience of wonder,” and he believes ghost stories can open powerful imaginative spaces for novelists. Saunders reflects on his own Buddhist practice as he considers these life-and-death questions, and he tells us why he thinks fiction is uniquely suited to grappling with complex moral issues and why Tolstoy and Chekhov are his personal sources of inspiration.Saunders is the author of such celebrated books as “Tenth of December,” “Pastoralia,” and the Booker Prize-winning “Lincoln in the Bardo.”  His nonfiction book about the great Russian writers is “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain.”This interview was recorded at the Central Library in downtown Madison shortly before Saunders spoke at the Wisconsin Book Festival.— To the Best of Our Knowledge — On his short story collection “Tenth of December.  To the Best of Our Knowledge: Reflecting on “Lincoln in the Bardo.” Substack Story Club with George Saunders —00:00:00 Introduction and Reading from Vigil00:07:50 The Plane Crash and Death Obsession00:15:00 The Writing Process and Wonder00:24:30 Moral Accountability in Fiction00:32:20 Chekhov, Succession, and Accuracy00:40:00 Kindness, Criticism, and Final Thoughts Wonder Cabinet is hosted by Anne Strainchamps and Steve Paulson. Find out more about the show at https://wondercabinetproductions.com, where you can subscribe to the podcast and our newsletter.

Calendario de la Sabiduría fue la última obra importante de León Tolstoi. En ella, quiso hacer un compendio de la sabiduría de los siglos. Lo planteó a modo de calendario, con una recopilación de citas y pensamientos diario. En palabras suyas: "Sé que comunicarse con grandes pensadores como Sócrates, Epicteto., Arnold, Parker, etc., proporciona una gran fuerza interior, calma y felicidad... Nos hablan de lo que es más importante para la humanidad, del sentido de la vida y de la virtud... Me gustaría crear un libro... en el que pudiera hablar a una persona acerca de su vida, y acerca del Buen Camino de la Vida".

Calendario de la Sabiduría fue la última obra importante de León Tolstoi. En ella, quiso hacer un compendio de la sabiduría de los siglos. Lo planteó a modo de calendario, con una recopilación de citas y pensamientos diario. En palabras suyas: "Sé que comunicarse con grandes pensadores como Sócrates, Epicteto., Arnold, Parker, etc., proporciona una gran fuerza interior, calma y felicidad... Nos hablan de lo que es más importante para la humanidad, del sentido de la vida y de la virtud... Me gustaría crear un libro... en el que pudiera hablar a una persona acerca de su vida, y acerca del Buen Camino de la Vida".

Por Yaiza Santos Una vez más, dijo observando los casos del jefe de la Policía española y el príncipe Andrés de Inglaterra, queda claro lo que sucede, pero la política ¡y hasta la sanidad! se resisten: los hombres quieren más sexo del que tienen. Es urgente comenzar a tomar esto como lo que es, una debilidad insoslayable y, en los casos mencionados, una patología. La hombría de bien, como la llamaba su padre, no sería otra cosa que una forma de contención. El nuevo burning que comentaron vuelve a constatar la brecha, pero añade nuevas e interesantes aristas: en un contexto estable, las mujeres están no solo satisfechas, ¡sino mejor que los hombres!Oh, ese Sánchez y su cortesano Elordi Cué, desde la India, pidiendo una inteligencia artificial para el bien y no para el mal. Están muy lejos de entender que nada fue creado per se para lo segundo y que en cada uno de los actos hay siempre una cara B. Elogió las últimas columnas de Juan Diego Madueño y pidió, por favor, que alguien escriba el libro que tiene ese chava Rufián. Y fue así que Espada yiró. Bibliografía: -Juan Diego Madueño, "Antología del nuevo columnista" y "Rufián tiene miedo: la izquierda habla como Vox", EL MUNDO. - León Tolstoi, Guerra y paz. - Honoré de Balzac, Las ilusiones perdidas. - Guy de Maupassant, Bel Ami. - Gustave Flaubert, Diccionario de los lugares comunes. - Juan Marsé, Últimas tardes con Teresa. - El Ángel Azul. - Cuando Harry encontró a Sally. - Burning: Ashlyn Brady y otros, "Women Are Slightly More Sexually Satisfied in Their Romantic Relationships Than Men: An Integrative Data Analytic Approach", Archives of Sexual Behavior (2026) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Calendario de la Sabiduría fue la última obra importante de León Tolstoi. En ella, quiso hacer un compendio de la sabiduría de los siglos. Lo planteó a modo de calendario, con una recopilación de citas y pensamientos diario. En palabras suyas: "Sé que comunicarse con grandes pensadores como Sócrates, Epicteto., Arnold, Parker, etc., proporciona una gran fuerza interior, calma y felicidad... Nos hablan de lo que es más importante para la humanidad, del sentido de la vida y de la virtud... Me gustaría crear un libro... en el que pudiera hablar a una persona acerca de su vida, y acerca del Buen Camino de la Vida".

Lucio Coco"Italia"Lev Nikolaevič TolstojNino Aragno Editorewww.ninoaragnoeditore.itIntroduzione, traduzione e note di Lucio CocoDalla sterminata produzione letteraria di Lev Tolstoj in questo volume viene presentata per la prima volta in una edizione italiana una serie di sentenze morali, che l'autore stesso rubrica sotto il titolo di Regole di vita [Pravila žizni]. La loro composizione, che risale agli anni 1847-1854, testimonia la lunga gestazione che ebbe questo lavoro, segno che con esso Tolstoj stava redigendo non solo una raccolta di massime ma stava riflettendo sull'orizzonte etico che avrebbe ispirato tutta la sua vita e al quale si sarebbe conformata anche tutta la sua opera di scrittore.Lev Nikolaevič Tolstòj  (Jasnaja Poljana 1828-Astapovo 1910) è uno dei grandi autori non solo della letteratura russa ma di quella mondiale. Il sua fama è legata ai celebri romanzi Guerra e pace (1869), Anna Karenina (1877), Resurrezione (1899) e a diverse opere di ispirazione filosofica, pedagogica, religiosa e morale che ne hanno fatto non solo un campione di letteratura ma anche un maestro di vitaLucio Coco  è curatore di importanti edizioni di testi dei Padri della Chiesa quali Giovanni Crisostomo, Gregorio di Nazianzo e Gregorio di Nissa. Si è inoltre interessato alla storia della spiritualità cristiana, approfondendo quella russa, nel cui ambito ha curato la prima edizione del Meterikon nella versio russica di Feofan Zatvornik (Mondadori) e dedicando particolare attenzione al fenomeno dello jurodstvo nella sua declinazione femminile con l'edizione delle Sante stolte della Chiesa russa (Città Nuova). Particolare attenzione ha dedicato allo studio della tradizione gnomologica cristiana greca approntando l'edizione delle Sentenze di Evagrio Pontico, delle Sentenze spirituali di Basilio Magno, Isaia di Scete, Iperechio, Marco l'Eremita e delle Sentenze morali di Fozio (Olschki).Diventa un supporter di questo podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/il-posto-delle-parole--1487855/support.IL POSTO DELLE PAROLEascoltare fa pensarehttps://ilpostodelleparole.it/

Calendario de la Sabiduría fue la última obra importante de León Tolstoi. En ella, quiso hacer un compendio de la sabiduría de los siglos. Lo planteó a modo de calendario, con una recopilación de citas y pensamientos diario. En palabras suyas: "Sé que comunicarse con grandes pensadores como Sócrates, Epicteto., Arnold, Parker, etc., proporciona una gran fuerza interior, calma y felicidad... Nos hablan de lo que es más importante para la humanidad, del sentido de la vida y de la virtud... Me gustaría crear un libro... en el que pudiera hablar a una persona acerca de su vida, y acerca del Buen Camino de la Vida".

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3916: Allison Carmen reflects on how digital distractions quietly fracture our most meaningful connections, even in shared physical spaces. Through the lens of a powerful Tolstoy parable, she challenges us to reclaim the present moment, making now, and the person in front of us, the most important priority in our lives. Read along with the original article(s) here: http://www.allisoncarmen.com/is-there-anything-more-important-than-giving-our-attention-to-the-people-we-are-with-in-this-moment/ Quotes to ponder: "All of these electronic distractions created a gap between all of us that was never there before." "Being in the NOW, we are present to give and receive the true gift of life, LOVE." "If we can make NOW the most important moment, and the person we are with the most important person, and what we are doing the most important thing, we will be led to more meaningful and fulfilling lives with one another." Episode references: The Three Questions by Leo Tolstoy: https://www.amazon.com/Three-Questions-Leo-Tolstoy/dp/0439199964 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are BACK not ONE WEEK LATER (!!). This episode has everything! Usha Vance, Zarna Garg, Tolstoy (particularly, War and Peace which we are totally actually going to Book Club) and of course, Priyanka and Nick. Not to mention a 10 minute detour on anthropomorphized beanie babies and a discussion of how much dumber we've gotten over our nearly ten years of podcasting together. You can be the judge of that!! Hit us up at thebrownburndown@gmail.com.

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3916: Allison Carmen reflects on how digital distractions quietly fracture our most meaningful connections, even in shared physical spaces. Through the lens of a powerful Tolstoy parable, she challenges us to reclaim the present moment, making now, and the person in front of us, the most important priority in our lives. Read along with the original article(s) here: http://www.allisoncarmen.com/is-there-anything-more-important-than-giving-our-attention-to-the-people-we-are-with-in-this-moment/ Quotes to ponder: "All of these electronic distractions created a gap between all of us that was never there before." "Being in the NOW, we are present to give and receive the true gift of life, LOVE." "If we can make NOW the most important moment, and the person we are with the most important person, and what we are doing the most important thing, we will be led to more meaningful and fulfilling lives with one another." Episode references: The Three Questions by Leo Tolstoy: https://www.amazon.com/Three-Questions-Leo-Tolstoy/dp/0439199964 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3916: Allison Carmen reflects on how digital distractions quietly fracture our most meaningful connections, even in shared physical spaces. Through the lens of a powerful Tolstoy parable, she challenges us to reclaim the present moment, making now, and the person in front of us, the most important priority in our lives. Read along with the original article(s) here: http://www.allisoncarmen.com/is-there-anything-more-important-than-giving-our-attention-to-the-people-we-are-with-in-this-moment/ Quotes to ponder: "All of these electronic distractions created a gap between all of us that was never there before." "Being in the NOW, we are present to give and receive the true gift of life, LOVE." "If we can make NOW the most important moment, and the person we are with the most important person, and what we are doing the most important thing, we will be led to more meaningful and fulfilling lives with one another." Episode references: The Three Questions by Leo Tolstoy: https://www.amazon.com/Three-Questions-Leo-Tolstoy/dp/0439199964 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We catch up on the gallery space that didn't come together — not because of conflict, but because the arrangement shifted enough that the original vision no longer fit. What stings isn't the logistics, it's the built-in community that came with that particular spot, and the version of things we'd already started imagining.From there the conversation turns inward. We're both feeling the gap between talking about making work and actually making it — the pull to get back out with a camera, the fatigue of looking at old sequences, and what it means when commerce brain starts crowding out everything else. We end up somewhere around the question of what art even is — Tolstoy's definition, the transcendentalist framing, Rick Rubin and George Saunders on process — and whether finding your own answer to that matters more than finding the right one. -Ai If you enjoyed this episode, please consider giving us a rating and/or a review. We read and appreciate all of them. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you in the next episode. Links To Everything: Video Version of The Podcast: https://geni.us/StudioSessionsYT Matt's YouTube Channel: https://geni.us/MatthewOBrienYT Matt's 2nd Channel: https://geni.us/PhotoVideosYT Alex's YouTube Channel: https://geni.us/AlexCarterYT Matt's Instagram: https://geni.us/MatthewIG Alex's Instagram: https://geni.us/AlexIG

Calendario de la Sabiduría fue la última obra importante de León Tolstoi. En ella, quiso hacer un compendio de la sabiduría de los siglos. Lo planteó a modo de calendario, con una recopilación de citas y pensamientos diario. En palabras suyas: "Sé que comunicarse con grandes pensadores como Sócrates, Epicteto., Arnold, Parker, etc., proporciona una gran fuerza interior, calma y felicidad... Nos hablan de lo que es más importante para la humanidad, del sentido de la vida y de la virtud... Me gustaría crear un libro... en el que pudiera hablar a una persona acerca de su vida, y acerca del Buen Camino de la Vida".

