Tiny Buddha

Author: Lori Deschene

  • Book Giveaway and Author Interview: 52-Week Life Passion Project

    Book Giveaway and Author Interview: 52-Week Life Passion Project

    52-Week Life Passion Project

    Note: The winners for this giveaway have already been chosen. Subscribe to Tiny Buddha for free daily or weekly emails and to learn about future giveaways!

    The Winners:

    It’s not easy to do something you’re passionate about for work—and not only because it’s hard to discover your passion or find a job to leverage it.

    Once we know what we love to do, we then need to work through all kinds of limiting thoughts, beliefs, and fears that may prevent us from taking action. Then we need to decide what that action should be—how and where to start, and how to stay motivated.

    It’s with this in mind that coach and blogger Barrie Davenport wrote the 52-Week Life Passion Project, an insightful, comprehensive guide to identifying what you really want to do and building your life around it.

    I’m excited to share an interview with Barrie, and grateful that she offered to give away 5 books for Tiny Buddha readers!

    The Giveaway

    To enter to win one of five free copies of 52-Week Life Passion Project:

    • Leave a comment on this post sharing something you’re passionate about. (If there’s nothing you’re passionate about yet, then just leave a comment saying hello!)
    • For an extra entry, tweet: RT @tinybuddha Book Giveaway: The 52-Week Life Passion Project: Comment and RT to win! http://bit.ly/W8WUUz

    You can enter until midnight PST on Monday, January 7th.

    The Interview

    1. What inspired you to write the 52-Week Life Passion Project? (more…)
  • The Top 10 Tiny Buddha Insights from 2012

    The Top 10 Tiny Buddha Insights from 2012

    Buddha

    Happy almost 2013!

    It seems like just yesterday I wrote “Happy almost 2012!” before summarizing the top lessons from 2011.

    I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions, as I like to think that any moment is an ideal time to make a change, but I always appreciate looking back and recognizing progress and growth.

    The site grew by leaps and bounds this year, surpassing two million monthly page views. However, what I’ve found most exciting is the increased interest in contributing to the blog.

    Each month, I’ve received more submissions than the month before, but what inspires me isn’t the number of posts that people have submitted; it’s the honesty and passion that people have put into them.

    Ultimately, I think we all want more than knowledge; we want to know that we’re not alone, and we want not just to be helped, but also to help others.

    I’m proud and grateful that this is a space where we can all do both—where we can connect with each other based on our shared experiences and feelings, and can both learn from each other and share what we’ve learned.

    The top ten insights from posts written this year (based on page views and comments) include: (more…)

  • New Year’s Tiny Wisdom Buy One Give One eBook Sale

    New Year’s Tiny Wisdom Buy One Give One eBook Sale

     

    To celebrate the New Year, I decided to run a second Tiny Wisdom eBook sale (as I previously did on my birthday in August).

    For today only, if you purchase the Tiny Wisdom eBook series (5 eBooks for $19.97), I will send a free set to a friend of your choice. (Weekly email subscribers, this offer is good for you today, Friday January 4th.)

    All you need to do is:

    • Order your set (by scrolling all the way down and clicking on “buy now” for the full set)
    • Forward your confirmation email to me at email(AT)tinybuddha(DOT)com
    • Include your friend’s name, email address, and any note you would like to include

    If you’ve already purchased the series and would like to take advantage of this offer, you can purchase another set today and I will send sets to two of your friends. Just follow the instructions above for both friends and note in the email that this is your second purchase.

    I will be away until tomorrow, so please note you will not receive a response from me, and your friend will not receive his or her set, until late afternoon on Tuesday, January 1st.

    The Tiny Wisdom eBook Series

    Earlier this year, I created 5 short eBooks with posts on the following topics:

    • Self-Love
    • Happiness
    • Mindfulness
    • Love
    • Pain

    They aren’t lengthy how-to posts with overwhelming lists of action steps. They’re short reflections on the little things that make a huge difference in our daily lives. They’re reminders of what matters and how to embrace it, right now, instead of focusing on all the things that only bring us down.

    They’re concise. They’re focused. Most importantly, they’re relevant to the challenges we all face every day.

    These eBooks are available individually or as a complete package. On it’s own, each eBook costs $4.97. The full package of five costs $19.97—which essentially means you get one free if you buy the whole series (and for today only, you receive a second set to send to a friend).

