Is My Life Turning Into A Checklist?
In recent years, people have been infatuated by the idea that the more productive you are, the better you will be. Productivity culture, wellness trends, and social media have fostered the belief that we should continually improve, whether physically, emotionally, or professionally. Self-improvement is usually positive, but the pressure to optimize every part of life […]
Letting Go of the Life You Were Told to Want
Want more posts like this in your life? Join the Tiny Buddha list for daily or weekly insights. “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson Ever since I was about four years old, I knew I was different from the […]
How Two Simple Lists Completely Transformed My Life
“Happiness turned to me and said, ‘It is time. It is time to forgive yourself for all of the things you did not become… Above all else, it is time to believe, with reckless abandon, that you are worthy of me, for I have been waiting for years.” ~Bianca Sparacino I didn’t know who I […]
The Whisper That Saved My Life When I Was Drowning
TRIGGER WARNING: This post references rape and suicide attempts, which might be distressing for some readers. “Our lives only improve when we are willing to take chances, and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves.” ~Walter Anderson This was my third psychiatric hospitalization after my suicide attempts. […]
Magic in the Ordinary: Finding Glimmers and Hope in Everyday Life
“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 The beach breeze […]
How Avoiding Painful Emotions Can Lead to a Smaller Life
“Being cut off from our own natural Self-compassion is one of the greatest impairments we can suffer.” ~Gabor Mate Most of us avoid experiences not necessarily because we don’t like them or want them, but because we don’t want to feel how we will feel when we go through that experience. Our lives become altered […]
How Bringing an Indigenous Creation Story to Life Can…
He instructed Ani to pisi to wrap the world, with the people in it, in his web and let them down to the lower world. Ani to pisi did as he was told and let them down from the upper world through a hole. After the people were lowered from the upper world (spoomootsi) to […]
How Grieving a Dream’s Loss Built Hope for a New Life
“Our painful experiences aren’t a liability—they’re a gift. They give us perspective and meaning, an opportunity to find our unique purpose and our strength.” –Dr. Edith Eger, The Choice: Embrace the Possible The loss of an unrealized dream sent me spiraling down, down into the darkness. A darkness filled with a despair and hopelessness that […]
How to Live a Joy-Filled Life with Chronic Illness
“Living with chronic illness isn’t a life half-lived; it’s an opportunity to redefine what it means to be truly alive, resilient, and whole.” ~Christopher Reynolds I have spent the past eleven years of my life in chronic pain. While this journey has been long, excruciatingly difficult, and deeply lonely, I am beginning to come to peace […]
The Simple Meditation Technique That Changed My Life
“Stay in the moment. The practice of staying present will heal you. Obsessing about how the future will turn out creates anxiety. Replaying broken scenarios from the past causes anger and sadness. Stay here, in this moment.” ~Sylvester McNutt For two years, I studied and practiced meditation. I listened to podcasts, chanted mantras each morning, […]