Sue Monk Kidd on The Longings of Our Heart
The One You Feed
Intro
This chapter highlights how our thoughts and actions influence our lives, contrasting negative thinking with a more empowered mindset. Featuring author Sue Monk Kidd, it also introduces her new novel 'The Book of Longings' alongside a parable about internal moral struggles.
Sue Monk Kidd was raised in the small town of Sylvester, Georgia, a place that deeply influenced the writing of her first novel, The Secret Life of Bees. Her 1990 book, When the Heart Waits, has become a touchstone on contemplative spirituality. Sue serves on the Writers Council for Poets & Writers, Inc and is well known for her work in feminist theology. Her new book is a novel called, The Book of Longings.
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In This Interview, Sue Monk Kidd and I discuss Longings of our Heart and…
- Her book, The Book of Longings
- That what you pay attention to will either devour you or save you because we become what we pay attention to
- The particular genius that dwells in every person
- How she first decided that she wanted to write fiction when she was in her 40s
- Asking the prayer that’s at the bottom of your heart
- How being visible and being audible in the world is a choice to express the largeness that’s inside each of us
- That we can nurture the largeness in another person, even if the largeness is inconvenient for us
- God as an essence that lives everywhere, the being-ness in our midst
- The many ways we conceptualize and thereby connect with God
- Why suffering results in increased kindness in some while it hardens others
- The role of vulnerability in our personal growth
- When her therapist told her that the pain won’t kill you but the running from it might.
- What it means to “let life be” when both beautiful and terrible things happen
- Radical acceptance
- How the path to healing is right through the wound
- Facing our pain so our soul can metabolize it and we can move through it and move on
- What it means to be a mother beyond having actual children
- The middle places in life where the waiting and the work happens
- Her writing process
- The silence beneath her words
- Her life as a prayer
- How letting go is not a one-time thing
- That life is like a spiral
Sue Monk Kidd Links:
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If you enjoyed this conversation with Sue Monk Kidd on the Longings of our Heart, you might also enjoy these other episodes:
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