    Buy the Tiny Wisdom eBooks 

    Note: You can purchase the eBooks individually for $4.97 each, or scroll down to buy the whole series for $19.97. Today’s promotion is only for the full set. (more…)

  • Tiny Buddha Book Holiday Giveaway, Week 4

    Tiny Buddha Book Holiday Giveaway, Week 4

    Update: The winners for this giveaway have already been chosen. Subscribe to Tiny Buddha for free daily or weekly emails and to learn about future giveaways!

    The Winners:

    To celebrate the holiday season, I’ve decided to do a series of giveaways for my book, Tiny Buddha: Simple Wisdom for Life’s Hard Questions, which launched right around this time last year.

    If you’ve already learned about the book or purchased it, this post will be redundant for you! For those who haven’t read it, here’s a little information about it:

    This is the first book of its kind—with tweets woven throughout.

    I asked @tinybuddha followers a number of the most challenging questions in life, like:

    • Why is there suffering in the world?
    • What’s the meaning of life?
    • What does it take to be happy?
    • Why are relationships hard?

    Since there are very few concrete answers to the big questions, I wanted to explore many varied perspectives to create a guide of possibilities for joy, purpose, and connection.

    Although these tweets shaped the book, I also included a great deal of my own struggles, successes, and insights—far more than I’ve ever revealed on the blog. From my former battle with depression to my struggles with relationships, I shared how these questions have played out in my own life—and what I’ve learned at each step of the way.

    Through this book, you’ll learn a few ideas to:

    • Let go of pain from the past that’s been weighing you down and holding you back
    • Create a sense of purpose, starting right now, even if you’re not doing what you want to do professionally
    • Change habits that have not served you well and open up to new, better ways of being
    • Experience happiness right now, regardless of your circumstances
    • Improve your relationships
    • Seize the moment to live more mindfully, passionately, and fearlessly
    • Find a sense of control and empowerment in an uncertain world

    I will do 4 giveaways this month, 1 per week. I will choose 2 winners for each giveaway and mail all of 8 books together at the end of the month.

    To enter:

    • Leave a comment on this post sharing something that made you smile today.
    • Tweet: Tiny Buddha Book Holiday Giveaway: Comment and RT to enter! http://bit.ly/RVmm59
    You can enter each giveaway once at any point during December, 2012. (You can find the first, second, and third ones here.) If you don’t have a Twitter account, you can enter by completing the first step only. If you’d like to purchase the book now, you can find it on Amazon or Barnes and Noble, or translated in Dutch at Bol.com.
  • 10 Powerful Gifts to Give and Receive Today

    10 Powerful Gifts to Give and Receive Today

    “Each day comes bearing its own gifts. Untie the ribbons.”  ~Ruth Ann Schabacker

    Regardless of what holiday you celebrate, or how you honor it, there’s no denying this is an emotionally loaded time of year.

    We either remind ourselves how grateful we are for all the people we love, or we remember how much it hurts that we don’t have people like that in our lives.

    We either celebrate all our blessings, or we look toward the year to come, wondering if we’ll have more then.

    You may find yourself reflecting on last Christmas in awe of how much has changed for the better in just one year’s time.

    Or you may look back on the last twelve months wistfully, wishing things could be the way they were.

    We’ll all experience the holiday season in many different ways over the course of our lives.

    Whatever your unique situation this year—whether you’re in a growth cycle or working through feelings of loss—you have a lot to give and receive.

    5 Gifts You Can Receive Today

    1. Your breath.

    It’s one of those things we take for granted—the air that gives us life. We don’t even need to think about breathing; we do it automatically.

    Clearly we can appreciate that our breath sustains us, but it can do so much more. When we focus on breathing deeply, it can ground us, calm us, detoxify us, and even heal us.

    Breathe in. Breathe out. Look at your hands, your feet, the tip of your nose. Fully inhabit your body. You’re here. You’re alive.   (more…)

  • 35 Simple Ways to Be Beautiful

    35 Simple Ways to Be Beautiful

    Beautiful

    “Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical.” ~Sophia Loren

    Even though I got Joey McIntyre from The New Kids on the Block to sign my scoliosis back brace in the sixth grade, I still felt ugly wearing it.