Calendario de la Sabiduría fue la última obra importante de León Tolstoi. En ella, quiso hacer un compendio de la sabiduría de los siglos. Lo planteó a modo de calendario, con una recopilación de citas y pensamientos diario. En palabras suyas: "Sé que comunicarse con grandes pensadores como Sócrates, Epicteto., Arnold, Parker, etc., proporciona una gran fuerza interior, calma y felicidad... Nos hablan de lo que es más importante para la humanidad, del sentido de la vida y de la virtud... Me gustaría crear un libro... en el que pudiera hablar a una persona acerca de su vida, y acerca del Buen Camino de la Vida".

Calendario de la Sabiduría fue la última obra importante de León Tolstoi. En ella, quiso hacer un compendio de la sabiduría de los siglos. Lo planteó a modo de calendario, con una recopilación de citas y pensamientos diario. En palabras suyas: "Sé que comunicarse con grandes pensadores como Sócrates, Epicteto., Arnold, Parker, etc., proporciona una gran fuerza interior, calma y felicidad... Nos hablan de lo que es más importante para la humanidad, del sentido de la vida y de la virtud... Me gustaría crear un libro... en el que pudiera hablar a una persona acerca de su vida, y acerca del Buen Camino de la Vida".

Enjoy this free download: https://bit.ly/Insurmountable-StudyGuideA 12-week study guide on Genesis 1-3 with John Ortberg. We've made it simple: curated episodes, journal questions, memory verses, and practical next steps. Everything you need to get started with a friend or group! Just download, print and go!John Ortberg walks us into Matthew 5, where Jesus announces that the blessed life (life in God's kingdom) is available right here, right now, no matter your circumstances. The Sermon on the Mount is not abstract theory or impossible idealism; it is a practical, transformative vision for human life. Tolstoy once wrote that if Jesus' words were truly lived, they would create an entirely new social order. John brings it home with Jesus' simple summary of the whole teaching: treat others the way you would want to be treated.ACCESS THE YOUTUBE PLAYLIST FOR INSURMOUNTABLE HERE:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3Egad-Un8UHXbT60EfcXVJF33i5mA-5fBecome New is here to help you grow spiritually one day at a time.TEXT US at 855-888-0444EMAIL US at connect@becomenew.comGET OUR WEEKDAY EMAILS WITH EXTRA GOODIES at becomenew.com/subscribeGET A TEXT REMINDER FOR NEW VIDEOS: text BECOME to 855-888-0444SEND US PRAYER REQUESTS: via text or email; we'll send you a written prayer from our team

This week we tackle the big one, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy!

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3449: Nick Maggiulli explores the paradox of wealth perception, highlighting how even billionaires like Lloyd Blankfein don't see themselves as rich. Drawing on Tolstoy's timeless story and modern data, he reveals how relative comparisons and social networks distort our sense of financial well-being, reminding us that we're likely far wealthier than we realize. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://ofdollarsanddata.com/who-feels-rich-really/ Quotes to ponder: "If your net worth is greater than $4,210, then you are wealthier than half of the world." "Most people at the upper end of the income spectrum think they are less wealthy than they actually are." "There is no right answer, because 'being rich' is a relative concept. Always has been and always will be." Episode references: Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report 2018: https://www.credit-suisse.com/about-us/en/reports-research/global-wealth-report.html The Human Network by Matthew Jackson: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/572649/the-human-network-by-matthew-o-jackson/ Data from Saez and Zucman on U.S. wealth inequality: https://eml.berkeley.edu/~saez/saez-zucmanNBER14wealth.pdf How Much Land Does a Man Need? (Tolstoy): https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6157 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3449: Nick Maggiulli explores the paradox of wealth perception, highlighting how even billionaires like Lloyd Blankfein don't see themselves as rich. Drawing on Tolstoy's timeless story and modern data, he reveals how relative comparisons and social networks distort our sense of financial well-being, reminding us that we're likely far wealthier than we realize. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://ofdollarsanddata.com/who-feels-rich-really/ Quotes to ponder: "If your net worth is greater than $4,210, then you are wealthier than half of the world." "Most people at the upper end of the income spectrum think they are less wealthy than they actually are." "There is no right answer, because 'being rich' is a relative concept. Always has been and always will be." Episode references: Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report 2018: https://www.credit-suisse.com/about-us/en/reports-research/global-wealth-report.html The Human Network by Matthew Jackson: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/572649/the-human-network-by-matthew-o-jackson/ Data from Saez and Zucman on U.S. wealth inequality: https://eml.berkeley.edu/~saez/saez-zucmanNBER14wealth.pdf How Much Land Does a Man Need? (Tolstoy): https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6157 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

George Saunders returns to the Shakespeare and Company Podcast to talk with host Adam Biles about Vigil, his long-awaited new novel. Set on the threshold between life and death, Vigil follows a dying oil executive and the ghost tasked with comforting him, unfolding as a darkly comic, morally urgent meditation on guilt, responsibility, and free will in the age of climate collapse.Saunders discusses his fascination with liminal spaces and afterlives, the technical challenges of writing beyond realism, and how revision allows fiction to think more deeply than polemic ever could. Drawing on his own past in the oil industry, he reflects on writing characters implicated in environmental harm with both empathy and moral seriousness. The conversation ranges across Dickens, Tolstoy, Buddhism, and the novel's central question: whether redemption is possible when action is no longer an option. As ever, Saunders brings humor, generosity, and intellectual daring to a discussion that embraces complexity rather than easy answers.*George Saunders is the author of thirteen books, including the novel Lincoln in the Bardo, which won the Booker Prize in 2017, and five collections of stories including Tenth of December, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, and the recent collection Liberation Day (selected by former President Obama has one of his ten favourite books of 2021). Three of Saunders' books –Pastoralia, Tenth of December, and Lincoln in the Bardo – were chosen for the New York Times' list of the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. Saunders hosts the popular Story Club on Substack, which grew out of his book on the Russian short story, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain. In 2013, he was named one of the world's 100 Most Influential People by Time magazine. He teaches in the creative writing program at Syracuse University.Adam Biles is Literary Director at Shakespeare and Company.Listen to Alex Freiman's latest EP, In The Beginning: https://open.spotify.com/album/5iZYPMCUnG7xiCtsFCBlVa?si=h5x3FK1URq6SwH9Kb_SO3w Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This month's challenge asked you to submit double sided cards where neither side is a creature. The star of the show, though, is the bonus challenge, which was to also make the card easy to read! Along the way Juliet talks about reading Tolstoy, Tim asks for a famous web app, and Guff rewrites history. Check out community member Xena's new game, Surreality Check: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2758010/Surreality_Check/ Join Beacon of Creation's Discord: https://discord.gg/t88Vpwh Show Notes and Images: https://beaconofcreation.com Intro music by Dee Culp

Vigil by George Saunders is an imaginative new story about the pivotal moment between life and death. George joined us live from Philadelphia to talk about format, keeping a sense of play, voice, language, ghosts, dialogue, short stories and more with host Miwa Messer. This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.                     New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app. Featured Books (Episode): Vigil by George Saunders CivilWarLand in Bad Decline by George Saunders Liberation Day by George Saunders Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders Beloved by Toni Morrison A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Master and Man and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy  

