Having a Smart Brain Is Not Enough
How to Survive a Breakup with an Addict and Heal Your Heart
“The positive cannot exist without the negative.” ~Alan Watts
My heart was empty. It had never felt that empty before. Sometimes I felt a gap gnawing at my chest making everything around me feel like half of a whole. I felt like a piece of me had died.
I painted my childhood bedroom grey that summer, picking out the color carefully after taping paint samples on the wall and pondering them for hours.
The old color gave me a headache; it glowed neon green and looked dirty now from years of feet on the walls. Hidden above the moldings, I …
How to Open Your Eyes and Make the Most of Life
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” ~Marcel Proust
I was asleep for the first thirty-two years of my life. I was jolted awake when my daughter was born unable to sustain her own breath.
I sat beside her in the NICU helplessly every day for three months, unable to hold or feed her due to her fragility. I watched as she endured two surgeries before six weeks of age.
She was diagnosed with a rare muscular disease that required significant medical intervention and around-the-clock nursing care. In those first few …
How to Meditate Like a Buddhist: Book Giveaway
The winners have been chosen! If you see your name below, please send your address to email@tinybuddha.com so I can get a copy out to you!
I’ve often wished I found meditation much earlier in life.
Like in high school, where I once burst a stress ball from excessive squeezing, shooting little beans or beads or whatever filled the ball in every direction around my overloaded desk. Or in college when the triad of my depression, anxiety, and bulimia began to feel like the foundation of my identity.
I wish I knew …
How to Gently Coax Yourself Out of Your Comfort Zone
“Everything you ever wanted is one step outside your comfort zone.” ~Unknown
We’ve all seen this quote or similar ones. All the magic, growth, and transformation seem to happen there. Not everything that happens outside the comfort zone is magical, though. So, when we go wandering, leaving the safe shores, we also need to be realistic and aware that mixed in with the good, there’s also potential pain and discomfort waiting for us.
Being aware of this, how can we still motivate ourselves to try something new and to step outside our comfort zone?
On the one hand, I …
Why Your Failures Are Your Most Valuable Currency
“The master has failed more time than the apprentice has even attempted.” ~Proverb
There’s no prize for coming last. But that doesn’t mean it holds no value at all.
We’re so obsessed with not measuring up to expectations that we can deny ourselves the permission to take chances. So many of us are risk averse. Paralyzed by the fear of failure. It robs us of our creativity and moments of spontaneity that are often the source of our greatest triumphs.
And although some may view failure as the end of the road, it’s far from being an absolute.
You’re meant …
For People Who Look in the Mirror and Cringe
“Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are.” ~Brené Brown
When I was fourteen years old, I vividly remember the first time I put my fingers down my throat and made myself puke.
I remember feeling fat, ugly, unworthy, and like I was not good enough. I felt as if I had no control and I was unable to effectively process the strong emotions I was feeling. Binging and purging allowed me to temporarily release these feelings, to numb them out, and created a fallacy of control …
How I Survived Suicidal Thoughts When I Really Wanted to Die
**If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts now, please consider speaking with a trained professional through the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 1-800-273-TALK.
“Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.” ~Lucius Annaeus Seneca
When I was twenty-four my best friend died suddenly in a car accident. She was like a sister to me, so this plunged me into a deep depression. I had struggled with depression since I was about fourteen, but it became much worse after she passed away.
At times suicide honestly seemed like the best possible solution to what I felt like I knew …
What You Need to Know Before You Start or Quit Meditating
“Many paths lead from the foot of the mountain, but at the peak we all gaze at the single bright moon.” ~Ikkyu
I was the kid who didn’t like to sleep. In nursery school, I would pretend to be asleep at nap time, while the other kids were sleeping. I’ve always thought life was full of exciting things to explore and learn, and I didn’t want to sleep through it.
So, it shouldn’t surprise you that traditional meditation didn’t sit well with me (pun intended). I remember my Buddhist grandmother chanting and meditating twice a day. Yet I never had …
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