Throughout her 62 years of life, best-selling author Martha Beck has tried many things to calm the anxiety that has plagued her since childhood.
The Harvard-trained sociologist experimented with therapy, medication, self-compassion practices, and hours of meditation.
Then, as collective anxiety spiked during the coronavirus pandemic, Beck combed through scientific research on anxiety while teaching an online course on creativity, which led to a thrilling discovery. The idea was that anxiety and creativity are inversely related. Turning one on turns the other off.
“It was really one of those aha moments,” Beck, who is also Oprah Winfrey’s go-to life coach, said in an interview. “So I just walked around the room and said, ‘I don’t need to be anxious anymore.’ I know how to shut it down.”
Shelf Help is a wellness column that interviews researchers, thinkers, and writers about their latest books with the goal of helping you learn how to live a more complete life.
Even if you don’t consider yourself to be creative, you can tap into this innate ability of the human brain to live less anxiously and more connected and joyfully, says Beck in her new book, Beyond Anxiety. “Curiosity, Creativity, and Self-Discovery.” The Purpose of Life” (Penguin Random House).
Beck spoke to the Times about how to tell the lie of anxiety, how to engage the creative side of your brain, and why our anxiety is tied to the structure of the economy.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
How did you notice the connection between creativity and anxiety?
I started using a technique in the book that I call KIST (Kind Inner Self-Talk). It is a form of Tibetan self-compassion meditation. I quietly said to myself: “I hope you are happy.” I hope you are safe. I hope you feel safe. May you be protected. ”And like water trickling in in a drought situation, I focused on that dripping water without anxiety.
Martha Beck, author of Beyond Anxiety
(Photo courtesy of Rowan Mangan)
And I’ve found that just by using gentle self-talk, I can calm my clients down within five minutes, once they learn to focus on what makes them happy. Then I added the creative part. Let’s start with kindness. Be kind to yourself so that you can be kind to everyone. Return to kindness and your anxiety will subside. But because we basically live in a world of structures where anxiety in our brains is externalized, unless we are firmly anchored to something else, the moment we come in contact with the world, we become anxious again. You’ll get caught up in it. The other thing is creativity.
So kindness brings us peace, and instead of saying, “What can I do now?” Ask yourself, “What can I make now?” That shift leads you to curiosity, to the part of your brain that connects things and solves mysteries, and unleashes your creativity. It opens you up, but anxiety closes you down and constricts you.
“Instead of saying, ‘What can I do now?’ ask yourself, ‘What can I create now?’ That shift leads you to curiosity, to the part of your brain that connects things and solves mysteries, and you become creative. ”
— Martha Beck, author of Beyond Anxiety.
You say, “Anxiety is always present.” How do we know that anxiety is a lie?
Fear is a natural response to something threatening in the environment. If you see something scary, like someone pointing a gun at you or a bear, you’ll get a very distinct high-energy jolt that says, “Do this.” That’s very dramatic, but we don’t need it often.
But we are always anxious because anxiety is not about what is here. It’s about what we think might be there someday, maybe, somewhere. Therefore, there is no limit to it. You can’t rest because it’s not real. Everything we fear will not happen now is self-deception. It’s an innocent lie, but it’s still saying we should be scared. And if you’re telling yourself, “I should be afraid,” when there’s nothing to be afraid of, that’s not the truth of your situation. It’s not real. That’s why anxiety is always there.
Your insight in this book is that neuroanatomist Jill states that the brain’s right hemisphere is the home of creativity, compassion, and peace, while the analytical, linear left hemisphere is where anxiety resides. -Based on the research of Bolt Taylor. Why aren’t we always in the right hemisphere when we hear so much better there?
One problem is that the right brain can’t track time. We live in a world that requires scheduling and time measurement, where people have anxiety, and where everything boils down to money. We all engage in this pursuit of money, which is the backbone of society, and it is fundamentally driven by anxiety.
Cover of Beyond Anxiety: Curiosity, Creativity, and Finding Your Purpose in Life by Martha Beck
(Penguin Random House)
Is this why you say we need a new economic system to support a more right-brained life? What would that look like?
We are witnessing an economy where familiar structures are disintegrating. Our model is a rigid pyramid of wealth and power, from the very rich at the top to the poor at the bottom. That is culture. The culture is very left-brained. Nature takes its place. Everything in nature exists within an ecosystem. All living things need space. Energy like sunlight. and water, which is the basis of all life on earth. And an ecosystem is born. If in doubt, don’t clean your refrigerator for a month and take a look inside to see what has evolved.
People can build economic ecosystems around themselves. That energy is actually desire. You have a natural desire to fulfill your destiny. Water is your creativity. This is what you need to shape your destiny and take the next step forward, and you start making things. And that space is our time. The idea is to identify your true desires and give yourself enough time to create them no matter what happens. I think it’s like not cleaning your fridge for a few weeks. A system of values begins to appear in your life and it begins to spread.
There’s never been a more important time to stop anchoring yourself to crumbling structures and start investigating your natural curiosity. If I could just give myself that space and kindness and just start thinking quietly, “What can I create?” It will be very interesting.
Main points
From “The Other Side of Anxiety”
What about people who claim they have no creativity?
When NASA tested adults to see how many creative geniuses they could recruit, they found that 2% of adults were rated as creative geniuses. So someone decided to test 4 and 5 year olds and found that 98% of them were creative geniuses. So, somewhere along the way, our creative genius gets suppressed. When you can be as creative as a 4- or 5-year-old, it’s pure fun. I have no judgment.
Therefore, you need to incorporate the element of kindness again and again. I have a friend who puts together jigsaw puzzles, which she finds calming and soothing. That’s how she does her art. If you cook, you’re doing art, especially when it comes to taste. When you plant a garden, you are doing art. Throwing a dinner party means creating something. You’re making a sandwich, you’re creating. We humans are all incredibly creative all the time.
Many people are so physically and mentally exhausted that they don’t feel like being creative. This is what your recipe for life should be. Rest until you want to play, play until you want to rest, and repeat.
In your book, you write, “I choose to focus on the things that make my life enjoyable and meaningful.” Sounds simple, but why is this so difficult?
Because your anxious brain tells you that it’s safer to be afraid all the time. Nothing is wrong now, but someday there will be, so you should be scared. You’ll be more productive if you’re scared. But every test they’ve done on creative problem solving shows that you can’t do it if you’re scared. It’s just a lie of anxiety that’s pervasive throughout society, and we all agree, “yes, we should be very worried.” In a society where everything needs to be monetized and attention is so important, you can get attention by scaring someone.
So many people feel insecure because their lives are full of demands, whether it’s work, relationships, or family. How can we foster a right-brained approach in such an atmosphere?
When anxiety increases, it becomes unbearable. That’s how I found my way to inspiration through meditation. And in situations of confusion, distress, and confusion, the motivation to seek it out is even greater.
What I love about gentle inner self-talk is that when you bring a little gentleness into the equation, you start to become like Hafiz, one of my favorite Persian poets. Part of the poem he wrote reads: Then stay with me, because I’m not. ”The kindness you give to yourself will soon begin to be felt by others. And this will make all interpersonal relationships more gentle and mutually affirming. It puts you on a spiral of creativity. It’s not just about calming down. That becomes creative. That makes it generative. And if you have a practical problem to solve, you don’t want to panic. Practical, interpersonal, and personal problems will improve if you let go of your fears, find kindness, and work on what you can do. And we become addicted to living that way, completely transcending anxiety and never having to go back.
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