What does it really mean to live with an unstoppable mindset when life keeps changing the rules? In this conversation, I had the privilege of talking with Linda MacKenzie, whose life story spans poverty, reinvention, creativity, faith, and deep personal responsibility. Linda grew up in the Bronx with very little, learned resilience early, and carried those lessons into a life that has included engineering, broadcasting, authorship, and decades of work around positivity, healing, and intuition. As we talked, we explored fear not as something that controls us, but as something that can guide us when we learn how to listen. We also discussed the importance of trusting your inner voice, choosing kindness even when it feels difficult, and staying grounded in truth rather than noise or fear. I believe this conversation offers something meaningful for anyone who wants to better understand themselves, live with greater purpose, and remember that an unstoppable mindset is built one choice at a time. Highlights: 00:47 – Learn how early poverty and cultural diversity shaped a deep respect for people and resilience.03:25 – Understand why looking at a person's heart matters more than labels or background.07:28 – Hear how lifelong learning and creativity fueled constant reinvention.09:56 – Discover why fear can be used as a signal instead of something to avoid.11:22 – Learn how positive thinking became the foundation for long-term impact.13:09 – Understand why truth and responsibility matter more than opinions.17:49 – Learn how intuition and inner voice guide better decisions.22:29 – Discover the two core fears that drive most human behavior.29:11 – Hear how natural healing and mindset work together over time.32:49 – Learn why giving back to the community creates balance and purpose.46:31 – Understand how positivity shapes collective consciousness.58:58 – Learn what it means to live with responsibility, kindness, and self-trust. About the Guest: Linda Mackenzie is the epitome of the multi- hyphenate! A former telecom engineer who designed worldwide communications networks for the airlines and Fortune 1000 companies, Mackenzie is a mainstay in pioneering entrepreneurial spirit. She launched one of the first used PC stores, a datacom consulting firm,a wholesale gift manufacturing company and was the former President of a mind- body supplement manufacturing corporation. Today she heads one of her proudest accomplishments to date, as President of CREATIVE HEALTH & SPIRIT-- a Manhattan Beach based media & publishing company started in 1995 and Founder of HealthyLife. net - All Positive Talk Radio which commenced in October, 2002. Linda Mackenzie is also an author, radio host, lecturer, audio/ TV/ film producer, screenwriter, Doctoral Clinical Hypnotherapist Candidate, a world- renown psychic who has appeared worldwide on hundreds of radio shows, almost all network and cable TV stations and in several award winning documentaries. Ways to connect with Linda**:** Social Media: Twitter: https:// twitter. com/ lindamackenzie; https:// twitter. com/ positiveradio Linked In: https:// www. linkedin. com/ in/ linda- mackenzie- 590649b/ Facebook: https:// www. facebook. com/ linda. mackenzie. 56 Instagram: https:// www. instagram. com/ healthyliferadio/ You Tube: https:// www. youtube. com/@ LindaMackenzie https:// www. youtube. com/@ healthyliferadio Websites: www. lindamackenzie. net, www. healthylife. net, www. hrnradio. com P. O. Box 385, Manhattan Beach, CA 90267 books@ lindamackenzie. net www. LindaMackenzie. net About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson  00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. Michael Hingson  01:20 Well, hello, everyone, wherever you happen to be, I am Michael Hingson, and you are listening or watching unstoppable mindset. And today, we have a wonderful guest to talk with. She is an innovator by any standard. She's done a lot of different kinds things. She describes herself as a self as a multi hibernate, and I'm gonna let her explain some of that, but I think she's got some interesting and relevant stories to tell, and I'm really glad to have her here. I'd like you to meet Linda. MacKenzie, Linda, welcome to on top of a mindset. Linda MacKenzie  01:58 Well, thank you so much for having me. I'm really happy to be here Michael Hingson  02:02 and you're in Manhattan Beach, right, correct, yeah. So you're not all that far away from me from where I am, up in Victorville. So you know, we could probably open our windows and if we yelled loud enough, we could hear each other. But anyway, tell me about the early, early Linda, growing up and all some of that stuff. Well, that was kind Linda MacKenzie  02:22 of an interesting journey. You know, I was born in the Bronx. My mother was Bostonian, Irish, and my dad was Northern Italian. He had the red hair. My mother had the dark hair, and a typical Italian family, you know, and Irish family, they were constantly fighting, so I delved into books and ran to the church for peace and quiet and and many, many things like that. And we were very poor, you know, we had two dresses. I had two dresses a year. And we, you know, did, had to come home for lunch because we didn't have lunch money and stuff like that. Walked walk that mile to school, too much to school. And we did. I actually lived on the second highest point on the eastern seaboard and so but we grew up really fun. You know, we had when I was growing up in New York, one one street was Italian, the next one was Irish, and the blacks had a street, and the Japanese had a street, and the Koreans had a street, and the Germans had a street. And we all went to school together, and we had one common denominator. We were poor. So when I had sleepovers, I had every kind of person, and we just took each other for who we were and not what we were. And so that was a very nice thing growing up. And because we were poor, we got a lot of advantages. For example, our chorus was in high school, our chorus was taught by Metropolitan Opera singers. So we learned and got many things. And if you were very bright and understood that, we to try and get everything we could do, you know, and use it to improve yourself, it happened so and that's kind of what we did. Michael Hingson  04:14 Well, I think that's really cool, and it's great that you grew up in an environment where everyone understood that we're all part of the same world and and they got along. So you never really had to face a whole lot of or you see other people face a whole lot of that, the kinds of problems that we see in other parts of the world, that everyone worked out pretty well together. Linda MacKenzie  04:35 Yeah, I for us. We did, and I've learned to take people, but I always looked at the heart of a person. You know, I may never have remembered their name, but I would remember everything they said, and I could see their soul. So I I never, ever really saw color of skin or anything like that, and and so it was kind of an enigma for that. I mean, it was. An easy for me growing up. I mean, I had three attempted rapes before I was 11, you know, you had to learn street smarts. You know, you go to church and you got, you're passing the strip club with, you know, all the drunks trying to grab at you at eight years old, trying to pull you away. So, you know, so you learned real quick on what to do and what not to do, and I ended up getting married, put my ex husband through school. He became a biochemist, and went to college for two years, and then quit and put him through school, and then, you know, had a baby at, you know, is married at 19 and had a baby at 21 and, you know, was divorced at 27 and moved to California at well, divorced at 25 I guess, yeah, and then moved to California in 27 and just had a really interesting life. I've been through every strata society, from extremely poor to not so poor to middle class to nouveau riche to old money. I've even jet set. I've done it all so, great experience, no matter what. Did you ever get remarried? Yes, I did. I got I got married to a commodities broker that actually worked at the World Trade Center and in the Mercantile Exchange up there in the comics and the mercantile and, you know, as a matter of fact, there was one day because I was cute when I was, you know, 2728 and my husband was a broker on a floor trader, and he'd say, come in, as it's this particular time, onto the floor, and come meet me on the floor. Well, they didn't really have a lot of women on the floor. Yeah, back in those days. I mean, you know, back in the days where I grew up, my husband had to approve a bank account if I could have a savings account. So you could, you couldn't even, you know, have a credit card if you were a woman, you know. So I went through a lot of stuff. But anyway, I remember walking on the floor, and the whole exchange stopped because he told me wear a mini skirt. And I did. And he went in and did a whole big thing on trading gold, and made a lot of money that day. Walked on the exchange. That's what ended up happening. But Seth, you Michael Hingson  07:17 talked about, you just made me think of something you talked about, you saw people's hearts and so on, but you never remembered their names. I know for six years I worked up at Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael, which is where I've gotten all of my guide dogs. Because after September 11, one of the things they asked me if I come be their spokesperson. One of the things that we heard, and I never believed in until I saw it in action, is that most of the people at guide dogs know every single dog that goes through the campus bills. They'll never remember your names. They don't remember students names, but they remember the dogs, Linda MacKenzie  07:53 right, right? Well, they have intimate Well, I mean, I remembered my mom's name. Well, that's a start. Michael Hingson  08:04 It's just kind of funny, because, you know, the students and the trainers do get along well, but it's just so funny. How so many people up there would remember the dogs. I could go down the corridor going to the Veterinary Clinic, and people would come up and they go, Hi Rosell, or hi Africa. I can't quite remember your name, but it's so funny. That's great, you know, and can't argue with it. It's nice to be remembered somehow, even if it's for the dog. That's right, that's right. So did you just have two years of college, or did you ever finish? Linda MacKenzie  08:39 Yeah, no, I went back and I got a degree, and then I got grandfathered in, and I have a PhD in clinical hypnotherapy, and I have been recognized as a furthering the profession, and also by the American Board of hypnotherapy, they say that I'm the their most creative, prolific minds, which I said, Oh, good. I can use that in PR for at least 10 minutes? Yeah, at Michael Hingson  09:05 least it's something to say. Linda MacKenzie  09:07 Yeah, no, but I've always I was. My Autobiography is called Life is like Girl Scout badges. I'm kind of writing that so and it's because whenever I finish something or did something, you know, I would go on to something else, because I feel life is just a wonderful thing. So I've done many, many things I've done, you know, when I was 18, I won awards from the Metropolitan Museum of Art for my artwork, and I was offered a contract with Columbia Records to sing, but the promoter, the ME TOO movement was back then too, and I chose not to do it, so I didn't go with them, which is a funny thing, because now I'm 76 this year, and I am producing a children's record and next month, and I've written the songs and done the music, and we've got people from Off Broadway and different kinds of people coming together. For for a wonderful record for children on how to stop negative thought, to stay positive and what and how to transcend fear. So that's my project for this year. You know, so, but I've done so many things. I mean, I don't know where you just start. Michael Hingson  10:18 That's fine. Well, I hope to hear the record someday. Linda MacKenzie  10:22 Oh, you will. It's going to be so much fun. It's so much fun. Michael Hingson  10:26 I you know, you know who Neil sadaka is, yes, and he's got this song, Breaking up is hard to do. Well, it turns out that in 2009 he did a whole album for kids. The title song is waking up is hard to do. It's never it's cute. Somebody told me about it earlier this year, and I went and found it. It is a cute album, and it's the melodies are most all of his other songs, but the words are all kids related, and they're very clever. Linda MacKenzie  10:53 Well, this was a book that I wrote about 20 years ago, and and then I and somebody picked it up, and then they said, you need to write a script. And I said, Well, I don't know how to write a script, so I bought a book and I wrote a script, and they it was picked up while Ron Howard had it, and Hawk Koch, who did sliver, and Deborah Johnson, and it's been in play for 20 years. I mean, the last producers that had it was crazy, Rich Asians, and it was never produced, and every single time they wanted to produce it, so I said, You know what, I'm going to write the book myself. So I rewrote the book. My daughter's doing some education. She's a teacher, so she's doing some educational things so that the people in education can, you know, take the chapters and the characters and learn how to be positive from these things and and it's really kind of a fun thing, so I'm really excited about it. So I just said, I'm not going to wait for them. I'm going to do it because the kids need it now more than ever. They just get away from that social media and to really start connecting and to understand that it's not the witchcraft, it's not the, you know, the social media that, or you know what it is, is your own mind and your own self, and using the quality of your mind and understanding that and moving through it and having a Positive attitude that will get you so far in life, and that's what my goal is, is to just, you know, I've been doing that for almost, I don't know, 40 years. Is my whole goal was truth and positivity. So Well, there Michael Hingson  12:33 you go. By the way, since you have written books, I would appreciate it if you would email me and attach pictures of the book covers, because I'd love to put them out as part of the show notes. Linda MacKenzie  12:45 Okay, great. That would be great. I have four books out. I I had started a positive Talk Radio Network back in 2002 and you know, we're going to a lot of we go. We have 45 hosts. It's live. We do podcasts, and we've been doing podcasts since 2004 if you can believe that, and we were pioneer in internet radio and so and that's because I was an engineer for 18 years, and I was the first woman Datacom engineer in any airline in the world, and designed stuff for Continental Airlines and Western airlines and international airlines and things like that. And, you know, air to ground, radio and right go to the when you go to the airport, if you use computerized tickets, that was kind of my I participated in that with other wonderful people, and I worked with microwave and did all of that as matter of fact, I redesigned a computer center. So every year I've done something, you know, and I've been successful, and then I move on, you know. But the radio network is my longest one. That's 23 years. So we'll be 2024, years this year, which is a lot of years, but we're helping people, because it's all positive talk. So although we do have a news program, I tried to make it positive, but