3 December 2020 Martha Beck Good-looking individuals are treated better than homely ones in virtually every social situation, from dating to trial by jury.
3 December 2020 Martha Beck 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.
3 December 2020 Martha Beck 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.
3 December 2020 Martha Beck Although beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, the feeling of being beautiful exists solely in the mind of the beheld.
3 December 2020 Martha Beck Allowing children to show their guilt, show their grief, show their anger, takes the sting out of the situation.
3 December 2020 Martha Beck Seek art from every time and place, in any form, to connect with those who really move you.
3 December 2020 Martha Beck You have the freedom to live and let live, to love and let love. Granting yourself that freedom is one of the healthiest, most constructive things you can do for yourself and the people who matter to you.
3 December 2020 Martha Beck 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.
3 December 2020 Martha Beck Hopeful thinking can get you out of your fear zone and into your appreciation zone.
3 December 2020 Martha Beck People are so afraid of authority figures and doctors are authority figures.
3 December 2020 Martha Beck 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.
3 December 2020 Martha Beck Anger elicits anger, fear elicits fear, no matter how well meaning we may be.
3 December 2020 Martha Beck 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.
3 December 2020 Martha Beck Denial exists because human infants, though equipped with trust-o-meters, are built to trust, blindly and absolutely, any older person who wanders past.
3 December 2020 Martha Beck We virtually never feel our age, but thinking that we should can lead to disaster.
3 December 2020 Martha Beck My own nature hovers between neurotic and paranoid. I’ve developed the habit of mentally listing things that make me optimistic about the future. I do it every day.
3 December 2020 Martha Beck 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.
3 December 2020 Martha Beck 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.
3 December 2020 Martha Beck No matter how difficult and painful it may be, nothing sounds as good to the soul as the truth.
3 December 2020 Martha Beck Bracketing has turned all my experiences, remembered and present, into a gallery of miracles where I wander around dazzled by the beauty of events I cannot explain.
3 December 2020 Martha Beck 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.
