Do you enjoy setting goals but have a harder time reaching them?

In this episode of Bewildered, Martha and Ro talk about how to travel from where we are in life to where we want to be?and how our cultural conditioning often trips us up.

Instead of the relentless pace of work we're taught is necessary to achieve our goals, Martha and Ro offer a sustainable approach rooted in joy. 

For their insights on setting goals and moving toward them in a way that nourishes your soul, don't miss the full conversation!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Procrastination. We?ve all been there. 

In this episode of Bewildered, Martha and Ro explore why we procrastinate (hint: cultural conditioning strikes again) and how we can find our way out of it by listening to?and negotiating with?the wild parts of ourselves that are in revolt.

It?s a conversation full of insights and highly effective tools?including a real-time coaching session with Martha and Ro and a guided exercise to help you negotiate your way out of procrastination?so you won?t want to miss it!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Many of us buy into the cultural idea that there is only one way to parent, and if we do it correctly, things will turn out okay, and everyone will approve of us. But when grown children leave home, parents don’t get to keep the identity they held for so long, and that can feel scary. On this episode of Bewildered, Martha and Ro discuss the challenges of launching grown-up children and finding a new identity. If you?re a parent?or someone who has had parents?this thought-provoking episode is for you!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can we be free from the culture if we still use language? That?s the question Martha and Ro discuss in this episode of Bewildered. While we are all encased in the language we learned as children, when we learn a new language, we become aware that language is arbitrary and always evolving?and no one language can give a complete picture. Listen to the full conversation for Martha and Ro?s entertaining breakdown of language, including ways we can step outside culture to use language as a creative tool.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Blowing up your life?why such violent imagery?

Martha and Rowan say it’s because the culture is so powerful you need an explosion to break out of it! 

On this BeWild Files episode of Bewildered, they talk about making the decision to upend your life and the criticism we face when our choices don?t match the culture?s expectations.

It’s a conversation about how language shapes culture, how to find value in all experience, and the price we pay for living on the frontiers (where the magic is). Don’t miss it!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The culture believes there?s always a single right choice, and if you don’t make that right choice, you could end up wasting your whole life. So is it any wonder a lot of us freeze in panic when faced with making a decision?

On this BeWild Files episode of Bewildered, Martha and Ro talk about how we can move past “decision paralysis” to find guidance in the liminal spaces, and how doing nothing is, in fact, something. For a wild new way to view decision-making, don’t miss this insightful conversation!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Martha and Ro are back with another BeWild Files episode of Bewildered to discuss things that YOU, their listeners, are trying to figure out.

This episode is all about codependency?sacrificing your own needs for those of someone else?behavior that can lead to exhaustion, resentment, even illness. And yet, our culture calls it “virtuous.”

The good news? We can unhook from codependency to create relationships in alignment with our true nature. If you’ve ever felt like an over-giver, this episode is for you!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our culture stresses that we should never, ever give up on anything, no matter what the cost to our happiness or health. Yet our bodies have a way of telling us when something isn’t right?first in a whisper but eventually, a scream.

On this episode of Bewildered, Martha and Ro advocate for what they call “caving early”?giving up the moment you sense something isn’t right for you. (That’s right, you can quit!)

If you’ve ever struggled with giving up, you won’t want to miss this liberating conversation.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Martha and Rowan have a very special guest on this episode of Bewildered?the incredible Elizabeth Gilbert! 

The bestselling author of EAT PRAY LOVE joins Martha and Ro to discuss the question: Why is our culture so hostile toward women who are single and childless by choice? 

What follows is an engrossing conversation about the lies that benefit the patriarchy, the saving grace of oversensitivity, and how to trust the wisdom of the body to guide us to our truth. It’s an episode you will not want to miss!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s that time again on Bewildered…Martha and Ro are bringing you another installment of The BeWild Files, where they talk about things that YOU, their listeners, are trying to figure out.

In this episode they dive into questions from listeners Judy, Bryony, and Annette about masculinity and the pursuit of peace, how to explore identity beyond the binary, and the difference between wanting a house and longing for home. It’s a conversation full of deep thoughts (and belly laughs), so be sure to listen!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Culture teaches us to strive for stability?and that once we have it, we’re never meant to change. But in nature, everything is always changing, including us.

