Four Ways for Parents to Manage Their Emotions
When toddlers melt down and teens snap back, it’s natural for us to have emotions. Some parents feel overwhelmed or out of control. Others try to push their emotions away. Emotions, after all, can be quite painful. Whether it’s joy, fear, rage, or anxiety, emotions affect parents every day. How we manage our emotions influences […]
Are You Highly Emotionally Reactive? You May Be Stuck in Survival Mode
Want more posts like this in your life? Join the Tiny Buddha list for daily or weekly insights. “Survival mode is supposed to be a phase that helps save your life. It is not meant to be how you live.” ~Michele Rosenthal Childhood is the most cherished time for many. However, nobody gets to adulthood […]
How Friendship Helped This Veteran to Heal
In January 2011, after struggling with unstable housing for three years, I received good news: an offer from a childhood friend to move into a room in his apartment in Manhattan. Michael knew about the sharp downward turn my life had taken since my honorable discharge from the Navy in 2008. I was a skilled […]
The Practice of Happiness | Psychology Today
Recently, I was having dinner with a group of friends who also work in Mental health when the conversation turned to happiness. What stood out wasn’t that everyone wanted to be happier, but how differently we defined happiness. Despite the range of perspectives, one shared assumption kept resurfacing: Happiness is something we reach after checking […]
When the Holidays Meet Complex Sorrow Parenting
It was a holiday. Outside, children spilled into yards and streets, running with sparklers, calling to each other, their laughter cutting through the warm air. Families gathered on porches. Everyone was celebrating. My son was not outside. He lay in bed, in a darkened room, unable to tolerate the noise, the light, the movement of […]
Pregnant? What Your Therapist Should Be Asking
A recent clinical miss for me was waiting too long to have “the talk” with a pregnant client whose baby arrived early. A few years ago, I began noticing a pattern: Clients who were six to 12 months postpartum were coming into session describing unexpected shifts in mood and anxiety. We would search through possible […]
Why Loving Moments With Strangers Carry Lasting Benefits
On a typical day, you experience numerous fleeting exchanges with people you don’t know, often without a word: a quick smile of acknowledgement as someone holds the door, a moment of eye contact to navigate a crowded aisle at the grocery store, or even a brief chat with a total stranger. Are these interactions with […]
The Power of Imperfect Work in an AI-Driven, Perfection-Obsessed World
Want more posts like this in your life? Join the Tiny Buddha list for daily or weekly insights. “Have no fear of perfection—you’ll never reach it.” ~Salvador Dalí We live in a world that worships polish. Perfect photos on Instagram. Seamless podcasts with no awkward pauses. Articles that read like they’ve passed through a dozen […]
Our Favorite Books of 2025
The year 2025 hasn’t started out great. We’ve seen foreign wars, climate change, racist rhetoric, and political polarization escalate over the last several months, making many of us angry, burned out, and depressed. But even when things seem inescapable or hard, it can be helpful to remember that we have personal agency in how we […]
The Mental Illness Recovery Paradox
Most people think the hardest part of a Mental health crisis is the illness itself. In my case that would entail the acute experience of psychotic depression. And it is often true that acute mental ill health is extraordinarily disorienting and frightening. I wouldn’t wish my previous symptoms of psychotic depression on anyone and they […]