Welcome to the Gathering Pod, the audio version of my weekly gathering room broadcast. I'm Martha Beck.

How are you, everybody? How are the peoples? It's so good to see you. I have been having so much fun

and so much anguish lately, but not anguish of any kind you should worry about.

I'll tell you all about it.

So I'm writing a book about how to reduce anxiety, yes?

Part of reducing anxiety is that you activate creativity.

In order to be in integrity, see my last book, I feel that I have to live the things that I, you know,

suggest for other people. So I've been doing creativity and I decided that I would get up every

day and I would draw or paint for a while because as a kid, I drew and painted, I drew and painted.

I had a bit of a fear. I have to tell you. That's a very

useful phrase, by the way. In our family, if you get a fear, you say, wait, I have a fear. And the fear

could be anything. I'm afraid that when you smile that way, you're really just trying to tell me I'm

not good enough or whatever it is. Anyway, I had a fear. And the fear was that if I started

drawing and painting, it would be like opening Pandora's box because there was something that

made me paint and draw. And it wasn't like demons, but it's very, very intense for me as a kid.

So I had stopped drawing as a responsible adult,

except when I wanted to put something on the wall

or do something for a special project.

But I decided I was gonna draw and paint the way I did as a kid

just for fun every day.

So I was absolutely right. I was proven right.

I got up every day.

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