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Free Offer: One year of the Happier Meditation App

By in Blog

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 …

How 10 Days of Silence Brought Me Perspective and Peace

By in Blog, mindfulness & peace

“Removing old conditionings from the mind and training the mind to be more equanimous with every experience is the first step toward enabling one to experience true happiness.” ~S.N. Goenka

I just spent ten days sitting in absolute silence with about 100 strangers, time I previously thought I should’ve spent networking and applying for jobs as an unemployed twenty-something with little savings and no assets, living in a completely new country with no network or job prospects.

There were no conversations, no eye contact, no listening to music, no exercise, no reading or writing—just silence, with twelve hours of meditation …

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

By in Blog

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 …

The Perspective Shift That Helped Me Overcome My Perfectionism

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“Perfectionism is the exhausting state of pretending to know it all and have it all together, all the time. I’d rather be a happy mess than an anxious stress case who’s always trying to hide my flaws and mistakes.” ~Lori Deschene

When I got my start as a math teacher, it was 2012, and I had not been in a classroom in over ten years. I really wasn’t sure how teaching got done anymore.

I came into my first class with a piece of paper and many examples to share. I got up and started writing the examples on the …

Why People Ghost and Advice for Coping (or Stopping)

By in Blog, love & relationships

“Life is a balance of holding on and letting go.” ~Rumi

A few months ago, someone I had dated briefly seven years ago reached out to apologize for his past behavior.

Many of us know how being ghosted can evoke a mix of frustration, bursts of anger, and an underlying sense of utter powerlessness. Degrees of intensity can vary, of course, depending on the depth of the relationship and personal circumstances. This was not one of those heart-wrenching cases, and in a way, an apology seemed excessive. I had long forgiven and forgotten.

Nonetheless, I almost immediately realized I was …

Lost, Scared, and Broken: How Self-Awareness Saved My Life

By in Blog

“The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.” ~Nathaniel Branden

I felt lost. I felt broken. I felt scared.

As I sat alone in that cold, dark jail cell, I felt like I had hit rock bottom.

My feet chilled against the cold stone floor. The creaky wooden bench, stitched together with narrow strips, tormented me.

Inmates shouted all around me. Their voices echoed in the dark. It was like the noise of the outside world had finally caught up with the noise inside my head. I just wanted to scream.

I was sixteen, but I …

Celebrating Six Years Sober: Here’s How I Did It

By in Blog

“I chose sober because I wanted a better life. I stay sober because I got one.” ~Anonymous

Seven years ago, I never thought I would be able to say that I have been six years sober! I didn’t think I was physically addicted. I never got the shakes, never morning drank, never drank daily unless on vacation, never got a DUI (even though that was lucky), and never lost a job or a relationship because of drinking. I was, however, incredibly emotionally and mentally addicted.

I am fifty-six years old and started drinking in high school. Except when pregnant, I …

The Truth Behind Imposter Syndrome: What It’s Really About

By in Blog

“We are who we believe we are.” ~C.S. Lewis

Have you ever caught yourself hiding behind the term “imposter syndrome”? I know I have—more times than I’d like to admit.

We hear the phrase so often now, and it’s almost become a catch-all for our fears, doubts, and insecurities. But what if I told you that imposter syndrome isn’t what you think it is? What if it’s something deeper that has been with you far longer than your career or the roles you play in your life?

Let me take you on a journey that may mirror your own. …

How to Ease Pain and Anxiety Through Meditation

By in Blog

“If nothing changes, nothing changes. If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’re going to keep getting what you’re getting. You want change, make some.” ~Courtney C. Stevens

If someone looked at my life when I was younger, they would think that I had it all together. I went to college to obtain my bachelor’s in psychology and social work, followed by my master’s in social work. I have always had good friendships and family relationships. I traveled regularly. I was and still am young and living my life. Little would they know that so much was brewing inside…

The …

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

By in Blog

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 …

Let Your Tears Flow: The Proven Benefits of Crying

By in Blog

“Crying is not a sign of weakness, it’s a courageous expression of emotions that leads to strength.” ~Unknown

When was the last time you cried? Tears are often seen as a sign of weakness, but for me, they are a powerful guide that helps me recognize and understand my feelings. In a society that frequently suppresses emotions, I want to share my journey with tears and encourage you to reflect on your own experiences.

