Martha N. Beck's Blog

I’m falling apart.

This has always been the case, but I’ve noticed it more lately because my family is moving. Our possessions, fresh out of cardboard boxes, are a random scatter of stuff. It’s as if our former home has dissolved.

The house we’re moving into is also dissolving. It’s old; we’ve been told that some of the foundation stones were dragged here by horses. Since then, maintenance has been…patchy. The roof, insulation, heating, and innumerable other things are in various stages of diss...

I’ve been alive quite some time now. I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain, I’ve looked at life from both sides now—are you youngsters getting these song references? The point is, I’ve been an avid observer of humanity for several decades. But I’ve never felt the sense of portent, of things-about-to-happen, I’m feeling now.

You may feel that way too. Maybe you find yourself getting tired in a way rest doesn’t fix. Confused about whether it’s wise, or even possible, to plan for the future. Braced for...

If you’re familiar with my coaching or writing, you know that I believe our living spaces tend to mirror our inner lives. 

Confusion in our minds may show up as clutter in our closets. A deep loss may be held in the space of a room no one uses any more. A new love may see us rearranging our furniture or putting flowers in every room. Everything in our living space is a metaphor.

Well, right now I’m in a house that’s been cleaned out to sell, and my family hasn’t yet found a house we hope to move...

You may have noticed that the world feels a bit like a dumpster fire these days. A dumpster fire in a nuclear waste facility. And yet, as a congenital optimist, I don’t see the chaos of our time as total ruin. It’s messy, yes—even catastrophic at times—but I also see signs of hope. Maybe even transcendence. A kind of spiritual composting is underway.

Our task is to transform the toxic waste dump into the kind of ferment that nourishes new life, new beauty, new kinds of abundance.

I met Wilson in the jungle. We spent just a few short days together. But in that brief time, Wilson became so much to me. He was a hero. A mentor. A friend. A role model. A sloth.

Okay, mostly a sloth.

When I first caught sight of Wilson, he seemed to be nothing more than a ball of fur wedged into the intersection of two tree branches. This particular tree stood near a gorgeous elevated yoga deck in a place called Imiloa, a retreat center nestled like a jewel into the lush Costa Rican jungle. My...

What if there were a simple, natural way to find your people, move in harmony with them, and navigate chaos—without exhausting yourself?

These days, if we just drift passively through the world, letting the chaos act upon us like a particularly aggressive leaf blower, we may end up becoming part of the mess. We absorb misinformation (mistaken information) and disinformation (deliberate lies). Worse, the people spreading those lies often attract massive attention and support—because of course the...

Here’s a life-coaching session in five words: Never watch a weasel dance. 

Metaphorically speaking, that is.

You see, when weasels go hunting, they locate their favorite prey—rabbits—and then, right out in the open, perform a bizarre murder dance. They flail, they leap, they spin and somersault so frenziedly they make Olympic gymnasts look kind of sluggish.

This fascinates the rabbits, who stop and stare at the dancing weasel. They’re so amazed that they just sit there, unmoving, as the weasel j...

I didn’t start out to be a “life coach.” I’d always longed to do some good in the world, but basically, I was just trying to create a meaningful, authentic life for myself. I was startled when people began asking me to teach them the methods I’d devised to cope with my own personal and professional challenges.

I see life coaching as something that arose from a gap in the culture where things began changing so quickly that traditional institutions couldn’t keep up. People didn...

Our world is changing more rapidly than ever, and old institutions and patterns of life that we’ve been trained to believe in are being uprooted. Life coaching sprang up in response to the deep need people have for support and guidance through tumultuous times like these—and the demand for coaches has never been higher.

As a Harvard-trained sociologist, bestselling author, and veteran life coach, I’ve witnessed this growing demand through my own coaching practice and my...

Now that you’re familiar with the Wayfinder archetype—and perhaps feel you may be a Wayfinder yourself—let’s explore how to find the right life coach for you.

Before searching for a coach, take some time to reflect on what you hope to achieve through coaching. Are you looking to improve your career, relationships, or personal growth? Understanding your goals will help you find a coach whose expertise and life experience ali...