As “Mormon royalty” within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Martha Beck was raised in a home frequented by the Church’s high elders in an existence framed by the strictest code of conduct. As an adult, she moved to the east coast, outside of her Mormon enclave for the first time in her life. When her son was born with Down syndrome, Martha and her husband left their graduate programs at Harvard to return to Utah, where they knew the supportive Mormon community would embrace them. But when she was hired to teach at Brigham Young University, Martha was troubled by the way the Church’s elders silenced dissidents and masked truths that contradicted its published beliefs. Most troubling of all, she was forced to face her history of sexual abuse by one of the Church’s most prominent authorities. The New York Times bestseller Leaving the Saints chronicles Martha’s decision to sever her relationship with the faith that had cradled her for so long and to confront and forgive the person who betrayed her so deeply. Leaving the Saints offers a rare glimpse inside one of the world’s most secretive religions while telling a profoundly moving story of personal courage, survival, and the transformative power of spirituality.

Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith

Biographies & Memoirs

BECK, MARTHA

Leaders & Notable People

Crown

A knowledge of your perfect life sits inside you, just as the North Star sits in its unalterable spot. Where will your North Star lead you? Discover the answer with this interactive journal, based on the bestselling book Finding Your Own North Star. Take the quizzes and fill out the prompts to figure out exactly what you want and how to use change to propel you toward your North Star—the life you were meant to live. You'll also learn how to: - Recognize what you love to do most and turn it into a sustainable career or lifestyle. - Listen to your intuition—learn how your body says yes and no to certain people, tasks and environments. - Employ techniques and language for empowering yourself, confronting fear, coping with grief, dealing with anger, and achieving joy.

Finding Your Own North Star Journal: A Guide to Claiming the Life You Were Meant to Live

Self-Help

Motivational

Potter Style

“A wonderful book, funny unbelievably tender, and smart. It shimmers.”--Anne Lamott Includes an all-new afterword about Adam. John and Martha Beck had two Harvard degrees apiece when they conceived their second child. Further graduate studies, budding careers, and a growing family meant major stress--not that they'd have admitted it to anyone (or themselves). As the pregnancy progressed, Martha battled constant nausea and dehydration. And when she learned her unborn son had Down syndrome, she battled nearly everyone over her decision to continue the pregnancy. She still cannot explain many of the things that happened to her while she was expecting Adam, but by the time he was born, Martha, as she puts it, "had to unlearn virtually everything Harvard taught [her] about what is precious and what is garbage."

Expecting Adam: A True Story of Birth, Rebirth, and Everyday Magic

Arts & Literature

Harmony

"He says you'll never be hurt as much by being open as you have been by remaining closed." The messenger is a school janitor with a master's in art history who claims to be channeling "from both sides of the veil." "He" is Adam, a three-year-old who has never spoken an intelligible word. And the message is intended for Martha Beck, Adam's mother, who doesn't know whether to make a mad dash for the door to escape a raving lunatic (after all, how many conversations like this one can you have before you stop getting dinner party invitations and start pushing a mop yourself?) or accept another in a series of life lessons from an impeccable but mysterious source. From the moment Martha and her husband, John, accidentally conceived their second child, all hell broke loose. They were a couple obsessed with success. After years of matching IQs and test scores with less driven peers, they had two Harvard degrees apiece and were gunning for more. They'd plotted out a future in the most vaunted ivory tower of academe. But the dream had begun to disintegrate. Then, when their unborn son, Adam, was diagnosed with Down syndrome, doctors, advisers, and friends in the Harvard community warned them that if they decided to keep the baby, they would lose all hope of achieving their carefully crafted goals. Fortunately, that's exactly what happened. Expecting Adam is a poignant, challenging, and achingly funny chronicle of the extraordinary nine months of Martha's pregnancy. By the time Adam was born, Martha and John were propelled into a world in which they were forced to redefine everything of value to them, put all their faith in miracles, and trust that they could fly without a net. And it worked. Martha's riveting, beautifully written memoir captures the abject terror and exhilarating freedom of facing impending parentdom, being forced to question one's deepest beliefs, and rewriting life's rules. It is an unforgettable celebration of the everyday magic that connects human souls to each other.

Expecting Adam (Target Club Pick)

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Women's Health

Random House, Inc.

The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self (Oprah's Book Club)

'This radiant book will not only change your life, but perhaps even save it' Elizabeth Gilbert\n'Martha Beck's genius is that her writing is equal parts comforting and challenging. A teacher, a mother, a sage, she holds our hand as she leads us back home to ourselves' Glennon Doyle\n_____________________\nBestselling author, life coach and sociologist Martha Beck explains why 'integrity' - being in harmony with ourselves - is the key to a meaningful and joyful life\nIn The Way of Integrity, Beck presents a four-stage process that anyone can use to find integrity, and with it, a sense of purpose, emotional healing, and a life free of mental suffering. Much of what plagues us-people pleasing, staying in stale relationships, negative habits-all point to what happens when we are out of touch with what truly makes us feel whole.\nInspired by The Divine Comedy, Beck uses Dante's classic hero's journey as a framework to break down the process of attaining personal integrity into small, manageable steps. She shows how to read our internal signals that lead us towards our true path, and to recognize what we actually yearn for versus what our culture sells us.\nWith techniques tested on hundreds of her clients, Beck brings her expertise as a social scientist, life coach and human being to help readers to uncover what integrity looks like in their own lives. She takes us on a spiritual adventure that not only will change the direction of our lives, but bring us to a place of genuine happiness.

