Martha Beck Quotes - Page 6

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

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

When making a decision, focus on what feels "shackles off" versus "shackles on".

Your relationship is not supposed to be perfect all the time, your business is not supposed to do well all the time, your soufflés are not supposed to raise perfectly all the time. Everything is designed to go wrong so that you can gain the skills of rediscovering your tracks, even in difficult or frightening circumstances. Especially in difficult and frightening circumstances.

When you're weary, find relief. When you're strong, find delight.

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.

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.

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.

Stop trying to change your behavior; instead, rethink your beliefs

Creating ways to be happy is your life's work, a challenge that won't end until you die.

Adults under threat feel like children.

People don’t cry when they lose their hope. They cry when they get it back.

I've developed the habit of mentally listing things that make me optimistic about the future. I do it every day.

Judgments that constrain your giving are the very demons that are keeping you from receiving.

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

The really potent part of love is that it allows you to carry around beliefs about yourself that make you feel special, desirable, precious, innately good. Your lover couldn't have seen [these qualities] in you, even temporarily, if they weren't part of your essential being.

If your life is cloudy and you're far, far off course, you may have to go on faith for a while, but eventually you'll learn that every time you trust your internal navigation system, you end up closer to your right life.

All religious leaders and spiritual teachers emphasize finding a place within us that is true. People who obsessively follow these leaders instead of their own purpose attach to the spiritual leader and become fanatical and controlling. That's why Jesus tried to tell his followers not to get attached to outward form.

Does this feel warmer or colder?

Make stuff up. Anyone who ever did something new or interesting was making it up as they went along.

Bad artists ignore the darkness of human existence. Good artists often get stuck there. Great artists embrace the full catastrophe of our condition and find beyond it an even deeper truth of peace, healing, and redemption.

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

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

There has never been, and never will be, anyone who sees, thinks, or responds exactly the way you do. Whether you’re revolutionizing physics or making a quilt, you must display your differences to make a difference.