Missing the Children I Never Had
I miss the children I never had. I was never pregnant. I never miscarried. There is no medical chart, no ultrasound photo folded into a drawer. And yet, there are two girls I have known for quite some time—two girls conceived in my mind. I’m not exactly sure when this little mental game started. Maybe […]
Can We Cultivate Forgiveness in Prison?
In 2017, Sylvester Jackson joined a forgiveness therapy group simply to get out of his cell in a maximum-security prison—he might not have participated otherwise. Sylvester Jackson and Lavansa Jackson of Believers For Change. © WTMJ-TV Milwaukee This happenstance involvement profoundly impacted the course of his life. Now living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he leads community […]
Why Your Friendships Make You Feel Anxious and Overthink Everything
Want more posts like this in your life? Join the Tiny Buddha list for daily or weekly insights. “Many of our relationship struggles are not character flaws but survival strategies that once made sense.” ~Unknown Throughout my life I’ve often been described as confident and outgoing. I can be the “life and soul” of a party […]
Voices of Generations: How Family Stories Foster Belonging
Throughout many immigrant experiences, stories collected from family members can be a starting point for migrants. The memories gleaned from parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles—who crossed dozens of borders at great risk and with immense pain—can settle into the consciousness of new host communities for decades. For the migrants, these stories and memories represent the […]
Redefining Persistence: Goal-Setting and Neurodivergence
Many people assume that everyone should be able to work toward their goals with ease and consistent motivation, viewing this skill as a standard “strength” that everyone should possess. However, for many of us, especially those who are neurodivergent, it is actually a significant challenge that requires an entirely different approach than the one taught […]
Help Is Other People: The Power of Social Connectedness
If there’s one finding in the psychological literature that warrants your most urgent attention, I’d argue that this is it: Social relationships are our most powerful psychological currency; they are the key to our psychological health. There is no “I” in “Self.” The “I” is always in “Society.” Human beings are social before they are […]
Trauma, Darkness, and the Powerful Therapy That’s Helping Me Heal
Want more posts like this in your life? Join the Tiny Buddha list for daily or weekly insights. Trigger Warning: This piece contains references to childhood trauma, depression, and suicidal thoughts. Please take care of yourself as you read, and step away if you need to. If you are struggling, you are not alone — […]
Can Teaching Self-Compassion Improve Teen Mental Health?
Suicide. It’s not something we like to talk about—especially when we’re talking about our kids. Yet it’s a painful reality in our world today. Unfortunately, most of us know someone in our community whose child has died by suicide. There’s good news and bad news on teen suicide rates. Let’s have the good news first. […]
Has Technology Made Us Less Courageous?
A popular social media trend in 2025 was the celebration of social isolation. Reels, posts, and memes abound that celebrate rebuffing social invitations, giving up on dating, doing the bare minimum at work, and even lamenting the loss of social distancing as though it was the silver lining and not an unfortunate consequence of the […]
Is It Good or Bad to Use Rewards for Motivation?
Author’s Note: Right now a great many people are trying to comply with their New Year’s resolutions. Many of them will rely on rewards of some sort to motivate themselves, never realizing that this is an extremely controversial practice and the subject of heated debate among psychologists. Should it be? Here’s my personal take: After […]