“If you let go a little, you will have a little happiness. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of happiness. And if you let go completely, you will be completely happy.” ~Ajahn Chah
After accomplishing three lists of tasks from three different buckets—professional, personal, and entrepreneurial—I felt accomplished and content.
And then I felt bored. And then a little irritated. So, I decided to explore and check in with myself:
I practice gratitude throughout my day. I acknowledge the abundance in my life. I am surrounded by genuine love and relationships.
I have every reason …
“No feeling is final.” ~Rainer Maria Rilke
I met him the last semester of college and was instantly attracted to him. I was definitely attracted to him physically, but it was the way he sat in class with such quiet confidence and mystery that made me long to know him.
I practically drooled all over my desk whenever he spoke, but couldn’t even bring myself to say, “Hello.” One night out, I saw him standing by the bar. I told my friend that I had a crush on him and she promptly gave me two choices: Go speak to him …
“The best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your own arm.” ~Swedish Proverb
Mantra, according to the dictionary:
Any sacred word or syllable used as an object of concentration and embodying some aspect of spiritual power.
Mantra, according to Sirena:
Things I say to myself to help me deal.
There are times we all go through that just straight up suck.
During these times, it can be hard to think about anything other than what’s going on. We can become so consumed in our own misery that we often overshadow any glimmer of hope.…
“The best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your own arm.” ~Swedish Proverb
When I was in my mid-twenties an unhealthy relationship with an unhealthy guy sent me packing off to the corner of New Mexico to find myself. In a new age, self-discovery kind of world—a hubbub of a town filled with people in transition—I was graced to meet many powerful healers, gurus, shamans, and teachers.
I became a workshop junkie. I went on Shamanic power journeys to spiritual centers around the world, chanted with Indian gurus, and became a certified yoga instructor and …
“Pleasure can be supported by an illusion; but happiness rests upon truth.” -Sébastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort
So many times in life we hop from illusion to illusion.
We imagine that we’re finally getting closer to happiness, when the very fact that we’re looking for it in the future makes it unlikely we’ll experience it in the present.
We interpret what we experience based on our pasts and fears, instead of seeing people and things with fresh eyes.
We attach to ideas of right and wrong, as if things are black and white, and in doing so convince ourselves that we …
“If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you’ll never enjoy the sunshine.” -Morris West
In the past I was not known as a happy, wild, and free person. (Okay, maybe wild. I had my moments…) In stuck phases peppered with depression, darkness, and hopelessness, I often wondered what it would be like to feel happy, wild, and free.
I fantasized about living in Europe, writing in cafes like Hemingway, having wild crazy affairs with sexy men, or even moving to Hawaii and wearing nothing but sarongs and flip flops all day. But in truth, these fantasies were …
“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 …
“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and realize that prisoner was you.” ~Lewis B. Smedes
We’ve all heard the saying “forgive and forget.” It seems easy when you say it like that. The forgetting part can be daunting, though. I can say that when you let go, the memory dims. That’s a start.
I didn’t understand the importance of forgiveness until I was in my mid-forties. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve forgiven people over the years. I just never understood how it related to my own well-being.
Let’s face it, not forgiving someone for standing you up …
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 …
“You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” ~Buddha
I was always someone who craved love and attention. This is not to say that I accepted love willingly—quite the opposite, in fact.
If someone decided to like or even love me they would have to pass through a path of obstacles, being pushed, pulled, and tested at every corner. Only then, upon arrival at the finish line, would they gain my acceptance.
As you can imagine, this eliminated a number of potential friends and partners, and I often found myself lonely and disappointed.…
“Being right is highly overrated. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.” ~Unknown
I’ve always been a control freak. But I’ve learned to control it!
I was born with the ability to quickly envision the most efficient way through a task, activity, project, problem, puzzle, or challenge. This has made me useful to many people, especially in my workplaces.
But it can make people crazy, too. Especially when I’ve expected others to buy into the approach I knew would work best, fastest, most efficiently.
My partner sometimes reminds me, “It doesn’t always have to be about being efficient!”…
“Peace of mind is not the absence of conflict from life, but the ability to cope with it.” ~Unknown
Mindfulness has allowed me to become more aware of my thoughts and reach a sense of inner peace.
As my awareness has increased, so has the peace and joy in my life. The more familiar I have become with the inner workings of my mind, the better I have started to feel.
I came onto the path of mindfulness, meditation, and spirituality when I was sixteen years old. I saw the TV-series Ed, where the main character started experimenting with …
“If you focus on results, you will never change. If you focus on change, you will get results.” ~Jack Dixon
The first time I picked up a brush to paint I was 28 years old. I had never painted before, not even as a child. I couldn’t draw (except lousy little doodles) and never even thought I would enjoy painting.
A friend of mine encouraged me to take a workshop about painting for process. Since she pushed so hard, I went.
My world exploded open.
On the first day, we stood next to a long table where cups of colorful …
Update: The winners have been chosen! If you didn’t win, you can purchase a copy of And I Shall Have Some Peace There: Trading in the Fast Lane for My Own Dirt Road on Amazon.
I recently received a copy of Margaret Roach’sbook And I Shall Have Some Peace There.
I was not previously familiar with Margaret’s wildly popular garden blog, A Way to Garden, but I was fascinated to learn about her transition from editorial director of Martha Stewart Omnimedia to full-time gardener at her country house in upstate New York.
I know a lot of people …
“To have a friend and be a friend is what makes life worthwhile.” ~Unknown
Extreme Makeover: Friendship Edition! That would be the best phrase to describe a year in the life of a cross-cultural friendship with my best friend Marisa.
This is the first deep and meaningful relationship I’ve ever had with someone who doesn’t speak a word in my own language.
My relationship with her has exposed and challenged many of my cultural beliefs and ideas about friendship.
There is nothing wrong with being influenced by culture. We all are.
But it’s good to recognize where some of our …
“When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” ~Lao Tzu
Somewhere in the distant past, out here in New Zealand, I recall someone saying to me “Be grateful for small mercies.”
Back in the 1950s, when I was a small girl, that meant being grateful for the simple things that made up the better part of my life.
As I grew, I forgot that piece of advice that someone, probably my beautiful grandmother, gave me way back then. But in 2010, I remembered it again.
Like so many people in the world in 2010, troubles …
“Treat your friends like you do your best pictures; place them in the best light.” ~Unknown
I recently had a disagreement with a close friend.
There was a good deal of uncontrolled emotion on my side. I wasn’t expressing myself well and I knew it. I became more and more frustrated and less effective at explaining my feelings.
I found myself laying unwarranted blame on my friend rather than admitting openly that something was hurting me and I was feeling vulnerable.
Ultimately, he said the words I was having trouble finding for me, and that resolved the situation.
I was …
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 …
“Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.” ~Thomas Merton
The vast majority of people I know have two different types of work: the kind that pays the bills and the kind they wrap their heart around.
For some people, those are one and the same, but often that takes time, dedication, and a willingness to blur the traditional boundaries that separate work and social life.
Because let’s face it: It’s not always easy to make a living doing something you love.
The first challenge is to figure out what that is, and it’s …
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 …
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