Martha Beck Quotes

United States, Sociologist
November 29, 1962

Martha Nibley Beck (born November 29, 1962) is an American sociologist, life coach, best-selling author, and speaker who specializes in helping individuals and groups achieve personal and professional goals. She holds a bachelor's degree in East Asian Studies and master's and Ph.D. degrees in sociology, both from Harvard University. Beck is the daughter of deceased LDS Church scholar and apologist, Hugh Nibley. She received national attention after publication in 2005 of her best-seller, Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith in which she recounts her experiences of surviving sexual abuse. In addition to authoring several books, Beck is a columnist for O, The Oprah Magazine.

Also known as Coach, Author, Speaker

Even if you can be the world's best at one thing, you'll be the world's worst at something else. Supermodels make pathetic sumo wrestlers.

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

Martha Beck
- Nature
- Angel

A designated patient 'carries' the group's dysfunction. A designated issue performs the same service for an individual, dominating our psyches so that other troubles can go unnoticed.

Martha Beck
- Service
Caring for your inner child has a powerful and surprisingly quick result: Do it and the child heals.

Martha Beck
- Powerful
- Caring
If you're living completely on your own, break out of solitary confinement. Seek to understand others, and help them understand you.

Martha Beck
- Help
Hopeful thinking can get you out of your fear zone and into your appreciation zone.

Martha Beck
Rest until you feel like playing, then play until you feel like resting, period. Never do anything else.

Martha Beck
- Rest
- Period
To really boost your sense of self-efficacy, think of ways you could modify your usual tasks to suit your personal style.

Martha Beck
- Style

Friends, there are many areas in which I need encouragement, but worrying is not one of them. I worry the way Renee Fleming sings high Cs: Effortlessly. Loudly. At length.

Martha Beck
- Friends
- High
- Worry
Realizing that we've surrendered our self-esteem to others and choosing to be accountable for our own self-worth would mean absorbing the terrifying fact that we're always vulnerable to pain and loss.

Martha Beck
- Pain
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
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.

Martha Beck
- People
- Why
- True