Martha Beck — The Amazing and Brutal Results of Zero Lies for 365 Days, How to Do a Beginner “Integrity Cleanse,” Lessons from Lion Trackers, and Novel Tactics for Reducing Anxiety (#732)

It’s never true to hate yourself or condemn yourself. — Martha Beck

Dr. Martha Beck (@themarthabeck) has been called “the best-known life coach in America” by NPR and USA Today. She holds three Harvard degrees in social science and has published nine non-fiction books, one novel, and more than 200 magazine articles. The Guardian and other media have described her as “Oprah’s life coach.”

Her recent book, The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self, was an instant New York Times Best Seller and an Oprah’s Book Club selection. Her next book, Beyond Anxiety: Curiosity, Creativity, and Finding Your Life’s Purpose, is expected in early 2025.

Please enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Watch the interview on YouTube here.

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The transcript of this episode can be found here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

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#732: Martha Beck — The Amazing and Brutal Results of Zero Lies for 365 Days, How to Do a Beginner “Integrity Cleanse,” Lessons from Lion Trackers, and Novel Tactics for Reducing Anxiety

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What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

Want to hear an episode with our cherished mutual friend Boyd Varty? Listen to our conversation here in which we discussed the origins of the Londolozi Game Reserve, the ancient lineage of the Shangaan trackers, the hardest animals to track, living 40 days and 40 nights in a tree, beehive algorithms, trauma recovery, ceremony work, the meaning of Ubuntu, and much more.

#571: Boyd Varty — The Lion Tracker’s Guide to Life

SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

Connect with Martha Beck:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

SHOW NOTES

[06:06] My contribution to teen atrociousness.
[06:40] Connecting with Boyd Varty.
[12:27] The path of not here.
[16:38] Finding joy in the body can save your life.
[21:17] The pregnant pause that ended Martha’s obsession with intellect.
[26:51] Sensitivity and suffering.
[30:14] The year of living lie-lessly.
[35:36] An illuminating change of perspective.
[46:14] The path to taking a black belt integrity cleanse.
[49:42] Owning your right to say “No.”
[53:45] Alternatives to “No” that remain honest.
[57:11] The language of candor.
[59:30] Ending relationships that have run their course.
[01:00:37] The Asian influence.
[01:04:26] Sweet or savory?
[01:05:36] Are you comfortable?
[01:07:29] Want vs. yearning and jumping the track.
[01:20:36] Rhino ruminations.
[01:22:06] The Tao Te Ching, Stephen Mitchell, and Byron Katie.
[01:33:19] America’s Goethe?
[01:36:20] Weighing kryptonite against superpowers.
[01:44:50] Exploring the opposite of anxiety.
[01:56:38] Dick Schwartz and Internal Family Systems.
[02:01:57] Compassion even for the self’s unwanted pieces.
[02:04:20] Favorite animal.
[02:08:58] Equine therapy.
[02:15:06] Selling the ranch.
[02:18:05] The monkey whisperer.
[02:20:05] Parting thoughts.

MORE MARTHA BECK QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW

“It’s never true to hate yourself or to condemn yourself.”

— Martha Beck

“There’s a level beyond just telling the truth, and it is called compassion—and it’s truer.”

— Martha Beck

“When you’re saying ‘Get away, I don’t want you,’ the part of you that does insomnia and depression goes into a panic because it’s now being told it can’t belong. You don’t want it, you’ve rejected it. It ups the ante, and all it knows how to do is keep you awake and make you depressed.”

— Martha Beck

“I said being creative is the opposite of anxiety, but you can’t get to creativity if you don’t start with acceptance and compassion and simple kindness toward the self, toward the parts of the self that are doing the things you can’t stand.”

— Martha Beck

“When you realize that nature is available to you as a companion if you just tell the truth, it really is worth giving everything else up.”

— Martha Beck

“I remembered Emerson’s statement that ‘beauty is its own excuse for being,’ and I thought, ‘Joy is its own excuse for being.’ That is the one thing I can experience that makes it worth sticking around for the suffering this life entails. So I shifted my entire life toward a sort of very simple test: does it bring me joy or does it not? And joy became the track I was following.”

