How to Write Something Truly Profound — Henry Shukman

Henry Shukman is a poet, author, mindfulness teacher and Zen master. He has studied meditation for 35 years, principally in the Sanbo Zen lineage. His most recent books are Original Love (HarperOne) and the Zen memoir, One Blade of Grass.

He is also the co-founder of the acclaimed single-path meditation app, The Way. He has taught at Google, the New York Times, Harvard Business School, and the Institute of American Indian Arts. He has written several award-winning books of poetry and fiction, and his poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Guardian and Sunday Times. He has a degree from Cambridge and an MLitt from St Andrews.

Learn more about Henry's latest book, Original Love: https://henryshukman.com/writing/orig...

Deepen your meditation with The Way: https://www.thewayapp.com/howiwrite

00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:33 Writing is being alive
00:05:20 Is writing a calling?
00:08:17 Writing is just like painting
00:11:00 A different way to see the world
00:15:42 Seeing infinity in ordinary things
00:21:55 The power of difficult emotions
00:28:56 Similarities between poetry and scripture
00:31:35 Struggle, shame and compassion
00:34:30 Meditation
00:40:28 Learning through languages
00:46:02 When writing feels alive
00:50:59 How to write when you're stuck
00:54:54 Lessons from Fiction
00:58:04 Lessons from Memoirs
01:04:08 Lessons from Poetry
01:05:51 Lessons from Zen Koans
01:11:32 Welcoming reality into your mind
01:18:27 Writing from the heart

About the host
Hey! I’m David Perell and I’m a writer, teacher, and podcaster. I believe writing online is one of the biggest opportunities in the world today. For the first time in human history, everybody can freely share their ideas with a global audience. I seek to help as many people publish their writing online as possible.

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