Life is full of tough decisions, and nothing makes them easy. But the worst ones are really your personal koans, and tormenting ambivalence is just the sense of satori rising. Try, trust, try, and trust again, and eventually you'll feel your mind change its focus to a new level of understanding. -Martha Beck Change
It takes about four days of virtuous living to create a little weight loss. That also happens to be the time required to get used to eating less. In other words, if you can get past day three of a fitness regimen, things improve. -Martha Beck Fitness
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. -Martha Beck Death
Ten years ago, I still feared loss enough to abandon myself in order to keep things stable. I'd smile when I was sad, pretend to like people who appalled me. What I now know is that losses aren't cataclysmic if they teach the heart and soul their natural cycle of breaking and healing. -Martha Beck Sad
Hopeful thinking can get you out of your fear zone and into your appreciation zone. -Martha Beck Fear
The way we can allow ourselves to do what we need to, no matter what others may say or do, is to choose love and defy fear. -Martha Beck Fear
Good-looking individuals are treated better than homely ones in virtually every social situation, from dating to trial by jury. -Martha Beck Dating
Something in the human psyche confuses beauty with the right to be loved. The briefest glance at human folly reveals that good looks and worthiness operate independently. Yet countless socializing forces, from Aunt Clara to the latest perfume ad, reinforce beliefs like 'If I were pretty enough, I would be loved.' -Martha Beck Beauty
Allowing children to show their guilt, show their grief, show their anger, takes the sting out of the situation. -Martha Beck Anger
Although beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, the feeling of being beautiful exists solely in the mind of the beheld. -Martha Beck Beauty
Cheerfully fessing up to our failures turns crazy mind off, humility and compassion on. I learned this in a karate dojo that had a strange tradition. Everyone there loved recounting failure stories, and after an evening of smacking one another, we'd sit and have a beer while the students swapped tales of martial arts disaster. -Martha Beck Failure
Fact: From quitting smoking to skiing, we succeed to the degree we try, fail, and learn. Studies show that people who worry about mistakes shut down, but those who are relaxed about doing badly soon learn to do well. Success is built on failure. -Martha Beck Failure
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. -Martha Beck Hope
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. -Martha Beck Trust
Getting bogged down in old stories stops the flow of learning by censoring our perceptions, making us functionally deaf and blind to new information. Once the replay button gets pushed, we no longer form new ideas or conclusions - the old ones are so cozy. -Martha Beck Learning
No matter how difficult and painful it may be, nothing sounds as good to the soul as the truth. -Martha Beck Truth
Anything you're trying to will is focused on the future; it's always associated with some sort of anxiety that makes the present moment somewhat uncomfortable. -Martha Beck Future
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. -Martha Beck Alone
