[00:02] Hey lovely ones and welcome back to Read Reflect Rise. I’m Will Struthers-Guper and this is
[00:09] your weekly sanctuary for medicinal words, gentle wisdom and soulful resets. Whether
[00:15] you’re tuning in during a walk, pausing in your day, travelling across the city or curled
[00:20] up with a cuppa, I am so glad you’re here. This podcast is a soft space to reconnect
[00:27] to your breath, your body, your truth and to the deeper voice within. If you’re new here, firstly
[00:36] welcome. You are so welcome. I see you and I’m glad you’re here with me today. Here is what we do on
[00:44] Read Reflect Rise. Each episode I choose an excerpt from a heart-led author, someone whose
[00:50] words have helped me and countless others navigate messy and magical chaos of every life. I’ll read
[00:55] from their work, we’ll reflect together and I’ll offer my rise affirmation so you’re ready to rise
[01:01] into your week. So, oh let’s take a deep breath and dive in. Today we’re exploring the transformative
[01:11] work of Martha Beck. She’s a best-selling author, a life coach, sociologist and a well-known wise
[01:16] woman. You might know her from Finding Your Own North Star or The Way of Integrity but today we’re
[01:24] exploring her from her latest book, Beyond Anxiety. I was excited to hear this was being released.
[01:30] I’ve revisited Finding Your North Star again and again. Martha Beck has a really human and
[01:36] connecting way of storytelling and that book’s given me concepts that helped ground me through
[01:41] some life-changing decisions. I do love a good life-changing decision and even if the rest of
[01:47] the world looks at me askew, I never regret one. With bouts of anxiety during my pregnancy and
[01:54] postpartum and panic attacks in my teens, I was eager to hear her take on one of the most common
[01:59] challenges to mental health. She doesn’t hang back and we wouldn’t want her to, would we? We’re
[02:05] repeatedly asked if we’re willing to step beyond the ordinary and beyond anxiety. I’ve been in the
[02:10] self-development game for a couple of decades now and this book has floored me a couple of times
[02:15] with some big aha moments. I just had to do an episode on it. Martha’s really excellent at writing
[02:22] with the wit of a truth-teller and the compassion of someone who’s definitely been in the trenches
[02:26] herself. In Beyond Anxiety, she offers a pretty soulful reframe of what anxiety really is. It’s
[02:33] not just a diagnosis or a nuisance but an important message from the self to ourself. She challenges
[02:39] the idea that we always need to suppress or fight with anxiety and instead invites us to befriend it,
[02:45] to decode how it speaks and to grow with it or from it. And here’s the passage I want to share
[02:53] with you today. This progression beyond anxiety and into your inborn creative genius is a continuing
[03:03] process. As long as you have a normal human brain, you also have the capacity to slip back into
[03:11] anxiety. But as you learn the concepts and skills laid out in this book, it will get easier and
[03:17] easier to calm the frightened creature in your brain and liberate your creative side. Every time
[03:25] you do this, you’ll move into greater heights of inventiveness, adventure and exhilaration.
[03:31] All of this may generate a brand new, funny feeling that you will carry with you everywhere.
[03:38] Even when confronting a world of chaos, destruction, anger and threat, you’ll feel a bloom of calm that
[03:47] ripples outward into creativity, connection and joy. You’ll learn to work with your own mind and
[03:54] heart the way a sculptor works with clay, the way a musician composes songs. Everything you do will
[04:00] contribute to your most important artistic creation, your own life. And as you construct
[04:07] your own best life, you may just change the world. But before we begin, as you learn to use the ideas
[04:16] and processes suggested in this book, swapping your anxiety for joyful creativity, you may start
[04:23] to seem peculiar to the anxious folks around you. These people may watch you with furrowed brows,
[04:29] blank stares and the occasional critical comment. Learning to live beyond anxiety is one of the best
[04:36] things you’ll ever do for yourself, your loved ones and the world. But it may not be the easiest.
[04:43] Here are some questions I’d like you to consider right now. If the answer to any of them is a flat
[04:48] no, it’s okay. Read through the book or maybe just lie down for a while and see if the answers change
[04:56] as your anxiety goes up. When you’re really, truly sick of feeling anxious, you may decide that the
[05:04] challenge is worth taking. Are you prepared to question the conventional wisdom of our culture
[05:13] so deeply that you physically shift the grey matter in your head? In other words, develop a brain that
[05:21] doesn’t quite fit in with society. Can you accept that abandoning anxiety may cause you to think and act
[05:32] in ways that are compassionate and creative but unusual, ways that the people around you might find
[05:40] incomprehensible? Do you have the will and courage to shape all your actions according to what emerges
[05:50] from your inherent originality rather than from anything you’ve ever been taught?
[05:58] Think carefully about these questions. Living beyond anxiety is a gentle art. In fact,
[06:05] it will teach you the paradoxical truth that gentleness is extraordinarily powerful. But in
[06:12] this world, being gentle can require a lot of grit. I don’t want to scare you. You’ve spent enough
[06:19] time being scared. I just want you to know that living beyond anxiety, like any radical art,
[06:26] is counter-cultural. It will definitely take you out beyond the conventional wisdom of our society.
