The Gathering Room Podcast

I’m very excited, Gatherers, because lately I feel that something is changing in this world in a profound way, and I don’t think I’m the only one… There’s a feeling of irrational hope, a strange joy, a sense that something wonderful is happening in the midst of all the horrors.

I’ve always been obsessed with the idea that we humans would change the way we live in a dramatic way at some point dur...

For this Gathering Room episode, I drew inspiration from a recent Ani DiFranco concert, as well as Ecclesiastes 3 and the song “Turn! Turn! Turn!”, to explore the unexpected emergence of hope in this time of global upheaval—and how you can learn to access it. 

If you’re searching for connection, comfort, or the motivation to keep “dancing,” tune in for the full episode, where I’ll also...

Do you ever find yourself wondering if it’s foolish to keep hoping for good things to happen, especially with our world in the state it’s in?

Whenever I have this thought, I remind myself that if we stop ourselves from hoping, we cut ourselves off from the creativity that is meant to build what comes next. It’s only by refusing to use the human capacity for hope that we can be truly defeated.

On this episode of Th...

All my life I’ve been waiting for a transformation of human consciousness. And I always thought that it would be a gentle and beautiful awakening, essentially like what the Buddha experienced. 

I suppose in some universes it might happen that way…but in the universe where I find myself now, I’m seeing massive upheaval and disruption instead.

In this episode of The Gathering Room podcast, I’m sharing my...

These days life can seem extremely chaotic—have you felt it, too? 

Whether it’s the noise of the world or the noise of your own thoughts, there’s so much happening and so many things to think about that it can really get your head spinning with questions like:

What am I supposed to be doing? 

Where is my attention supposed to be? 

How do I rest my heart?

The good news is this: You already have a sti...

I’m thrilled to be joined by my guest Chase Jarvis for this special episode of The Gathering Room podcast!

Chase is an award-winning artist, serial entrepreneur, and bestselling author, who has a new book out called NEVER PLAY IT SAFE: A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO FREEDOM, CREATIVITY, AND A LIFE YOU LOVE.

This remarkable book helped me take a few big leaps in my own life, and I hope that listening to my conversation with Chase will i...

Do you ever feel like a hamster running on a wheel?

Hamsters may love to scurry, but it tends to make us humans anxious and exhausted. Unfortunately, we live in a world that constantly pressures us to keep up with an increasingly frantic pace. And while we run faster and faster, the only place we ever reach is burnout.

It’s when we start to get to burnout and the wheel is still going so fast that we start to g...

There’s no question about it—we are living in chaotic times.

We’re all trying to be happy and at peace, and we often think we need to find external circumstances that are conducive to those states. But did you know that there is a bedrock of stillness and kindness that we can drop into, no matter what’s going on around us?

 In this episode of The Gathering Room, I’ll guide you to this still...

It is a weird world out there right now, and if you’re like me, you’re feeling more than a little anxious. Anxiety has been called the mental illness of our time, but in fact, it’s not a mental illness. It’s an understandable reaction to an abnormal world that we never evolved to handle.

As I’ve written in my book Beyond Anxiety and talked about at length, creativity is the opposite of that anx...

In this episode of The Gathering Room podcast, I’m talking about the power of inspiration and how we can actively go “hunting” for it amidst the sea of misinformation and disinformation we all have to navigate each day.

To learn more about actively hunting for inspiration and how it can help you create positive change in the world, join me for the full episode!

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Did you know that until you are truly compassionate to yourself, you can’t be compassionate to any other person?

In Episode #192 of The Gathering Room, I’m talking about building compassionate communities—and how a safe, loving, mutually supportive community is probably the most important thing we can ever have, especially during chaotic times.

I’ve been reading my way through all the skills th...

As I’m sure you’re keenly aware, people are extremely divided these days. From our politics, to our attitudes, to our ways of speaking about others, we are growing more and more polarized—and mutually destructive.

On this episode of The Gathering Room podcast, I’m talking about how upset many of us feel, why that upset is not always coming from a place we can trust, and what we can do about it.

When I was writing Beyond Anxiety, I wanted to find a good metaphor for building a life that you love within the cultural bounds of wherever you are and still stay sane. And I thought about crazy quilting!

If you are a quilter, you know that crazy quilting is not the same as ordinary quilting. Ordinary quilting starts with a pattern that is carefully drawn out, and then the quilter sews together panels that follow that patte...

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about wayfinding and how it can help us create what I call “the new consciousness,” which is both a state and a place that we can access. That’s what I’m talking about on this episode of The Gathering Room podcast—episode 189: Finding the Field.

The name of my Wayfinder Life Coach Training program was inspired by the wisdom of ancient &ldq...

At long last, my book Beyond Anxiety: Curiosity, Creativity, and Finding Your Life’s Purpose has been released into the world!

In this episode of The Gathering Room—Episode #188: What Lies Beyond Anxiety?—I’m talking about the book and sharing some insights on overcoming anxiety through kindness, curiosity, and creativity.

What can I tell you about this book that I haven’t told you alread...

On this episode of The Gathering Room, special guest Gabby Bernstein joins Martha to talk about her newest book, Self Help: This Is Your Chance to Change Your Life.

Martha and Gabby both love Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy—also known as “parts therapy”—and Gabby’s new book is all about making the principles of IFS Therapy accessible to everyone.

To learn more about IFS from Martha and Gabby&mdas...

Culturally we tend to think of sensitivity as weakness, but Martha says that in fact, it’s a superpower!

In this episode of The Gathering Room, Episode #186: Using Your Powerful Sensitivity, she talks about how to appreciate your sensitivity and use it to create the life you’re meant to live.

By definition, sensitivity has to do with reacting strongly to very slight stimuli. As a result, our society has c...

Martha’s recent encounter with a flock of wild turkeys made her think about her relationship with wild animals and how they always seem to come when she calls them. 

In this episode of The Gathering Room, Episode #185: Calling Yourself Home, she shares several stories of her incredible interactions with animals and how her steps for calling to them can also be used on the wild parts of yourself ...

Our culture generally teaches us that anxiety will keep us safe—but really it’s our intuition that does that. In this episode of The Gathering Room—Episode #184: How to Access Intuition When You Really Need It, Martha talks about how to tell the difference between anxiety and intuition and how to hear what your intuition is trying to tell you.

There’s something Martha calls the “sense of truth,” which is a...