Questions people reasonably ask.
What it costs, what you can use for free, what stays private, how the Life Council works and what happens when you change or cancel your membership.
You should know what you're getting.
Living deals with personal questions. It's reasonable to want clear information about privacy, payment and how everything works before you begin.
The answers are grouped by subject. Open whichever questions interest you, or use the guide to go straight to a topic.
What is Living, and how do I begin?
You can start privately, without signing up or paying anything. How far you go afterwards is your decision.
How Living works →What exactly is Living?
Living is a collection of practical ways to examine your circumstances, interests, concerns and ambitions. It starts with questions about your own life and gives you room to consider what you want to keep, change, explore or try.
You can use the free Stock Take, save more extensive private Life Work, consult the Life Council system developed by Martin Rothery, or commission a personal assessment through A Reckoning.
It is designed to help you think and make decisions for yourself.
Do I need an account to start?
No. The public Stock Take can be completed without creating an account, supplying an email address or making a payment.
You can explore up to seventeen areas of life, consider your answers and keep a printable result. A Living account is useful when you want to save private work and return to it over time.
What is the Stock Take?
It's a structured opportunity to look at different areas of your life. You choose which of the seventeen areas you want to examine and respond to questions in your own words.
The result brings your reflections together and offers two practical possibilities to consider. It isn't a personality test, diagnostic assessment or score telling you how successfully you're living.
What do I get with a free account?
A free account gives you a private place to keep your Living work. You can also complete a self-guided Life Audit covering four of the seventeen areas, choosing the four you want to examine.
The four-area allowance is a lifetime allocation, rather than four new areas every month. Once you've used your four, paid membership provides access to the wider structured work.
Free registration also includes one lifetime introductory individual Life Council consultation.
Who decides what a good life means?
You do. Living doesn't require you to adopt Martin's priorities, a particular worldview or somebody else's definition of success.
Your responsibilities, interests, relationships, values and circumstances are your own. Living helps you look at them and consider what seems worthwhile to you.
Do I have to be unhappy or struggling to use it?
Certainly not. You might have a good life and want to make it even more enjoyable. Perhaps you want to travel, develop an interest, learn something, improve a relationship or pursue an ambition.
There is just as much reason to examine the things you enjoy and want more of as the things you'd like to resolve. See what Living can help with.
Is Living therapy or medical advice?
No. Living supports reflection and practical decision-making. It does not diagnose medical or psychological conditions, provide treatment or replace professional medical, legal or financial advice.
You can use it to think about how a situation affects your life and the choices available, but appropriate qualified support remains important where it is needed.
What do I get, and what does it cost?
Free remains available. Paid memberships provide greater access to Living tools, member material and Life Council consultations.
Full membership comparison →What are the membership prices?
There are four membership levels:
- Free: £0.
- Silver: £19.99 monthly or £199 annually.
- Gold: £29.99 monthly or £299 annually.
- Platinum: £39.99 monthly or £399 annually.
The membership page explains the tools, materials and Council allowances for each level so you can choose according to how you expect to use Living.
What's included in the Council allowance?
In addition to the single lifetime introductory consultation for a Free account, the paid membership levels include recurring allowances:
- Silver: 3 individual Council consultations.
- Gold: 10 individual consultations and 1 Full Council consultation.
- Platinum: 20 individual consultations and 3 Full Council consultations.
These are the allowances for the applicable membership period. An individual consultation uses one of Martin's nine programmed Council perspectives; a Full Council consultation brings the wider nine-perspective process to your question.
What is the difference between monthly and annual membership?
Monthly membership is charged each month. Annual membership is paid for a year at the displayed annual price.
The membership level determines which features and consultation allowances you receive. Annual billing offers a lower overall cost than paying the same level monthly for twelve months.
Your checkout and account billing area show the selected plan, payment amount and renewal details.
How do I purchase membership?
Open the membership page, compare the levels, choose your plan and proceed to the secure checkout.
Living uses SureCart for its payment and subscription transactions. Your membership access is connected to your Living account, so you can sign in and use the features included in your plan.
Can I change my membership level?
Yes. You can upgrade or downgrade your membership through your account's membership and billing controls.
Your access and Council allowances follow the membership level that is active on your account. Any payment adjustment and the effective date of a change are shown as part of the subscription change.
Your private Living records remain associated with your account when the membership level changes.
What happens if I cancel membership?
Cancelling stops the membership renewing according to the cancellation terms shown for your subscription. Your account displays your paid-through date and membership status.
Once paid access ends, your account returns to Free access. You can continue reviewing your previously saved private Life Work, including work created while you were a paid member.
You won't be able to create new work using paid-only structured tools unless you take out a qualifying membership again.
What if a payment fails?
Subscription access follows the payment and subscription status recorded by the payment system.
If a payment fails, you can update your payment information and resolve the outstanding transaction through your billing account.
Paid-only access is withdrawn when the subscription is no longer entitled to those features. Your existing private records remain available to review under Free account access.
Can I buy extra Council consultations?
