I Used to Dislike Being Sensitive
Speaking Your Truth Even When It Feels Painful and Shameful
“Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they’re never weakness.” ~Brené Brown
I was sexually assaulted during my senior year of college. Shortly after, I received a hefty check in the mail from the guy who did it as a “graduation gift.” I spent many nights tossing and turning, debating whether I should cash the check or burn it along with his pathetic graduation card wishing me “all the best” in my future.
I ended up cashing the check and pretending it didn’t happen.
This was four years ago, and I still …
What My Dog Taught Me About Self-Acceptance
“Because one accepts oneself, the whole world accepts him or her.” ~Lao Tzu
We all have recorded messages playing in our heads, from long ago.
Listen to parents talking to young children. Often the message is less than approving.
“Don’t put that in your mouth!”
“Go wash your face right now.”
“If you keep acting like that nobody will like you.”
“Look at Cindy, how well she’s doing. If you worked harder you could do as well as her.”
Those examples are kind compared to what many people will have heard growing up.
Many of these messages enter our brains …
The Top 7 Reasons We Stay in Bad Relationships
“Some of us think that holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go.” ~Hermann Hesse
She knew it sooner than I did. And more intensely than I did.
I, on the other hand, may have considered our differences but never thought of them as deal-breakers. I tried to justify the many struggles we had between us and believed that our marriage could work despite the challenges.
I had this feeling things would get better and stayed hopeful no matter how bad our relationship got.
I told myself that her extraverted personality and my more introversion could …
Life Lessons from a Wanderer: From Lost Boy, to Carnie, to U.S. Marine
“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” ~Rumi
How did this happen?
I remember the wind tearing at the walls of my tent, bending the humble, graphite rods almost double. I was burrowed down in my sleeping bag, which was one of my sole possessions in life, along with that tent, a pack of books, some canned food, $200, and clothes.
I dug even lower and thought—what the hell am I going to do?
It was sometime in October of 1994. I was camped by a dry …
Perspective Coloring Page from Tiny Buddha’s Worry Journal
Hi friends! We’re now less than two weeks away from the launch date for Tiny Buddha’s Worry Journal. As you may have noticed, I’ve been sharing some of the coloring pages over the past few weeks, all colored by yours truly, to give you a sense of what the journal has to offer. So far I’ve shared:
- The music coloring page
- The meditation coloring page
- The hugging coloring page
- The creativity coloring page
- The acceptance coloring page
In addition to coloring pages, the journal includes questions, written prompts, and doodle prompts to help you reframe your worries and minimize …
It’s All About Perception: You Can Look Through the Lens of Love or Fear
“We are not responsible for what our eyes are seeing. We are responsible for how we perceive what we are seeing.” ~Gabrielle Bernstein
One of the things I love about this journey of personal growth is that we get to learn the same lessons over and over again, until they finally sink in on a visceral level. I love it when I hear or read the same insights repeatedly, from various sources and at different stages along my own path.
Recently, at a low point in my life, I re-encountered this fundamental teaching in Gabrielle Bernstein’s book The Universe Has …
How to Stop Worrying About the Future and Start Living Your Life Now
“Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith.” ~Henry Ward Beecher
Retirement. A word that fills people with both excitement and fear.
On the one hand, we’re excited about the possibilities that retirement brings. The possibility to travel, to try new hobbies, to live our lives the way we want.
On the other hand, we worry about whether we’ll have enough money to survive until that unknown age at which we’ll die. And maybe not just survive but to actually thrive in our later years.
That …
Recognizing the Strategic Manipulation of Financial Abuse
“I have endured, I have been broken, I have known hardship, I have lost myself. But here I stand, still moving forward, growing stronger each day.” ~Unknown
There was a time, not so long ago, when I was struggling with the heavy hangover of financial abuse.
Did you know there was such a thing? I didn’t. I hadn’t a clue… until it happened to me.
But it turns out that financial abuse is incredibly common, and is often used as a tactic to keep a victim entangled in a relationship where other forms of abuse also take place.
When money …
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.