Eighty-eight-year-old Johnny Barnes spends six hours every day telling people on the side of the road “I love you!” and “Have a great day!” Rain or shine, he makes it his mission to share joy and kindness with everyone who passes.
Following Johnny’s lead: Happy Monday, I love you, and have a great day! Now go and pass it on. 🙂
“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” ~Rumi
Most of us are so busy waiting for someone to love us that we’ve forgotten about the one person we need to love first—ourselves.
Ironically, it was when my ten-year marriage fizzled that I began the innermost process of self-discovery about love.
While discouraged and saddened at the crumbling of our relationship, I began to explore love more. How had it fizzled? Why had we stopped loving each other, and what had happened to …
“Don’t miss all the beautiful colors of the rainbow looking for that pot of gold.” ~Unknown
Have you noticed that time seems to go by faster as you get older? Holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries all come and go—and before we know it, here they come again.
One theory neuroscientists have is that when we are young we have more novel experiences. These novel experiences create more vivid memories. As we age, we have less “new” or “first time” experiences. There are no unique memories to stand out.
We can also look at it another way. When we’re doing something new, …
“The next message you need is always right where you are.” ~Ram Das
I try to exercise mindfulness in all things. Nowhere has this been as important for me as in my relationships.
I try to remember that I am not the same person I was as a child. People in any family play different roles at different times.
It’s been heartening to see myself, formerly a frequent recipient of unwanted advice, in a position of sharing the wisdom of my experience and being a conscious example of what I recommend.
I am a younger sister. I am fifty-six years …
I began practicing yoga and meditation in 1970 when I was seventeen years old.
I practiced in my small bedroom at one end our family’s long New York City apartment. My room was next to the kitchen. My parents, brother, and sister had bedrooms on the other side of the apartment.
I’d get up early and move through a sequence of yoga asanas before sitting down to meditate.
I’d sit in meditation until I heard the kitchen noises as my mother and siblings began their breakfast routine.
That was the signal that it was time for me to move from …
“Good enough is the new perfect.” ~Becky Beaupre Gillispie
Taking another look through the treasure trove that is Tiny Buddha’s quote archive, I realized that there’s actually no category for quotes on “balance.” Because I’m interested in (read: slightly obsessed about) balance, I delved into the groupings more closely and realized that the list itself is, in fact, finely balanced. And it’s a metaphor for life.
In the archive you can find wisdom in words on loss, pain, and sorrow, or seek solace in quotes on happiness, hope, and healing. Sage advice on weakness may speak …
“As long as you make an identity for yourself out of pain, you cannot be free of it.” ~Eckhart Tolle
I remember it like it was yesterday—sitting in the corner of a bar in Holland at a social gathering, feeling alienated because I didn’t know the people I had to mingle with. After all, they were friends of my girlfriend at the time.
My worries had consumed me and I didn’t know where to begin. I wondered: Should I pluck up the courage to strike up a conversation, or should I withdraw?
I realized from this experience that I lacked …
“Letting go gives us freedom and freedom is the only condition for happiness.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh
A wise old soul once told me that I needed to practice not being attached.
I honestly had no idea what he was talking about. I remember he gave me a very intelligent and understandable definition of attachment, but because it made such little sense to me, there was very little I could do with it. It was incomprehensible.
I have found that, like the definition of attachment, it isn’t the teachings themselves that give us the answer; it is our own discovery, in …
“The only thing that will stop you from fulfilling your dreams is you.” ~Tom Bradley
Every day seemed like hours passing. It didn’t matter how much I got accomplished at work or how many nice things I did to help others. I never felt satisfied.
This restlessness seemed to grow as much as the time I spent on my creative writing shrank.
My someday dream of finishing just one book started to seem more like a never-to-be-crossed-off item on a bucket list. And the most frustrating thing was that the more effort I put into trying to write more, the …
Soul Pancake (the site started by Rainn Wilson, from The Office) set up a compliment station on the side of the road, and the exchanges they captured on film are both beautiful and touching.
When was the last time you told someone how you feel?
“It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
It’s a feeling of dread. Maybe you’ve experienced it before.
You’re driving down the highway and suddenly something goes wrong. You’re stepping on the gas pedal but nothing is happening.
All the little lights on the dashboard come on and you notice one particular gauge you’ve been meaning to address sooner.
The needle is just past the E. You’re out of gas.
It’s a helpless feeling. Desperation flashes through your mind as the wheels begin …
“You’re imperfect, and you’re wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging.” ~Brené Brown
Have you heard the story of the ugly duckling?
Well, there never was an ugly duckling; he was actually a swan whose real beauty had not been recognized by him or by others.
All of us may or may not be ugly ducklings, but we are totally worthy of being loved, accepted, and cherished just as we are.
Ultimately we are all trying to do the best we can with our current knowledge, awareness, and understanding. But we lose our way, and the …
“Give thanks for a little and you will find a lot.” ~Hausa Proverb
Gratitude, the level of gratitude that one has, varies greatly by person. You have those that are grateful for every single thing in their lives, and those that know what the word means on paper yet never practice it in their own lives.
Then you have so many others (like myself), I call them the “in-betweeners.” We are grateful for so much but often forget this because life takes over, or so many other things are going on at once that you barely have five minutes to …
“You must welcome change as the rule but not your ruler” ~Denis Waitley
My name is Hannah, and I find it hard to deal with change.
As much as I used to want to think of myself as flexible and easy-going, I struggle to live up to these ideals. I like to know where I am, what I’m doing, where I’m going, and to have my near future mapped out in lists, to-dos, and ideas. In short, I do whatever I can to minimize the level of uncertainty in my life.
My discomfort around uncertainty means I am usually …
So much is possible, if we’re willing to believe it.
That doesn’t mean we have no limitations beyond the ones we set in our mind; simply believing that something is possible doesn’t guarantee it will happen. But it does create the possibility that it could.
That’s what makes us feel alive: taking bold action toward possibility, knowing that the goal isn’t to control what will happen tomorrow. It’s to create a sense of freedom as we choose what will happen today.
Are you living unbound?
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