    I didn’t realize the irony back then, but in retrospect it seems a little funny that I grew crooked considering I convinced myself I was wilting in my sister’s shadow. (I also had braces and headgear, but that’s another story.)

    I was a kid who wanted to be beautiful, but more desperately wanted to feel loved. My self-esteem increased through the years, but I never quite shook the sneaking suspicion I’d never be beautiful enough. Or maybe lovable enough.

    It would be easy to blame it all on society and the Kate Moss era of modeling, but I think it’s more than that. I just never learned to notice and appreciate all the beautiful things about myself. The stuff that had nothing to do with my waistline, skin tone, or eye lashes and everything to do with who I am.

    I never learned to give myself the credit for all the good I do in the world. I was too busy cataloging my weaknesses, mistakes, and flaws to recognize it.

    It seems like such a cliché to say that pretty is as pretty does, but the truth is, physical beauty is subjective. And even if someone perfectly matches your ideal of physical perfection, their looks will eventually fade. What endure are the qualities, passions, and habits we nurture.

    That’s what makes us beautiful—and believe me when I say there is something beautiful in everyone. If you’ve done any of the following lately, you are absolutely beautiful: (more…)

  • Choose Your Battles: Fighting Less in Relationships

    Choose Your Battles: Fighting Less in Relationships

    “A more peaceful way to live is to decide consciously which battles are worth fighting and which are better left alone.” ~Richard Carlson

    Have you ever been in a relationship that seemed more like work than fun? Where every day you seemed to have a new issue to discuss?

    Maybe it had to do with little miscommunications, or an ongoing dispute, or a difference of opinion that regularly complicated your daily interactions.

    Whatever it was, you always found yourself wanting to hash things out to get everything back to normal.

    Except that was normal—conflict, friction, and disagreement; you just held out hope that maybe it could change.

    I had a friendship like this a few years back. We really got each other, and that’s a big part of why we grew close.

    But we also got on each other’s nerves on a near-daily basis. In retrospect, I see that our two personalities came together to create something toxic.

    It was like the perfect storm of insecurities and and egos colliding; our collapse may have always been a matter of time. But I also realize we both created drama where it didn’t need to be.

    We made everything an issue.

    I’ve since learned that healthy relationships require a little discernment as to what’s a problem and what’s just small stuff; and that sometimes, the instinct to sweat all that small stuff is a sign of a bigger problem—that the relationship may just not be right.

    Not sure why so much annoys you? There could be any number of reasons. One of these problems may seem familiar, and one of these solutions may help.

    Problem 1:

    You’re harboring resentment or anger, but instead of expressing what you really feel, you pick at the little things.

    The Solution:

    Take some time to get to the root of your feelings. What’s really bothering you? Sure, those unwashed dishes and slow email responses are annoying, but what’s the bigger issue? (more…)

  • Tiny Buddha Book Holiday Giveaway, Week 3

    Tiny Buddha Book Holiday Giveaway, Week 3

    Update: The winners for this giveaway have already been chosen. Subscribe to Tiny Buddha for free daily or weekly emails and to learn about future giveaways!

    The Winners:

    To celebrate the holiday season, I’ve decided to do a series of giveaways for my book, Tiny Buddha: Simple Wisdom for Life’s Hard Questions, which launched right around this time last year.

    If you’ve already learned about the book or purchased it, this post will be redundant for you! For those who haven’t read it, here’s a little information about it:

    This is the first book of its kind—with tweets woven throughout.

    I asked @tinybuddha followers a number of the most challenging questions in life, like:

    • Why is there suffering in the world?
    • What’s the meaning of life?
    • What does it take to be happy?
    • Why are relationships hard?

    Since there are very few concrete answers to the big questions, I wanted to explore many varied perspectives to create a guide of possibilities for joy, purpose, and connection.

    Although these tweets shaped the book, I also included a great deal of my own struggles, successes, and insights—far more than I’ve ever revealed on the blog. From my former battle with depression to my struggles with relationships, I shared how these questions have played out in my own life—and what I’ve learned at each step of the way.

