Menu

Posts tagged with “Mindfulness”

Easing Anxiety: How Painting Helps Me Stop Worrying

By

“Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future, but from wanting to control it.” ~Kahlil Gibran

Anxiety has followed me around like a lost dog looking for a bone for years now.

I feel it the most acutely when I’m worried about my health or my daughter’s health. I notice a strange rash or feel an unusual sensation and all of a sudden: panic!

My worries are not limited to health concerns though, and my ruminations go in the direction of dread about the future of the world, worries about my finances, and fears that I’m not good …

How Spending Time Alone Helped Me Overcome My Loneliness

By

“If you’re lonely when you’re alone, you’re in bad company.” ~Jean-Paul Sartre

I have spent most of my life surrounded by people, which is probably why I never realized I was lonely. For the majority of my adult life, the only quiet times I had to myself were the very start and very end of the day. Otherwise, my mind was inundated with chatter, notifications, and distractions.

This constant noise let me mask the depths of my loneliness. I was bombarded with texts and distractions at all times, but I lacked deeper connections. As the years passed and …

The First Thing You Need to Do If You Want to Change Your Life

By

“Awareness is the greatest agent for change.” ~Eckhart Tolle

There are two ways to live life.

One is a more reactive approach, where you fight back when you encounter challenges in your personal or professional life. The other is a more proactive one where you are mindful of the trends within you and around you and ready with your surfboard whenever a big wave hits!

The only difference between the two is awareness.

Awareness empowers you to make conscious choices based on an understanding of yourself and the situation, to notice what your choice created, and to then choose again. …

How to Make Everything Easier by Accepting the Present Moment

By

“The power of now can only be realized now. It requires no time and effort. Effort means you’re trying hard to get somewhere and so you are not present, welcoming this moment as it is.” ~Eckhart Tolle

Eight years ago, I was very depressed. I wanted nothing more than to stop feeling this way and dreamed of escaping my body. I had struggled with depression for many years, and I was terrified that I might feel that way forever.

Someone recommended I do a mindfulness-based course. This turned out to be the one of the most helpful parts of my …

How to Safely Enjoy the Pandemic Holidays

By

“Surreal” is the word that keeps coming to mind. Life has felt like an alternative universe for quite a while now, and it feels even stranger during the holiday season.

After a year of much sacrifice, reality is requiring us to forgo traditions we hold dear and distance ourselves from people we may feel we’ve already gone too long without seeing.

And many are navigating the season with a sense of grief—for lost loved ones, lost purpose, maybe even lost hope.

Maybe that’s not you. Maybe you are full of gratitude for everything you have, and now appreciate even …

When Life Feels Too Hard: How to Mindfully Get Through the Day

By

NOTE: This post contains a giveaway – details at the bottom of the post!

“If today gets difficult, remember the smell of coffee, the way sunlight bounces off a window, the sound of your favorite person’s laugh, the feeling when a song you love comes on, the color of the sky at dusk, and that we are here to take care of each other.” ~Nanea Hoffman

I am currently exhausted. Absolutely beat. I’ve taken on more work than I can comfortably accomplish in my available time, I’ve been feeling under the weather for a while, and my eighteen-month-old son …

How Curiosity Can Improve Your Relationships and Your Life

By

“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.” ~Albert Einstein

When speaking to a parent recently, she said, “I have made it a rule that my kids read every day for an hour. There are no two ways about it. They now do it and it is great, but I have noticed that they have stopped asking questions, they have stopped being curious, and they look dull, and that bothers me.”

Strange that reading would dull their curiosity instead of sparking it. But beyond that, this conversation got me curious—about curiosity.

Why is it important to be curious? …

5 Things You Need to Know If You’re Interested in Meditation

By

“The fruit of meditation is not the absence of thoughts, but the fact that thoughts cease to harm us.” ~Bokar Rinpoche

My inspiration to start meditating came from one of the most unlikely sources—a Star Wars movie.

When I saw the wise Jedi Master Yoda meditating, I thought that there had to be something more to this than merely sitting silently with your eyes closed.

Eventually, my curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to find out for myself.

That was over six years ago. Since then, my life has changed for the better in both subtle and …

Free Recreate Your Life Story eCourse ($97 value) with Tiny Buddha’s Mindfulness Kit

By

**Today, Monday the 30th, is the last day to get the Recreate Your Life Story eCourse as a free bonus with Tiny Buddha’s Mindfulness kit!

Another surreal holiday in the books, for those of us in the US that is.

I hope you all had a love-filled Thanksgiving, even if that love was sent from afar.

I was 3,000 miles away from my family, though fortunate to be with my boyfriend’s parents.

After I ate way too much tofurkey and pie I spent a little time reading all the comments on this week’s giveaway post, and I felt both sad …

How to Get Out of Your Head and Show Up for Your Life

By

“If you think there’s something missing from your life, it’s probably you.” ~Robert Holden

Most people would agree that thinking too much can cost you your peace, your happiness perhaps—but your life? Surely that’s a bit of an exaggeration.

I’ll explain with a story.

I remember taking my daughter to the park one day when she was around three years old. Like all kids of that age, she was thrilled and mesmerised by her surroundings—the insect crawling up the blade of grass, the ducks squawking in the pond, the dog chasing the frisbee nearby.