The Way of Integrity: Finding the path to your true self

Happiness

Piatkus

Breaking Point

Politics & Social Sciences

Women's Studies

Random House Value Publishing

"This radiant book will not only change your life, but perhaps even save it."--Elizabeth Gilbert, #1 New York Times bestselling author "Martha Beck's genius is that her writing is equal parts comforting and challenging. A teacher, a mother, a sage, she holds our hand as she leads us back home to ourselves."--Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author Bestselling author, life coach and sociologist Martha Beck explains why "integrity"--needed now more than ever in these tumultuous times--is the key to a meaningful and joyful life As Martha Beck says in her book, "Integrity is the cure for psychological suffering. Period." In The Way of Integrity, Beck presents a four-stage process that anyone can use to find integrity, and with it, a sense of purpose, emotional healing, and a life free of mental suffering. Much of what plagues us--people pleasing, staying in stale relationships, negative habits--all point to what happens when we are out of touch with what truly makes us feel whole. Inspired by The Divine Comedy, Beck uses Dante's classic hero's journey as a framework to break down the process of attaining personal integrity into small, manageable steps. She shows how to read our internal signals that lead us towards our true path, and to recognize what we actually yearn for versus what our culture sells us. With techniques tested on hundreds of her clients, Beck brings her expertise as a social scientist, life coach and human being to help readers to uncover what integrity looks like in their own lives. She takes us on a spiritual adventure that not only will change the direction of our lives, but bring us to a place of genuine happiness.

The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self (Random House Large Print)

Religion & Spirituality

Random House, Large Print

From bestselling author Martha Beck, a new path to overcoming anxiety by awakening the creativity within We live in an epidemic of anxiety. Most of us assume that the key to overcoming it is to think our way out. And for a while it works. But there is always something that sends us back into the anxious spiral we've been trying to climb out of. In Beyond Anxiety, Dr. Martha Beck explains why anxiety is skyrocketing around you, and likely within you. She also tells you how to not only reduce your anxiety but use it to propel you into a life filled with peace, meaning, and joy. Using a combination of the latest neuroscience as well as her background in sociology and coaching, Beck explains how our brains tend to get stuck in an "anxiety spiral," a feedback system that can increase anxiety indefinitely. To climb out, we must engage different parts of our nervous system--the parts involved in creativity. Beck provides instructions for engaging the "creativity spiral," in a process that not only shuts down anxiety but leads to innovative problem solving, a sense of meaning and purpose, and joyful, intimate connection with others--and with the world. The opposite of anxiety, it turns out, is a wonderful new way of life--one that can calm and inspire us as individuals and help us become a source of healing for everything around us.

Beyond Anxiety: Curiosity, Creativity, and Finding Your Life's Purpose

The Open Field

Discover a menu of ten behaviors you can add to your way of living and thinking to enhance every day’s journey through the unpredictable terrain of your existence. Add these behaviors gradually and watch your life become steadily more vivid and satisfying. Or you can go on a “crash Joy Diet” to help you navigate life’s emergencies. The ten menu items are: • Nothing: Do nothing for fifteen minutes a day. Stop mindlessly chasing goals and figure out which goals are worth going after. • Truth: Create a moment of truth to help you unmask what you’re hiding—from others and from yourself. • Desire: Identify, articulate, and explore at least one of your heart’s desires—and learn how to let yourself want what you want. • Creativity: Learn six new ways to develop at least one new idea to help you obtain your heart’s desire. • Risk: Take one baby step toward reaching your goal. The only rule is it has to scare the pants off you. • Treats: Give yourself a treat for every risk you take and two treats just because you’re you. No exceptions. No excuses. • Play: Take a moment to remember your real life’s work and differentiate it from the games you play to achieve it. Then play wholeheartedly. • Laughter: Laugh at least thirty times a day. Props encouraged. • Connection: Use your Joy Diet skills to interact with someone who matters to you. • Feasting: Enjoy at least three square feasts a day, with or without food. No matter what your long-term goals are, The Joy Diet, written with Martha Beck’s inimitable blend of wisdom, practical guidance, and humor, will help you achieve the immediate gift of joyful living in the here and now. Begin your journey today.

The Joy Diet: 10 Daily Practices for a Happier Life

Mental Health

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Books by BECK, MARTHA