No matter how difficult and painful it may be, nothing sounds as good to the soul as the truth.


Martha Beck

896

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


Martha Beck

896

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

896

Good-looking individuals are treated better than homely ones in virtually every social situation, from dating to trial by jury.


Martha Beck

896

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.


Martha Beck

896

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.


Martha Beck

896

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.


Martha Beck

896

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.


Martha Beck

896

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

896

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


Martha Beck

896

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


Martha Beck

896

Allowing children to show their guilt, show their grief, show their anger, takes the sting out of the situation.


Martha Beck

896

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

896

Absolutely lonely people have few personal interactions of any kind.


Martha Beck

896

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


Martha Beck

896

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


Martha Beck

896

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

896

Hopeful thinking can get you out of your fear zone and into your appreciation zone.


Martha Beck

896

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

896

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.


Martha Beck

896

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