Quotes from Martha Beck

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.

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 feel about aging the way William Saroyan said he felt about death: Everybody has to do it, but I always believed an exception would be made in my case.

Everything I've ever taught in terms of self-help boils down to this - I cannot believe people keep paying me to say this - if something feels really good for you, you might want to do it. And if it feels really horrible, you might want to consider not doing it. Thank you, give me my $150.

The difference between success and failure isn't the absence of fear but the determination to pursue your heart's desires no matter how scared you are.

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

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.

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.

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.

When your entire brain is active, that means you are taking everything in through all sense perception. Your entire memory bank and your instincts are in play, so you make much quicker and more intelligent choices.

When I tell a woman you really need to quit your soul-sucking job, she goes home, and she can tell her husband, 'I need to quit,' and he's like, 'O.K., let's do it.'

Our culture has created two almost irreconcilable descriptions of a 'good woman.' The first is the individual achiever; the second, the self-sacrificing domestic goddess.

To complete your daily mental hygiene, observe any part of you that is upset or anxious, and offer that part of yourself the following simple wishes: 'May you be well. May you be happy. May you be free from suffering.' Repeat this until you actually mean it.

To know what that true self is without social pressure is to know your true nature.

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

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

Anyone who comes into your life, under any circumstances, has something to teach you.

Don't let your life revolve around whatever you're trying not to do or feel. Live to experience, not to avoid.

Learning to quit while you're not ahead, when the dull ooze of depression tells you things are not going to get any better, is one of the best financial and life skills you can master.

Not everyone is equally good-looking.

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.

Adults under threat feel like children.