Martha Beck Quotes

Basic human contact - the meeting of eyes, the exchanging of words - is to the psyche what oxygen is to the brain. If you're feeling abandoned by the world, interact with anyone you can.

Given the eclectic and constantly shifting nature of my metaphysical inclinations, I will probably never feel certain exactly what an angel is.

At times in my life, I have been utterly lonely. At other times, I've had disgusting infectious diseases. Try admitting these things in our culture.

If you're feeling abandoned by the world, interact with anyone you can.

Instead of fretting about getting everything done, why not simply accept that being alive means having things to do? Then drop into full engagement with whatever you're doing, and let the worry go.

Don't expect the future to look like the past. Clear away expectations, and let yourself picture a wild, grand new world.

Whether you've seen angels floating around your bedroom or just found a ray of hope at a lonely moment, choosing to believe that something unseen is caring for you can be a life-shifting exercise.

Although beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, the feeling of being beautiful exists solely in the mind of the beheld.

Standards of beauty are arbitrary. Body shame exists only to the extent that our physiques don't match our own beliefs about how we should look.

Every day brings new choices.

Caring for your inner child has a powerful and surprisingly quick result: Do it and the child heals.

Good-looking individuals are treated better than homely ones in virtually every social situation, from dating to trial by jury.

No matter how difficult and painful it may be, nothing sounds as good to the soul as the truth.

What would you do if you knew that every good thing in your life depended on your getting enough rest? Because it does.

Your individuality is the most valuable thing you have.

Whoever said that love is blind was dead wrong. Love is the only thing on this earth that lets us see each other with the remotest accuracy.

No one else can take risks for us, or face our losses on our behalf, or give us self-esteem. No one can spare us from life's slings and arrows, and when death comes, we meet it alone.

Absolutely lonely people have few personal interactions of any kind.

Loneliness is proof that your innate search for connection is intact.

You shine for who you are ... because no one can steal your light.

You can't stay well without telling--and living--the truth.

Almost all my middle-aged and elderly acquaintances, including me, feel about 25, unless we haven't had our coffee, in which case we feel 107.

When you meet people, show real appreciation, then genuine curiosity.

Use anything you can think of to understand and be understood, and you'll discover the creativity that connects you with others.

Learning to spot narcissists and deal with their destructive behavior can save you the world of hurt that awaits anyone who mistakes the near enemy for a friend.

People who get what they want tend to be the ones who make the effort to know what they want.

Seek art from every time and place, in any form, to connect with those who really move you.

My point is that perceptual bias can affect nut jobs and scientists alike. If we hold too rigidly to what we think we know, we ignore or avoid evidence of anything that might change our mind.

A true leader is not someone who feels fully informed but someone who continuously receives insight and guidance.

Your first daily priority should be stillness, attention to what you really know and what you really feel.

Hopeful thinking can get you out of your fear zone and into your appreciation zone.

Sometimes a psychic tells you something and it feels wrong and others may be right on the money. It's your choice about whom to trust, and giving that trust is something we do ourselves.

I really do think that any deep crisis is an opportunity to make your life extraordinary in some way.

Any moment you spend attacking yourself is a moment away from your higher purpose and your power to love. Don't go there.

You're exactly where you're meant to be, meandering along a crooked path.

If you begin to face your fears, something bittersweet is going to happen to you: You'll grow up.

If anything is worth doing, it is worth doing it badly.

Do something today that you think is too delicious, too selfish, too wacky to fit within the rules of your life.

Any transition serious enough to alter your definition of self will require not just small adjustments in your way of living and thinking but a full-on metamorphosis.

Slow is fast, gentle is powerful and stillness moves mountains

Allowing children to show their guilt, show their grief, show their anger, takes the sting out of the situation.

My anguish came from my hypothesis that other people's hypothetical hypotheses about me mattered. Ridiculous!

Try seeing your world and yourself this way, eyes open to whatever is before you, mind free of dichotomies. Are you good or bad, fragile or tough, wise or foolish? Yes. And so am I.

If you're miserable, make a choice. If you're still miserable, you can choose again.

The position that I take partly as a result of living in Asia is where you stop living according to your expectations and you become available to experience things as they are.

No part of your experience is wasted. Everything you've experienced so far is part of what you were meant to learn.

Fear is the raw material from which courage is manufactured. Without it, we wouldn't even know what it means to be brave.

Only since the Industrial Revolution have most people worked in places away from their homes or been left to raise small children without the help of multiple adults, making for an unsupported life.

Children who assume adult responsibilities feel old when they're young.

The knowledge of your destiny is available to you, well before it actually happens, as a message streaming continuously from your heart to your brain, written in the language of longing.