Page 21 – Tiny Buddha

How I’m Learning to Live with Anxiety, Not Against It

“Your anger? It’s telling you where you feel powerless. Your anxiety? It’s telling you that something in your life is off balance. Your fear? It’s telling you what you care about. Your apathy? It’s telling you where you’re overextended and burnt out. Your feelings aren’t random, they are messengers. And if you want to get anywhere, you need to be able to let them speak to you and tell you what you really need.” ~Brianna Wiest

For half of my life, anxiety has been my constant companion. I went from a confident, fiery, and fearless girl to a woman plagued …

People Who Have Traumatized You

By Lori Deschene in Fun & Inspiring

The Toughness Myth is a Lie: Hang On To Your Vulnerability

By Dr. Mary Kate Roohan in Blog

“Sensitive people should be treasured. They love deeply and think deeply about life. They are loyal, honest, and true. The simple things sometimes mean the most to them. They don’t need to change or harden. Their purity makes them who they are.” ~Unknown

I can picture it perfectly—I was a freshman at the University of Notre Dame. It was my first semester at the school I’d dreamed of attending ever since I was a little girl. Everything felt new, and as I did the make-new-friends dance, I was hyperaware of how others perceived me.

Standing in line to purchase football …

Be Too Much

By Lori Deschene in Fun & Inspiring

You Can Still Make a Beautiful Life for Yourself

By Lori Deschene in Fun & Inspiring

Maturity Is…

By Lori Deschene in Fun & Inspiring

It Takes Two, but a Better Relationship Starts Right Now with You

By Nicole Mathieson in Blog

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” ~Maria Robinson

It can be tempting to think you need a new partner to create a better relationship, and for some that might be true. But many of us don’t need new relationships; we just need to start doing things differently in the ones we have.

Perhaps your relationship isn’t feeling as fulfilling as it once did. Maybe you’re losing hope but also resisting the effort required to make it better. I’ve been there. Several years ago, many years into …

When I Look Back on Life

By Lori Deschene in Fun & Inspiring

It’s Never Too Late to Change: How to Reinvent Yourself in Midlife

By Christina Vo in Blog

“Don’t be afraid to start over. This time you’re not starting from scratch, you’re starting from experience.” ~Unknown

Five years ago, as I approached my fortieth birthday, I was deeply dissatisfied with my life.

I resolved to change everything: to leave San Francisco, where I’d lived for nearly a decade, and to shift my career trajectory, finally committing to my passion—writing.

I also vowed to address my intimacy issues in friendships and romantic relationships. This desire led to countless online dates and deeper introspection, particularly regarding the impact of my mother’s death when I was a teenager and the emotional …

No Person Is 100% Healed

By Lori Deschene in Fun & Inspiring

How I Found my True Self in the Space Between my Thoughts

By Rebecca Fellenbaum in Blog

“I am not my thoughts, emotions, sense perceptions, and experiences. I am not the content of my life. I am Life. I am the space in which all things happen. I am consciousness. I am the Now. I Am.” ~Eckhart Tolle

Everything changed the moment I learned I was not my thoughts.

There I was, reading Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth, when I read this line: “What a liberation to realize that the ‘voice in my head’ is not who I am. Who am I then? The one who sees that.”

I felt a shift. Wait, what?!? How can …

You Don’t Want to Be Crazy in Love

By Lori Deschene in Fun & Inspiring

Love Isn’t About Being Chosen

By Molly Rubesh in Blog

“Feeling safe in someone’s energy is a different kind of intimacy. That feeling of peace and protection is really underrated.” ~Vanessa Klas

The first time I said, “I love you” to a romantic partner, I was met with silence.

Nine months into what I believed was a deep, mutual relationship, I felt certain we were on the same page. But when the words left my mouth, he froze. No words back. No reassurance. Just silence. The next thing I knew, he disappeared for weeks, leaving me sitting in the wreckage of my own vulnerability. I was left questioning everything—why …

Confusing Behavior and Mixed Messages

By Lori Deschene in Fun & Inspiring

I’m Willing to Work on That

By Lori Deschene in Fun & Inspiring

How Slowing Down Helped Me Reclaim My Dreams

By Samantha Plavins in Blog

“For fast acting relief, try slowing down.” ~Lily Tomlin

“Are you the owner?” asks, well, yet another customer at our local Italian eatery.

“Nope—I’m just old!” I reply, all sheepish but pleased.

It’s true. At fifty, I’m not exactly your classic, college-struggling part-timer.

Actually, I’m the oldest employee at our restaurant—the staff “mom,” if you will. I’ve been at this serving gig three years now and haven’t looked back. Which might seem weird considering how I got here in the first place. What a contrast to the world I once lived in.

I co-owned a financial services company with my …