Explorers depend on the North Star when there are no other landmarks in sight. The same relationship exists between you and your right life, the ultimate realization of your potential for happiness. I believe that a knowledge of that perfect life sits inside you just as the North Star sits in its unaltering spot.
Martha BeckOwn your failure openly, publicly, with genuine regret but absolutely no shame, and youโll reap a harvest of forgiveness, trust, respect, and connection-the things you thought youโd get by succeeding. Ironic, isnโt it?
Martha BeckYou are lovable. Can you show me any baby in any nursery who isn't priceless? No. There's no such thing as a worthless newborn. And the essential value that was born into brand-new-baby you can never be extinguished. This means that even if you think you're being absolutely honest, believing yourself to be anything other than astonishing, incomparable, and infinitely precious makes you a habitual liar.
Martha BeckWhoever said that love is blind was dead wrong. Love is the only thing on this earth that lets us see each other with the remotest accuracy.
Martha BeckTo care for someone can mean to adore them, feed them, tend their wounds. But care can also signify sorrow, as in "bowed down by cares." Or anxiety, as in "Careful!" Or investment in an outcome, as in "Who cares?" The word love has no such range of meaning: It's pure acceptance.
Martha BeckSilence comes in two varieties: One that nourishes and comforts; another that chokes, smothers, and isolates. Solitary confinement is the worst kind of imprisonment we can inflict on fellow humans, and if you are forced to keep silent about some dark secret, you live in solitary confinement. Without the bridge of communication connecting you to other human beings, you canโt share your burdens, canโt receive comfort, canโt confirm that you still belong. Silence is the abyss that separates you from hope.
Martha Beck