we report the old way, you know, with, you know, checking sources and really having too much opinion. And when you have an opinion, say it's your opinion, you know, not trying to which Michael Hingson  14:21 is fair, which is which is fair. Well, if you ever need a guest on the podcast or on any of the radio shows, just let me know. I'm always looking for opportunities to also be positive and and motivate people. So if Linda MacKenzie  14:33 we can, just have to go to the site, and there's a thing called all shows, and go through all of the hosts, because we have over 45 of them, and, you know, and so, and each one does 14:47 their own. Got it? What's the site? Linda MacKenzie  14:50 Again, it's called Healthy Life. Dot.net. It's or heal thy life.net. So it's healthy life or heal thy life. Same got it? Same thing. Saying different, different way of saying it and and you can listen 24/7, I don't do any apps. We are syndicated on 75 channels of distribution. So if you wanted to get on, tune in, or streama, or some of these other wonderful networks in Europe, you know, we go to 137 countries. So it's a pretty good network. And if you want to be happy and get learn things, you know it's just wonderful. We're starting some new shows that nobody's ever done, and I can do an exclusive here for you, if you want it, our network is going to be doing I've been following a while that there's certain kinds of classical music, right? That when you listen to it can reverse cancer, stop Alzheimer's, stop Parkinson's. And there are certain things at certain frequencies. And I have one of the greatest classical Taurus in the world, in my opinion, and he's going to be doing a show where people can listen to the music and then and help themselves heal right on air, I'm stupid by John Hopkins University. And, I mean, it's not just namby pamby or, you know, La La Land stuff. It's no, I'm saving for certain things. So it's it's really no one's doing that. So it's going to be really fun for me to do. Michael Hingson  16:27 Are you familiar with Joe fatale? No. He is a an individual who has done a lot with with sound to not only help people from a wealth standpoint, but also help them in terms of dealing with health. I've, I've been on a couple of his mailing lists, and he's had some interesting, some interesting things, and a couple of people who've worked with him and so on have been guests on unstoppable mindset. But it's an interesting guy, but definitely parallels a lot of what you're saying, certainly stuff, I have also believed, right? Linda MacKenzie  17:03 We've had Jonathan Goldman, who has written, He's a graduate of Berkeley School of Music, but he's been doing sound healing. It was an interesting story with him, and he's on our network, and he's been doing shows with us for over 20 years. And it was funny, he went to Tibet and he was loved the chants of the Tibetan monks. And he went over there, and he said, can I try that chant? And they said, No, that chant, you know, is like 10 years. You have to do it in 10 years, you know, you have to train for that. He goes, Can I try? And they said, Yes. And he got it perfectly. And so now the Tibetan monks go to train with him in Boulder, Colorado every year around June timeframe. So it's kind of a fun story. So he's been in sound healing for a long time. And there's a lot of different things that are true, but like today, you have to make sure that it resonates with you, because not everything that you're hearing is true, and people are bastardizing things. And the closer you are to the truth, and the closer that you and you can depend on your own truth meter, because everybody's got one, yeah. And if you depend on that and listen to just that, and if it tells you stop, I don't want to do this anymore, then you just go to that point, and then you will get the benefit from everything. Michael Hingson  18:25 One of my favorite things that I've talked about several times on the podcast when I talk to people about inner voices and their thoughts is I ask a number of people, did you used to play or do you play Trivial Pursuit? And when they say, Yes. One of the things I constantly ask people is, how often did somebody ask a question? Immediately you thought of an answer, but you went, Oh, that was just too easy. And so you think again, you come up with a different answer, but the first answer that you thought of was the correct one, which is absolutely all about listening to your inner voice and listening to correct what you're being told. Linda MacKenzie  19:00 That's right. You're 99% right if you listen the first time and don't use your mind to think. You know, the brain is divided into two kinds. You know, the left logical brain. What you need if you're crossing a street. I mean, I would like to know there's a car and step back, but the right side of the brain is where your creativity is, and I call the seat of soul. And what happens is, is that your creative side is the thing that heals you. Your left logical side is just like the monkey mind. And so what happens when you're doing hypnosis? What you're doing is you're getting the left brain to listen to a story, but you before you do it, you have an intention, and the intention is the right brain knows exactly what you need to do, but it's very kind, and it lets the left brain sit there, be in control, except at night, and you'll notice that if you're ill, and when you wake up in the morning, you feel, most times, a lot better. And that's reason is, is because the right side of the mind has. Has actually taken control right and the left side of the brain is sleeping, so your right side of the brain can absolutely heal you. And this is where your your gut feel comes from, too, is from the right side of the brain. And we are much more than we think we are. You know, we're just spiritual beings in a physical body, not a physical being in a you know, we're not just physical beings, you know, right? Michael Hingson  20:28 Well, and it all goes back to the spiritual and to the light. And absolutely is true. I know that I've, we've had on on this podcast, a number of Reiki Masters and other people, and we've had people who bring on singing musical bowls and so on. Linda MacKenzie  20:50 And it's interesting about that, because, you know, here in Japan, Reiki has 12 levels, but they're only taught three here, and they're never taught the level to where you protect yourself, because when you're out there in the universe and you're going into doing some of these things, everything exists, even a thought form exists. So you want to make sure that you're as protected as possible when you're doing these things right and so, but most of the people don't know, because they don't allow you to do that. And Reiki, there is a you're there in it, day in, day out. That's your career. You know, it's not just a pastime. And the Tibetan bowls are great. However, for me, when they do the regular way of doing it, it's like chalk on a chalkboard. For me, when they do it opposite and backwards, I'm in heaven. So it's really interesting how everybody's body is different. Every person is unique. And we have to understand that when we're looking at health or with mind or with body, we want to understand that we are so important. Each one of us is important. Never should be belittled or, you know, and treat everybody with kindness and love and and respect and truth Michael Hingson  22:06 exactly right. And I'd love to see a whole lot more of it than oftentimes we do see, but I know that that it's so important that we focus on doing things to protect ourselves. And one of the things that that I talk about is I wrote a book that was published last year called on stop or excuse me, called Live like a guide dog, true stories from a blind man and his dogs about being brave, overcoming adversity and moving forward in faith. And the whole idea behind the book was that at the beginning of the pandemic, I realized that although I had escaped from the World Trade Center, and I had, in fact, known what to do, which was a mindset that clicked in when the emergency happened. I never really worked to teach other people that. So I wrote, live like a guide dog, and used lessons that I learned from all of my guide dogs and my wife's service dog, the lessons from those dogs to, in fact, learn how to deal with the different things that we have to deal with, and learn how to, in reality, control, protect ourselves and move forward in a positive and constructive way. In other words, really learning about the fact that you can control fear. Fear is not something that you you need to allow to overwhelm or, as I put it, blind you or paralyze you. The reality is that fear is a wonderful thing that you can use as a very powerful tool to help you function and succeed even in the most adverse circumstances possible. Linda MacKenzie  23:40 Well, I one of the songs on the record is called fear is fear is my friend, and it's a wonderful song, and it teaches you that fear. I did a big study for 20 years on fear, right? Because the only way that people can control you is through fear. Okay? If you don't have fear, no one can control you. No one, okay, yeah. Michael Hingson  24:08 Well, and just to interrupt for a quick sec, I would say it's not that you don't have fear, but you control it. Linda MacKenzie  24:16 Well, you overcome it. You Michael Hingson  24:17 exactly, right, exactly. You use it. You use it in a powerful, better way. Anyway, go ahead, right? Linda MacKenzie  24:23 Well, fear does, for me is that when fear comes in, it's, it's a wake up call, saying, yeah, look at this. What is it that you're fearful of, and what? Because the only way you can go through exactly right through it. And so when I did this study, it was very interesting, because I found that fear comes from two places. One is a fear of loss, and the other is a fear of death. When you fine tune fear all the way all the way all the way all the way down, it's fear of loss or fear of death. And it's funny, because we come in with nothing, we're leaving with nothing. The only thing we take. With us is the love we give and the love we get. That's it. And I've been on the other side and worked on the other side for the British government and all sorts of stuff, so I know that there's life after death, yeah. And so therefore there's really nothing to fear except to find out what the lesson fear is trying to teach you when you learn it, and you learn it all the way that lesson, you will never have to repeat it in your life again. And so fear is so, so important, and yet not to be feared. Don't fear Michael Hingson  25:35 don't fear it. No, as I said, it's a very powerful tool that can help in so many ways, right, which I think is really important. Well, after college, you started working at various things. What did you do after college? What was kind of your first endeavor? Linda MacKenzie  25:51 Well, I started with the New York telephone company, and I was called when I was selling touch tone telephones. They had just come out. Michael Hingson  26:01 Was it, was it called? Was it called 9x then? Or was it was that? Linda MacKenzie  26:05 Well, in New York, it was no. It was, yeah, that was the trade trade, yes, but it was New York telephone company, yeah. And then I went to work for the National radiology registry, and I designed a prison. When I moved to California, I started to really take off, and I designed a people coming out of prison weren't able to get jobs and and so the X ray they did teach in some prisons in Chino, as a matter of fact, how to become a x ray technician and and so, and an ultrasound wasn't even out back then, back in 77 so I started a prison program to it was a temporary agency so that when a doctor's office or a hospital, their x ray technicians didn't show up, they would call us, and then we would send somebody out, and then they would like the people we would send, and they would give them jobs. So the we so I tried to do that. And then I started working for the airlines and and I they said, Well, do you want to be a reservation person? I said, No. And they said, Well, do you want to be, you know, at the ticket counter agent? Yeah, no, no. He said, Do you want to be a flight attendant? I said, No. And they said, Well, what do you want to do? And I said, Put me in accounting at the mail desk. I want to see where the money goes, and then I'll figure out where I'm going to go. And they said, What? And I said, Just do it, you know. And I had made friends with someone, and so they gave me the job, and I kept moving. And every six months I'd find another error, a million dollar error, and this and this and this. And I finally worked my way up into computers and and then I was the very first woman in any as a data com engineer in any airline in the world. And I started doing a lot of things like that, and then went to work for Western airlines. And then I did worked for CETA, which is Society International Telecommunications aeronautic, which is a largest telecommunications company in the world, based in France and Switzerland. And then I from there, after my daughter graduated from college, I said, enough of this engineering. And so I quit, and I started a metaphysical company, and I got onto a lot of TV. I started my radio show in 1996 I started writing books, and I then from there, I was president of a dietary supplement manufacturing company for a while, and then I manufactured audio tapes and and our company, our vitamin company, was the first company to do mind body medicine. So we would have my partner, was Vice President from GNC, and we started a business in New York and in California. And what we did was we would do an arthritis formula, which she was great at formulation. She was one of the best in the biz. And I would do audio visualization tapes, so that when you were taking the formulas, you would be working on a body level, but the mind would, you would start helping to grow bone with the mind. So we were the first ones to do all these wonderful things for that. And we sold to Trader Joe's and house markets and all sorts of stuff. And then the big farmer came in, and then that was that, you know, they bought up almost all the vitamin companies, and then they started, you know, most of the vitamin companies out there aren't worth their salt, and they're not giving you good vitamins. So and then from there, I went into doing the radio network and which I've been doing, and then I stopped doing books. And then two years ago, I said, you know, I'm getting old, and if I want to get these books out, I better get them out. So I probably. Myself that I was going to do one a year. And for the last two years, I did those two new books, and then I was, I was going to do the children's book this year, but they say that April is the best time to release a children's book is that's when the stores and the education people are looking at it and getting towards summer and all that. Yeah, yeah. So I'm waiting until next year to release that, the album and stuff. But so this year I had to put together a new book, which I'm doing. I just, I'm almost finished with that, so I can release it in September, and that is going to be where it's, I think it's going to be called, help yourself heal with natural remedies or naturally, and it's going to have 40, or about 40 different illnesses, and all the natural medicine with it, plus in the back, it's going to have what is an amino acid, all these terms, so that people can understand. I