Introduction
Amanda was wrongfully tried and imprisoned. Through it, she found resolve and perspective.
Who Are You?
Reframe experiences in ways that are emboldening and purposeful.
Your Own Worst (And Best) Critic
Self-blame is punitive and unhealthy. Self-critique is uplifting and useful.
Heroes Make Mistakes
Knowledge is a superpower—and missteps are learning opportunities.
Mid-Traumatic Growth
We can learn to thrive during crises, not merely cope after they've taken place.
Win While Losing
Adversity pains us and tests our spirit. It can also fortify us and reveal our potential.
The Gift of Bias
Leverage mental tendencies to reframe setbacks and better approach challenges.
Finding Yourself in the Funhouse Mirror
Cultivate self-awareness by exploring the gap between self-concept and reputation.
Humor as Catharsis
Laughter can bring relief—and unique shifts in perspective.
Connecting with Your Adversaries
True conflict resolution requires empathy, receptivity, and a willingness to change.
Do or Do Not
“Delaying an action is an action. Waiting to choose is itself a choice.”
Closure and the Self
Moving on from adversity often entails both reinvention and acceptance.
Closure
We heal from trauma not when we forget it, but when we see its place in the larger whole.
Maybe
Adversity can beget joy. Fortune can beget hardship. Acceptance does beget equanimity.
My Daughter's Diagnosis
“We were unsure of what was wrong and what that would mean for us. I wept.”
Let It Go
To move on from misfortune, accept its place in your past—and let it inform your future.
A Killer in Indra's Net
Our lives are woven by events across time, deeds good and bad, people we’ve never met.
There Is No Spoon
Reality bends with perception: See another as an ally, and he may begin to act like one.
My Grandfather’s Wake
“Whatever it is that we are, it extends beyond our skin and even our minds.”
Ryokan's Thief and My Prosecutor
Peace comes not from getting, but from giving—even to those who have taken from us.
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Resilience
In 2007, a 20-year old Amanda Knox, studying abroad in Italy, was accused and convicted of a murder she didn’t commit. She was abused by the police, mistreated by prison guards, and painted by the media in headlines around the world as a sex-crazed, villainous killer: “Foxy Knoxy.” She spent nearly four years in prison, until she was acquitted—only to be again tried and convicted again for the same crime. Finally, in 2015, Amanda was exonerated once and for all.
Now, in Resilience, Amanda—an author, journalist, advocate, and fellow Waking Up member—shares the practices and traditions she’s turned to over the years to discover a deeper, more enduring wellspring of equanimity and strength.
“We all lose. We all get broken. We all face setbacks. But we’re more than able to pick ourselves up.” By employing tools like mindfulness, Stoicism, and other frameworks and philosophies, Amanda says, each of us can find psychological freedom in the midst of adversity and, ultimately, “become better than we were before—more than the sum of our shattered parts.”
to listen to all 20 sessions in this series.
Artwork by James Daus