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Giveaway: Dalai Lama’s “Inner World,” Mantras & Teachings Set to Music

By in Blog, mindfulness & peace

The winners for this giveaway are:

If your name is listed above, please email your address to me at email@tinybuddha.com so I can get your CD set out to you!

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Hi friends! I’m excited to share that the Dalai Lama has released his first music offering, an 11-track album of mantras and teachings set to music, and I have five free CD sets to give away to the Tiny Buddha community!

The CD set was actually released just recently on my birthday, August 28th, after a July 6…

Why I Stopped Chasing Money and What I Now Know About Happiness

By in Blog, happiness & fun

“Money is numbers. And numbers never end. If it takes money to be happy, your search for happiness will never end.” ~Bob Marley

On January 17th, 2020, I lugged the last remaining boxes from my office and sat in my frozen car, stunned at what had come to fruition. The “be careful what you wish for” adage poked me in my tear-filled eyes. I didn’t even try to hold them back… Months of stiff-upper-lipping-it meant the floodgates were now safe to open. Whoosh! 

No more client meetings. 
No more financial plans to construct. 
No more market-fluctuation counseling sessions. …

Pain is Not Purposeless: How to See the Meaning

By in Blog, change & challenges

“Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at the moment.” ~Eckhart Tolle

Have you ever felt a general dissatisfaction with where you are in life? Ever felt like you can do something better than what you’re doing, but you’re not sure exactly what or how?

I have. In fact, I still feel this way, although I am slowly working my way toward creating a more purposeful life for myself. This can feel distressing. Painful. …

5 Things I Let Go When I Was Tired of Playing the Victim

By in Blog, letting go

“Placing the blame or judgment on someone else leaves you powerless to change your experience; taking responsibility for your beliefs and judgment gives you the power to change them.” ~ Byron Katie

I will never forget the day a dear friend of mine told me I sounded like a victim. I can recall I was outraged with a guy who didn’t fulfill my needs and my expectations in love. In other words, he broke up with me, refusing to fill up my cup with the precious things I didn’t know how to give myself: appreciation, self-care, and self-respect.

“How …

3 Nature Therapy Exercises to Help You Live in the Now

By in Blog, mindfulness & peace

“Nature is the best medicine for serenity. Peace. Calmness. Stillness. It’s good for the heart.” ~Karen Madwell

I was looking for a way to stop obsessing over the future. I’d spent my adult life as an underground musician, and it had been wonderful for the large part. The thing is, it wasn’t good for me anymore.

I felt anxious onstage. I felt really uncomfortable with so many people looking at me. I had changed as a person, and yet I continued putting myself through performing even though I hated it.

Have you ever done that? Have you ever continued …

If You Feel Stuck and Tired of Waiting for Things to Get Better

By in Blog, change & challenges

“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” ~Stephen Covey

In August 2019, I was sitting in my therapist’s office with my head in my hands. I was heartbroken over a recently ended relationship, stuck working a job I wasn’t excited about, and I was living across the country from my closest friends and family. I felt like I couldn’t do much to change my situation because I was about to enter my final year of university, and I needed to stay put.

“Sometimes, life is a logjam,” my therapist said. I visualized …

The 11 Most Common Myths About Highly Sensitive People

By in Blog

“I used to dislike being sensitive. I thought it made me weak. But take away that single trait, and you take away the very essence of who I am. You take away my conscience, my ability to empathize, my intuition, my creativity, my deep appreciation of the little things, my vivid inner life, my keen awareness of others pain and my passion for it all.” ~Caitlin Jap

Unsurprisingly, given my sensitivity, I struggled to fit in when I was growing up in the loud and vibrant 1970s, a decade not known for its subtlety.

I was unbearably sensitive and relentlessly …

How to Make the Best of Hard Times: The ABCs of an Empowered Mindset

By in Blog, mindfulness & peace

“Things turn out the best for people who make the best of the way things turn out.” ~John Wooden

Aside from always wanting to celebrate turning forty in Paris at the top of the Eiffel Tower, I had another special birthday dream: to run in an international marathon.

My flight and hotel were booked, and I was going with some girlfriends to Cyprus to run Limassol.

That was the plan.

And that plan, along with the plans of my fellow eight billion humans was suddenly shut down, along with the entire world—literally, in what felt like a matter of minutes.…

Think Less, Sense More: How to Get Out of Your Own Way

By in Blog, mindfulness & peace

“I believe in intuitions and inspirations…I sometimes FEEL that I am right. I do not KNOW that I am.” ~Albert Einstein

I’ve been thinking a lot. Maybe you have too?

There’s a lot to think about these days.

I’m taking in information, processing new ideas, adapting the conditions of my life to the current circumstances, and establishing new behaviors. Maybe this sounds familiar to you?

All of this reasoning is primarily a frontal cortex function. When we understand and organize information, that function occurs at the front of the brain. This part of the brain creates order out of chaos. …

When Life Gets Hard: How to Find Peace Within the Chaos

By in Blog, change & challenges, mindfulness & peace

“The more in harmony you are with the flow of your own existence, the more magical life becomes.” ~Adyashanti

Have you turned on the news lately only to want to shut it off after a few minutes?

It seems that chaos has enveloped this planet. Every corner of every street has been impacted by the current situation; I have never seen anything quite like it in my time.

It may be incredibly difficult to find some breathing room between all of this. On one hand, you want to be up to date with the world, and on the other hand, …

Do You Remember When You Didn’t Worry About Your Weight?