like to do things that are complete and and I don't do anything if somebody has to get something from a book or a product or a thing that I do. Otherwise I won't do it, yeah, because I want it for everyone, you know. So, so anyways, I'm, I'm working on that as we 31:08 speak. Well, there you go. Well, Michael Hingson  31:11 so it'll be out in like, September or October. Linda MacKenzie  31:14 Yeah, exactly. I'm, I'm doing, I'm just about completed with it, and I just have about three or four chapters to go, but I keep finding new things I want to put in. For example, you know, since there is a censorship on the natural health sites, I'm going to include all of the wonderful health site, health natural health sites, so that people will have a reference so they don't have to worry about things, you know and where to get information. So it's going to be good. Michael Hingson  31:44 Well, when that book gets to the point where you have a book cover, I certainly want to put that in the show notes as well. Speaker 1  31:50 Okay, great. That'd be great. And Michael Hingson  31:53 maybe we can release this about the time the book is is made visible to the world, so that that'll help. Speaker 1  32:01 That'd be great, sure. Well, so what Michael Hingson  32:05 do you consider your profession today? Linda MacKenzie  32:09 Me, I'm my own profession. Me, the I don't have a profession. I have many hats that I'm wearing, right? So I mean tremendous amounts. I'm still running the radio network, and in a radio network, you need 21 individuals to do it, and there we have four, and I'm doing about, I don't know, 10 or 12 of the 21 things to do. So if you want to give me a hat for there, that's that. And then I'm an author and I'm doing the record, so I'm that, and I'm a radio host and, you know, and I give pictures. And the thing is, is that it's like, I'm not busy enough, but I love giving back to the community, because, you know, when you are there's six things you need in your life to be happy and balanced, right? And one of them is giving to the community. So I wasn't really before covid, I was doing a lot, but I wasn't really doing anything for my community. So what I did was I it took me four months. They had to do a homeland security check and a thumbprint and, you know, all sorts of stuff, to do guided meditation for healing for seniors. So we're going to be taking, and that's starting in two weeks, in August 8, and we're, we're going to be doing at the Senior Center in Redondo Beach and and so people will come, and we're going to work on different kinds of anti aging issues, like arthritis and, you know, macular degeneration and bones and diabetes and stuff, and every every two weeks, I'll be doing a guided meditation and helping people heal with that. So, so now I've got the community in and so I've got all my six pieces of my pie, and now I'm stable again. Michael Hingson  34:00 There you go. It's nice to have peace in the world, right? Yeah, it is. It is. So tell me, given all the things you've done, tell me a story or two about things that you've done, something very memorable that comes to mind. Linda MacKenzie  34:15 Oh, there's so many, I'm sure. I mean, because on top of that, you know, I've been a psychic since I'm eight years 34:21 old, right? So how did you discover that? How did Linda MacKenzie  34:25 you I saw God when I was eight? Okay, I'm very God based. I'm not from the planet Altair or the universe. I never took a course. I mean, I listened to God. God said, Jump. I said, Hi. How high and and that's what I do. But I've done I'm very respected in the community. I do a lot of, like, a lot of things for for that, there's, you know, I've done documentaries on it, and there's 17 different distinct psychic abilities. I have them all, and I don't do. Two of them, I don't do prophecy and I don't do trans mediumship, which means that an entity will jump into you and talk through you. And that happens because for a long time, I was on ABC, NBC, BBC, Japan TV. I worked with International Society for paranormal research, and we went over to London to investigate for the British government, you know, some of the Belgrave Hall, whether the ghost things were real or not. And one of the things that was interesting, because there's a lot of stories on those you know that are like, kind of titillating, or saying, Oh, what's going on? I was so basically, I tested my abilities for 37 years before I came out. So what I would do is say I was 16, and I would have pre Cognizant dreams. So I would write the dreams out. And what I would do is I would give them to my girlfriend after I wrote them, and then when one of the dreams would come true, I'd have a witness that was there with me, and I'd go over to her house, and I'd say, hey, Eileen, can you pull the dream with the roller coaster there? And she would pull it out. And then I said, read it. And then that way, I learned to decipher what was coming from God, what was coming from me. Because, you know, there's a lot of, you know, where if you don't know how to manipulate the energy. So it was a long, long time I, you know, by the time I was 15, I had read every metaphysical book in the New York Public Library, everyone, and so I took it very seriously. And I was, you know, busting psychics in New York at 21 and and then finally I just stopped, and I didn't come back out until I was about 37 and so when I went to London, they there was a, we had a Cora Derek. A Cora was the one of the leading psychics in London. And then we had Peter James, who was on sightings. And then we had me, and we three went over. And then we would go into they would take us individually to these different sites. And they would say, Okay, what do you feel, and what do you see? And so I would be taking, you know, they take me to these different things and, and I would see all these different things, and I would say it, and it turned out, I'm saying I'm not very comfortable here. I'm not comfortable here. And then we go to the next site, and I would tell them, Oh, I see a woman with a red hat. And I gave them names and places and dates and and it turned out that they were taking me on the path of Jack the Ripper, and to the point where I gave them new information on Jack the Ripper that they never had before. And so I have an ability that I can stand on a piece of ground, and I can go back to the beginning of time and tell you names and dates and places of who was there all the way back up. So there's a lot of things, and the government has asked me to work for them on many projects. They've been charting me since I'm 15 and so, and I just don't, I don't do and one, and I'm not going to say which, but one of the presidents of the United States, when they were in office, asked me to be their psychic, and I told them, I don't do politics, sports books or lottery tickets, and I turned them down. I mean, I was going to go to dinner with them, because Henry Kissinger was going to be my dinner partner at the Jonathan club, you know. And I thought he was an interesting guy, you know, whether you liked him or you didn't like him, he was an interesting guy. And I like to meet different people, because even if you it's not somebody you like, you need to understand the people so that you know how to handle them in a correct manner, you know. And so even if you don't like someone, you treat them with respect, and you learn you better, you understand, you know. So, so that's those are some stories. Michael Hingson  39:01 So, so let's, let's get to the reality of the world. Did you ever visit the Del Coronado hotel and talk to the ghost down there? Linda MacKenzie  39:08 Yes, oh, good. We did. We were one. We were the group that was doing it, that was filmed. We did the Queen Mary. We did. We were, if you saw that on television. It was probably me there. It wasn't as as haunted as some of the other places. I mean, you know, there was one place in England that was very interesting, so we did a documentary called ghost of England, and there was a one house. I don't remember the name of it, but there was a three generations that had died that were still in the house. The house was in the family for 300 years, and I released a little girl there that was eight, that was a, you know, a spirit there, and I released her to her mom. She had died of consumption. It was really interesting, because. Because they knew of each other, and it was, here's these three different generations, and they can see each other, and they know each other. So that was very interesting, because the Society for paranormal research actually did research into the phenomena of ghosts and the ghost at Belgrave Hall, we found we were very truthful. There was no ghost at Belgrave Hall, okay? I mean, it was explained away by phenomena that, you know, street lights and rain stuff. So we did a lot of that, but we wanted to make sure that everything that we did was in truth. And then another thing that we found was I did another documentary called ghost of New Orleans. And New Orleans is a very, very, very strange place. And I actually went back and they asked me to do a I did a 17 part interactive museum display for a paranormal Museum in New Orleans, and it was all teaching about psychic ability and how not to fear it. And it's not the devil's work. It's, you know, it's just a natural ability that we have. And I wanted people to understand that, but get the truth not from a lot of these people that are just talking that don't know, you know. So anyway, so we did in New Orleans. It was interesting, because the ghosts work together. We were all on different floors, and on each floor, they would give us papers, and they would, you know, newspapers in the morning, and the newspapers would end up in our rooms, in different places all the time, and it was just and we didn't move them. Nobody touched them. The room wasn't able to get in. So there's all sorts of phenomenon there that is just kind of interesting, you know, there. Michael Hingson  41:47 So just, does some of that have to do with voodoo and so on, but just because they're so prevalent down Linda MacKenzie  41:52 if you understand that everything exists, you have to none of that was the voodoo, because, very specific thing, yeah, and it's a specific practice, okay, and so it's not something that I would get into. Or, do you know? I mean, it's not we were, I was attacked several times there. I mean, we went into a we went into a house where there was an entity there that had committed 27 murders, and it was they were all buried in the backyard, and they never even knew until we told them about it, when he came after me on that and so you know, you you have to know what you're doing when you're Doing this, too, you know. So you know, but most ghosts, you just tell them to go away, or if you and sometimes you want to see them, you know, maybe it's your mom or your dad that you're missing. So one of the ways that you can do that is you can say, Hey, before you go to sleep, put a pen and a pencil by your bed, and just say, I would like to see you, dad tonight, and and then you say, I would like to remember that I saw you, yeah. And then when you get up in the morning, you just jot down little words or something, anything that you remember. And then after a while, you'll be able to get a rapport where you'll be able to start to remember, and then able to communicate. Michael Hingson  43:23 Yeah. And the reason I asked about the Dell, just because that's that is a a ghost I've, I've heard so much about, and a friendly ghost, as I understand it. So there's a woman, I guess what? She died in a room there. But it's one of the things that everybody talks about with the Dell all the time, of course. Linda MacKenzie  43:40 Well, one of the funniest things that happened was, well, there was two funny things. One was, you know, we were at the doing the the Comedy Store, the magic and magic club. And the Comedy Store is what that Tootsie shores place, anyway. So we were doing, doing the Comedy Store, and there's a ghost there that puts his hands up people's skirts. Well, that's nice. I went in there, and they didn't tell me, and all of a sudden, I'm going, what the heck. And I look there and I see and I and these, and they said, Oh yeah, we forgot to tell you. I said, Yeah, you didn't forget you wanted to catch that on camera. I said, Well, you did. So it's funny. It's a comedy Michael Hingson  44:28 story. I'm sure the ghost thought it was funny. Linda MacKenzie  44:30 Yeah, he did. I bet. So, yeah. So there's, there's, I have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of stories and and that's my book coming out in 2027 that's going to be called, and then what happened? Paranormal stories, believe it or not, you know. And those are going to have 40 stories in there on things that have happened to me, where people are going to say what? And you can believe it or not, that's coming Michael Hingson  44:58 up too. So do. Well, and that's that's ultimately it. People can decide to believe it or not, and a lot of people will poo, poo it. It doesn't change the reality of the situation, though, Linda MacKenzie  45:12 no, but you know, it's okay. Wherever you are is good, as long as you love one another, or at least try and be kind to one another. I think we can accomplish a lot just by doing that, yeah, and agree to disagree. You know, we we don't have to get upset if the other person has 100% doesn't agree with us. We have to just agree to disagree and not try and get heated. But the Michael Hingson  45:38 other, the other side of that, or the other part of that, not the other side, is that if you really take that, that tact, and you agree to disagree and you continue to converse, you never know what you're going to learn, as opposed to what we see so often now, somebody disagrees, and there's just this complete block wall that comes up. There's no discussion at all, and that's never a good thing to do. Linda MacKenzie  46:03 Well, this morning on my radio show was interesting. I went out with a girlfriend of mine, and she's really into these conspiracy theories, and I'm just not there, you know. So she was trying to put her point through and saying, you know, the collective consciousness has to understand this so we can do something about it. And I said, Yeah. I said, Well look, I said, Here's what I've decided. I said, I'm 76 if somebody else wants to do the activism for this kind of stuff, then at 50, go and do your thing. I said, but I think that when you start getting angry and you start getting heated, what's happening is the collective consciousness is there for everyone. We're all part of everything. We are part of everyone and everything. And so when you get upset, that's not helping the consciousness to make everything right. And if you get a group of people thinking the same thought, you can actually change consciousness and make the world better. So instead of sitting there, do something about it. Donate to something. But don't just sit there and talk about it, you know, actually do something about it and start making sure that you're staying positive about it, and what you can do positively for the situation. And don't get caught in the controversy because you're making more negative energy, yeah, and that never works, no. Positive always overcomes negative. So if you want something to happen, think positive, be buoyant, positive always overcomes negative. So you need to do that. Michael Hingson  47:39 And it is, it is so true, and