The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self | Martha Beck

OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“A roadmap on the journey to truth and authenticity… [The Way of Integrity] is filled with aha moments and practical exercises that can guide us as we seek enlightenment.” –Oprah Winfrey

Bestselling author, life coach, and sociologist Martha Beck explains why “integrity”—needed now more than ever in these tumultuous times—is the key to a meaningful and joyful life

As Martha Beck says in her book, “Integrity is the cure for psychological suffering. Period.”

In The Way of Integrity, Beck presents a four-stage process that anyone can use to find integrity, and with it, a sense of purpose, emotional healing, and a life free of mental suffering. Much of what plagues us—people pleasing, staying in stale relationships, negative habits—all point to what happens when we are out of touch with what truly makes us feel whole.

Inspired by The Divine Comedy, Beck uses Dante’s classic hero’s journey as a framework to break down the process of attaining personal integrity into small, manageable steps. She shows how to read our internal signals that lead us towards our true path, and to recognize what we actually yearn for versus what our culture sells us.

With techniques tested on hundreds of her clients, Beck brings her expertise as a social scientist, life coach and human being to help readers to uncover what integrity looks like in their own lives. She takes us on a spiritual adventure that not only will change the direction of our lives, but also bring us to a place of genuine happiness.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for The Way of Integrity:

“Martha Beck is always full of insights. This book didn't disappoint! Beck identifies the ways culture works against integrity and touches on Dante's Inferno, includes quizzes, and rethinks suffering.”
—Good Morning America
 

“The Way of Integrity is about the redemptive power of discovering, speaking and living the truth about who you are. . . . The book vibrates with magic, intelligence, and love. It brims with humor, spirituality, fascinating science, and even Dante’s Divine Comedy. This radiant book will not only change your life, but perhaps even save it.” 
—Elizabeth Gilbert, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love

“Martha Beck’s genius is that her writing is equal parts comforting and challenging. A teacher, a mother, a sage, she holds our hand as she leads us back home to ourselves.” 
—Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Untamed and founder of Together Rising

“This is a book I will read over and over again. The journey within is a pilgrimage that can help to heal the soul and make a world whole.” 
—Bishop Michael Curry

“In an age of nonstop pressure to conform we often lose connection to truth and meaning. But Martha Beck has written this masterpiece, initiating a new path forward, one of integrity, showing us how to embrace our authentic self for unlimited freedom.” 
—Shannon Kaiser, international bestselling author of The Self-Love Experiment

“The Way of Integrity is the perfect guide for anyone who wants greater happiness and clarity of purpose.  As always, Martha Beck’s writing is beautiful and perceptive, and  the insights and exercises she shares in these pages may take you somewhere unexpected, but will certainly lead you to a better place.” 
—Marci Shimoff, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Happy for No Reason

“The Way of Integrity is Martha Beck at her finest: one hundred percent pure distilled wisdom, truth, and illumination, delivered always with humor. There’s no one I’d trust more to get me out of the dark woods.” 
—Susan Casey, New York Times bestselling author of Voices in the Ocean

“By the end of this profound, funny, and beautifully crafted book, I finally understood that the ‘wild beasts’ of my own negativity, impatience, and anger are actually my friends, sent to show me when I am straying from my true path. This book that will help anyone get back on the path and walk more joyfully toward their full integrity.” 
—Elizabeth Lesser, cofounder of Omega Institute and New York Times bestselling author of Broken Open

“Beck’s holistic interpretation of integrity is refreshing. It doesn't feel stiff and constricting. For me, it really lands. It lines up. It feels like truth.” 
—Houston Chronicle

“Beck freely shares her own journey and challenges pilgrims to face up to fears and embrace their inner guides. . . . Many will be moved by Beck’s sincerity and lucid techniques.” 
—Booklist

About the Author

Martha Beck is a bestselling author, life coach, and speaker who specializes in helping individuals and groups achieve greater levels of personal and professional success. She is the author of nine nonfiction books and one novel, and has been a longtime contributor to O, The Oprah Magazine. She holds a PhD in sociology from Harvard.