Do What You Can


EDITOR’S NOTE: You can find a number of helpful coronavirus resources and all related Tiny Buddha articles here.
“Meditation is the ultimate mobile device; you can use it anywhere, anytime, unobtrusively.” ~Sharon Salzberg
I came home from my doctor’s appointment last week and rambled off three to four different things that were happening in the world as a result of the coronavirus. By the fourth item my wife asked me to stop. She said please tell me something good.
I told her that my doctor said my pathology report came back negative. That the procedure on my neck had …

“I don’t need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.” ~Plutarch
People-pleasing can seem Iike a way of connecting with others. We believe that if we keep people happy, then they’ll like us and want us around. While it may be true that pleasing others will win us approval and a place in their lives, changing and editing ourselves can’t create the connection we long for.
We confuse people-pleasing with kindness. After all, aren’t we, as people-pleasers, described as too nice? People-pleasing can be seen as giving of …

EDITOR’S NOTE: You can find a number of helpful coronavirus resources and all related Tiny Buddha articles here.
“Health is not just about what you’re eating. It’s also about what you’re thinking and saying.”
A virus is spreading across the globe. Schools are shut down. People are out of work. Grocery stores are empty.
Weddings, graduations, vacations, a day in court—canceled.
This is the ultimate test in emotional resilience.
Uncertainty is one of the main reasons we stress, along with a lack of control, and right now we’ve got it in truckloads. I’ve spent the last decade building my …

“Our bodies contain our histories—every chapter, line, and verse of every event and relationship in our lives.” ~Caroline Myss
I could hear my teacher talking, but I wasn’t listening. Staring at the math homework in front of me, I couldn’t get the sound of my heartbeat out of my head.
Two times two equals, thump thump, equals thump thump, four.
The more I focused on my heartbeat, the louder it became. I could even feel beating in my chest.
Noticing the clock, I had ten more minutes before my mom would meet me in the school office. We …

EDITOR’S NOTE: You can find a number of helpful coronavirus resources and all related Tiny Buddha articles here.
“Don’t try to calm the storm. Calm yourself. The storm will pass.” ~Buddha
As we all now know, the coronavirus (COVID-19) has been spreading globally. It is a serious threat, less because of the raw numbers involved (as of March 22, 2020, there are less than 340,000 known infected cases with a global population of over 7 billion people), but more because the trajectory is dangerous, the spread is exponential, and the growth occurs very quickly.
The virus contained would not …
Hi friends! As you may know, I’m always excited to share free events that can help us heal, find peace, and learn to meet each other with more patience, kindness, and compassion.
And I’m particularly passionate about mindfulness. The more present-moment awareness foster, the better we’re able to cope with our own sometimes-overwhelming emotions and the chaos in the world around us.
For this reason, I’m thrilled to invite you to upcoming online summit In the Footsteps of Thich Nhat Hanh.
Thich Nhat Hanh has touched the hearts of millions with his message of peace, non-violence, and kindness. From …

“To love is to risk not being loved in return. To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure. But risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in my life is to risk nothing.” ~Leo Buscaglia
It was the day after my boyfriend proposed and I felt sick with anxiety. I couldn’t understand this feeling. I loved my boyfriend; we were living together, and I didn’t want to break up with him, so why was I so anxious?
I googled furiously in search of answers. I worried this was a sign that the relationship …

EDITOR’S NOTE: You can find a number of helpful coronavirus resources and all related Tiny Buddha articles here.
“Self-care is how you take your power back.” ~Lalah Delia
For more than a week now, I’ve been immersed in how to handle the pandemic that is unfolding all around us. By now, one thing is clear to me. We are either our greatest allies or our own worst enemies at such times. How we react makes all the difference.
One friend brought home a three-inch tome all about pandemics, determined to read her way through it. Another began advising everyone …

“Where there is anger, there is always pain underneath.” ~Eckhart Tolle
As a special-needs parent, it feels that I am in constant anger and fight mode.
I am fighting with my children on the home front.
I am fighting for their right to get access to services.
I am fighting for their acceptance.
I am fighting for my children to help them make progress.
To be in constant fight mode can be overwhelming and exhausting.
In my weakness, I let my emotions get the best of me.
I lose my temper with my loved ones.

“Holding on is believing that there’s only a past; letting go is knowing that there’s a future.” ~Daphne Rose Kingma
One of the most challenging things in life is knowing when to let go—when to let go of a job, a relationship, a belief, a repeating thought, a situation… fill in the blank.
Most of us have defaulted to safety, which often means procrastinating and generally feeling stuck. While there’s nothing wrong with safety—it is, after all, one of our basic needs—we must learn to discern what is truly safe and what is safe for the sake of comfort …