so many people, you know, we're, we're in a world now where there's so much negativity. It's so unfortunate, because I think people miss out when they do that. And you're right, that's, it's not really part of the good, constructive collective consciousness, either, Linda MacKenzie  48:00 right, right? So we just have to, you know, people think that they can't do anything when things happen. And what I'm saying if you come from the premise that everything is energy, right? And so if you are just loving your spouse or loving your dog or being kind to people that energy is positive, right? And so sure you are doing something, because if we make a lot of positive energy in that collective consciousness, as above so below, right? So if we go ahead and do that, then it will drift down, and we will have a better, happier place, but being negative doesn't help you. Negative makes your immune system depressed. It gives you illness, and it's these are all proven things, so you might as well stay positive. And I don't mean Pollyanna, where you don't things, but you know, understand things and understand that there's a greater force in the back of things too, that, you know, it's not just all about us. You know, there is a for me. I believe that there's a God, and God is in control, and so we have to trust that to some degree. Michael Hingson  49:14 On September 11, and I wrote about this in my book thunder dog, and I've talked about it a few times here, when I was running away from tower two, because I was very close to it when it collapsed. The first thing I thought of as I started to run was, God, I can't believe that you got us out of a building just to have it fall on us. And immediately I heard in my head, as clearly as we're talking right now a voice that said, don't worry about what you can't control. Focus on running with Roselle, who is my guide dog, and the rest will take care of itself. And I immediately had this absolute sense of peace and calm and conviction that if I did that, I'd be fine. And I was so. I'm saying that in part to tell you I understand exactly what you're saying, and that was kind of perhaps one of my experiences. But the bottom line is that we need to learn to listen. And one of the things that I talk about and live like a guide dog is that so many people worry about every little thing that comes along. They are just worried about, how am I going to deal with this? Or the politicians are going to do this to me and that to me and everything else. And the reality is, we don't have control over any of that. What we have control over is how we deal with stuff. It doesn't mean that we shouldn't be aware of what's going on around us. But by the same token, if we worry about every little thing, and we don't really worry about the things over which we have some influence, we're only hurting ourselves. Linda MacKenzie  50:50 And it delays it, and it delays it, and it delays it. So you if you want things to get over quickly, learn to listen. And sometimes, you know, people would say, what is meditation? And I said, Well, it's kind of like prayer. You're listening to God's answers, you know. So I mean, there, I've never been alone, because I've always had a very strong connection with God. And as a matter of fact, it was very interesting. I'll tell you the story about the radio network, and basically, I had just been offered by Sci Fi Channel. They said, We love working with you. So would you take and there was a big 51:31 ghosty, a ghost Linda MacKenzie  51:36 show coming up. It was very big. And I said, No, I won't do that because it wasn't in truth, and you just want to make people cry. You want to feed off those emotions. That's not me. So Mary from sci fi said, You know what, Linda, we like working with you, so just go home and design a show for us, and we will do it. So I got home and I was so excited, because now I was going to make the big money, and I was going to get known and God comes in, and he goes, Linda. And I said, What? And he said, I want you to start a radio network. I said, What? And he says, Well, look. He goes, I gave you all the tools to do it. He goes, You were a data com engineer, you've been in radio. He goes, you're doing positive stuff. He goes, I want you to do a positive network. And I'm going, Wait a minute. I says, you know, I'm just getting this big opportunity, you know? And he goes, Well, listen, he goes, You know, when you're doing a lecture, now you're he goes, you get 1000 people coming to your lecture. He goes, so you're a point of light. He goes, think if you were to get 4045, people to do a radio network, all with positive thought. He goes, then you become a lighthouse. And I said, Okay. And I said, But what about this opportunity? And he goes, Well, you don't have to do it. And I said, well. I said, God is asking me, and I'm going to say, No, I'm not going to do that. I said, No, that's not going to happen. I said, and my Italian came in because I said, Okay, I'll do it. But when I get upstairs, you and I have it a sit down, and he just laughs. He thinks I'm funny so, and he has always been with me 100% of the time. And a lot of times he'll tell me, No, you can do this yourself. You do it, you know. And so I but I've been in a realm where I can go back and forth and I understand, you know. And I talk, you know, you can talk to anybody you want, sure, if you're if you're there, you know, if I need help from Einstein, I'll say, Hey, Uncle L, I need you what? And I go, ask God, Michael Hingson  53:43 yeah, it's it's interesting. It's so many people just belittle so much and but everyone has to make their own choices, and I don't have control over the the choices that people make. I can only talk about my experiences and what I do and so on, and people have to make up their own minds. Which is, which is the way it should be. I think that all of us are individuals that are given the opportunity to make choices, and we can decide how we want to proceed, and the time will come when we will have to defend our positions, or it will have all gone really well. And so the bottom line is that that we make the choices and we have to live by what happens as a result the consequences Linda MacKenzie  54:36 right, and we have to take to learn, to get take responsibility for our actions. You know, the songs on this album address all the major things that we need to do to stay positive and to have a happy life. And so it's not just for kids, it's for parents, and it's for grandparents, and it's for anyone who wants to listen. And it's it's going to be a good. Thing when I get this all done, and I'm it's one of them, my, one of my projects that I wanted to do for a lifetime. And once I get this done, I'll be happy. Michael Hingson  55:09 So well, you do a lot of different stuff. You must have a personal life too. How do you balance the two? Well, and what do you do in your personal life? Linda MacKenzie  55:20 Well, I love to exercise. I do. I love to cook. So once a month I do a psychic soiree, you know, so I do. I've been on a specific diet, you know, no dairy, no salt, no sugar, no effervescence, no since 1992 I don't go to medical doctors. I haven't been to a medical doctor since 1992 and I do everything with just herbs and exercise and getting enough sleep and stuff. So I cook for dinners, and I have a family, and we go out, and I have wonderful friends and bands that I follow in town, so we go out. And I'm actually even going out on a date next this coming Thursday night, which hasn't been for a long time, but so there's and then I do a lot of working with the senior centers and so and then do and I love watching dumb TV that I don't have to think. I like dumb Michael Hingson  56:23 I like dumb TV too. I know exactly what you mean when you say that. I have always been a fan, also, of old radio shows. So I love listening to all the old time radio shows from the 30s, 40s and 50s and so on. And some of them can make you think. But by the same token, the reality is that there's something to be said for just being able to escape, right? Linda MacKenzie  56:46 My latest thing is watching Chinese soap operas. They're 40 episodes long, and I love them. And even though they're subtitles, you get to see how they think and how a different kind of person, you know, culture thinks and does, and it's interesting that you can see how much the same they are as we you know, that they want the same things, they have the same values. You know, because we are all the same, and we have to understand that Michael Hingson  57:19 I know, one of the things that I've said many times, that I know, I'm sure, that a lot of people just think I'm crazy, but I point out that what happened on September 11 was not a religious war. It was a bunch of thugs who wanted to try to bend the world to their will. But that's not the the Islamic religion. The reality is that all of the religions, all the major religions, especially in the world, are always to get to God, and Far be it from me, to judge someone else because they happen to belong to a different religion or subscribe to something different than what I do. Linda MacKenzie  57:54 Well, it's interesting that I did a study on religion. As a matter of fact, on on our radio network we have James Bean, and he's been doing, he was on wisdom radio, so for 40 years, he's been doing spiritual awakenings, where he does comparative religions. And it's interesting that all of the religions have a, you know, a Jesus, you know, or a Mohammed, and they all die, and they all get resurrected in three days. Every single one of the religions has that. And if you and every single one of the religions has a version of the Our Father, Mm, hmm, almost exact words, because Jesus, you know, so, so you know, as far as respecting other religions. I think you have to too. But nothing should be overwhelming, you know, right? Like, oh, absolutely nothing should be overwhelming on because of religion. Like, I don't think that the girls should have to wear burkas because it's religious, right, you know. I think there's some things that you know are not exactly right. Michael Hingson  59:00 Well, you know, Tolstoy once said The biggest problem with Christianity is that people don't practice it. It's the same sort of That's right, concept. I agree with you. I don't think that girls and women should have to wear burkas or not be educated, or not be educated. Well, I wish, I really wish they would be educated, yeah. And so today, actually, yeah, oh, they do and and I think more and more people are beginning to realize it, but not enough yet, in some of these countries where they're willing to stand up and and say, We're not going to tolerate this anymore. Linda MacKenzie  59:32 But I hope about the money, though, unfortunately, so it's power and money, but when they understand that it's the love and kindness that's more important, and that's the only thing that you take with you. Yeah, maybe we can change this world, and I hope we do well. Michael Hingson  59:50 I agree with what you're saying, and I think that people, but people do need to, at some time, recognize that there's something. To be said for principle in the world too. 1:00:02 Yes, I agree. So what Michael Hingson  1:00:08 do you hope that people gain today from listening to your show? Linda MacKenzie  1:00:13 Well, today we did a really, kind of an interesting thing. It was called Linda's world. And once a month, at the end of the month, I don't even know what I'm going to say, and so I come on and I just talk, and we talk a little bit about current events, and then we talked about anti aging, and I do herb of the week, and I give you different kinds of information on that, and we did all these things on anti aging and what vitamins and different things that can help you doing it. And so it's really we do spirit, and we do mind, body, spirit. So you know, you can go to healthy life.net, and click on podcast on demand. There's two buttons at the top. One is Listen Live. You just click on that. We don't have an app. We don't track you. We just allow you to listen for free. And we also have a podcast network with 3200 podcasts from wonderful, wonderful people, some who have passed over, but now, but they're still there, and they have still valuable information called HR and podcasts.com that's 3200 free podcasts there that people can access as well. So you can go to the podcast on demand button, click that, and you'll find my face, or look for Linda McKenzie, and click on that, and there'll be, I think, three months of shows that you can listen to, and you can see all the different kinds of topics. And I'm usually booked six months in advance, because I've been doing radio for so long, there's a lot of people that really like to come in, so I hope that people get one idea, one thought that makes their life positive from the show. And hopefully I'm giving 60 of them, Michael Hingson  1:01:52 yeah, I hear exactly what you're saying. And you know, if I can inspire one person when I speak, if I can get people to think a little bit more about something, then I've done my job right, and I think that's the only way to do it. Well, if people want to reach out to you, what's the best way for them to contact you? Linda MacKenzie  1:02:14 Okay, well, you can reach me if you want to email me. It's Linda at Linda mckenzie.net and that's m, A, C, K, E, N, Z, I, E, all one word, and Linda mckenzie.net that's my website, or they can go through healthy life.net and get me through that way too. And of course, I'm on all of the social media sites as well, right? You know? And on my website is all my appearances. I go up to San Jose and do expos and talks. And, you know, just did, just came and finished a past life regression class. I think I'm going to be doing a gemstone healing class. And, you know, whatever strikes me for the moment is what I do. So you never know. So you go on there, and you know, they want me. I've done a TV show this year, and they want me to do another one and continue. I said, Well, kind of have to pay me, because I'm doing a lot of stuff, you know, you know, you have to give me a little bit more money if you want another one. So I gave them their one, first one, and it's called Live with Linda, and that you can reach on, it's on Roku and Amazon, and that was just last September, and it's live with Linda, and it's also on soul search.tv and you can get it there as well. Michael Hingson  1:03:30 So did the Sci Fi Channel ever come back to you anymore? Linda MacKenzie  1:03:33 No, no, just checking that time, you know, I wasn't young and cute anymore. Now cute. I'm still, Michael Hingson  1:03:40 yeah, you're cute. I believe it'd be cute. You're cute. I'm cute. Yeah. Well, I want to thank you for being here, and I want to thank you all for listening. I hope that you've learned something that you find there are relevant things that Linda has had to say. I'd love to hear from you. Please email me at Michael H, I, at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, i, b, e.com, I'd love to hear your thoughts about today, wherever you are experiencing the podcast. Podcast, please give us a five star rating. We value it, and we value your thoughts and your comments, and for all of you, and Linda you as well. If you know of anyone else who we ought to have as a guest on unstoppable mindset, please introduce us. We're always looking for more people to visit with and talk with. As I've said many times, I believe everyone has a story to tell and and we a

