Marla Goldberrg “Authors to Watch in 2026” Best-Selling Author of My Fcking Long Journey to Loving Myself

Marla Goldberrg is a Doctor of Metaphysical Healing, Ordained Minister, Psychic Medium, Speaker, Teacher, and Self-Love Expert. She is the host of the Guided Spirit Conversations podcast and the best-selling author of My Fcking Long Journey to Loving Myself: A Guide to a Shorter Path*.

Before beginning her spiritual path, Marla was a successful serial entrepreneur, founding and operating four businesses over the course of her professional career: Event’s Inc., a full-service event management company; The Candy Lady, Ltd., a candy manufacturing company; Pawz Pet Taxi; and Sweet Bites Bakery.

In 2003, Marla’s life reached rock bottom. Feeling lost and without support, she came across a promotion for a women’s conference. It was there that she met her first spiritual teacher—an encounter that marked the beginning of her spiritual awakening and lifelong journey of healing and self-discovery.

Marla attended a three-year mystery school, where she graduated with training in fourteen healing techniques. She has continued to expand her education extensively, studying a wide range of healing modalities. During this time, she became certified as a Spiritual Response Therapy (SRT) practitioner, Intuitive Life Coach, Doctor of Metaphysical Healing, and Ordained Minister.

In the spring of 2018, Marla launched Guided Spirit Conversations, where she continues to host meaningful discussions on spirituality, healing, and personal growth. She is also the author of three best-selling compilation books—Heart and Soul and 52 Weeks of Gratitude Journal, Kindness Crusader, and My Sacred Journal—in addition to her best-selling personal work, My Fcking Long Journey to Loving Myself: A Guide to a Shorter Path*.

This book blends memoir and self-help, with a mission to guide readers in releasing anger, frustration, and stress; learning forgiveness for others and themselves; cultivating self-acceptance; and ultimately embracing authentic self-love.

Marla has been featured on television, radio, and numerous podcasts, and has spoken at Mind, Body, Spirit Expos nationwide. Most recently, she spoke at Harvard University on the topic “Your Initial Steps to Self-Love.”

Share a pivotal moment in your life that led you to a spiritual journey.

There were many moments in my life when I was on my knees, praying and begging for help. However, the most pivotal moment came during my first marriage. One night, I believed I was having a heart attack and had to take myself to the hospital because my husband at the time wouldn’t wake up to go with me. About three hours later, he called looking for me. He took a cab to the hospital with his two sons, stayed for fifteen minutes, and then left.

That experience plunged me into a deep state of depression. I felt like a deer in headlights—frozen, unable to move in any direction. I was at my absolute bottom. It was during that time that I found a women’s conference where one of the presenters was speaking about self-healing. There was a quiet but persistent voice in my head repeating, “You have nothing to lose.”

That presenter became my first spiritual teacher. I went on to graduate from her Mystery School after three years of intense study, during which I learned fourteen healing modalities. Not only did I learn how to heal others—I learned how to heal myself.

Tell us about the choices you made that did not serve you well.

Before stepping onto my spiritual path, I made many decisions that did not serve me and only added to the wounds I had been accumulating throughout my life. Without going into great detail, these choices ranged from romantic relationships with emotionally unavailable, critical, judgmental, and selfish men—men who showed me their true colors early on, but whose red flags I chose to ignore.

I also took jobs, or stayed in jobs, that reinforced my feelings of rejection and not being accepted. I maintained friendships with people who were takers. At the time, I was a people pleaser. I believed that if I could just fix these situations, I would finally feel happy, fulfilled, and accepted. Instead, I ended up depleted, disappointed, and at times, heartbroken.

I was never taught discernment or how to navigate difficult relationships and situations. So, I kept repeating the same patterns, hoping for a different outcome—one that never came. This led me to believe I wasn’t good enough, smart enough, witty enough, or lovable. Many of my romantic relationships began with admiration, but over time, my partners wanted to change me.

During my time at the Mystery School—and continuing to this day—I did a tremendous amount of inner work. I learned where the roots of these negative belief patterns began and began healing them, both with other practitioners and on my own. I removed blocks, programs, interferences, and vows—areas that I’ve found hinder many of us.

Through the tears, the lessons, and the healing, I learned that the acceptance I had been desperately seeking was always within me. As I began to truly see and understand how loving, generous, loyal, and supportive I was, I learned to extend that same love not only to others—but to myself.

It reminds me of the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz, telling Dorothy that she had the power to go home all along, but needed to learn it for herself through her journey. That’s how I began a deeply loving relationship with myself.

Share the initial steps to self-love.

Here are the five initial steps that will begin your journey toward self-love.

Step 1: Awareness

Acknowledge that you either lack self-love or recognize the areas of yourself that you don’t fully love. Until you realize this, you may feel like a hamster on a wheel—spinning endlessly without getting anywhere.

