What’s the thing about pain? This week Martha talks about what Alan Gordon calls “neuroplastic pain” and some techniques for dealing with pain using only your brilliant brain! Plus, your questions and a Gathering Room huddle for all our peeps going into surgery this week. (Originally aired: October 10, 2021)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Thing About Pain

Welcome to a virtual gathering that will kindle your curiosity and soothe your soul! Join Martha Beck for the podcast edition of her weekly Facebook event, and listen in as she touches on a spirituality or personal growth topic that’s on her mind. You'll also hear the lively conversation that follows as Martha opens the floor to questions from the live viewers. With topics ranging from courage to creativity, purpose to intuition, these discussions will engage and support you on your journey to self-knowledge. Ready to connect with a community of like-minded seekers? Welcome to The Gathering Room Podcast.

Education

Training

Language Courses

Higher Education

K-12

Educational Technology

Business

Investing

Careers

Management & Marketing

Business News

Shopping

Entrepreneurship

Courses

Self-Improvement

Have you ever experienced synchronicity?   As Martha defines it in this episode of The Gathering Room, a synchronicity is any event or experience that seems to confirm or indicate that the universe is not random—that there's something making all this happen.  Martha has been re-reading The Awakened Brain by Dr. Lisa Miller, who writes about synchronicities and what she calls a “spiritual docking station” in the human brain.  What Dr. Miller found in her research is that when people are open to the idea of spiritual realities like synchronicities, they have access to much more physical and mental health, and they’re more resilient and more resistant to anxiety and depression.  Martha says that when she opens the docking station of her own brain, it feels like a loving, beautiful presence is able to move through her. It gives her the experience of seeming to do things herself but also relax into being moved by a loving, creative force.  It’s only when we relax our nervous systems, Martha says, that we can feel the consciousness of the universe because the consciousness of the universe does not respond to anxiety and desperation. It responds to joy, love, and trust.  To learn how to keep your spiritual docking station open so you can look for synchronicities in your own life, be sure to tune in for the full episode. Martha will also guide you through her Silence, Stillness, and Space meditation to allow those synchronicities to start showing up!

Your Spiritual Brain

Has anxiety been keeping you from your life’s mission?  In this episode of The Gathering Room, Martha shares that the best way out of anxiety is not simply to calm yourself, but to get creative!  When you take the creativity route, Martha tells us, you get so deep in the process of creating solutions to the problems that matter to you that it becomes literally impossible for your brain to be anxious.  So how do you start living from a creative place?  Martha says the key is getting curious, and to access your curiosity, there are three things that the brain always asks, in this order:  1.  Am I safe?  2.  Am I loved?  3.  What can I learn?  Once the brain knows you are safe and loved, it can go into curiosity and start learning new things. And when you realize that you have the capacity to create around anything that makes you curious, you begin to drive your life towards your own unique mission.  To learn how to feel safe and loved so you can access your zone of genius and create your life’s mission, tune in for the full episode! Martha also guides you through her Silence, Stillness, and Space meditation to calm anxiety and stimulate curiosity.

Making Up Your Mission

Is there something you’re having trouble with that you’re trying to do perfectly?  If so, you’re not alone… As Martha reminds us in this episode of The Gathering Room, we are all trained by the culture to strive for perfection and to look for it in others.  However, you are not going to show up perfectly—because it’s impossible! If you show up not to be perfect but to connect, nobody will care that you haven’t done it perfectly.  As Martha says, we are here to be connected with a world in which all of us are imperfect.  Martha is currently learning Spanish, and she recently stumbled her way through a conversation with a Spanish-speaking friend. Despite her less-than-perfect Spanish, the joy Martha felt connecting with her friend in that language was a “return to the sacredness of communion.”   If you've been struggling with the desire to be perfect, and you want to learn how to drop into imperfection and connect to yourself and others, be sure to tune in. You’ll also be able to experience connection through Martha’s guided Silence, Stillness, and Space meditation.

The Perfection of Connection

Pleasure is something that many of us may think of as an indulgence, but Martha says it’s actually the gateway to the things that really enrich our souls… And we access this pleasure by relaxing. 

The Power of the Pleasant Moment

Did you know that you have a superpower you might not know about? 

The Thing About Pain

Download our free app to listen on your phone