Relaxation

“The moment you take personal responsibility for everything in your life is the moment you can change anything in your life.” ~Hal Elrod I’m an introspective person, and at this point in my life don’t have any problems with taking personal responsibility. When I share my insights or understanding of situations I have been in,

“If you always feel like you’re too much or too little, maybe you’re adding yourself to the wrong recipe.” ⁠~Sophia Joan Short There is an art to shrinking yourself. As a young girl, I was painfully earnest. I hadn’t learned the craft of nonchalance that was as much a requirement for being liked as name-brand

“You could have grown cold, but you grew courageous instead. You could have given up, but you kept on going. You could have seen obstacles, but you called them adventures. You could have called them weeds, but instead you called them wildflower. You could have died a caterpillar, but you fought on to be a

“If you don’t love yourself, you’ll always be chasing after people who don’t love you either.” ~Mandy Hale In January, a couple of years ago, I had been declared unfit for work, suffering from anxiety and mental exhaustion. For too long, I had not listened to my body and soul complaining about all the heavy

Would you say you’ve experienced trauma in your lifetime? Perhaps it’s an obvious yes—if you’ve fought in a war, you’ve been abused, or you’ve survived a tragic accident or natural disaster. But odds are, even if you haven’t experienced these things, you’ve lived through something traumatic—the death of a loved one, a serious illness, or

“Anxiety is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you very far.” ~Jodi Picoult Many years ago, I worked in the technology sector in Austin, Texas, which is a big “tech town.” I was incredibly focused on building my career and earning a higher and higher salary. I

“Tortoise was over the line. After that, Hare always reminded himself, ‘Don’t brag about your lightning pace, for Slow and Steady won the race!‘“ ~The Tortoise and the Hare (Aesop’s Fables) I was sitting in an introduction to calligraphy workshop when a fellow student asked the instructor, “What do I need to become a professional

“Change is inevitable, growth is intentional.” ~Glenda Cloud How much time slips by when you’re living in the pain of resentment? Do you ever question if your bitterness has held you back from living your true destiny? Is blaming everyone else sabotaging your life and future? It’s only now that I can admit to the

“Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.”  ~The Bhagavad Gita Growing up, I couldn’t have been further from my ‘self.’ Early childhood experiences taught me to focus all of my energy externally. To put everyone around me first and to be insatiably attentive to their needs. This kind of

“By choosing healthy over skinny you are choosing self-love over self-judgment.” ~Steve Maraboli If we actually care about health, in 2020, we have to stop trying to lose weight I know, that’s the opposite of what we’ve been taught to believe, but stay with me while I explain why I say that. Dieting and weight

Well, all good things must come to an end, and that time has come for Tiny Buddha’s Best You, Best Life Bundle Sale. Since I’ve been shouting about this sale from the rooftops all week, odds are you’re at least a little familiar with what’s on offer. But if you’re not, here’s a brief breakdown:

“If you are going through a time of discouragement, there is a time of great personal growth ahead.” ~Oswald Chambers If I were to look back at my life thus far, as I often do, I’d notice a pattern of events and feelings resembling the activity on an EKG monitor. For every peak, there’s been

“At the end of life, our questions are very simple: Did I live fully? Did I love well?” ~Jack Kornfield When I was seven years old, I almost died. My family and I were at Central Station in Sydney, Australia to celebrate the last steam train to ever depart the station. It was about eight

“Let no one who loves be unhappy, even love unreturned has its rainbow.” ~James M. Barrie My first experience with unrequited love took place when I was a little kid at swimming lessons. I developed a huge crush on one of the instructors. I don’t remember his name, but I remember the excruciating feeling of

“Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.” ~Lao Tzu We carefully pick out what we wear to the gym to make sure we look good in the eyes of the other gym goers. We beat ourselves up after meetings running through everything we said (or didn’t say), worried that