The Change in My Relationship with Tears

Sometimes, I like to cry. During my studies, I hardly ever cried sober and was proud of it. I …

5 Lessons About Change I Learned from Moving to a New City

By in Blog

“You may not be able to control every situation and its outcome, but you can control how you deal with it.” ~Unknown

I recently moved to Florida, a decision thirty years in the making.

Growing up in Haiti, I always longed to return to a warm climate. I remember being on our layover in Miami when we first moved to the States and thinking, “Why don’t we just stay here?” Moving to Boston at ten, the cold rain was a shock, and I’ve been dreaming of Florida ever since.

Here’s the thing about dreams—they take time, and life sometimes gets …

How to Turn Shame into Self-Love and Emotional Resilience

By in Blog

“The less we talk about shame, the more control it has over our lives.” ~Brené Brown

The pain and suffering I experienced as a child, which I kept hidden for over a decade, was the very seed that gave me the strength, resilience, empathy, authenticity, and courage that I possess today—but only because I surrendered the old story to embrace a new one. I alchemized my pain into my fuel, my traumas as contributions to my triumphs, and my curses into my greatest blessings.

But all of this came with a very hefty price.

Growing up with a single mother …

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

By in Blog

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 …

How to Honor Our Grief While Rebuilding Our Lives

By in Blog

“Grief is not something that ever goes away. You just learn to accommodate it so you can move forward in your life and over time it gets less intense, at least most of the time.” ~David Baxter

Grief is a natural response to loss. Loss can mean the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship, the loss of a job or home, or a response to trauma, abuse, or betrayal. Grief shows itself differently in different people. But the common denominator is that grief goes deep, and grieving is painful.

Around six years ago, my life …

Easily Annoyed by Your Partner? A Relationship-Saving Approach

By in Blog

“You are not your feelings. You just experience them. Anger, sadness, hate, depression, fear. This is the rain you walk in. But you don’t become the rain. You know the rain will pass. You walk on. And you remember the soft glow of the sun that will come again.” ~Matt Haig

Being a relationship-oriented person all my life, I’ve found it fascinating and frustrating how easy it is to feel annoyed with one’s spouse—the person we are supposed to feel most happy to be around.

I used to feel quite annoyed with my husband on a nearly daily basis. But …

How I Turned My Pain and Anxiety into Personal Growth

By in Blog

“The only way out is through.” ~Robert Frost

When I reflect on the past fifteen years of my life, I sometimes joke about my struggles to lighten the weight of what I’ve endured. “What struggle don’t I have?” I’d say, laughing, but beneath that humor is a real story of pain, burnout, and learning to rebuild myself, piece by piece.

I faced chronic pain, anxiety, emotional abuse, two burnouts, long COVID, and emotional eating—all before I hit my thirties. It’s been a long journey, and while I still have days where I’m not as happy as I want to …

Free 5-Day Meditation and Writing Challenge

By in Blog

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 …

How I Created a Beautiful Life on the Other Side of Burnout

By in Blog

“If you don’t give your mind and body a break, you’ll break. Stop pushing yourself through pain and exhaustion and take care of your needs.” ~Lori Deschene

For forty-five minutes, I lay on my yoga mat in child’s pose, unable to move.

The exhaustion in my body felt like a thousand kilos, and the ache of failure pricked my eyes with tears.

Despite all my early morning runs, after-work bootcamps, and restricted meals, my body did not look like the bikini models I saw on Instagram.

Despite all my energy, efforts, and attention, my romantic relationship had

…

The Consequences of Perfectionism and How to Embrace Life’s Messiness

By in Blog

“Perfectionism doesn’t make you feel perfect. It makes you feel inadequate.” ~Maria Shriver

My name is Steffi, and I am a recovering perfectionist. This might come as a surprise to those who know me because I don´t fit the stereotype. The inside of my bag is as messy as my hair, and I always give off the impression that I left the house five minutes too late (which is usually true). My wardrobe is not color-coordinated, and I haven’t organized a flawless birthday party yet.

It also goes against how I have always seen myself. My greatest life skill is …