She was fully engaged with the …

7 Morning Mindfulness Practices to Help You Have an Awesome Day

By

How often do you feel energized, grounded, and excited for the day when you finish your morning routine?

And what is your morning routine?

Are you one of those people who sleep as late as possible, pound some coffee and a processed breakfast, and then rush to get into work on time? (No judgment—I’ve been there! Gas station java and pop tarts for the win!)

Or do you leave yourself a cushion of time so you can ease into your day feeling centered and invigorated, through some combination of self-care activities?

In recent years I’ve leaned toward the latter because …

How to Stop Obsessing Over What Other People Think of You

By

“You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt

I spent way too much of my life worrying about what other people were thinking of me.

I couldn’t walk down the street without sucking in my gut for fear a stranger might have thought I looked fat (mind you, I did this even when I weighed 120 pounds!!)

Going to any social gathering—a Halloween party, networking event, craft fair, even a holiday family meal—was so stressful it felt like I had a bees’ nest in my chest.

I …

What Helped Me the Most When I Thought My Life Was Over

By

“What I’m looking for is not out there, it is in me.” ~Helen Keller

I used to think that life should be easy, and if it wasn’t easy, then I was doing it wrong.

I’m older and wiser now, and I’ve learned that if it is hard, that means I am probably doing something right.

I had a good childhood. I had a loving family, plenty of opportunity, and I excelled at whatever I put my mind to. But I was a high-anxiety kid, and a relentless perfectionist. As I grew older, that need to have everything flawless impeded my …

Healing PTSD One Breath and One Day at a Time

By

“Recovering from PTSD is being fragile and strong at the same time. It’s a beautiful medley of constantly being broken down and pieced together. I am a painting almost done to completion, beautiful but not quite complete.” ~Kate J. Tate

I never considered myself as a trauma survivor.

I didn’t think I had something as severe as PTSD. I reserved that diagnosis to those who suffered from things far worse than me.

It felt dramatic and attention-seeking to label myself as a “trauma survivor.”

First of all, what is trauma? The term tends to be loosely thrown around, and …

3 Nature Therapy Exercises to Help You Live in the Now

By

“Nature is the best medicine for serenity. Peace. Calmness. Stillness. It’s good for the heart.” ~Karen Madwell

I was looking for a way to stop obsessing over the future. I’d spent my adult life as an underground musician, and it had been wonderful for the large part. The thing is, it wasn’t good for me anymore.

I felt anxious onstage. I felt really uncomfortable with so many people looking at me. I had changed as a person, and yet I continued putting myself through performing even though I hated it.

Have you ever done that? Have you ever continued …

If You Feel Stuck and Tired of Waiting for Things to Get Better

By

“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” ~Stephen Covey

In August 2019, I was sitting in my therapist’s office with my head in my hands. I was heartbroken over a recently ended relationship, stuck working a job I wasn’t excited about, and I was living across the country from my closest friends and family. I felt like I couldn’t do much to change my situation because I was about to enter my final year of university, and I needed to stay put.

“Sometimes, life is a logjam,” my therapist said. I visualized …

5 Easy Exercises That Will Make You Lose Your Mind

By

“Lose your mind so that you can gain a new way of knowing.” ~Holly Lynn Payne

You know those moments when your thoughts seem to be going off in all directions? No logic, no control. All fighting for your attention like a class full of overexcited school children, one shouting even louder than the other at a teacher who’s lost control and ends up running out of the classroom crying.

“What if I don’t get this job?”

“What if they don’t like me?”

“Why hasn’t Rico returned my calls?”

“What if he doesn’t really love me?”

“Did I …

How to Get All the Benefits of Meditation by Balancing

By

“Use only that which works and take it from any place you can find it.” ~Bruce Lee

Ding.

The meditation timer chimes, and through a small miracle of willpower you managed to sit through an excruciating ten-minute meditation session.

What you should feel is a sense of accomplishment. After all, you often skip it altogether.

But instead you feel frustrated having just spent the entire session fidgeting, lost in fantasies that involve bragging to a friend about meditating today.

Your “monkey mind” is strong. It’s like a whole jungle of monkeys in there.

I went through the same thing …

Why Presence, Not Time, Is Your Most Important Asset

By

“Wherever you are, be there. Lifestyle is not something we do; it is something we experience. And until we learn to be there, we will never master the art of living well.” ~Jim Rohn 

I have been told again and again that our time is our most precious asset. But I disagree.

The blogosphere is filled with tips on time management—how to get more for our time. I am willing to bet my life that you have come across many such tips online yourself.

You have probably even adopted some of them.

I myself am notorious for scouting the internet …

Free Online Summit to Cultivate Mindfulness & Loving-Kindness

By

There’s no denying we’re living in stressful times, marked by uncertainty and suffering for many. We’ve all been through a lot this year. We were physically disconnected for months, and now many of us feel more divided than ever—politically, economically, and ideologically.

Many of us are grappling with grief, stress, and anxiety, while others are succumbing to fear, anger, and hatred—which only create more fear, anger, and hatred. We all need to collectively find a better way to live, starting within and then extending without, to the world around us.

How can we skillfully work with difficult feelings and learn …