True Safety with Animals
The Unexpected Therapy I Found on My Phone
“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” ~Dr. Seuss
The notification pops up on my phone: “Jason, we made a new memory reel for you.” I pause whatever I’m doing, probably something stressful involving deadlines or dishes, and feel that familiar flutter of excitement. What chapter of my life has Google decided to surprise me with today?
I tap the notification, and suddenly I’m watching years of Father’s Day adventures unfold. It started accidentally—one Father’s Day trip to the Buffalo Zoo that somehow became our tradition. Instead of buying me something I …
The Prowler in My Mind: Learning to Live with Depression
“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” ~Leonard Cohen
When depression comes, I feel it like a prowler gliding through my body. My chest tightens, my head fills with dark whispers, and even the day feels like night. The prowler has no face, no clear shape, but its presence is heavy. Sometimes it circles in silence within me. Other times it presses in until I don’t know how to respond.
In those moments, I feel caught between two choices: do I lie still, hoping it passes by, or do I rise and face it? Often, …
Why Narcissistic Abuse Doesn’t Define You and How I Found the Love I Deserve
“When it hurts to move on, just remember the pain you felt hanging on.” ~Unknown
There was a time when I thought my heart would never heal.
I’d been lied to, betrayed, and broken by a man I thought I loved. A man who turned out to be nothing more than a beautifully packaged nightmare.
If you’ve ever been hurt by a narcissist, you know that the pain cuts deeper than most people can imagine. You know the way it seeps into your bones, the way it makes you question your worth and replay every moment, wondering if you could …
3 Surprising Causes of Burnout That Most People Miss
“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line.” ~Lucille Ball
The first time I experienced burnout, I was twenty-six.
I was at the height of my career in London, doing it all, and yet I somehow found myself back at my parents’ house, sobbing in my mom’s car, after signing myself off from work, not having a clue how I landed there.
Burnout isn’t just about being tired from overexertion. It’s when we reach physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion after pushing ourselves past our capacity for too long.
When we finally stop, often against our will, all the confusing …
Be Like a Paddle Ball: How to Bounce Back to Yourself
“Come back to yourself. Return to the voice of your body. Trust that much.” ~Geneen Roth
I may be showing my age, but here goes… It has come to my attention that I’m like a paddle ball.
To anyone born in the 21st century: for context, before handheld devices ruled the world, kids entertained themselves with simple analog toys—such as the paddle ball.
Picture a small flat paddle (like a small ping-pong paddle) with a rubber ball attached to the center by an elastic string. The goal was to hit the ball with the paddle, watch it fly out and …
When You’re Tired of Fixing Yourself: How to Stop Treating Healing Like a Full-Time Job
“True self-love is not about becoming someone better; it’s about softening into the truth of who you already are.” ~Yung Pueblo
One morning, I sat at my kitchen table with my journal open, a cup of green tea steaming beside me, and a stack of self-help books spread out like an emergency toolkit.
The sunlight was spilling across the counter, but I didn’t notice. My eyes kept darting between the dog-eared pages of a book called Becoming Your Best Self and the neatly written to-do list in my journal.
Meditation.
Gratitude journaling.
Affirmations.
Ten thousand steps.
Hydration tracker.
“Inner child …
How to Calm Anxiety That’s Rooted in Childhood Wounds
“Anxiety is a response to a nervous system that learned early on it had to protect itself.” ~Dr. Hilary Jacobs Hendel
Anxiety shaped much of my life—how I showed up, how I held myself back, and how I connected with others. For years, I didn’t even know what it was. I just knew the pounding heart, the tight chest, the trembling hands. I knew the shame that followed every “failure,” big or small, and the fear I would never be enough.
For a long time, I thought I was the problem. But anxiety isn’t a moral failing. It’s a part …
What I See Clearly Now That I Can’t See Clearly
“The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen… they must be felt with the heart.” ~Helen Keller
I didn’t want to admit it—not to myself, not to anyone. But I am slowly going blind.
That truth is difficult to write, harder still to live. I’m seventy years old. I’ve survived war zones, illness, caregiving, and creative risks. I’ve worked as a documentary filmmaker, teacher, and mentor. But this—this quiet, gradual vanishing of sight—feels like the loneliest struggle of all.
I have moderate to advanced macular degeneration in both eyes. My right eye is nearly gone, and my …
The 2026 Tiny Buddha Calendar Is Ready for Holiday Gifting!
Hi friend! As we head into the holiday season, I know many of us are starting to think about gifts for the people we love (and maybe a few things for ourselves as well). With that in mind, I wanted to remind you that the 2026 Tiny Buddha Day-to-Day Calendar is now available.
It’s one of my favorite projects every year because I include the kind of daily reminders that I personally find validating, comforting, and encouraging—some from me, some from site contributors, and some from authors I enjoy. And as the number-one bestselling calendar in Mind-Body-Spirit for the past
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. 