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Posts by Lori Deschene

Lori Deschene is the founder of Tiny Buddha. She started the site after struggling with depression, bulimia, c-PTSD, and toxic shame so she could recycle her former pain into something useful and inspire others to do the same. You can find her books, including Tiny Buddha’s Gratitude Journal and Tiny Buddha’s Worry Journal, here and learn more about her eCourse, Recreate Your Life Story, if you’re ready to transform your life and become the person you want to be.

Lori Deschene's Website

A Soulful Retreat for Sensitive Hearts in a Chaotic World

If you’re a highly sensitive person like me, I don’t need to tell you how overwhelming the world can feel right now—how much we hold, how hard it can be to rest, and how rare it is to feel seen, safe, and supported.

That’s why I’m honored to share something that I think could be deeply nourishing for your nervous system, your spirit, and your sense of hope in this complicated political landscape:

The California Redwoods Retreat for Sensitive Women & Gender-Expansive People
Guerneville, CA | July 13–18, 2025

Led by Melissa Renzi—a longtime friend of Tiny Buddha and this

A Gift from Guided Meditation: 1 Year of Peace, Totally Free

If your mind’s been racing or your body’s been tense, I get it.

Life doesn’t always slow down when we need it to, and sometimes, even five quiet minutes can feel like a luxury.

That’s why I’m excited to pass along this gift from a meditation app that’s helped millions in Europe and is now making its U.S. debut.

To celebrate the launch of the Guided Meditation app, our friends in the Netherlands—where they’re the #1 meditation app—are offering the Tiny Buddha community something special: one year of free, unlimited access to their full library of meditations, music, sleep …

Feeling Stuck, Anxious, or Lost? Choose Your Free Guide

If you’ve felt stuck lately, you’re not alone.

Since I launched the (very delayed) Best You, Best Life bundle on Monday, I’ve heard from so many people who are going through a lot right now—emotionally, mentally, and energetically.

Maybe you’re stuck in survival mode—going through the motions, numb and disconnected, longing for joy and meaning.

Maybe you’re overwhelmed by anxiety, dread, or the constant feeling that something’s wrong—even if you don’t know what it is.

Or maybe you’re a deeply feeling person who’s taken on everyone else’s pain, and now you’re not sure where you went.

Lately, I’ve

A Free 3-Day Vacation to Calm Your Nervous System

Tell me, is your jaw clenched as you’re reading this? Are your shoulders hunched? Do you feel tension throughout your body that mirrors the constant buzz of stress within your mind?

I suspect we all feel like this far more often than we may even realize because, for many of us, it’s the norm. We push ourselves through one busy day after another, stuffing our feelings down in a constant state of agitation, without ever recognizing that our nervous systems are stuck in survival mode—and that we have the power to break free.

If any of this sounds familiar to …

Get Happier Meditation’s FREE Mindful Menopause Guide

Honestly, it’s hard to believe I’m at the age for perimenopause. I feel young in many ways, despite the exhaustion of parenting two young kids. And I’ve always felt somewhat eternal, doing whatever I want to do at any age, without regard for what other people think or believe.

But here I am—forty-five, dealing with all kinds of hormone-related symptoms, including brain fog, mood swings, and most recently, anemia from heavy bleeding.

I haven’t yet experienced most of the physical issues that plague many women at midlife, like hot flashes (fun!), sleep disturbances, and weight gain. But I’m deep enough …

The Secret to Changing Your Relationship with Food

Anyone who knows me well knows that I battled with food and my body for years.

I struggled with bulimia for over a decade, starting when I was twelve. My eating disorder was in many ways a coping mechanism in response to trauma, but early programming around food didn’t help.

I ate to soothe myself. I ate to stuff down my feelings. And as a bulimic, I ate to feel the control I felt when I was able to reverse the process of consumption.

Though I technically recovered in my early twenties, I spent many years after that sticking to …

Free New Year Meditation & Writing Challenge

Hi friend! As you might recall, last fall I shared an empowering five-day meditation and writing challenge from Tiny Buddha contributor Nadia Colburn. This month, she’s back with another free meditation and writing challenge, designed for the new year, focused on transformation, and I can’t recommend it enough!

Founder of the online creative writing school Align Your Story, Nadia is a poet, memoirist, and yogi who has a talent for helping people create inner calm and access their most authentic voice.

That’s what I love about her challenges—they allow us to turn down the mental noise that creates stress …

10 Holiday Quotes for Comfort, Peace, and Perspective

The holidays can be a magical time, filled with beautiful memories and traditions that remind us of what truly matters in life. It can also be emotionally fraught for anyone who’s struggling with financial insecurity, grief, or depression.

This year has been especially challenging for me personally, for reasons I’ll possibly share some time in the future. For now, I am focusing on my family and the gift of today and soaking up joy wherever I can find it.

And I’m putting these messages out into the world, hoping they reach those who need them and provide a little comfort, …

The International Yoga Festival (Promo Code Inside!)

Hi friend! Today, I’m excited to share with you an extraordinary upcoming event (from this month’s site sponsor) that could be a bucket list experience for many—the International Yoga Festival, taking place in Rishikesh from March 9th-15th next year.

Situated in the foothills of the sacred Himalayas, Rishikesh is known as the Yoga Capital of the World and believed to be the birthplace of yoga—the place where the sage Patanjali wrote the yoga sutras over 2,000 years ago.

The annual International Yoga Festival at Parmarth Niketan attracts thousands of participants from nearly 100 countries every …

Upcoming Retreat for Highly Sensitive People and Introverts

Have you ever taken a trip to recharge but then returned feeling drained? If you’re a highly sensitive person (HSP) or introvert—or both, like me—you might yearn for the adventure and relaxation that travel can provide but struggle to find experiences that honor your energetic needs.

