Martha Nibley Beck

Martha's voice snagged me as I skimmed through an Oprah magazine in a waiting room several months ago. Her humor, intellect and sensible approach to life permeate her writing. I was hooked.

I borrowed this title from my library system and worked through the journaling with a large dollop of skepticism. But again and again her matter of fact, simple (not easy) methods for moving toward my "north star" made sense. Her passing observation about the "empty elevator" rang so true it brought me up show more short. I laughed out loud as she described her dog's reaction to a garden statue. Before reading to the end I ordered a copy of my own (hurrah for Better World Books!). I want to read it all again and mark up the good bits.

Added in 2022
Ten years later and the reread was as satisfying as the first time through. This time I marked up the good bits and more of the wisdom sunk in. I also realize that much of how I navigate my life now was inspired by Martha a decade ago.

The chapter "Leading Your Life" really resonated on this round. I've met people (am related to one or two) who just are not "amenable to ordinary relationships." I was unable to process this chapter ten years ago; probably because I was hadn't come face to face with practitioners of "dark arts". Or, more to the point, I was too invested in the approval of one or two relations. A few months ago I lamented to my therapist that on occasion I wished I were more able to be okay with the difficult behaviors of certain folks in my life, just be more zen. She basically said the same thing as Martha: "Let go of your hope for normalcy" with some folks (who Martha describes so well it made my skin bristle). show less

I love it when overly intellectual people have to rely on unscientific phenomenons like faith and hope and magic. I think being able to let go of factual reasoning and open our minds to blind trust stretches our narrow minded boundaries a little wider. Beck speaks to having a premonition before her son, Adam, was born. There had been almost mystic signs he was not going to be an ordinary child. Throughout Beck's pregnancy inexplicable events pushed her to believe in decidedly unscientific show more miracles. The problem is both Beck and her husband, John, were obsessed with facts. Overly driven to be successful (two Harvard degrees each), they couldn't wrap their brains around giving birth to a Down syndrome baby. Expecting Adam is the story of letting go to perfection; the releasing of ambitions; the saying goodbye to lofty goals...and saying hello to an angel. show less

I have to be honest: I was pretty skeptical when I started reading this, and only got more skeptical as I pushed through the first hundred pages. “This isn’t for me,” I thought. And then, “I don’t buy any of this.” Followed by, “This can’t possibly work for me.” But about a hundred pages in, something magical happened - I still didn’t believe, but I… Imagined. I imagined a world in which everything Beck says is true. And my heart fluttered in pure, desperate joy. From show more that moment on, I was hooked on her every word.

And oh, I’m so glad I stuck with it! The last section - the section on finding your path (which is why I picked up the book in the first place) is filled with so much genuine opportunity for revelation and magical alchemy that it left me breathless as I read. I had all kinds of Eureka moments. The exercises were easy to follow and resulted in a ton of revelations, including unlocking something I’ve been struggling with for years.

If you’re not into metaphysical themes and are looking for a conventional career guide, you will not enjoy this book. But if you keep an open mind and go into it prepared to have your world rocked, I think you’ll be delighted by the truths contained within.

I took so many notes, and marked up so many passages. I will definitely re-read this book again and again. I am now a devoted Martha Beck fan, and I’m eager to devour everything she’s every written. show less

I adored this book when it first came out. I felt so seen. I acquired a copy for my book shelf and I've gone back to it a few times over the years.

This time, I picked it up at the beginning of the year, read the first section on Wordlessness and it really resonated. So I spent a lot of time focusing on that. Later in the year I read the second section on Oneness and worked with that. I had lost Imagination, the third section, so I waited to get to that section, which I did after some really show more tough things happened in the fall.

I finished the final section, Forming, after finally reading Beyond Anxiety: Curiosity, Creativity, and Finding Your Life's Purpose. In many ways, that book is a sequel to this one, and she mentions this book in that one as the one she thought would ruin her writing career because it seemed so out there. And it's really interesting to read her section on making a career through your art because while this 2012 book predicted content creation being huge and the disappearance of traditional jobs (which is now being accelerated by AI), most of the videos and websites she talks about have disappeared, the people she talks about having transitioned to other things.

And that may be the best gift of all, the reminder that whatever I create now will shift and change. Reminding me that it's safe to fail as long as I ground myself in connection with the wider thing before taking action. Maybe I'll revisit both this book again in 5 years or maybe this was my last time. Who knows? show less