This step can be one of the hardest, especially for those raised with criticism and judgment, which can create feelings of failure or inadequacy. In truth, this step is the beginning of self-empowerment.

I used to say I loved myself, but my choices and lifestyle told a very different story. As I began healing, I learned about vibration and how our energy attracts people, situations, and experiences. When your vibration is high, you attract positive experiences. When it’s low, you attract people and situations you don’t want.

This is how so-called “spiritual vampires” find us—through our energetic frequency. When you raise your vibration, those low-frequency connections naturally fall away.

Step 2: Forgiveness

We tend to let painful experiences take up permanent residence in our minds and hearts. By holding onto them, we give others subconscious control over our lives.

Negative self-talk only adds fuel to the fire. I’ve learned—both personally and through my clients—that we often speak to ourselves in ways we would never speak to our worst enemies.

Forgiving others—and especially forgiving yourself—is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself. It brings freedom and emotional release.

I outline what I call “The Forgiveness Process” in my book, My Fcking Long Journey to Loving Myself: A Guide to a Shorter Path.*

Step 3: Be Mindful of Your Thoughts and Self-Talk

Our inner dialogue can be incredibly harsh. Once you become aware of your thought patterns, you can begin shifting negative and limiting beliefs into supportive, loving, and empowering ones.

One simple technique I still use today is this: when you notice a negative thought, say “Clear. Delete.” three times—either out loud or silently. This interrupts the pattern and helps raise your vibration.

Step 4: Gratitude

I began my gratitude practice as an experiment. Each day, I thanked the Spirit for five things, rotating them daily. What I discovered was that the more grateful I became, the lighter and more joyful I felt—and the more blessings flowed into my life.

Step 5: Self-Acceptance

This step can feel daunting, but learning to accept yourself—“warts, wrinkles, and all”—is deeply transformative. The more compassion you extend to yourself, the closer you come to genuine self-love.

If it feels overwhelming, take small steps. And yes, sometimes “fake it until you make it” applies—until one day, it simply becomes natural.

Why are women coming to you today?

Women come to me because my purpose is to help others live the life they were divinely meant to live. I want my clients to understand that they were not born to struggle or live in lack. Our challenges are lessons meant to guide us toward our true purpose—and ultimately, to inspire others.

Tell us about your best-selling book, My Fcking Long Journey to Loving Myself: A Guide to a Shorter Path.*

My book is part biography and part self-help. I was guided to share my story and the tools I used—and still use—to stay on my path of self-love.

Many people face their challenges feeling completely alone, unaware that others are walking similar paths. My intention was to show readers that they are not alone, that healing is possible, and that there are exercises and processes that can help shift their mindset and their lives—from lemons to lemonade.

My F*ng Long Journey To Loving Myself: A Guide to a Shorter Path is an account of the transformational journey of author Marla Goldberg. Goldberg shares her story along with a guide to some of the most powerful Tips, Tools and Techniques (TTT’s) she learned and incorporated in her life along the way.It’s her story of the dysfunction, neglect and abandonment that she encountered through growing up. Due to the lack of guidance and structure Marla shares the many decisions that she made that didn’t serve her well, until she hit rock bottom. That “thud” of hitting the bottom brought her to her knees. It was during this very dark time that she pleaded with Spirit for help and Spirit showed up.Her help came in the form of a women’s conference. It was at this conference where she crossed paths with the person who would start her on her spiritual journey, teaching Marla how to heal others and myself, which transformed her life as embraced forgiveness, self-acceptance and ultimately self-love.Through this journey of Marla’s, she shares the TTT’s that, if she knew earlier in her life, would have used them to work through her many and very challenged time, and where she uses them today as she continues navigating her life.These TTT’s taught Marla how to release anger, stress and frustration, leading Marla to learn how to forgive; others as well as herself, and ultimately finding total acceptance and self-love, as she like to say, warts, wrinkles and all.

What is your mission?

My mission is to empower others to heal, reconnect with themselves, and live authentically from a place of love.

What can we find on your Guided Spirit Conversations podcast?

My podcast features incredible metaphysicians who share how they began their journeys and how they help their clients. Some have global reach, while others are hidden gems.

Guided Spirit Conversations is available on YouTube, Spotify, and iTunes.

You recently spoke at Harvard University on “Your Initial Steps to Self-Love.” Tell us about your speaking topics.

My talks include:

• Choice and the Power It Holds
• Gratitude
• Forgiveness
• Self-Love

Website: www.marlagoldberrg.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mghealing/
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Marlaghealer
Instagram: www.instagram.com/marla.goldberrg/
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2lCgC5CJoin my group Spiritual Insights with Marla Goldberg