Tiny Buddha

Author: Alden Tan

  • 3 Ways to Deal with 3 Different Forms of Negativity in the World

    3 Ways to Deal with 3 Different Forms of Negativity in the World

    “The world is full of a lot of fear and a lot of negativity, and a lot of judgment. I just think people need to start shifting into joy and happiness. As corny as it sounds, we need to make a shift.” ~Ellen DeGeneres

    I’ve dealt with a lot of negativity in my life.

    When I was only 20, my dad died of ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Before that I had to watch him suffer from it for a couple of years as his body slowly lost its functions.

    Also, when I was young I was bullied a lot. Because I was taught to never fight back, I had a lot of pent up anger knowing that my wrongdoers “won” and got away with it.

    To this day, sometimes I have trouble letting go of both big things and small things.

    As such, I tend to develop a train of negative thoughts easily, subsequently affecting my mood.

    Do any of you feel overwhelmed by negativity?

    The Negativity in the World

    The thing about negativity is that it’s rampant.

    You’re bound to encounter people who disagree with you or people who seem out to bring you down.Then there’s the negative state of the world, where bad things happen to good people and innocent people suffer for no reason.

    As such, the negative thoughts tend to enter your mind.

    “Why is life so unfair?”

    “What did I do to deserve this?”

    “What if bad things happen to me?”

    Sounds familiar? (more…)

  • 7 Things to Remember When People Don’t Support You

    7 Things to Remember When People Don’t Support You

    “I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do! That is character!” ~Theodore Roosevelt

    I’m currently doing the whole “quit my job to pursue a dream” thing. I left the security and stability of having a salary along with a supposed career.

    Back then, I didn’t really know what I was doing. I had no experience in blogging, plus I didn’t exactly have the confidence to market and start running a business.

    Sounds crazy, right?

    You can imagine the reaction I got from my friends and family. The support was next to nothing, and people generally never understood what I was doing—what I was trying to do.

    Does this sound familiar?

    You may not have done something huge, like make a career shift, but perhaps you’ve offered a different opinion and everyone just disagreed.

    You would have expected more from your loved ones. I know how disheartening that can be.

    You expect support and encouragement from people you consider close to you only to be completely rejected, criticized, or worse, laughed at.

    It can be really hard to swallow all the “noise” around you.

    I was taken by surprise by some of the things I heard from friends; some of the comments were particularly hurtful.

    I think it boils down to learning how to not care so much about what others think, and also, conversely, understanding what goes on in their minds.

    I’ve come up with a little guide of reminders that I hope can help you keep going if you feel alone.

    1. Your passion is a priority.

    A lot of people go through the motions in life, not doing what they love. They end up constantly looking back, asking themselves, “What if?”

    Whether people support you or not, do you really want to look back in regret one day down the line? To not know what could have happened if you tried to do what you really wanted to do? (more…)