“Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be.” ~George Sheehan
Here’s the routine: wake up, do my work, watch TV, and go to bed.
This was a regular day in my life not long ago. It was not too eventful and not overly challenging, and to be the honest, the less challenging it was, the less stress there was for me—at least that’s what I thought.
I had been working online for a few years, and my income was not up to where I wanted it to …
“Criticism is something you can easily avoid by saying nothing, doing nothing, being nothing” ~Aristotle
The need for approval kills freedom.
Trust me, I know, because I spent my entire life seeking approval until I realized it was a waste of time and didn’t work anyway. The desire to get people to like me motivated the majority of my choices and actions in early life.
Queen of social chameleons, I mastered the art of telling people what they wanted to hear and being someone they would find impressive—all the while worrying incessantly about what others thought of me, fearing criticism, …
“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” -George Bernard Shaw
Playfulness becomes difficult when we get bogged in worries. Worrying sucks the joy out of everything. I know, because I’ve been there many times before.
You start a new project focused on your passions, and shortly after starting, you stress about where it’s going. Or you set aside some time to do something you enjoy, and before you know it you’re fixating on everything you have to complete on your to-do list.
We don’t stop playing because we no longer enjoy it. …
Tiny Buddha’s Handbook for Peace and Happiness is the ultimate guide of Tiny Buddha wisdom, based on some of the most popular posts and quotes from the site. You’ll also find 4 posts not previously published on tinybuddha.com.
Through this eBook, I’ve shared myself authentically and vulnerably, and have also offered countless action-oriented suggestions to improve your state of mind, enhance your relationships, identify what makes you feel passionate and purposeful, and find the courage to overcome obstacles and seize your dreams.
These are my most popular, value-packed posts, as viewed by more than 4 million readers in the last …
“I vow to let go of all worries and anxiety in order to be light and free.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh
When you think about the future, are you filled with hope or worry? If you are like most people, it’s probably anxiety. You have largely been experiencing worry. Your mind feels unsettled.
Worry arises because you realize that you cannot predict what is going to happen tomorrow and know that you cannot have full control over how events turn out. You are uncomfortable with not having absolute certainty.
Incessant worrying happens when you find it hard to let go. You …
“No yesterdays are ever wasted for those who give themselves to today.” ~Brendan Francis
Anyone can be mindful for a moment or two, but developing your mindfulness muscle means that you have to take things to a higher level.
In today’s world it’s all too easy to get distracted from what’s truly important. Wherever you go and whatever you do, you see messages designed to get you to perform a specific action and distract you from the fact that you are already whole.
There are no reminders to be mindful unless we create them.
The responsibility is in your hands. …
“Concern yourself not with what is right and what is wrong but with what is important.” ~Unknown
I personally do not know anyone who, after all is said and done, is not after high self-esteem.
It may not be blatant or obvious to the eye, yet once you break down the motives and emotions surrounding the things people choose to do and why they choose to do them, you will find that what they really want is to feel good about themselves.
They want to have high self-esteem. So the big question is: How do we raise our self-esteem and …
“He is able who thinks he is able.” ~Buddha
How would you answer the question: “Are you successful in life?”
I know many people who would say that they are not successful; at least they have not reached success in the areas that feel important to them. I have been one of those people.
One day I asked myself “What keeps me from being successful?” It took me a while to come up with the answer but I realized that I was holding myself back.
Why? Well, maybe I was afraid that when I started something I would fail. …
“Life is actually really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” ~Confucius
While I have always piled a lot on my plate professionally, I’ve recently introduced more varied elements. Formerly, I may have devoted a long workweek to freelance writing, but I’m now juggling writing, consulting, editing my upcoming book, and promoting my recent eBook.
I’ve noticed that the biggest complication to my life isn’t necessarily the full, varied schedule; it’s how I think about that busy schedule.
Sometimes I let my to-do list overwhelm me, carrying the weight of the whole through all of the parts.
So, …
Tiny Buddha’s Handbook for Peace and Happiness is the ultimate guide of Tiny Buddha wisdom, based on some of the most popular posts and quotes from the site. You’ll also find 4 posts not previously published on tinybuddha.com.
Through this eBook, I’ve shared myself authentically and vulnerably, and have also offered countless action-oriented suggestions to improve your state of mind, enhance your relationships, identify what makes you feel passionate and purposeful, and find the courage to overcome obstacles and seize your dreams.