In this episode of Bewildered, Martha and Rowan explore the fascinating process of letting go of an old self to become a new one and the undefined “space for dreaming” that exists in between. 

Don?t miss this insightful and entertaining conversation about following your curiosity down the rabbit hole so you can become who you’re truly meant to be.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Martha and Rowan are taking a brief break, but the podcast is still here for you! This week we have another "Best of Bewildered" episode for you to enjoy.

Why is it that sometimes when life looks most amazing, it often feels so?meh?

Martha and Ro dig into the difference between a life that?s prescribed by culture and one that we invent from our inner wild selves. Instead of embarking on ?adventures? based on cultural consensus, we can come to our senses to end up with the best possible experiences.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Martha and Rowan are taking a brief break, but the podcast is still here for you! You can enjoy a couple of our "Best of Bewildered" episodes?starting with this one!

We all have some kind of beauty or wisdom inside of us, but ?perfection paralysis? often stops us from sharing it.

In this episode, Martha and Ro offer insights into how you can get past perfection paralysis, what the opposite of perfection is, and why sharing your work with the world is not only a selfless act but a moral imperative!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Freedom. Many of us value it above everything else?so why does it sometimes feel so terrifying?

In this episode of Bewildered, Martha and Rowan talk about how the culture teaches us to fear freedom?that to be safe we must do what is expected of us. But this kind of ?safety? is murder to the soul.

With uncanny insight (and plenty of humor), they explore how we can opt out of culture, embrace our freedom, and live in integrity with our true purpose. It's an existential deep-dive you won't want to miss!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When it comes to parenting, culture comes on strong. There are so many contradictory opinions out there, and the judgmental attacks on parents come fast and furious about every little thing.

Under this kind of pressure, how can parents raise happy kids who follow their own true nature?

That?s the question Martha and Ro explore in this episode of Bewildered, and their insightful conversation brings instant pressure relief. For anyone who is a parent (or has had a parent!), you won't want to miss this one!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Have you ever found yourself answering ?I?m fine? when the exact opposite was true?

Toxic positivity, or what Martha and Ro call ?happy-washing,? is the cultural pressure to force ourselves into a state of performative happiness.

In this episode of Bewildered, Martha and Ro explore what really happens when we stop happy-washing, let go of culture, and come back to our true nature to express the bad and the ugly as well as the good.

So listen in and get in touch with your inner complainer. It?s liberating!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A gracious German author once asked Martha if she was ?a messy? after seeing the disorderly state of her hotel room. (She?d been frantically searching through her luggage moments before.)

But is being "a messy" a permanent label that defines us?

On this episode of Bewildered, Martha and Rowan delve into the dichotomy of mess vs. order and the beauty to be found in chaos.

Tune in for insights on how to step away from culture and tap into nature to find a more fluid relationship with both mess and order.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is enough ever truly enough?

In this episode of Bewildered, Martha and Rowan examine our culture's pursuit of "enough"?a pursuit that never satisfies because it never ends.

Drawing on Asian philosophy, their own helpful (and often hilarious) stories, and the occasional anecdote from the animal kingdom, Martha and Ro argue that "enough" may not even exist?and reveal what we're all starving for instead.

Tune in for their refreshing reframe of "enough" and how we can bring this concept back into our lives.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Did you know anxiety disorders have risen 400% since the pandemic?

(And that's just the diagnosed cases.)

The cultural idea is that we're victims of our chemistry. But when it comes to anxiety, we have a lot more choices than we might think.

In this episode of Bewildered, Martha and Ro talk about anxiety and its tendency to hack around any cultural solutions we throw at it. They also share the answers to be found in nature and the right side of the brain.

It's a fascinating episode you won't want to miss!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is the culture trying to pull the wool over our eyes about time?

(Spoiler alert: YES.)

In this episode of Bewildered, Martha and Rowan explore the concept of time and our complex relationship with it.

From the ?rubber time? of non-Western cultures, to the experience of ?premembering? events that haven?t happened yet, to Einstein's theory that time is just an illusion, Martha and Ro cover it all.

