“How do we adjust to the drudgery?”

Martha was asked this question by Ro when they returned home from a wonderful stay at the Imiloa Institute in the Costa Rican jungle.

A lot of upkeep is required to sustain ordinary living, and much of daily life gets consumed by repetitive tasks. In this episode of The Gathering Room, Martha talks about a shift we can make to transform drudgery into beauty.

In traditions where they have the concept of awakening or enlightenment, Martha says, the emphasis is not on what you do, but how you do it. It's the quality of presence in your body, mind, heart, and spirit while you carry out each task. 

As the Zen saying goes, “Before enlightenment: Chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment: Chop wood, carry water.”

When you are fully present and engaging with all of your senses, any experience can become sublime, even mundane tasks like washing the dishes. You can look at even the simplest object and say, “You are so beautiful.”

To get more insights about transforming drudgery into a spiritual practice, tune in for the full episode, which also includes Martha’s guided Silence, Stillness, and Space meditation. And if a retreat with Martha sounds like just the thing to help you return to your life with fresh eyes, read about her Pure.Wild.Self Retreat in Costa Rica at the link below!

CONNECT WITH US

• Follow Martha on Instagram
• The Gathering Room Show Notes 
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Where does your life want you to go sailing?

In this episode of The Gathering Room, Martha is talking about the pull for adventure that all humans have but are often too scared to follow.

To build up your adventuring spirit, Martha recommends going on “little adventures” every day—things that push you out of your comfort zone and into your growth zone.

How do you do this?

By consulting with your deep, deep essential self to see how you truly feel about all the different things you could do in a day. Then you do what feels “warmer”—what makes you happier even if it’s a little scary—and you do less of what feels colder.

Because when you live your life in the growth zone, Martha says, it looks like all kinds of adventures are coming to you—because they are!

For more travel and adventure inspiration, plus the opportunity to join Martha in a guided meditation, don’t miss the full episode. And to find out if Martha’s Pure.Wild.Self Retreat in Costa Rica is the adventure for you, you can check out all the details at the link below!

https://marthabeck.com/retreat/

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• Follow Martha on Instagram
• The Gathering Room Show Notes 
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How do you know when something is worth the trouble?

That’s the question Martha’s exploring in this episode of The Gathering Room, and the short answer is: If it’s your passion, it’s always worth the trouble!

Martha’s recent trip to New York with her family to see Ani DiFranco on Broadway ended up being an enormous amount of trouble—but when she finally got to see the show, she was blown away. She found that the joy it brought her was worth all the trouble it took to get there.

She also realized that so much of the art and music and writing that inspires us—the astonishing art, the amazing music, the brilliant books—took an enormous amount of trouble to create. And the fact that these things take trouble to create means they’re worth the trouble.

Are you looking for some creative inspiration? Want to find out if your latest passion is worth the trouble it’s going to take? Then this episode is for you! You can also participate in Martha’s guided meditation to help you tap into the creative power of silence, space, and stillness.

CONNECT WITH US

• Follow Martha on Instagram
• The Gathering Room Show Notes 
• Join Martha for a Live Episode of The Gathering Room via Facebook

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Do you feel in desperate need of a rest?

Most of us are underestimating our need to rest to an almost criminal degree, and Martha is talking about why that is—and how to change it—on this episode of The Gathering Room.

We live in a society that wants us to work constantly. However, nature says that we need to rest regularly—in fact, this is absolutely crucial. “You can live without intense activity,” Martha reminds us, “but you cannot live without rest.” 

Rest is your connection to the Divine and comes in many different forms—it’s not just lying down and napping!—and connecting to the Divine is what gives you rest and nourishes your soul.

Tune in to the full episode to learn how to respect your circadian and ultradian rhythms, how to come up with what Martha calls “cultural cover stories” when you need them, and how to cultivate low-demand living to help you get the rest you need.

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What does it mean to “compose yourself”? 

The usual definition is to calm down and control yourself, but Martha has a very different meaning in mind, and she’s exploring it in this episode of The Gathering Room: How to Compose Yourself.

As Martha defines it, you are literally composing your life—the being that you are—through the act of creating something new.

Whether it’s a watercolor you’re painting, a meal you’re preparing, a business you’re building, or a child you’re raising, the act of creation is also creating you—and according to Martha, this is the actual point of creating. (Not, as the culture would have us believe, to make money from it.)

