The Gathering Room: Your Best Next Step

There’s a saying Martha likes that goes, “A hundred years before you were born, God drew a circle around the place you're standing now."

In other words, you are here because you are meant to be here—but from this place, you can literally go in any direction!

So what is the best next step for you to take? That’s what Martha is talking about on this episode of The Gathering Room podcast.

She shares all of the things she’s been “nerding out” over in her quest to discover her best next step: the adjacent possible, liquid networks, and what Dylan Thomas called “the force that through the green fuse drives the flower.”

The “adjacent possible” means something that can happen but hasn’t happened yet, and we humans are in an adjacent possible right now—it’s possible to fix everything that is broken, given the technologies we have and the ideas that we come up with.

Martha says that when there's a big thing that wants to happen, the information and ideas necessary to come up with it are hidden in a kind of mosaic: We’re all equipped with different fragments that only make sense when we come together.

“Whenever I am close to a best next step,” she says, “the hair on my arms prickles a lot. I feel sort of guided to certain books. I get obsessed with songs and I look them up and the lyrics give me ideas, and I am drawn to certain other people.”

Martha shares how to sense when something wonderful is coming—something delicious and delightful and exhilarating and new that you've been preparing for your whole life—and allow the intelligence of nature to show you your best next step toward it.

If you’re ready to take that best next step, be sure to tune in for the full episode, where Martha also shares the best next step she’s most excited about in her own life. Don’t miss it!

[Tokoboko]

You are my hero! I went from not believing anyone can ever be happy (so what’s the point of trying) to finally finding little glimmers of joy. Thankyou for entering my life!

[kathleengeraty]

Oooooh! Martha! Please keep sharing your “nerd.” Just what I need. And SO grateful you “have to share” in your “nerdiness.” I need you. I need this community & we all are in this together! 🤩🙏🏼💟

[bluebutterflywellness]

This is interesting...I just learned of you yestrday while listening to the Andrew Huberman podcast. From that conversation I began to watch other related clips you were in and you picqued my interest, so I subbed to see your latest videos. Incidentally, last night I was awakened with the concept of creating networks and their synergistic power. This is somewhat surprising because I would probably be best described as a lone wolf.  However throughout this day I have been receiving confirmations on the exponential power of growth through networks even as I'm going about my chores of gardening and weeding. Currently my yard is being innundated with a weed that proliferates through a wide network and is taking over the grass. So to now hear this message is really blowing my mind and encouraging me that I am literally at the best next step in my life Thank you for putting this out and allowing me to hear it to be encouraged and excited.

[unmred]

You are not too nerdy. I adored this topic.

[gw]

I recently made a huge mistake in my life guided by emotional dysregulation and anger. All the while, afterwards, I discovered my path to joy. So here I am suffering from the consequences of my past while desperately paving forward to my future and ultimately it feels the most gratifying to just laugh at it all, as insane as that may be. Definitely prevents me from falling into this pit the energy from this situation pushes me towards. I am so incredibly grateful to be living in a time where a good perspective is easy to access. Life pretends to be so serious, but she is actually quite a comedian! I'm here for it. Best wishes, and thank you.

[ducky-mg]

Sending everyone good energy :) You rock, Martha, and everyone listening.

[jeanbaardsen]

Seeing your t-shirt filled me with joy! I also signed up for the Wilder notification. "Expecting Adam" is one of my favorite books. Thank you, Martha.

[MarjanChapi]

The whole episode was good news for me to be honest. I'm on the right flow 🤸🏽‍♀️

[artofkindnessonlinegallery]

8:57 from one woo woo nerd to another, I’m tracking your every word Martha!

[MartiJoFromItaly]

Thanks for the inspiration! You’re always my go-to guru of joy and optimism!

[lucindawilson]

thanks again Martha food for thought.bless you

[patriciasalem]

I love the idea of the adjacent possible. You kinda lost me at "everything is okay except for this one thing." Like, Hitler's cool except for the Holocaust? This is where I struggle with the whole "you're right where you're supposed to be" theory. Are the kids starving in Sudan where they are supposed to be? The families in Gaza? People trapped in abusive relationships or lives of terrible struggle? It gets into a whole lot of pre-birth purpose stuff (and the privileged white aspects of the "law of attraction") that makes me feel so overwhelmed that I go back to only wanting to deal with day-to-day tangible stuff. And then the cycle repeats itself because at heart I'm a woo woo nerd too lol. I wish you were my neighbor, so we could sit on my deck under the stars and talk about this stuff. 🤗 I did put in a request to join Wilder, so hopefully I'll find some community there! 💜

[ellenhead]

I think "well, its a long story" does a similar function.

[rebeccawithpka]

Thank you as always, Martha. You are the fractal that speaks to my soul's inner crocus. 🌼

[naturelover]

Is it okay to tell people your parents are just dead so you don't have to explain them