Our Goals for 2026: Jess is gonna finish a novel.Sarina is going to figure out what she wants a long haul writer career to looks like.KJ is going to write this book as hard as she can and for as long as it takes.Jennie is going to claim her authority in the writing space.Our Words of the Year are …Meanwhile: Fan of Heated Rivalry? You'll want to read these books by Sarina Bowen!Ready to talk about your own goals and words? COME ON IN. We are here for that!Hey - if you've been curious about becoming a book coach, Jennie'd like to invite you to a live training she's doing on February 4th, at 5pm PST / 8pm EST. She's going to be talking about how to become the kind of book coach writers love to pay. You can sign up at bookcoaches.com/liveWOTYs … in the episode! If you want to know what was so funny, you'll have to listen.Transcript Below!If you love us enough that you got this far…SPONSORSHIP MESSAGEHey, it's Jennie Nash, and if you've been curious about becoming a book coach, I'd like to invite you to a live training I'm going to be doing on February 4th, at 5pm PST, which is 8pm EST, and I'm going to be talking about how to become the kind of book coach writers love to pay. You can sign up for that at bookcoaches.com/live. That's bookcoaches.com/live. (bookcoaches.com/live) I'd love to see you there.EPISODE TRANSCRIPTJennie NashHey everyone, it's Jennie, and this is the Hashtag AmWriting Podcast, the place where we help you play big in your writing life, love the process, and finish what matters. All four of us are here today to talk about our Word of the Year for 2026 and our goals. This is one of our favorite episodes to do, and we've all been kicking our words around, and we're ready to share them with you. So Sarina, do you want to go first?Sarina BowenOkay!Jennie NashI just know you are kind of ready.KJ Dell'AntoniaRight off the diving board. No throat clearing, no chit chat. Yeah, we're just alrighty.Sarina BowenAll right, so I'm Sarina, and I write novels, and pretty much that is all I write. So my goals tend to look kind of the same from year to year, but my, but how I feel about them, changes. So in 2026 I plan to write two to three books, and when I do, I will be rolling off of two contracts with two different publishers. So that means that the other part of my 2026 is really asking myself what I want to do next. Because, you know, finishing energy is a really hard thing, but I'll be like extra super finishing energy here, because I'm finishing a commitment. And, you know, I used to have goals, like, I'm going to write more books. I'm going to write all the books. And I don't anymore, because there were, there was a while there where I only wrote books, and then last year, I did a really nice job of meeting my goals that I would also go and have more fun and take more vacations. And it worked. I did that. It turns out that planning fun takes a lot of energy and time. Oh my goodness, it was I, you know, I so I was either off having a wild time, or I was like, you know, nailed to my desk, and, yeah, so I need to do a slightly better job of that this year. Although looking at the schedule, it's a little hard to see how, because I'm spending a big chunk of March and part of April in Australia and Hong Kong, and then...Jennie NashWait you can't just throw that in and not say why. [laughing]Sarina BowenOh, well, I'm, I'm visiting. I'm doing four reader events in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.Jennie NashIt's so exciting, so exciting.Sarina BowenAnd you know, time will tell if accepting this invitation was, in fact, a good idea. When I get home, I will be—it'll be June, and I will be launching my second book of 2026, which is a romance and so, but, but then, you know, I will have turned in half of what I'm turning in this year, and I will be able to have big thoughts about what I do next. And that is the thing that is going to be hard about this year, not turning in files, but, you know, deciding what does it mean to me? And also a thing that I realized last year, while balancing my busy life is that in this job, there is no summit. It's not like you climb that big hill and then you stand there and you hear an angel choir, and then you know that the only thing that greets you after writing a big novel is that you will pretty soon, eventually write another one. So you have to enjoy the hike itself. And I am really working on that.Jess LaheyI actually have just—I have just to address what you just mentioned Sarina, I have put in my calendar in June. Since we love to—I happen to love the mid-year check-ins on goals. I put a little note to self, to future Jess to revisit Sarina's goals at mid-year so that we can talk about maybe what that second half of the year, what comes next, stuff is going to look like. So, expect that to come back around.Sarina BowenOkay, I hope there's some clarity by then, so I'll get right on that.Jess LaheyWell, and I would also like to mention that you mentioned, you know, all the work you're doing and doing fun and stuff like that. You also went back to skating this year, and you, I have loved watching you learn, relearn something fairly new, and gain skills and get determined to like, be able to do that. What's it called, when you change the side of the blade you're on? When you turn?Sarina BowenYeah, all that edge work...Jess LaheyIt's very exciting.Sarina BowenAnd those three turns. Yeah. So that is part of my leave the house and have fun plan, and that has worked out really well. It—when you do something that's so outside of your usual, like, we could just stipulate by now that I'm pretty good at writing a novel, because I have turned in a number of them and sold a number of them, but I am really not good at skating. So when you take yourself so far out of your element, and you do something that is so foreign to you, you learn, relearn all those weird little tricks about how you learned anything, and the fact that last year I could not do a three turn to save my life, which is where you turn around on one foot. And I tried and I tried and I tried and I tried to trick myself into it. And I'm like, okay, I'll take off on two feet, but land on one. I just every single thing didn't work. And then this year, now I can do it. And also, I woke up at four in the morning once and thought I could do a waltz jump tomorrow, and then the next day I did, in fact, just do a waltz jump. And I hadn't even been thinking about it. It wasn't even on my list of things I was going to try that week. So learning something really, really new is really just great for your brain and your attitude. And I don't know what the next thing that I do like that will be, but, yeah, I'm a fan.Jennie NashBut I must reflect back to you that a few years ago, you were, I think the goals had to you were working so hard and just, you know, book to book to book to book and, like, look at you now .You're going on all these trips, and you're learning to ice skate, and I know you and KJ are learning Mahjong.KJ Dell'AntoniaMahjong, yes.Jennie NashAnd you write in coffee shops like, you've kind of really changed that, that vibe. It's cool.Sarina BowenI have! I did it right? Like I said, I'm going to have more fun. I'm going to learn to write out of the house. Like I sat in a room and said to you that this was going to happen. And I did, right? But the, but then, but then, writing the actual books, it magically did not get easier. So I am having more fun, but it's still hard, and that's how I'm coming to this new realization that, like you know, I need to stop being surprised that the actual job is hard, but it's just like a piece of the fun that I'm having, and if and I can only write books that I'm probably going to enjoy, because it's still hard and it still takes a lot of hours.Jennie NashThat's amazing. I feel compelled to ask you, what are you most enjoying about what you're writing right now?Sarina BowenWell we are at maximum finishing energy, because I am finishing a revision, which is scary, right? Because then you're sending it off into the world of telling yourself that it's done. And I have to say, I have not enjoyed it all that much. This has been one of the more one of the more stressful weeks. But, yeah, I—but there are moments as I look through this manuscript, because I've just reached that point where you hate every living word of it, right? Where I read a line and I laugh, and then that's just a good sign.Jennie NashLike I'm so clever, look at me.Multiple Speakers[all laughing]Jess LaheyI actually just, just for fun. I just dropped—I got to go—I traveled an hour and a half to go so that I could go sit in a coffee shop and work with these guys, because I miss them so much. And I took two pictures of Sarina while she was working there, and in one, she had this look on her face... I just dropped it in our group text just now, where she's got this look on her face like this is the hardest, worst thing I've ever done. And then I also took one of her smiling and looking like her usual happy self. But it was—I love having those two pictures together on my phone, because it's so representative of the slog. How there are these moments of really having fun and engaging with the book and loving it, and then there's those moments of editing where you're trying to just finish it and get all the words in the right order.Sarina BowenYep, it's, it's, you know that the push and pull and the trick to liking this job is that when you're in that trench of I have to be finished with this. I have to love it, and I have to set it free. You have to remember that the other side is out there. That like the drafting happy, I haven't made any big mistakes yet, I haven't sealed off all the x's yet, like that's waiting for you on the other side of it. You know, if you get too deep in one place or the other, so that you can't remember, the other one is out there for you. Then, then that's a trap. It makes the job harder.Jennie NashWell, thank you for that. Jess, do you want to go next?Jess LaheySure! Yeah, so last year, last year was weird. Last year, my, my, I'm going a little bit into what my word was last year; it was ‘amplified' because it led, it sort of guided a lot of my goals last year, which had to do with just reaching more people, but during the year, during the course of the year, reaching and educating more people on the topics that I feel really strongly about, like mental health wellness, the specifically substance use prevention, as it relates to things like self-efficacy in kids and feelings of competence in kids. I realized sort of part way through the year how much more I was enjoying and feeling engaged when I was talking to the kids, and how much more impactful I felt when I was talking to the kids, and that shouldn't be surprising. But, if you're not a speaker, and if you don't spend your time speaking to adults and kids and especially teens, you should know it takes, you know, maybe three to four times as much energy to talk to the kids as it does to the adults. In fact, yesterday, I was trying to explain to someone why a virtual event to a lot of kids, doesn't work. I can't project that much energy through a screen to captivate a big room of kids. It's just it's really hard to do. And anyway, so I realized about halfway through the year that I really wanted when I when I thought about the word amplify and expanding on the number of kids that I reach per year, and the depth to which I am able to reach some kids in particular, it comes it comes down to not just people, but just kids specifically. So I talked with my agents, and we've agreed that I'm going to try to incorporate more kids this year. That even if it's more exhausting for me, it's more fulfilling, and so that's one of my big goals for this year, is to figure out how—yes, I still have to talk to adults, and I have to help them understand how to talk to their kids about substance use and mental health and how to see, know, love, support the kids you have, and not the kids you wish you had and all that stuff. But when it comes down to it, I have to figure out ways to get in the room with kids more and...KJ Dell'AntoniaYou're a kid-travert!Jess Lahey[laughing] Apparently.KJ Dell'AntoniaWhich some people get their energy from being with people, and some people get, you know, it takes—that's extroverts and introverts. So you're a kid-travert, you get your energy from talking to kids. That's delightful!Jess LaheyIt's in the moment. In the moment, it's much more exhausting. But there was a—I spoke at a school in Los Angeles. It was one of the best days I had in front of kids. And the number of emails I got afterwards explaining why it was meaningful to them. You know, I love when the kids, anytime a kid reaches out, it's this huge honor, because, you know, I'm, who am I? I'm some adult that comes into their school because their teachers say that, and now their teachers say they have to listen to this bozo. They don't know who this person is. But over time, I've figured out ways to help them trust me a little bit more, even before I get there. Like creating these videos where I introduce myself ahead of time. So I'm trying to figure out all the ways in to getting being a trusted adult, becoming a trusted adult to more and more kids, is something that's incredibly important to me, because that's where the great education stuff lies. So that amplify word changed for me over last year, and it's reflected in this year's goals as well, which is, get in front of more kids. I track those numbers really carefully. Last year, I was in front of just shy of 10,000 people generally, and a couple of 1000 kids. And I just want to change that ratio a little bit so that it's have more heavily in the kid direction and less heavily in the adult direction. Just because it's fun and really interesting and challenging. That's the other thing is, when you've been doing something for a long time, there are some talks I can do in my sleep, because I've done them so many times, and I don't want to do that, like, why would you want to come and spend time with someone who's asleep in front of you? But you know, they look good and it sounds good, but they're not totally invested. And I think everybody can feel that. So I've had to find ways to change things up, to reevaluate my content from other angles, so that I'm not getting sick of myself, and so that I can be fresh and new and useful to people. So, and then, like, I have small goals, you know, Sarina was just talking about her skating and looking, you know, trying to do something completely new that makes you a little nervous. You know, the beekeeping thing still makes me super nervous. And as I mentioned in another episode, I think Tim saw me emotionally preparing to do something I needed to do with the bees and he said I have never seen you so nervous and so doubting yourself about your ability to do something, and I realized how good that is for me. And so we will see at the end of this winter if my bees actually made it through the winter, and if they did, I'll have a hive of bees to deal with, and if they don't, I'll have to get a new hive. But that's been really, really good for me. Sarina, did you want to add something?Sarina BowenI have a question.Jess LaheyYes, ma'am.Sarina BowenDo we have a writing goal for this year?Jess LaheyYes, we do. And that's actually at the bottom of my list, because it's new. So I've been attending this weekly, really interesting virtual Blueprint for a Book Fast Track. What is it? Jumpstart you guys? With Jennie Nash, this really great book coach and founder of Author Accelerator, and KJ Dell'Antonia and I have been actually writing—working on this novel that I've been working on for ages and ages and ages and thinking about at a minimum once a week, and I'm going to finish it this year. 100% I'm going to finish it this year. And I'm really grateful to Jennie and KJ, because being in that, in—being in there, is forcing me to ask me all kinds of questions about, why am I even bothering to stick with this thing that has stymied me for over a decade? Like, why bother if it's been that hard and I haven't ever gotten it done, why am I even doing it? And I love asking myself those questions. It's been really fun. Plus, there's like 100 other people in that virtual session asking themselves the same questions and coming up with really cool answers for why they're even writing something in the first place. And it gets at all these fundamental questions of why we do what we do. So yes, I will be, I'm researching a nonfiction thing still. I have a—I'm looking at a stack of books behind me, and but I'm going to finish this YA novel this year period, full stop, it's going to happen..Multiple Speakers[Unintelligible] [several speaking at once]Jennie NashWell what's cool is, is, I mean, YA is not children, but it's young people. So that's kind of cool. It goes with your other thing.KJ Dell'AntoniaThere's a trend there.Jess LaheyYeah. And it was funny, because when you were asking the why the other night, and one of my things was, oh, because these characters speak to me, blah, blah, blah. And KJ mentioned, oh, I do know what Jess is talking about. And maybe it's, you know, she wants to write a coming of age story, and that's 100% it. I think I have, I have. I very much love that coming of age space and the struggles that middle school and high school kids go through in that coming of age space. And I think I have an interesting insight into it, and an ability to, an ability to make it come alive on the page. And I, for me, really want to do that. I really want to see it on the page, and I'm really excited about it.Jennie NashYou do have such a compassion for that age and what people are going through and how hard it is and it's...Jess LaheyAnd I love these characters. And I said I love these characters, and I want to do right by them. And that's true too. I do love these characters, and I can't stop thinking about them.Sarina BowenThat is the best reason to finish any piece of fiction. You know?Jess LaheyYeah, no, I really it's like they're stuck until I help them get to the other side. And I would hate to leave them there. I would it would make me feel really bad.Jennie NashI love it. Well you know, committing to something that you've been working on for that long, that's a that's a big deal.Jess LaheyYeah, it's also one of those. I know it's going to feel really, really good when I finish it. It'll be