This week I’m thrilled to speak with a woman whose work I’ve followed for years.

Martha Beck, PhD, is a New York Times bestselling author, life coach, speaker, and holds three degrees from Harvard University. Oprah calls her “one of the smartest women I know.” Martha walked away from the religious Mormon community she was raised in, exposed her father, and wrote about the dark secrets and hypocrisy of the Mormon church in her book Leaving the Saints. She received backlash from the church, but in the process, found her true, whole self.

In this episode, Martha and I discuss why the intellect is important, but a deeper connection to nature and with our own souls is what the world truly needs. You’ll learn how breaking away from cultural rules brings us into alignment with our true selves, and we become whole, healthy, connected individuals full of integrity.

This is a beautiful conversation heroine, one of the top interviews in all my years of doing the show.

Show Notes

- Martha on being raised as Mormon royalty due to his father’s “scholarly” work.
- Discovering the hypocrisy surrounding certain religious people, including her father.
- The intense experience of leaving the church and, with that, her family, friends, and culture.
- How she got the courage to confront the deep religious conditioning she grew up in.
- The crossroads experience of her pregnancy with her Down’s syndrome boy, Adam.
- Hear why Martha felt like she needed to unlearn everything that she was taught at Harvard.
- Why caring for a fragile life is the most-needed skill in the world right now.
- The restrictive good girl archetype as a socially constructed self for many women.
- Distinguishing between the essential self that is natural and the social self that is cultural.
- The split that happens when people believe things that are contrary to their essential self.
- Understanding that finding and claiming your true nature does not come without opposition.
- Withstanding backlash, the role of shame, and grieving the loss of cultural connection.
- Why, for Martha, life coaching is such a powerful, necessary tool for society.
- What the flip side of the Drama Triangle means for persecutors, victims, and rescuers.
- How wayfinding can help us discover our deeper purpose and navigate through the chaos.
- Find out how existing in alignment with your true nature brings you closer to the supernatural.
- The magic of the written word when we write from a powerful connection to truth.

References

Martha Beck - https://marthabeck.com/
Martha Beck on Twitter - https://twitter.com/marthabeck/
Diana, Herself: An Allegory of Awakening - https://www.amazon.com/Diana-Herself-Awakening-Bewilderment-Chronicles/dp/1944264000
Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith USA Today - https://www.amazon.com/Leaving-Saints-Mormons-Found-Faith/dp/0307335992
NPR - https://www.npr.org/
Oprah - http://www.oprah.com/index.html
Esther Perel - https://www.estherperel.com/
David Emerald - https://powerofted.com/about-david/
Stanford University - https://www.stanford.edu/
Harvard University - https://www.harvard.edu/
J.K. Rowling - https://www.jkrowling.com/