If we go for the easy way, we never change.

Marina Abramović is a Yugoslav-born performance artist whose work relies heavily on her own physicality and interactions with spectators. Abramović began painting as a child, but later found herself drawn to the challenges of performance art. Her best-known work includes “The Lovers” (1988), in which she and her romantic partner Ulay, a fellow artist, ended their relationship by walking from opposite ends of the Great Wall of China; and “The Artist Is Present” (2010), where she sat across a table from spectators for seven hours a day (for the piece’s three-month run) without any touching or speaking. Abramović’s art offers a channel for personal transformation, and her words here remind us not to play it safe. Change is natural, and can help us grow and flourish into our best selves.