It's a time-bending episode you won't want to miss?it may even blow your mind!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Every culture has what Martha and Ro refer to as ?hooks??powerful influences that compel us to behave a certain way and that even shape our identity. How much we buy into the culture determines the extent to which we become stuck on these hooks.

In this episode, Martha and Ro dive deep to explore the cultural hooks that often pull us away from our true purpose. They also offer insights on how we can free ourselves to seek a more authentic way of being.

It's an enlightening conversation you won't want to miss!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

They?re back! Martha and Ro are bringing you another installment of The BeWild Files where they talk about the things that YOU, their listeners, are trying to figure out.

In this episode, Martha and Ro answer questions about how to make money with integrity when you're in a hurry, how to become more creative and less critical when leading teams, and how nature helps us take intentional rest when we truly need it. It's a liberating episode about abandoning culture for creativity, and you won't want to miss it!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Do you strive for perfection? Or does the need to be perfect prevent you from striving?

We all have some kind of beauty or wisdom inside of us, but ?perfection paralysis? often stops us from sharing it. In this episode of Bewildered, Marty and Ro offer different perspectives on perfectionism and talk about its antagonistic relationship with creativity.

Tune in for insights on how to get past perfection paralysis, what the opposite of perfection is, and why sharing your work with the world is a selfless act!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Back by popular demand! In this episode, Marty and Ro deliver another installment of The BeWild Files where they talk about the things that you, their listeners, are trying to figure out.

Marty and Ro discuss the importance of contrarians and counterculture to the culture as a whole (and also to our own inner culture), the concept of sin as a tool of control, and how joy is key to accessing our creativity?and solving big problems. It's another episode full of insights (and absurdity) you won't want to miss!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shame. It?s a powerful tool for socialization and the strategy culture uses to keep us in its little box. In this episode of Bewildered, Marty and Ro dissect the ways we can be shamed and how we can move away from that into what feels true for ourselves.

We all have those areas in life where we?re vulnerable to shame, but we also have areas where we can never be shamed. Tune in to this illuminating episode for insights to help you stand up to the culture, return to your own wild truth, and become unshamable.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You spoke, and Marty and Ro listened: they?re pioneering a new type of episode featuring things that YOU, their listeners, are trying to figure out. Introducing?The BeWild Files.

In this episode (which contains more factoids than you probably care to know about the private anatomy of various animals) they discuss different modes of viewing our life choices and the importance of rituals around change. They even come up with a few ceremony ideas. Don't miss this off-the-cuff, unfiltered conversation?it's WILD!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some of us have plenty of energy to meet every cultural demand, but most of us have less. Enter Spoon Theory, Christine Miserandino?s brilliant analogy in which every action we take costs us a unit of energy represented by a spoon. Our culture is invested in what Ro and Martha call ?Spoon Privilege,? whereby people who naturally have a lot of energy (or ?spoons?) tend to set the standard that comes to be considered normal.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sleep: it?s not just for wimps and sissies.

Until Martha and Ro dug into the topic of this podcast?the innocent little universal need for SLEEP?they didn't realize how much of a cultural minefield sleep is. There is SO MUCH sleep-shaming going on.

They discuss the science of sleep, and all the ways that the culture is WHACK on this topic. Sleep makes us learn, makes us smarter, makes us heal, makes us competent humans. And yet, the story that ?sleep is for the weak? endures. We have to come to our senses!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why is it that sometimes when life looks most amazing, it often feels so?meh? Martha and Ro dig into the difference between a life that?s prescribed by culture, and one that we invent from our inner wild selves. Ro offers us the concept of a Wild INventure?an adventure we dream up from within, something thrilling and bold that is also uniquely our own. Instead of embarking on ?adventures? that are really nothing but cultural consensus, we come to our senses and end up with the best possible experiences.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode Martha and Ro talk about the ?ultimate spiritual lifehack? for dealing with other human beings. Conflict is everywhere, and you can?t win enough arguments to ever escape the culture of argument itself. So Martha and Ro suggest a process of ?ghosting? this part of the culture. The solution? It?s all about empty boats! Listen for insight, giggles, and a guest appearance by Buffy the Vampire Slayer?s stake!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Ro and Martha talk about a disheartening phenomenon that can happen when you bring your truest truth into the world. Instead of positive or negative feedback, some people just won?t get you. This non-response is weirdly hard, but we can still come to our senses.

