Martha Beck Quotes

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.

People are so afraid of authority figures and doctors are authority figures.

Your life follows your attention. Wherever you look, you end up going.

The way we do anything is the way we do everything.

If you’re doing something you love with people you love in a place you love, you are going to create something of value to the world.

Forcing yourself to think happy lies doesn't heal your dreams. Getting to the truth does.

Most of my clients don't realize that the way they look and the way they think about their looks are two separate issues.

As much horror as we have always created, we are a species that keeps moving forward, seeing new sights in new ways, and enjoying the journey.

We virtually never feel our age, but thinking that we should can lead to disaster.

Polite strangers often tell soothing lies about our physical appearance that prevent many of us from facing, discussing and solving our real problems.

Don’t worry that you’ve wasted time. Each moment -- no matter how frozen or confused -- was a useful and necessary lesson.

A confession you make merely to illuminate the murky corners of your little life may end up lighting the path to freedom for a thousand other hearts.

Most unhappy people need to learn just one lesson: how to see themselves through the lens of genuine compassion, and treat themselves accordingly.

The average adult laughs 15 times a day; the average child, more than 400 times.

Rest until you feel like playing, then play until you feel like resting, period. Never do anything else.

During the times we think we’re being “unproductive,” the seeds of new worlds are germinating within us, and they need peace to grow.

Stop fixating on stuff you can touch and start caring about stuff that touches you.

If you're living completely on your own, break out of solitary confinement. Seek to understand others, and help them understand you

In one century, we've added 28 years to our average life span - a change so rapid that our brains couldn't possibly have evolved to accommodate it.

I majored in Chinese. I was never really good at Chinese but I really, really benefited from having been exposed to Asian philosophy early in my life.

Having fun is not a diversion from a successful life; it is the pathway to it.

Here is the crux of the matter, the distilled essence, the only thing you need to remember: When considering whether to say yes or no, you must choose the response that feels like freedom. Period.

Peace is more than just a feeling. It's the mental and physical frequency where you'll find all your real power.

Trust in your truth. It will be the best decision you ever make.

Perpetually doing, without ever tuning in to the center of our being, is the equivalent of fueling a mighty ship by tossing all its navigational equipment into the furnace.

A joyful life isn’t about others; it’s about the brightness that is associated with being alive. Your path to it is through anything that replaces thinking with pure flight, pure joy.

This very moment of your life, if you experience it fully, will show you astonishing wonders and exquisite delights.

When we run from our feelings, they follow us. Everywhere.

The way out of fear isn’t safety. It’s freedom.

Where your attention goes, your life goes.

The only map of your right life is written on your soul at its most peaceful, and the only sure compass is your heart at its most open.

Everything always passes, and everything is already okay. Stay in the place where you can see that, and nothing will resist you.

As any good Buddhist will tell you, the only way to find permanent joy is by embracing the fact that nothing is permanent.

Question every thought that causes suffering and test it against your own sense of truth.

Though we often see life troughs as the universe's conspiracy to ruin us, they're actually our own true nature inviting us to lay down our weary heads.

If you find yourself getting nervous stop and relax for three full breaths. Then take one small step, then another. That is how people get to the top of Everest.

Do whatever work feeds your true self, even if it’s not a safe bet, even if it’s like a crazy risk, even if everyone in your life tells you you’re wrong or bad or crazy.

There's tons of magic in the world, and it's all science.

If you did nothing but pursue the truth about yourself for the rest of your life, you would never run out of fresh discoveries.

As soon as you think you know someone else's truth better than they do, you are in deep water.

I have come to believe that there are infinite passageways out of the shadows, infinite vehicles to transport us into the light.

The process of spotting fear and refusing to obey it is the source of all true empowerment.

Anger elicits anger, fear elicits fear, no matter how well meaning we may be.

If we're stuck with having expectations, there's a very good reason to embrace positive ones: It's that we often create what we anticipate.

Denial exists because human infants, though equipped with trust-o-meters, are built to trust, blindly and absolutely, any older person who wanders past.

When you do the thing you fear, the thing loses its power to scare.

Play until it's time to rest, then rest until it's time to play.

Angels come in many shapes and sizes, and most of them are not invisible.

Truth itself is something you live, not something you think.

To attract something that you want, become as joyful as you think that thing would make you.