— Martha Beck

“The essential self yearns. The social self wants.”

— Martha Beck

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Ayesha Macon

18 days ago

Hi! Lovely conversation. I am attempting to find the drawing websites you discuss. I told a patient about it and he is very interested in trying it out. BUT I can’t find the links in the show notes… Also, as a random aside, inquiring minds are very curious about Martha’s anesthesia experience…. do we know the med? We’re betting on Ketamine!

Admin

Team Tim Ferriss

17 days ago

Reply to Ayesha Macon

Hi, Ayesha –

Are these the exercises you’re looking for?

https://www.mos.org/leonardo/activities/mirror-writing.html
https://line-of-action.com/practice-tools/figure-drawing

Best,

William Murray

27 days ago

This was a stunning conversation, and had me repeatedly in tears. One of the very best that I have had the pleasure to listen to. There is a deep resonance between you two, and it was a joy to share in it.

Diana Oehrli

26 days ago

Great interview. I normally don’t comment here. The only correction I have is that Dr. Jud Brewer’s research at Brown U is all about curiosity as a tool to help with anxiety and cravings. It’s something that Martha Beck should know. Curiosity is something that has been studied!

kathleenannette

24 days ago

This episode was incredible! As a non-hunter, animal tracking has never even piqued my interest until listening to you and Martha talk about all of the ways that tracking parallels life and the work of tracking joy. Thank you Tim for the research and heart you put into every single podcast!

Molly W.

23 days ago

The concept of not lying as a way to free oneself and live a happier life was important for me — also one that I will have to work on slowly. I like the idea of starting with a journal.
Thinking about this made me realize how many little lies I tell every day because I think it makes my life easier or makes my interactions with others easier.
It made me realize how much falseness I’ve built into my life.
Even the idea of moving away from that provides a sense of levity.

Peter Clausman

19 days ago

This one blew me away. So many parts resonated deeply and gave insights and even more importantly it gave acknowledgement and encouragement to follow a deeper intuition. Thanks Martha for all the sharing and reminding us of the path of joy. Beautiful segment was when Martha asked Tim about the way his brains work. The cherry on top was Tim mentioning the book ‘Trickster makes this world – about art & mischief’ by Lewis Hyde.
Please continu this work!

Anne R.

Fantastic interview from start to finish. Thank you, both! By the way, when Martha talked about Parts, and also getting out of your left brain and modifying beliefs to positive possibilities… this is how hypnotherapy works, and it can work very quickly. The trance part of hypnotherapy lets you get out of your left brain (or conscious, critical self) to realize other possible ways of being or reacting: jumping the tracks. Just like the feelings we yearn for, it’s not easy to measure in the lab which, unfortunately, makes it seem rather woo-woo, but neuroscientists are starting to be able to record physiological shifts that take place under hypnosis (and meditation). So perhaps, just like historians shone a light on the nonsensical rhetoric of the Mormon Apologists, scientists will also unveil the mechanisms of hypnotic trance in therapy and make it more available, and less freaky, to society at large.

Lindsay J

13 days ago

This episode had so many gems and so many things that resonated with me. She is so authentic and beautiful.
One- I also did the psychological tests and was AWFUL with remembering digits.. lowest scores as well. But also have an innate ability to mimic tones, animals, and accents. To the point where I accidentally pick up people’s accents if I talk to them too long or watch too many French films. Our brains are built from the same matter and synapses it appears!
Two- baking is the most OCD thing and it is the only way I can cook. I can bake with precision because.. rules. And decorate with intense focus and creativity because.. it’s a release from the rules.
My podcast notes are a mess and will have to give this a listen again to retain all the goodies for life and hopefully helping my therapy clients! Thank you for the inspiration to track joy and make art. (And track the opossums and fence lizards in my yard, alas no cheetahs or rhinos roaming free in Texas) Cheers! Beautiful episode!