“The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage.” ~Thucydides
The society I was born in—urban, rich, conservative India—did not encourage women to make life choices for themselves. I was not given a vote in …
“The secret of joy is the mastery of pain.” ~ Anais Nin
When I was eighteen, I got depressed and stayed depressed for a little over a year. For over a year, every single day was a battle with myself. …
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” ~Anne Frank
I have a confession to make: The last few weeks have been some of the hardest I’ve lived through in my …
“Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.” ~Karl Barth
We were lying in bed. I said, “We can’t do it.” She said, “I don’t see what else we can do.” We lay there in silence, trying to figure it out.…
“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.” ~Norman Cousins
“What is happiness?” What a completely dense and loaded question this is.
During my studies in psychology, one of …
“If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place.” ~Lao Tzu
I spent a lot of time in my life being angry. At one point I hated everything and almost everyone. I …
“Give thanks for a little and you will find a lot” ~Hausa Proverb
In my early, dark days of first acquiring a disability, I didn’t feel I had an awful lot to be thankful for.
It was like I had …
“Our strength grows out of our weaknesses.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
In my youth, I strived to be “nice.” I tolerated a lot from others. I forgave easily and learned to “turn the other cheek.”
I made myself constantly available to …
“Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it.” ~Eckhart Tolle
I wake up. I take a look outside.
I take a breath in and just appreciate where this …
“Turn you face toward the sun and the shadows will fall behind you.” ~Māori Proverb
I am looking out of the window of the airplane. We are above the clouds; the evening sun is just setting. There is a glow …
“The world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming it.” ~Helen Keller
You’ve probably heard the saying “Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.”
For many years, I didn’t understand how pain and suffering were different from each …
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” ~Winston Churchill
I am constantly striving to see the positive in every aspect of my life. But it’s not always easy.
My dog is …
“Don’t ask what the world needs, ask what makes you come alive and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ~Howard Thurman
Three years ago, I found myself in the biggest predicament of …
Today is an exciting day for me, as I’m announcing the first international edition of my book, Tiny Buddha: Simple Wisdom for Life’s Hard Questions.
If you’ve already learned about the book or purchased it, this post will be …
“Never let lack of money interfere with having fun.” ~Unknown
Back when we were young we may have asked our parents for money to do things, but more often than not we found creative ways to have fun without spending …
“Life is inherently risky. There is only one big risk you should avoid at all costs, and that is the risk of doing nothing.” ~Denis Waitley
Yesterday was a bad day.
My husband and I got really close to …
“A man is not old until regrets take the place of his dreams.” ~Proverb
When Lori wrote her list of thirty-three lessons she’d learned in life (one for each of her years) to celebrate her recent birthday, she gave us …
“The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.” ~Sydney J. Harris
I live on a beach, and I don’t mean in a box under the boardwalk. Rather, my home is just about 60 seconds away. …
“An unhurried sense of time is in itself a sort of wealth.” ~Bonnie Friedman
We live in a society that favors material wealth over human wealth. Fame, fortune, and glamorous toys are what we are told to strive for with …
Editor’s Note: This is a contribution by Lindsey Kasch
“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look …
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