These are my most popular, value-packed posts, as viewed by over 1.2 million readers in the last year …
“It takes both sunshine and rain to make a rainbow.” -Proverb
There are some things in life that just don’t make any sense. There are things we can’t explain or understand, no matter how hard we try.
There are events that seem to have no reason and mistakes that appear to bring no lesson. There’s darkness that can feel completely unbearable and light that can seem far too fleeting to trust. One day’s happiness gives way to tomorrow’s sadness. One day’s loss is tomorrow’s gain.
The only guarantee in life is that everything will transform, whether we’re ready for it …
Update: The winners have already been chosen for this giveaway. Subscribe to The Tiny Buddha List to learn about future contests, and click below to purchase this eBook for $10.97!
Since I launched tinybuddha.com in September of 2009, I’ve hosted quite a few giveaways for books that moved me.
Today is a very exciting day for me—one that’s a year in a half in the making: Today I am giving away five free copies of my book.
If you’ve been reading for a while, you may think I’m referring to my book about life’s hardest questions, which Conari Press …
“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” ~Neale Walsh
Have you ever thought about doing something way out there—and then done it?
I became intrigued with Patch Adams and his philosophy of medicine and healing after seeing the movie about him, starring Robin Williams.
This came on the heels of my daughter Nava’s miraculous survival and full recovery from a medical crisis that involved a year-long hospitalization. As her mother, I felt a renewed sense of life. Or, as I like to refer to it: I truly felt I had received a second lease on life.
I was …
“The quality of your life is in direct proportion to the amount of uncertainty you can comfortably deal with.” ~Tony Robbins
One of life’s biggest challenges, I believe, is how to continually motivate yourself to keep going when you don’t yet know where your efforts are leading.
You need to write part of the book to even open the path to getting it published, but you don’t know for certain that you’ll get a deal. You need to push yourself to work toward profitability with your business, especially when the odds feel insurmountable, but you can never know for certain …
We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.” ~Pema Chodron
Don’t run away from your fear, Pema says. Lean into it. This is her message.
It’s not the most popular or good feeling practice. Our natural tendency is to fight, flee, …
“We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.” ~Anonymous
Before September 2009, I thought I wanted to run a personal development blog—a place to share the lessons I’ve learned and generally build a community around the idea of teaching people to improve their lives. Then I realized that wasn’t my vision.
There were a couple reasons for that.
I feel the biggest challenge isn’t gaining new information; it’s learning to apply it.
Instead of trying to build authority, I wanted to embrace my humanity—to be both strong and vulnerable, willing to share what I’ve learned …
“One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching.” ~Unknown
I’m about to write something that’s freaky and a bit philosophical, but true. Really take this in: You become your comfort zone.
Getting out of your comfort zone is crucial to actualizing your aspirations.
If you want something that you don’t already have, there’s a good chance you’ll have to do things that you haven’t already done.
Doing those things may not feel natural to you. You may even feel uncomfortable and awkward. But ultimately, behind the frightening facade of fear is a bigger version …
“Uncertainty is the only certainty there is, and knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security.” ~John Allen Paulos
Over the past few years, as I’ve settled into my late twenties, life seems to have opened the flood gates to a number of lessons and realities. With each of these hardships or challenges I’ve overcome, I’ve taken with me a lesson of new wisdom, deeper compassion, self-awareness, humility, and empathy for others.
On that same note, I have also noticed that with each experience, I seem to begin treading more carefully in my approach to future situations, treating …
“Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness.” ~James Thurber
When you focus your attention on what’s in front of you, yesterday’s problems feel a lot less catastrophic and tomorrow’s uncertainty seems a lot less scary.
It’s not easy to live in the now because obsessing over yesterday and stressing about tomorrow can seem like gaining control. If only you can analyze yesterday enough, maybe you can make sense of it. If only you can plan for tomorrow enough, maybe you can decide what will happen.
Except neither of those things are universally …
“Life is what happens while you are making other plans.” ~John Lennon
I am someone who enjoys doing a lot of different things, and yet I don’t always enjoy being busy. Sometimes when my schedule gets full, I feel almost as if I’ve lost a part of me.
Just like some people become codependent in relationships, I can be codependent with work. When it has my attention, everything else can easily fall to the wayside—my social life, my hobbies, you name it.
It’s all too easy to get caught up in a riptide of doing without ever evaluating what you’re …
Though I run this site, it is not mine. It's ours. It's not about me. It's about us. Your stories and your wisdom are just as meaningful as mine. 