Also covered in this fun-filled ep: Martha?s love-hate relationship with Siri, and for the first time Ro and Martha answer questions from bewildered listeners!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Martha and Ro reveal that they?ve both had ?coming out? moments as mystics: people who seek to commune with, unite with, and understand ?the mystery.? Both have had many inexplicable experiences, and they sustain a willing suspension of disbelief about all things magical. Ro urges listeners to remember that we don't have to reject science or reject magic, but we DO have to reject the idea that those things are mutually exclusive.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When a listener reports that this podcast allows her to ?be more eccentrically myself," Martha and Ro dive into the topic of individual nonconformity. Going out into the world as your full and genuine self, how can you be brave enough to be weird? When you break the rules of the culture, you may experience tribal shaming or social betrayal. Martha suggests behavior tweaks and mindset shifts that can fortify your bravery when you want to be your weirdest self but fear the repercussions.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Returning to activities that we?ve temporarily abandoned?due to, say, a global pandemic?brings a whole slew of challenges. Do we do things how we used to, even though we?ve changed fundamentally as people? If not, how can we approach our old work, habits, or hobbies in new ways? In this conversation, Martha and Ro unpack ?the tyranny of how it's done? and offer advice on checking in with your senses before getting back on the horse and riding off in the wrong direction.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Has anyone ever told you that a particular life-changing app or journaling technique will help you get a handle on everything in your life? If so, Martha and Ro would like to inform you that they were LYING! Life is overwhelming, and no calendar or tool will change that. We can no more ?stay on top of everything? than we can control the universe. Tune in as our hosts use examples from Confucianism, body surfing, and landscape architecture to show us the value of letting go, heeding nature, and being fluid.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Adulting is hard. So why is everyone on social media doing it SO MUCH BETTER than we are? In this funny and heartfelt episode, Martha and Ro unpack the comparison trap and remind us to define ourselves by ourselves. Martha points out that comparison sets us up to feel shame and misery and that it?s a force unique to certain Western cultures. Ro suggests realigning our points of reference and offers a remarkably effective exercise to help us recalibrate around our true selves.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stuff, things, objects, physical belongings. We need them to live our lives, but they can feel like SUCH a burden! In this episode of BEWILDERED, Martha and Ro examine our collective desire to accumulate stuff, which conflicts with our instinct to feel wild, unfettered, and free. Our hosts explain how nonstop shopping is a cultural trap and offer some simple tips to escape it. Many of us feel a bewildering need to buy, have, and keep, but when we reconnect with our beWILDered selves, we remember the beauty of open space.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A podcast for people who are trying to figure it out. Join Martha Beck and Rowan Mangan for help figuring out everyday conundrums. If you?re bewildered, join us!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do we justify resting in a world that wants us in constant motion? Martha and Ro address this question with compassion and irreverence, digging into the cultural context of human exhaustion. They explain that we work our fingers to the bone because we think productivity makes us good people. But rest isn?t a luxury, it?s an imperative! And when we learn to be WILD?embracing unscheduled time, the power of choice, and naps?we find balance. Martha urges us to chase joy with abandon and rest without guilt.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Martha and Ro dive into an eternal creative conundrum: how to manage inner criticism. They explore ways to quiet the voice of your destructive inner critic, making way for the discerning inner critic who can improve your work. You?ll learn how Martha and Ro each navigate constructive self-criticism and get some insightful guidance from Martha about how to quell the fear (which is the source of self-doubt).

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Productivity addicts! You don't have to burn your to-do list... but in this episode of Bewildered, Martha and Ro explore the manic edge of productivity fever and how we can all come back to our senses ? without having to ignore what needs to get done. Find out about "mixed pleasures," learn an exercise to release physical anxiety, and hear all the reasons why you need more oxytocin in your life.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the very first episode of the Bewildered podcast, Martha and Ro unpack the importance of embracing our WILDNESS. Now, running naked through the woods has its charms, but wildness takes many *forms, including mindful rebellion against conformity. Our hosts share their circuitous journeys from the bewilderment of culture?s consensus to the beWILDerment of their natural senses. Ro challenges our notions of happiness, and Martha shares an exercise to help us find our way back to our true selves.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.