Yes. Additional Council consultation credits can be purchased separately and added to your Living account.
Your account shows your consultation allowances and additional credits, allowing you to see what is available before starting a consultation.
Is A Reckoning included in paid membership?
No. A Reckoning is a separate professional service personally undertaken by Martin. It is commissioned and paid for separately from Living membership, regardless of which level you hold.
You can commission A Reckoning without paying for Silver, Gold or Platinum membership.
Who sees what I write?
Your reflections may concern relationships, money, health, ambitions and other matters you'd rather keep to yourself.
The distinction between private records and information you choose to share is important.
Are my Stock Take answers private?
The public Stock Take is designed for use without registration. You receive your own result, which you can print or download for your records.
Where you choose to create an account and save further structured Life Work, that material belongs in your private member area.
Your private answers aren't made public or displayed to other Living members.
Are my answers used to advertise to me?
Your private Life Work responses are not used to target advertising. Your personal reflections aren't turned into advertising audiences based on the concerns or experiences you describe.
Normal site and transaction information is handled separately from the private content you write in your Living work.
Does my Life Work get sent to the Council?
No. The Life Council does not automatically receive your Stock Take answers or private Life Work.
The AI system works with the question and background information you choose to submit. You decide what to share for a consultation.
Can Martin read my private Life Work?
Your private Life Work is not automatically presented to Martin for personal review.
If you commission A Reckoning, you decide what information to submit for that assessment. Access to existing private Life Work requires your explicit consent.
A Reckoning is confidential personal work and is handled separately from ordinary membership activity.
Are my records shared with Nine Realms Institute or The Continuance?
No. These are distinct areas of Martin's wider work. Your private Living records are not silently transferred into Nine Realms Institute or The Continuance.
You remain in control of what you deliberately choose to share through a separate service or communication.
Can I see my earlier work and changes?
Yes. Private Life Work includes dated records so you can return to earlier thinking and see how your understanding or decisions have developed.
Previously saved originals are preserved as part of that record. Later entries do not silently replace what you wrote before.
Your account also provides the appropriate printing and export options for your private work.
What if I stop paying? Do I lose my writing?
No. Previously created private Life Work remains reviewable after your account returns to Free access.
The restriction concerns creating new work with paid-only tools. It does not remove your history simply because you stop paying for membership.
Can I export or delete my information?
Living provides privacy controls for your private records, including data export and deletion options.
You can also print or keep copies of supported Life Work records for your own use. Deletion is a separate, deliberate action rather than an automatic consequence of cancelling membership.
You should be able to think things through without an audience.
Some questions need time. You may change your mind, discover an assumption was wrong or decide that you were happier with things as they were.
That's part of examining your life. Your private records give you somewhere to keep the thinking and come back to it.
See how private Life Work operates →The thinking behind the Council.
The Life Council is a specialist AI consultation system developed and programmed by Martin Rothery, drawing on nearly four decades of professional experience helping people understand themselves, their circumstances and the decisions they face.
Martin designed the nine perspectives, their individual purposes and their approaches using the principles and methods developed through his own work.
Explore the Life Council →Is the Life Council a real panel of people?
The Life Council is a specialist AI consultation system developed and programmed by Martin Rothery. Its structure and approach draw on nearly four decades of his professional work helping people examine their lives, circumstances and decisions.
Martin has designed the system around nine distinct perspectives. Each has its own purpose, instructions and method of examining a question. These are based on his wider body of work and the principles he has developed throughout his career.
The consultations themselves are conducted by AI working within this programmed structure. You are therefore using a system created around Martin's thinking and methods, rather than speaking directly with Martin or a panel of nine human advisers.
What makes the Life Council different from an ordinary AI chatbot?
The Council has been specifically designed and programmed for examining personal questions, circumstances and decisions.
Martin has drawn on his own professional experience and working methods to develop the nine perspectives, their instructions and the way they approach a consultation.
Rather than beginning with a completely open conversation, you are using a structured system intended to examine questions from particular angles, test assumptions, identify considerations and help you think further.
The AI generates responses within that design. As with any AI system, its answers can still contain errors, omissions or misunderstandings. Martin's framework provides the method, while you retain responsibility for your choices.
What are the nine Council perspectives?
They are nine distinct ways of examining a situation, designed by Martin to bring different considerations into the discussion.
Each perspective is programmed with its own purpose and instructions, developed from Martin's experience and his methods of understanding human behaviour, circumstances and decision-making.
A single perspective may concentrate on particular aspects of your question. Bringing several perspectives together can reveal tensions, alternatives or possibilities that a single approach might overlook.
You can explore the Council and its individual perspectives on the Life Council page .
What happens in an individual Council consultation?
You choose the Council perspective you want to consult and bring it a question or situation.
The AI responds using the particular instructions and approach Martin has programmed for that perspective.
You can explore the subject through the consultation, provide further information and consider the questions, observations and possibilities that arise.
Each perspective provides a different way of examining the matter. The value comes from the approach Martin has developed and the opportunity to apply it to your own circumstances.