First things first, happy 2020! It’s a new year, filled with promise and possibility. If last year was tough for you, it’s now in the rearview mirror. If it was full of blessings and opportunities, you’re likely excited to see what the new year might bring. And regardless of how 2019 panned out for you,

“One has to accept pain as a condition of existence.” ~Morris West This may seem sounds counter-intuitive, but this year I want to let go of trying to avoid suffering. It doesn’t mean that I am a masochist and plan to spend the next year being miserable. It’s more a question of learning to accept

Many of us head into the New Year with big goals and ambitions. We think about everything that seems to be lacking in our lives and imagine ourselves far happier and more fulfilled on the other side of massive change. There’s no denying that certain accomplishments can amp up our life satisfaction, but I’ve found

“Any relationship that could be ‘ruined’ by having a conversation about feelings, standards, or expectations wasn’t really firm enough anyway, so there isn’t much to ruin.” ~Unknown So many of us believe that not expressing ourselves is a noble thing to do. We get to feel stoic and in control. Others get emotional and overwhelmed

It’s almost that time again—the beginning of a New Year, when many of us consider how we can become happier, healthier, more fulfilled people. While I personally think we can create positive change at any time of year, I’ve always appreciated the sense of possibility that January brings. And I often try to start the

“You were born to be among the advisors and thinkers, the spiritual and moral leaders for your society. There is every reason for pride.” ~Elaine N. Aron Stop being so sensitive. Lighten up. You’re oversensitive. Stop overthinking. You’re weird. If you’re anything like me, you’ve had those words slung at you like rocks from a

“Hope is the feeling you have that the feeling you have is not permanent.” ~Jean Kerr Here’s the thing no one tells you about dating—it sucks. The uncertainty, the inconsistency, the stress. Dating has always been easy for me. Or so I thought. The more I think back, the more I see I accepted things

The holidays can be a lot of fun, but let’s face it, they can sometimes be stressful, particularly if you spend them with family. Surrounded by multiple generations of people, many with different perspectives and beliefs, it’s easy to feel triggered or annoyed. Then there are the challenges associated with going home, whether that means

“The cry we hear from deep in our hearts comes from the wounded child within. Healing this inner child’s pain is the key to transforming anger, sadness, and fear.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh We all have a wounded inner child. Recently, my wounded child was hurt that my sister hadn’t called or texted me for several

“Think of the world…you carry within yourself and set it above everything that you notice about you. Your inmost happening is worth your whole love, that is what you must somehow work at, and not lose too much time and too much courage in explaining your attitude to people.” ~Rainer Maria RilkeMy twenties taught me

“Boundaries are a part of self-care. They are healthy, normal, and necessary.” ~Doreen Virtue I’m really nice. Too nice actually. I’ve even been something of a doormat in my life. But what can I say? I was trained that way. There weren’t a lot of boundaries in our home when I was growing up. Instead,

“You can never know how many lives you’ve touched, so just know it’s far more than you think. Even the tiniest acts of love, kindness, and compassion can have a massive ripple effect. You have made the world a better place, even if it doesn’t seem like it.” ~Lori Deschene I never had trouble sleeping

“The antidote to exhaustion isn’t rest. It’s wholeheartedness.” ~David Whyte Crouched down in a cold clump of leaves in the woods, I watch a woodpecker. Persistent, unbothered, moving up and down a tree next to me. It is methodically tapping its beak bit-by-bit looking for something to eat. I watch and wonder… Aren’t you tired of

Whether you celebrate or not, the holiday season can be stressful for many reasons. From experiencing difficult emotions like grief, anger, or resentment that seem to resurface out or nowhere, to the pressures of making everything perfect for everyone, there’s a lot of opportunity for emotional burnout. I’m no stranger to painful emotions re-emerging around

“The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much and forgetting that you are special too.” ~Ernest Hemingway At Eagle Point Elementary, where I went for third grade, there was one very cute boy. Jason was the object of affection for seemingly every third-grade girl. He would make a