By in Blog, healthy habits, letting go

“We need to start focusing on what matters—on how we feel, and how we feel about ourselves.” ~Michelle Obama

Do you remember the little girl (or boy) in you? The kid who ran, jumped, danced, laughed anywhere and everywhere they felt like it—before someone told them to shush, that they were too big, too loud, too much.

The kid who didn’t even know what a scale was before someone told them their size was wrong.

The kid who just ate—before someone gave them a mile-long list of “bad” foods and made them scared of food and distrusting of themselves.

After …

What I Now Know About Rejection and How It’s Set Me Free

By in Blog, love & relationships

“If someone does not want me, it is not the end of the world. But if I do not want me, the world is nothing but endings.” ~Nayyirah Waheed

Rejection means a lot of things to a lot of different people. To healthcare professionals, it may mean immunological incompatibility, a body not accepting a transplanted tissue or organ. To a couple that wants to adopt, a rejection letter can be discouraging and devastating news. To a writer, rejection can come in the form of submitting your precious work that you slaved over to a publisher and being told it didn’t …

What You Need to Do If You Feel Insecure in Relationships

By in Blog, love & relationships

“The key is in learning how to live a healthy, satisfying, and serene life without being dependent on another person for happiness.” ~Robin Norwood

When it comes to relationships, people can call you “crazy” and “needy” all they want. I can only guess some people don’t know how crazy it feels when every cell in your body feels like the only way to breathe is to stop this person you desire from abandoning you right now.

You may not realize it as the emotions hijack your mind and body, but unconsciously, you only have one job in that moment—to …

How to Calm Morning Anxiety by Mindfully Drinking Tea

By in Blog, letting go, mindfulness & peace

“Mindfulness isn’t difficult. We just need to remember to do it.” ~Sharon Salzberg

As a Brit, I do what we British people do best: drink tea. Lots of it.

I’ve drunk a cup of tea every morning since I was a chubby-faced teenager.

I used to think tea was the best thing ever, that friendly little cup of brew that’s always there for you, reminding you to take a moment to chill. But it turns out that mindfully drinking a cup of tea is so much better. Not only does it make me enjoy my tea more, it has utterly …

When You Dance with Discomfort, Surprising Things Can Happen

By in Blog, happiness & fun, meaning & passion

“I wish for a world where everyone understands that discomfort is the price of legendary. And fear is just growth coming to get you.” ~Robin S. Sharma

For years, I felt like the most incredible dancer. Whenever I heard music, no matter where I was, I would start moving, at first slowly and then, as the music started to infuse my soul, with increasing abandon. In that moment, I was filled with passion, and I completely let go. It was me and the music—no-one and nothing else. I was in another world.

When I danced in front of …

Sorry If I “Trigger” You, But I Will Never Move On

By in Blog, change & challenges, letting go

“It’s so much darker when a light goes out than it would have been if it had never shone.” ~John Steinbeck

When you lose someone close to you, there are a plethora of duties you must first complete.

When my boyfriend passed away from cancer at the age of twenty-nine, I was just twenty-three. We lived together in a claustrophobic, studio apartment in lower Manhattan. I recall many people telling me to physically move from the apartment, as that’s where he passed away, but moving in Manhattan is never an ideal situation to be in, especially when you are traumatized.…

Why We Feel Like a Fraud (and How to Stop)

By in Blog, change & challenges

“I have written eleven books, but each time I think, ‘Uh oh, they’re going to find out now. I’ve run a game on everybody and they’re going to find me out.’” ~ Maya Angelou

Any minute now they would find out.

I scanned the large conference room. The twenty-six project team members around the table discussed data analysis. Their voices were muffled by the thick fog of my anxiety.

My own throat tried to choke me, and my chest refused to expand. Sweat trickled down my side.

Breathe, just breathe. It’s going to be okay.

My eyes met my …

When Self-Help Hurts: How My Obsession Kept Me Stuck

By in Blog, change & challenges, letting go

“Quiet the voice telling you to do more and be more, and trust that in this moment, who you are, where you are at, and what you are doing is enough. You will get to where you need to be in your own time. Until then, breathe. Breathe and be patient with yourself and your process. You are doing the best you can to cope and survive amid your struggles, and that’s all you can ask of yourself. It’s enough. You are enough.” ~Daniell Koepke

I feel a bit like Frodo Baggins. I’m on this tireless, seemingly never-ending journey just …

How to Get Through Hard Times Without Hurting People We Love

By in Blog, change & challenges, love & relationships

“If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.” ~Buddha

Just the other day, I had one of those moments with my husband, and not the kind of moment they write about in romance novels.

The world has been so different these last several months, and so many are feeling the effects of months of struggle, uncertainty, frustration, and limitations.

I consider myself to be someone who works to see the positive, finds the silver living in situations, and believes in the best of people, and that things can and will always get better. But lately, that has …

Perfectly Imperfect: How to Embrace Your Insecurities

By in Blog, change & challenges

“Cut yourself some slack. You’re doing better than you think.” ~Unknown

Your stomach is tied up in knots.

Another crisis has arrived, and everyone is looking to you to have the answers, to be the leader. You can’t blame them either because you think you should have all the answers. But you just don’t.

Though you look calm on the outside, inside you’re a tangle of nerves and anxiety, terrified someone will expose you as the fraud you feel you are.

In the past, you’ve been able to pull a rabbit out of a hat to save the day, …