What happens in a Full Council consultation?
A Full Council consultation uses the wider nine-perspective system Martin developed.
Your question is examined through the different Council approaches, giving you a broader consideration of what may be happening, what assumptions deserve examination and what possibilities might be worth exploring.
The perspectives may offer different observations or place emphasis on different aspects of your situation. Those differences are part of the value of bringing several approaches together.
The Council's purpose is to help you consider the question more thoroughly. It does not make the decision for you.
Does Martin personally answer Council questions?
The Council's methods, structure and programmed perspectives have been developed by Martin. Individual consultations, however, are conducted by the AI system.
Martin does not personally write or approve every Council response. The responses are generated by AI according to the Council's programmed instructions and the information you provide.
If you want Martin to examine your circumstances personally and prepare a confidential written assessment, that is the purpose of A Reckoning .
Will the Council tell me what to do?
The Council is designed to help you examine a situation more thoroughly. It may offer observations, questions, alternative interpretations and possible courses of action.
Martin's approach places importance on understanding the person, the circumstances and the consequences of a decision. A useful consultation may sometimes lead to more questions before you reach a conclusion.
The final decision remains yours. Council responses are AI-generated and should be considered critically, particularly where medical, legal, financial or other serious consequences are involved.
What sorts of questions can I bring to the Council?
You can bring questions about work, relationships, direction, ambitions, priorities, confidence, difficult decisions and other aspects of everyday life.
You might be considering a major change, trying to understand a recurring difficulty or exploring something you'd like to do in the future.
You can also bring questions about things that are going well and how you might develop or enjoy them further.
The Council is not a diagnostic or emergency service. Professional advice and support remain important where appropriate.
Does the Council have access to everything I've written in Living?
No. The Council does not automatically receive your Stock Take responses, Life Audit or private Life Work.
You decide what information to bring into a consultation. That might be a brief question, a description of your circumstances or material you have chosen to share from your earlier work.
The Council's programmed methods remain the same, while the information available for an individual consultation is determined by what you provide.
How is the Council different from A Reckoning?
The Life Council is Martin's specialist AI consultation system. It gives you access to nine perspectives developed and programmed from his professional work and methods.
A Reckoning is personal work undertaken by Martin himself. You commission him to examine the circumstances and information you provide and prepare an individual written assessment.
Both draw on Martin's approach to understanding people and their lives. The distinction is who conducts the examination and the nature of the service you receive.
What if I want more personal help?
A Reckoning gives you the option of a personal assessment undertaken by Martin, independently of membership or Council consultations.
Explore A Reckoning →What is A Reckoning?
A Reckoning is a confidential, personally undertaken assessment by Martin. It uses the circumstances and information you deliberately provide to examine a concern or your life more widely.
It is distinct from the self-guided Living tools and the Life Council, which uses AI programmed around Martin's own methods.
With A Reckoning, Martin personally reviews the material and prepares the written assessment.
What are the three Reckoning options?
There are three services:
- Focused Reckoning, £195: a personal assessment of one defined concern, with a written response and one clarification. Target turnaround: 10 working days.
- Complete Reckoning, £895: a detailed examination across all seventeen life areas with a substantial written personal assessment. Target turnaround: 20 working days.
- Personal Reckoning, £1,495: a complete assessment with two private 75-minute video consultations, written follow-up, an agreed action review and a later check-in.
These are separate commissions with their own scope. They are not membership benefits or staged upgrades.
How do I order A Reckoning?
Visit the A Reckoning page , choose the assessment you want and complete the secure purchase.
You'll then be guided through the appropriate private intake questions and consent choices. The material you submit provides the basis for Martin's assessment.
Does Martin automatically see my Life Work when I order?
No. Your existing private Life Work is not automatically added to an assessment.
You decide which relevant information to provide and whether to give explicit consent for any existing records to be used.
How will I receive my assessment?
Your written assessment is delivered privately as a confidential PDF.
For Personal Reckoning, the two video consultations and follow-up arrangements are coordinated as part of the service.
Your order and related instructions are handled separately from the public Stock Take.
Where can I find Martin's books and other work?
Visit Books for Martin's published work. You can also learn about Nine Realms Institute and The Continuance .
These are distinct parts of his wider work, with their own purposes. Using Living doesn't require you to join or purchase from them.
What if I need urgent or emergency help?
Living, the Life Council and A Reckoning are not emergency or crisis services.
If you or someone else is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services. If you need urgent health or mental health support, seek an appropriate local professional or crisis service.
Do not wait for a consultation or written assessment where immediate assistance is needed.
Ask about anything we've not explained clearly.
If you need help with your account, membership, purchasing or using the website, please get in touch.
A general contact message is not the place to share sensitive private Life Work or deeply personal circumstances. Use the appropriate private service for that information.
Contact MartinStart by taking a look at your life.
You can begin with the free Stock Take, explore the areas that interest you and take away your own result.
No commitment, account or payment needed.
Start your free Stock TakeYour choices, your pace.