Perhaps also like me, you’ve been intrigued by the idea of a retreat but worried that it could be overwhelming, with packed schedules and pressure to constantly engage. Even many wellness retreats miss the mark, leaving little room for personal time and different ways of participating.

Imagine a retreat that allows you to connect

Free Offer: One year of the Happier Meditation App

Since you follow Tiny Buddha, I’m guessing you might be familiar with the benefits of meditation and perhaps have already experienced many of them yourself.

I first found meditation through yoga, which I initially started at a gym solely because I was curious.

I didn’t know then that meditation can help with depression, anxiety, stress, and insomnia (all of which I’ve experienced); that it can literally rewire the brain to help with healing from trauma (also a battle I know very well); or that it can help prevent and heal numerous physical conditions.

Now here I am, over two decades …

Tiny Buddha’s 2025 Day-to-Day Calendar Is Now Available for Purchase

Hi friends! I’m excited to share that the 2025 Tiny Buddha Day-to-Day Calendar is now available for purchase!

Uplifting and healing, this calendar offers daily reflections from me, Tiny Buddha contributors, and other authors whose quotes have inspired and encouraged me.

Featuring colorful, patterned tear-off pages, the calendar is printed on FSC certified paper with soy-based ink. Topics include happiness, love, relationships, change, meaning, mindfulness, self-care, letting go, and more.

Here’s what Amazon reviewers had to say about the 2024 calendar:

“I love how the quotes are diverse and relevant, offering something for everyone regardless of where they

Free Download, Living Without Hurry: It’s Time to End the Rush

Do you ever feel like you’re living your life racing toward someday when everything feels better or easier? Like you’re constantly chasing something—maybe a dream, money, the perfect body, or love and, at the core of it all, happiness?

I chased all these things for years, filling most of my time with activities to attain them, all the while neglecting my deepest needs and ultimately feeling stressed and overwhelmed.

It’s one of life’s greatest ironies—we  push ourselves so hard to find peace and fulfillment in the future without realizing both are available right now if we could only create space …

Creating Massive Change: How to Get Out of Our Own Way

Has it ever occurred to you that maybe your life isn’t changing because you’re holding yourself back but don’t know it?

Like maybe there’s something in your conditioning or a subconscious belief that’s preventing you from doing something that could bring you the change you seek?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot since I took Nadia Colburn’s five-day mindful writing challenge because one of the prompts elicited a profound insight about why I’ve struggled to create the change I want most in life.

Part of the prompt was “Don’t go off somewhere else,” and after a brief meditation at

Free 5-Day Meditation and Writing Challenge

Hi friends! Today, I’m thrilled to share with you an empowering five-day meditation and writing challenge from Tiny Buddha contributor (and this month’s site sponsor) Nadia Colburn.

Founder of the online creative writing school Align Your Story, Nadia is a poet, memoirist, and yogi who has a talent for helping people access their creative voice on a deeper level. And that’s exactly what she’s done with this challenge.

Each day’s fifteen-minute recording will guide you through a short meditation, share an evocative poem, and lead you through a quick writing exercise inspired by that day’s piece.

When she first told …

Join the Writers Rising Retreat – 10% Off for Tiny Buddha Readers!

I believe that most, if not all, of us want the same things in life.

We want to feel seen. Want to be heard. We want to own our truth and express ourselves. And we want to believe we’re making a positive impact—to feel like we matter and that we’re leaving an indelible mark on the people around us in our short time here on this earth.

That’s what writing has done for me, and I’m guessing for many of you too.

But whether you’re creatively blocked or just full of self-doubt, it’s not easy to write consistently.

Instead of …

A Tool to Help You Love Yourself Unconditionally

Hi friends! Today, I’m thrilled to share with you a beautiful, healing, and inspiring card deck that I’ve been obsessed with as of late.

Created by Tiny Buddha contributor Rita Loyd, the Unconditional Self-Love Message Card Deck contains fifty colorful art images, each with an accompanying message on how to cultivate unconditional self-love on the back.

At 2.5”x 3.5“, the deck is small enough to carry within a purse or pocket if you’d like to keep these messages close, should you need a little boost of self-love throughout your day. You can …

Submit Your Quote for Tiny Buddha’s 2026 Calendar

Hi friend! As you may know, I’ve offered a day-to-day desk calendar with quotes for the past few years and will soon offer my fourth.

I’m currently working on the 2026 calendar, and, as I did last year, I’d love to include some quotes from the community.

If you’d like to submit a quote (or more than one!) for consideration, you can do that here.

Some guidelines to keep in mind:

1. Quotes can be up to 75 words.

2. They need to be entirely original.

3. They can be on any topic related to personal growth, including but …

Join the Writers Rising Retreat – with Anne Lamott, Cheryl Strayed & others!

If you’re a fellow or aspiring writer, today’s post is for you!

The people behind the Writer’s Room have organized a pretty amazing retreat that you won’t want to miss.

Writers Rising 2024 , running from October 25th through 27th, is sure to be an unforgettable experience that will ignite your creativity, nourish your spirit, and deepen your connection to yourself and others.

I do what I do for all these reasons, and because I believe that writing heals. It helps us process our emotions, identify lessons from our experiences, and feel a greater sense of clarity and control in …

20 Self-Care Quotes to Keep You Mentally and Emotionally Strong

It’s a new week, and that can bring with it a sense of excitement and possibility or a sense of dread about your overwhelming responsibilities. Sometimes for me it’s both.

And not just because I have a lot to do, but also because, like most of us, I have a lot going in my head and my heart at any given time. And it’s not always easy to be a feeling human in a busy world that won’t slow down when it all seems like too much. Which means sometimes we need to stop instead.

Stop pushing ourselves. Stop ignoring …