Ep. 229: Amanda Knox — Mindful Awareness 4. What If There Is Nothing Between You and Your Well-Being?

My guest this week is Amanda Knox, author of the New York Times bestselling book Waiting to be Heard (affiliate link). Amanda’s name is probably familiar to you because she was in the news a lot over a decade ago when she was tried for murder in Italy. Even though she was convicted, it turned out the charges were completely false, and eventually she was fully exonerated.

Topics we discussed included:

• Amanda’s history of being falsely accused of murder
• The power of the anchoring bias in maintaining false impressions
• My guest’s feelings toward the prosecutor on her case
• Letting go of the need for other people to believe certain things about us
• The fundamental insight that there is nothing between you and your well-being
• Figuring out what we can give or take action on, instead of waiting for others to give us what we need
• Deciding not to be the victim
• Discovering what no one can take away from you
• The inherent opportunity in any kind of experience
• The deep empathy that comes from Amanda’s experience
• Grieving the loss of the life that could have been
• The freedom of recognizing that everything is in flux all the time
• Realizing that this actually is my life, and choosing intentionally to live it
• Tolerating anything for short bouts of time (with reference to The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt)
• My guest’s relationship with comedy
• “Hurt Feelings” by Flight of the Conchords
• Laughing at the absurdity of our self-seriousness

Amanda Knox is an exoneree, journalist, public speaker, and co-host, with her partner Christopher Robinson, of the podcast Labyrinths.

Between 2007 and 2015, she spent nearly four years in an Italian prison and eight years on trial for a murder she didn’t commit.

She has since become an advocate for criminal justice reform and media ethics.

She sits on the board of the Frederick Douglass Project for Justice.

Find Amanda online on X/Twitter and Instagram and on her website, and check out her excellent podcast Labyrinths that she co-hosts with Christopher Robinson.

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