[06:33] No one can predict what you may do then. I can’t promise you that it will look normal. I can only
[06:40] tell you that it will take you to the unimaginable joy of your best destiny. Still in? Let’s do this.
[06:55] Allow yourself to settle. Take a breath in, a breath out. Observe the quality of your breath.
[07:07] Notice the placement of your body. If you’re moving, notice how you’re moving.
[07:13] Notice the weight changing from foot to foot or hand to hand.
[07:20] The heaviness or the lightness of your head on your neck. Any tightness or tension in your shoulders.
[07:30] And if you have one hand free, bring it to your heart.
[07:36] Allow your eyes to close if it’s safe to do so.
[07:40] And in that heart cavity, I want you to imagine there’s something in there that needs soothing.
[07:48] It may be an animal or a small creature as Martha suggests, or it could be a part of yourself that
[07:55] you can spot or describe or just feel the essence of. And I’d like you to say some soothing words
[08:04] into that heart space of yours, to the creature, to that part of yourself.
[08:11] Something soothing. It could be words or it could even be a noise.
[08:15] There, there. There, there.
[08:24] You’re safe. I’m here with you.
[08:32] I see you.
[08:37] I know you’re scared.
[08:45] You’re safe.
[08:50] And acknowledging
[08:53] this being inside of you, this part of you.
[08:59] Allow it to be without trying to change it.
[09:05] With your words or your sounds, with your hand.
[09:13] Your aim is to soothe, to calm, to accept.
[09:20] I soothe, I calm, I accept you.
[09:29] And allow yourself to breathe into that space, into that compassion.
[09:38] And allow it to extend to all of you. Say to yourself, I see you. You’re safe.
[09:50] I’m here to help soothe you.
[09:54] You’ve done enough.
[09:58] You can rest now.
[10:03] I’ll keep you safe.
[10:13] And it may be that you feel resistance in your body.
[10:17] Perhaps it feels lovely. Perhaps there are tears.
[10:22] Perhaps it feels too jaggy for just now. That’s okay.
[10:26] All feelings are valid.
[10:32] But know that the soothing, the calming
[10:37] is a practice.
[10:41] And you will find your own words, your own sounds,
[10:48] your own way to hold this part of you and your own way to hold yourself.
[10:54] With kindness, with compassion.
[11:07] And when you’re ready, allow yourself to think of one thing
[11:14] that will feel free and flowing and creative.
[11:21] It could be putting on some music and dancing.
[11:26] It could be getting out some pencils and drawing.
[11:30] It could be standing and waving your arms around.
[11:37] It could be standing, staring at the sky. It could be absolutely anything.
[11:42] It could be as awkward and strange,
[11:48] unimaginably peculiar.
[11:52] Whatever you feel called to do, this is your permission to do it.
[11:59] You’re ready.
[12:03] Next up is some affirmations.
[12:07] Or you could pause now and take that time for yourself and come back to this later.
[12:11] It’s up to you.
[12:19] What I love about Martha’s words is how they reframe anxiety as that doorway we see so often,
[12:27] symbolised in literature, a doorway, a transition, a scared little friend, not a dead end,
[12:33] a launch pad.
[12:35] So often we meet anxiety with panic, resistance, shame or fear.
[12:40] But if we meet it with curiosity, maybe even appreciation,
[12:44] it can guide us to something important and alive within us that is getting ready to spread its wings.
[12:54] One of my takeaways, when anxiety hits, it doesn’t mean we’re breaking.
[13:01] It means we’re becoming ready.
[13:05] And oh, are you ready?
[13:08] So on that note, here’s a ready to rise affirmation.
[13:13] To hold close, chant or write down somewhere this week.
[13:18] This is anxiety.
[13:22] I breathe safely in this space.
[13:26] This is anxiety.
[13:29] I breathe safely in this space.
[13:33] Anxiety doesn’t limit me.
[13:36] It opens me to life as it can be.
[13:48] And lastly, I trust the wisdom beneath my worrying.
[13:54] I am creating something new.
[13:58] I trust the wisdom beneath my worrying.
[14:02] I am creating something new.
[14:05] Repeat them as often as you need.
[14:08] Maybe write it on a mirror or a notebook.
[14:10]
[14:10] Note on your phone.
[14:11] Whisper it to yourself when doubt creeps in.
[14:15] Let it anchor you and have faith and trust that you will grow and life will change.
[14:20] And know that affirmations are there as a support.
[14:23] For as long as they are a support.
[14:25] You know yourself best.
[14:27] Listen to your needs.
[14:29] Change tack if you need to.
[14:33] If today’s words stirred something in you, I’d love for you to take a moment to rate and review this podcast.
[14:40] It really helps others to find it and it means so much to me.
[14:45] You can also share it with a friend who might need this message today.
[14:48] And if you’re not already on the email list, head to the link in the show notes.
[14:52] I share bonus journal prompts, these affirmations and behind the scenes thinking for each week as well as links to this amazing book.
[15:00] And remember you beautiful folks, there is magic, medicine and power.
[15:05] In the words we weave and wield.
[15:08] So pick your thoughts, words, readings and writings wisely.
[15:13] Take what you need, leave what’s not a fit and rise gently.