    Through this book, you’ll learn a few ideas to:

    • Let go of pain from the past that’s been weighing you down and holding you back
    • Create a sense of purpose, starting right now, even if you’re not doing what you want to do professionally
    • Change habits that have not served you well and open up to new, better ways of being
    • Experience happiness right now, regardless of your circumstances
    • Improve your relationships
    • Seize the moment to live more mindfully, passionately, and fearlessly
    • Find a sense of control and empowerment in an uncertain world

    I will do 4 giveaways this month, 1 per week. I will choose 2 winners for each giveaway and mail all of 8 books together at the end of the month.

    To enter:

    • Leave a comment on this post sharing something that made you smile today.
    • Tweet: Tiny Buddha Book Holiday Giveaway: Comment and RT to enter! http://bit.ly/VUYQk8
    You can enter each giveaway once at any point during December, 2012. (You can find the first and second ones here.) If you don’t have a Twitter account, you can enter by completing the first step only. If you’d like to purchase the book now, you can find it on Amazon or Barnes and Noble, or translated in Dutch at Bol.com.
  • Relationships That Hurt: When Enough Is Enough

    Relationships That Hurt: When Enough Is Enough

    “Relationships are like glass. Sometimes it’s better to leave them broken than hurt yourself trying to put them back together.” ~Unknown

    There was a time when I was quite black-and-white with relationships. I either trusted you implicitly, assuming you’d never intentionally hurt me, or believed you wanted to cause me pain and questioned everything you did.

    Once you moved yourself into the latter category, there was no going back.

    Eventually, I realized I was limiting my relationships by not recognizing the grey area, where people are human, they make mistakes, and they need forgiveness and understanding.

    From there I swung the pendulum the other way—I trusted everyone. I refused to consider that someone’s actions might reflect that they didn’t truly care. And I stayed in a lot of unhealthy relationships while making excuses for people.

    I wanted them to care. I wanted to believe they valued me—that it only meant I was interpreting incorrectly if their actions seemed to suggest otherwise.

    But this is where it gets confusing. On the one hand, we often create a lot of meaning in our heads that isn’t really there. We may feel convinced someone intended to be rude, inconsiderate, or thoughtless when really that wasn’t the case.

    On the other hand, sometimes actions speak louder than words, and our interpretations may be accurate.

    Sometimes someone is knowingly hurtful or neglectful. We need to be able to recognize that or we’ll end up feeling disempowered, disrespected, and stuck.

    So how do you know when to stay and when to walk away? How do you know when you’re not reading into things too much, or being too paranoid, or making mountains out of molehills, but rather simply seeing things for what they are?

    After placing myself in this situation more times than I’d like to count, I developed a little three-question guide that’s helped me recognize when enough is enough. (more…)

  • Tiny Buddha Book Holiday Giveaway, Week 2

    Tiny Buddha Book Holiday Giveaway, Week 2

    Update: The winners for this giveaway have already been chosen. Subscribe to Tiny Buddha for free daily or weekly emails and to learn about future giveaways!

    The Winners:

    This is the 2nd in a series of 4 holiday giveaways for my book, Tiny Buddha: Simple Wisdom for Life’s Hard Questions, which launched right around this time last year.

    If you’ve already learned about the book or purchased it, this post will be redundant for you! For those who haven’t read it, here’s a little information about it:

    This is the first book of its kind—with tweets woven throughout.

    I asked @tinybuddha followers a number of the most challenging questions in life, like:

    • Why is there suffering in the world?
    • What’s the meaning of life?
    • What does it take to be happy?
    • Why are relationships hard?

    Since there are very few concrete answers to the big questions, I wanted to explore many varied perspectives to create a guide of possibilities for joy, purpose, and connection.

    Although these tweets shaped the book, I also included a great deal of my own struggles, successes, and insights—far more than I’ve ever revealed on the blog. From my former battle with depression to my struggles with relationships, I shared how these questions have played out in my own life—and what I’ve learned at each step of the way.