like, oh my gosh, I've been harping on that for whatever it is now 12 or 13 years, and I finally finished it. So I know it's going to be one of those. I'm going to be very, very glad I did it when it's done. And is it super hard? Yes, I've, you know, bitched and moaned about this in the past, that fiction is really hard for me and dialog is so hard for me, but that's what I'm writing right now.Jennie NashThat's another, another learning edge, right?Jess LaheyYep. Yep.Jennie NashAwesome. KJ, what about you?KJ Dell'AntoniaMy only goal this year with respect to writing is to write this book as hard as I can for as long as it takes. That's all I got. I got a couple other goals. I'd like to get my Christmas tree down at some point during the year. It seems like a plan. I was pretty excited about the Valentine's Day concept a few years ago, but I don't know, people have been really negging on it. Easter also, apparently not tree material. I mean, come on the fourth? I'm seeing it. No one else is. So there's that. No, my and my big life goal is to leave more white space for myself in my day and in my calendar, to do things, to not do things, and for the unexpected things, both good and bad things. I have a real tendency to be like from 11:30 to one I'm doing this, and from 1:30 to 2:30 there's this, and hey, at three there's this. And that is, in fact, an excellent description of my day. And sometimes I like it, but I just do it to myself constantly, and I need to stop.Multiple Speakers[all laughing]Jennie NashThat's all? Okay. Mic drop. I'm just thinking about that white space. What? What happens when you have white space?Sarina BowenYou know what happens to me when I have white space, because I'm actually pretty good at keeping it in my calendar, is that I get an email that's like, and today, we will be choosing among these eight narrator auditions. And then you will decide who is the narrator for this book that you haven't been thinking about for four months since you last did the copy edits, and then my whole day just explodes in a little puff of admin, like trying to get out of my own inbox is killing me. So, yeah, I don't, I don't. It's not even that I planned it. Other people are making this my, my problem, and I wish I had a 2026, goal for how to fix it.KJ Dell'AntoniaYeah, there's that. I mean, to some extent, I think that's my point. Is that I would like to stop doing it to myself, because I mean it through exactly the thing it is was not my was not my idea, nor was the thing, the unexpected event at eight o'clock this this morning, or the one when I walked in from the expected thing from nine to 10. I need to do a little less of it for myself, to allow for the fact that the other things in my life, I think, and I did this to some extent last year too. My final kids have actually all left for college this year, which is great, but there's still a lot of trouble. And also I have a lot of pets, and also just, there's a lot going on. So I sort of thought, and I really made this mistake in the Fall pretty hard. I thought, oh, I should probably fill like I should put some things on the calendar because I might feel sad. A, I still felt sad, and that was okay. And B, I put way too much on the calendar, given the number, amount of time I had to spend on... I'm just yeah, and here I am thinking I didn't do it in the spring, and I didn't, but I sort of am doing it on a daily basis, like, oh, look. And some of that is just that this was, what am I wrong? Was this the longest holiday season ever in the history of holiday season? Like it was still Christmas on January 17, I swear to God. And so a lot of it, I think, is I'm feeling a little dejected, because my days are really packed, because I had the sense not to put everything in the week of January 6, but I put a lot of things this week and last week. So hopefully I'll, but, but having done that, and now feeling it, I think, I hope, will inspire me to block off more time that, no doubt, will get filled with things. But that's better than it getting filled with things and my having already filled it.Jennie NashYep.KJ Dell'AntoniaIt's not going so great.Jennie NashI get that. Okay, so, so for me, I made some really big moves in my business in 2025 and they worked, and that was great. And I made a decision toward the end of the year to make even bigger moves, and did some thinking about, I wouldn't say, an exit strategy or a succession plan, but I'm 62 this year, and I'm working really, really, really hard in my business day to day, running, you know, pretty big small business, and I really want more time to create. To create curriculum, to, I just like making things. You know, to work on the podcast, to work on my own book, and I'll talk about that in a minute. And so I made a training plan to teach my team to take over the things that they are fully capable of taking over, if I just get it out of my head and onto a page to teach them how to do it. So it's a really big move for me, and kind of a terrifying move. It means trusting people. It means handing over some things. It means there's some ego-y things involved in that, the idea that nobody can do it as well as I can. And so, yeah, that's, that's big. It's big mindset. It's big actual shifting of duties. It's, it's kind of the white space idea writ large. What, what would it look like for me to have more white space? And it is, it is not retiring, it's not stopping. It's just, can I do more of what I want to do and less of the—of the day to day of this business? I am constantly surprised by the thing I have made. Author Accelerator has more than 375 certified book coaches now, and it's this huge community, and they're having a huge impact. And a lot of my coaches are becoming huge their own selves and doing really well, and just we're becoming known. And all of that takes time to manage, like the, I don't know, I wouldn't call it the brand, it's, it's the community. It just takes a lot of time to manage and the kinds of inquiries that we get and that sort of thing. And I, it's a thing that needs care, and I'm the one to give it that care. So just meeting the moment, I guess, is what my goal is for the year, and as part of that, the Write Big Sessions that I've been doing here at the podcast are my stepping into that space of thought leadership and creation, content creation in a different way. And haven't talked about this a lot, but I am writing a Write Big book, and I went out and found myself a brand new agent. I did my search from scratch. I did it cold. I tried to find the perfect agent for this book, rather than somebody that I knew, because I know a lot of agents, and I don't want to, I don't want to talk about a lot of specifics at the moment about who that person is, or what's happening really, but I will say that it's taken a little minute to get it together, because that's how it happens sometimes. But the book is out on submission, even as we speak, and I was telling KJ, this agent does something that I've never heard of and never seen, and I love it so much, which is that she shares a spreadsheet of the submissions and puts the responses right in there so I can log in, you know, 10, 12, 25 times a day and...Multiple Speakers[all laughing]KJ Dell'AntoniaJust normal, healthy behavior, right?Jennie NashWhich is so fantastic. Rather than, like, why isn't she telling me, or how come we haven't heard or whatever? But it's very, very early days, and so all that's coming in are the no's, because that's, that's what happens. But the no's are so great. I love them so much. They're totally boosting me up. Because, like, people know me. They know my work. They like my work. Like I, I don't know. I'm just so delighted by the nature and quality of the no's, which is just a funny place to be, but that is, that is where I am so...Sarina BowenJennie, it's a fantastic place to be. Like I have never heard another author say the no's make me happy. Like that is not a sentence I have heard in my life. And I know a lot of authors, so the fact that you know that that's, I just have good, good feelings and good thoughts about this project, and you are amazing.Jennie NashWell, thank you. And that is not by accident. That's what Writing Big means, right? It's like I own this idea. I'm not waiting to be picked; I'm not waiting to be anointed. I'm not waiting for somebody to say, you know, good job. But, when they do, and you know, these no's are just indications, like I self-published the Blueprint Books and I sort of think of them as this little thing that I made. I made them for my coaches to use in their coaching, and I made them to, it's a model that I teach. I didn't ever think of it as a thing, but I've sold more than 20,000 copies of the Blueprint Books my own self, and, but I just didn't think like editors would know what they are. They would use them with their own authors. They would know my company. They would know my coaches, and that's what all the no's are showing me. And that I'm just, I'm just like, when do you get a mirror into your impact? It feels like the no's a mirror into my impact, and I feel, I feel like there's no doubt that something great is going to happen with this book. I have no doubt. So bring on the no's and have them be awesome, because I know good things, great things are coming, and whether, who knows what path that is going to be, but that, that is where I am, and that sharing of the spreadsheet that this agent has done is just feeding right into, I mean, for other people, it might be the biggest disaster in the world, but for me, I'm like, this is so fun. I love it. My goal is for the year to lean into this bigger vision of what I can be.KJ Dell'AntoniaThat's a good goal.Jennie NashThank you. Well, I'm going to share my word first, because it just goes so well with what I've just been saying, and it's so obvious, and it's so great. And my word of the year is ‘play big'. Play big.KJ Dell'AntoniaThat's two words.Jess LaheyThat's two words.Sarina BowenI get two words.KJ Dell'AntoniaShe's allowed to have two words because she's playing big.Multiple Speakers[all laughing]Jennie NashAll right, we have to go in reverse order then so KJ, what's your, what's your word?KJ Dell'AntoniaOh, my word of the year is, is ‘alive'.Jess LaheyOh, dear. Okay, that's a... quite a goal you got there missy.KJ Dell'AntoniaIt's a good word... laughingJennie NashCan you explain?!Sarina BowenShe can't, because she's laughing really hard right now.KJ Dell'AntoniaUm, it was going to be enthusiast, because I wanted to be sort of a welcoming both the challenges and the excitements of my life. But I really just feel like, and then it was going to be relish, but, but that's pickles, and I hate them. And then I'm just, I just feel really good about just letting it all come and, and being a part of it.Jennie NashOkay, good word.Jess LaheyOh, Sarina?Sarina BowenI've used a lot of the words.Jess LaheyOh, not yet. Sorry.KJ Dell'AntoniaShe said, reverse order.Jennie NashI'm laughing so hard that I'm crying.Jess LaheyOh, she said, reverse order. That's right.Sarina BowenWe have done this so many times, and we have never laughed all the way through it. Okay, okay.Jess LaheyKJ is right though we have used all of the words, I actually considered reusing one of my words this year, but then I thought maybe that was a cop out. So I did come up with a new word.Sarina BowenI considered it, and then I was too lazy to go look them up.Jess LaheyThat's quite a statement there, Bowen.Sarina BowenI know!Multiple Speakers[all laughing uncontrollably]KJ Dell'AntoniaI know I had savor before, that was kind of where I was going, but...Jennie NashI can't stop laughing.KJ Dell'AntoniaI don't know I feel very gritty about my... [unintelligible]Jennie NashI'm like snort laughing over here at the idea of I'm never going to not hear relish and pickles. [laughing uncontrollably]Jess LaheyI know, I know, I like it so much. I love it.Sarina BowenWell, she really doesn't like pickles. KJ is that friend where if she is served a pickle with her lunch, you can take it.Jess LaheyYeah. Absolutely.KJ Dell'AntoniaAnd the bit of bread that it touched.Sarina BowenOkay Jess? Jess, I don't know how you're going to follow this, but do you have a word?Jess LaheyI do have a word, and I'm really excited about this word, because years ago, when I did a really cool conference in Abu Dhabi, I met this woman that I was shocked I hadn't met before. But her name is Elke Govertsen, Elke, and she has a Substack. Her Substack is just, it's @ Elke, is her. She managed to snag @ Elke. She has a newsletter. She has something called Open Nesting. She's got older kids. Anyway, I subscribed to her Substack. I love it. She's one of those people that when she walked down on stage to give her talk, she just glowed from inside, like she was one of those people that you just, I felt really drawn to. So I started following her and her year, her word for this year I really liked, although I thought about it in a different way than she did. Her word for the year is ‘allow'—a, l, l, o, w—and so that is my word for the year, to allow myself to do some things. For example, finishing this book, and just realizing, allowing myself to be really bad at it and hoping that I can pull it off, allowing myself to look really dumb doing stuff like the beekeeping, allowing myself some grace about the fact that I'm probably killed my bees this winter because they're not insulated enough, all of the things. But I just really liked her word allow. So that's where I am. That's my word. I was going to redo evaluate, because I really did like that one, because that the emphasis there was, like, figure out what's valuable to you, but whatever, I've used that one before, so I'm going to give credit out to Elke and go with allow.Jennie NashOkay, Sarina, what about you?Sarina BowenWell, you know, I picked a word, and I usually really struggle with this, and I never feel quite comfortable with it, but I pick something, or it just picked me one day, and that word is ‘esteem'. And my little job, my little job is having a strange little moment of esteem, because there's this show that's at the tippy top of HBO right now called Heated Rivalry. And Heated Rivalry is a book that is a queer hockey romance, which is something that I have also written since 2014, and it has; strangely, some of my best performing books ever over the last decade fall into what I thought was a niche. So I write this niche thing, and people read it and they love it, but you know, it has always stayed in its corner until now. And Rachel Reid is the author of the book called Heated Rivalry, from which this TV show was made very faithfully. And Heated Rivalry is a fantastic novel, by the way. Fantastic conflict, and an interesting story structure. So it has been quite a revelation to watch her book and story reach an audience that I did not feel it was capable of. And there is something about that, that really spoke to all the parts about my, of my business, where, for example, sometimes I have to do research. And early on, I almost felt apologetic about asking an orthopedic surgeon to talk to me about something for a romance novel, because I just assumed that they would roll their eyes. I did it anyway. Thank you, Mark, Dr. Mark, for explaining knee surgery to me. But um, so esteem is a couple of different things. It is choosing projects that I esteem and that I care about, not because I think they'll sell, but because I love them, and also just realizing that the esteem that comes to various things that we do is not always predictable or measurable or something to rely upon. So I have to esteem it all on my own before I commit the time to do that. And that is how I ended up picking this word that I that I really like. It's kind of a quiet word. It doesn't, it isn't sexy, I guess is, is a word I would describe it, not really, but, um, but it is a, it's like asks you to pause and measure how we feel about something before we commit. And that is how I ended up there.Jess LaheyI love that meaning to the word. I love it.Jennie NashSomething that also occurs to me is you spoke with such esteem about this other author and the work that that she's done, and that's something that you often do, and you lift up all the writers in lots of different ways. And that esteem you have for the process of writing and the publishing business and the hard work of it comes across as well. So I like that meaning too.Sarina BowenWell thank you. I had an interesting conversation with my 22 year old son, who is quite a reader. Right now he's trying to get to the end of Crime and Punishment before his semester really kicks in. And he asked me over drinks, on a trip to Boston that I was making time for, so go me, if I could write like anyone, like if I could suddenly have the skills of any author, dead or alive, who would I pick? And I instantly gave him a couple of names in contemporary fiction that he has never read and never will, because there are people who write books that are not for 22 year old nerds. And, um, and he, he sort of blanked and he's like, no mama, like you could have, you could be Tolstoy, you know, like you could pick anything. And I'm like, no, I'm serious. I have esteem for the things these people are doing in contemporary fiction. And it's like that, um, that George Michael quote, like, when are you going to make some serious music? And he says, you don't understand, I'm very serious about pop music. And you know, it's my right to esteem whatever I choose. And I really do choose this. It's not; it's not a runner up thing for me. This is my interest, and I'm going to value it.Jess LaheyHell yeah,Sarina BowenYeah. Woohoo!Jennie NashI feel like we should end on that.Jess LaheyYeah. I think that's a good place to stop.Jennie NashThat was some power, power language there. We would love our listeners to share in the chat your goals for the year, your words for the year, how you feel about pickles and their touching a bread. [laughing] We would love to hear all the things from you, and until next time, keep your butt in the chair and your head in the game.NarratorThe Hashtag AmWriting Podcast is produced by Andrew Perrella. Our intro music, aptly titled, Unemployed Monday, was written and played by Max Cohen. Andrew and Max were paid for their time and their creative output, because everyone deserves to be paid for the This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe