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Too often people have experienced life in a way that shapes their nature, their responses, and how to perceive life as it comes. Having your mind stretched and bent beyond its normal world view is scary but a treat worth exploring with guest Chuck Palahniuk. Last time he joined Tom to discuss life, death and finding meaning in your life. In this episode, we’re deep diving into how Chuck pursues new ideas, stretches himself beyond the outcomes, and allows the magic of connection to take place through the process of creating stories. Chuck discusses his new essay, People, Places, and Things, and shares the juice of how he’s able to compel such strong reactions from stories that make most people uncomfortable.

Check Out Chuck’s Short Stories on Substack: https://chuckpalahniuk.substack.com/
Chuck’s Latest Essay, People, Places and Things: https://try.scribd.com/palahniuk60/

Mentioned in this episode:
Suddenly, Last Summer: https://youtu.be/tFVcW2ntimM

SHOW NOTES:

0:00 | Introduction Chuck Palahniuk
1:28 | Shaped Inside Out
4:28 | Mental Breakthroughs
9:46 | Pursuing Creative Ideas
17:12 | Validating New Ideas
25:04 | Surprising Outcomes
29:58 | Mutual Consciousness
36:35 | Freedom at Ground Zero
40:39 | What Scares You Has Meaning
49:16 | Life Influences & Performance
1:00:35 | Allow Silence, Look for Patterns
1:07:31 | Bathos, Comic Tragedy
1:17:19 | Sincere, Not Offensive
1:32:01 | Motivated by Meaning

QUOTES:

“We're drawn to these things that resonate with us, but I would bet that's because of something that's innate within us” [4:15]

“You have this idea of what it's going to be to attain this thing, but when you actually attain the thing it's never what you anticipated, which is the glorious part. Because why strive for something, if you kind of already know what that thing is, but when you strive for it, and it surprises you, that's the glorious part.” [26:41]

“It's not about my joy. It's about providing that moment for somebody else.” [29:51]

“I like the idea of taking things that we have a negative connotation [about], like shame, and if there's some way to harness shame, and spin shame, so that shame becomes productive.” [36:35]

“There's such freedom in that zero place where you're not trying to look good and you're not trying to dominate [...] it's like a fresh wake up.” [38:19]

“Fear is the thing that validates that you're doing the thing that means something to you. Because if it didn't mean anything to you, you wouldn't feel the fear.” [42:26]

“People who are in love with that constant exploration process, are the people who are creative throughout their entire lives well into their 60s 70s 80s, because they're in love with the process, rather than just this single outcome.” [46:25]

“That's kind of the blessing of pain is that pain can only go on for so long before it shifts to something else. And all that tension comes out.” [1:13:28]

“A lot of times people are offended, not because you've somehow hurt their feelings, but because you've said a truth that they don't want to hear.” [1:24:30]

About Chuck Palahniuk: Chuck Palahniuk is the author of fourteen novels, among them Fight Club and Choke, which were adapted into feature films. His work also includes a travel guide, a collection of short stories, two graphic novels, a writing advice book, a collection of essays, and two coloring books.

Follow Chuck Palahniuk:
Website: https://www.chuckpalahniuk.net/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chuckpalahniuk
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chuckpalahniuk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/chuckpalahniuk
New Podcast: https://smartassess.bandcamp.com/album/smartasses