Triggering curiosity to take you out of anxiety and into joy

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Not everything I wrote for my upcoming book, Beyond Anxiety, could be included in the final manuscript. Some parts had to be cut—that’s just the nature (or culture) of publishing. However, I can still share them with you here!

Fresh from the cutting-room floor, the following is about two distinct kinds of curiosity and how to ignite the one that makes you feel good. Enjoy.

According to psychologist Jordan Litman, curiosity comes in two flavors. One is “deprivation curiosity,” a worried need to know that stems from lacking enough information to feel safe. The other, which Litman labeled “interest curiosity,” comes from a sense of wanting to […]

Every Step Can Win the Race

I’ve watched a lot of races recently: Olympic races, political races, and of course, various rat races so many of us run just to survive in this difficult world.

I’ve spent a lot of my life joining various races, trying to win things like academic degrees, bestseller status, and financial success. I’ve coached many race-winners, including top athletes, business tycoons, and movie stars.

Here’s what I’ve learned: Grabbing the gold medal, the highest rank, the Oscar (or whatever), will give you a burst of pleasure. But within weeks, days, or even a few short hours, you’ll feel pretty much the way [...]

Reawakening Your Original Genius

“I have good news and bad news,” said the researcher who’d just analyzed my brain scans. “The bad news is that you have ADHD. The good news is, it’s treatable.”

“Really?” I said. “I have attention deficit disorder? But…I have no trouble paying attention. Sometimes I pay so much attention to whatever I’m doing that I accidentally stay up all night.”

“That’s called hyperfocus,” he explained. “You pay too much attention to some things, and not enough to others. You have what we call an ‘interest-based’ nervous system—you pay more attention to things that interest you than to things that don’t.”

“Wait,” [...]

The Integrity Cleanse for Beginners

I recently had the chance to speak with the incredible Tim Ferriss for an episode of “The Tim Ferriss Show”—and our conversation was so absorbing it lasted two and a half hours!

Tim is a highly creative and unusual thinker who’s been well known for ages for his book The 4-Hour Work Week.

We talked about my upcoming book, Beyond Anxiety, and also discussed The Way of Integrity as Tim wanted to know more about my “Integrity Cleanse” and how to do one.

Living in integrity means expressing and doing what’s true for you in all situations. Departing from your truth in [...]

Turning Away from Anxiety

If you’re like most people, you’re feeling a bit anxious. Anxiety is skyrocketing all over the world, and I’ve spent the last couple of years focusing intensely on it.

Truth be told, I’ve spent most of my life focusing intensely on anxiety, because I’ve always been an anxious person. On most days, I’d wake up panting and shedding like a scared terrier. I still do, sometimes. But now I know how to stop.

I’ve written a whole book about this (Beyond Anxiety, due out in January 2025) but in the process I learned a lot of tricks and hacks. My favorite [...]

Magic at the Corner of Intention and Invention

I recently went to Costa Rica for the first time. Twice.

Of course that’s not literally true. There’s only one first time for everything. But something happened in regard to this adventure that I’ve noticed many times, in many areas of my life. Things magically double up.

Here’s how this goes: I feel a strong pull to do something, usually for no apparent reason. After daydreaming about it for a while, I set out to make it happen. Then, circumstances seem to arrange themselves to give me the thing I’ve just created for myself. It ends up coming to me two [...]

Lessons from Hadestown . . .

I recently had the chance to see Hadestown, a Broadway re-telling of an ancient Greek myth. Spoiler alert: I’m going to tell you the ending, but it’s been out of the bag for thousands of years, so I don’t feel too bad about it.

The story follows a young man named Orpheus, whose girlfriend, Eurydice, gets swept off to hell by Hades, god of the underworld. When Orpheus follows her, Hades makes them a deal: They can leave, but only if Orpheus walks just ahead of Eurydice and never looks back.

Hades knows that this is a particularly efficient form of [...]

Martha’s blog

Triggering curiosity to take you out of anxiety and into joy

Every Step Can Win the Race

Reawakening Your Original Genius

The Integrity Cleanse for Beginners

Turning Away from Anxiety

Magic at the Corner of Intention and Invention

Lessons from Hadestown . . .

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