Tune in for the full episode to learn more of Martha’s insights about the beauty and importance of creating “for no reason” and to participate in her guided meditation on imperfection, impermanence, and the essence of creativity.

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Is there something you really want to do, but the thought of it absolutely terrifies you? 😱

Martha has been there many times, and that’s what she’s talking about on this episode of The Gathering Room: Doing the Thing You Think You Cannot Do.

If you’re facing something in your life that you want to do but it makes you anxious, Martha says to remember that 99% of every original thing that has ever been done has been done by someone who didn’t think they could do it.

In other words, you’re in good company! 🏆

Listen to the full episode to find out how to recognize when it's love that wants you to do something that scares you—and how to work up the courage to run at it full speed. Martha also adapts her Silence, Space, and Stillness meditation to soothe your anxiety about the things you're scared to do.

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Sometimes we’re hit with a change so big it knocks us for a loop. We look around in a daze thinking, “NOW what?”

🦋 Welcome to what Martha calls “Square One” in The Change Cycle, a unique framework she developed to help people understand and navigate life’s transitions.

🦋 As Martha explains, life's changes aren't things we plan in our calendars. They are fundamental metamorphoses.

You will go through the four Squares of the Change Cycle over and over throughout your lifetime. And Square One is about not knowing exactly what to do or what will happen next. 

🦋 It’s about letting go and waiting to see what kind of butterfly you’re going to become.

If you’re in Square One and feeling scared or confused…and you want to learn how to get through it with grace and ease, then this episode is a must-listen. You’ll also be able to cultivate an immediate sense of calm by joining Martha in her Silence, Space, and Stillness meditation.

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Are you someone who makes New Year’s resolutions?

Martha enjoys making one (yes, one) each year—and she always keeps it! 

In this episode of The Gathering Room: A Year of Peace, she talks about her resolution to increase her brain’s wellbeing by dropping demands that have an overriding feeling of negativity and tend to make her brain shut down.

Research that has shown that our brains work best when we can answer YES to two questions:

• Am I safe?
• Am I loved unconditionally?

After basic survival, Martha says, love is the next imperative. When we feel safe and we feel loved, it’s amazing how fast we can learn, how much we can create and do—and how much happier our lives can be.

Tune in for the full episode to learn how to let go of the demands we place on ourselves for no good reason, hear about some of the demands Martha has dropped so far, and join her for her guided Space, Silence, and Stillness meditation.

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Do you ever struggle to do things you know you have to do, even though you don’t really feel like it?

We’ve all been there—including Martha—and she’s talking about it in this episode of The Gathering Room: Keep Swimming.

Humans are the kind of creatures that can get so focused on a dream that even if that dream seems impossible, or the work it requires feels like a total slog, we can make ourselves keep going.

Martha watched a movie about long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad, who made several failed attempts to swim from Cuba to Florida. Despite serious setbacks, Diana kept going back and trying again—and she finally achieved her goal at the age of 64.

On her final successful attempt, Diana’s coach jumped into the water to swim alongside her, which Martha says is something we sometimes have to do for each other.

We may not be able to touch each other, but we can still swim alongside each other like a pod of dolphins, encouraging each other to keep going—because the effort will be worth it.

Tune in to the full episode, Ep 146: Keep Swimming, for more encouragement to keep going despite challenges and to participate in Martha’s guided Silence, Stillness, and Space meditation.

LINKS

• Nyad film

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• Follow Martha on Instagram
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Did you know that everything around you is conscious and responding to you in various ways?

It may sound woo-woo, but Martha says there's a tremendous amount of legitimate scientific research to support this idea!

When we’re willing to acknowledge that we don't know everything about the universe, and we’re willing to play with the idea that the universe is conscious, very interesting things start happening…

In this episode of The Gathering Room: How to Play with the Conscious Universe, Martha talks about the synchronicities and “God winks” that occur when we realize we're all one field of consciousness.

To learn how to start picking up what the universe is actually saying to you—and feel its deep calm as Martha guides you through her Silence, Stillness, and Space meditation—be sure to listen to this fascinating episode.

LINKS

The Conscious Universe by Dean Radin, PhD

The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild by Lawrence Anthony

Plant researcher Monica Gagliano

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