    Through this book, you’ll learn a few ideas to:

    • Let go of pain from the past that’s been weighing you down and holding you back
    • Create a sense of purpose, starting right now, even if you’re not doing what you want to do professionally
    • Change habits that have not served you well and open up to new, better ways of being
    • Experience happiness right now, regardless of your circumstances
    • Improve your relationships
    • Seize the moment to live more mindfully, passionately, and fearlessly
    • Find a sense of control and empowerment in an uncertain world

    I will do 4 giveaways this month, 1 per week. I will choose 2 winners for each giveaway and mail all of 8 books together at the end of the month. (more…)

  • Buy Less: Take the Fear and Compulsion Out of Shopping

    Buy Less: Take the Fear and Compulsion Out of Shopping

    by Lori Deschene

    “Throw moderation to the winds, and the greatest pleasures bring the greatest pains.” ~Democritus

    Around the holidays we tend to talk more about consumerism. Especially knowing that Black Friday started even earlier than usual this year (on Thursday night), a lot of us feel that our consumption has gotten out of hand.

    Many people I know have suggested we should curb our impulse to buy and only purchase necessities, but I can’t help but wonder if perhaps the solution is less about extremism and more about moderation.

    Making a drastic change can seem appealing when we’re frustrated or overwhelmed with the way things are, but going from one extreme to another rarely provides a viable long-term solution.

    The problem isn’t that we buy things we don’t need; it’s that we buy lots of things we don’t need to fill our assorted emotional voids.

    Does anyone need a piece of jewelry? Or a painting? Or an app?

    No—but good, talented people create these things. So long as we don’t mistakenly attach our happiness to them, we can both support those people and enjoy the fruits of their labor by purchasing their creations, when we’re financially able.

    No one goes into debt for occasionally treating themselves to something they would appreciate wearing, displaying, or using. We only run into issues when we spend compulsively and beyond our means.

    And buying gifts for other people—this can provide a lot of joy for the buyer and the giver, if we don’t pressure ourselves to spend extravagantly.

    Every year, each of my family members spend five dollars on stocking stuffers for the other four, so that we each end up with twenty dollars of stuff. None of us need the gum, combs, and magazines we get, but it’s fun and easily doable.

    The problem isn’t that we live in a consumer culture. It’s that we’re not always mindful of how and why we each consume.

    In much the same way, advertising itself isn’t fundamentally bad; everyone who supports themselves sells something, whether it’s a product, a course, or a service; that requires them to promote it. (more…)

  • Tiny Buddha Book Holiday Giveaway, Week 1

    Tiny Buddha Book Holiday Giveaway, Week 1

    Update: The winners for this giveaway have already been chosen. Subscribe to Tiny Buddha for free daily or weekly emails and to learn about future giveaways!

    The Winners:

    To celebrate the holiday season, I’ve decided to do a series of giveaways for my book, Tiny Buddha: Simple Wisdom for Life’s Hard Questions, which launched right around this time last year.

    If you’ve already learned about the book or purchased it, this post will be redundant for you! For those who haven’t read it, here’s a little information about it:

    This is the first book of its kind—with tweets woven throughout.

    I asked @tinybuddha followers a number of the most challenging questions in life, like:

    • Why is there suffering in the world?
    • What’s the meaning of life?
    • What does it take to be happy?
    • Why are relationships hard?

    Since there are very few concrete answers to the big questions, I wanted to explore many varied perspectives to create a guide of possibilities for joy, purpose, and connection.

    Although these tweets shaped the book, I also included a great deal of my own struggles, successes, and insights—far more than I’ve ever revealed on the blog. From my former battle with depression to my struggles with relationships, I shared how these questions have played out in my own life—and what I’ve learned at each step of the way.

    Through this book, you’ll learn a few ideas to:

    • Let go of pain from the past that’s been weighing you down and holding you back
    • Create a sense of purpose, starting right now, even if you’re not doing what you want to do professionally
    • Change habits that have not served you well and open up to new, better ways of being
    • Experience happiness right now, regardless of your circumstances
    • Improve your relationships
    • Seize the moment to live more mindfully, passionately, and fearlessly
    • Find a sense of control and empowerment in an uncertain world

    I will do 4 giveaways this month, 1 per week. I will choose 2 winners for each giveaway and mail all of 8 books together at the end of the month.

    To enter:

    • Leave a comment on this post.
    • Tweet: Tiny Buddha Book Holiday Giveaway: Comment and RT to enter! http://bit.ly/UoTLRW
    You can enter each giveaway once at any point during December, 2012. If you don’t have a Twitter account, you can enter by completing the first step only. If you’d like to purchase the book now, you can find it on Amazon or Barnes and Noble, or translated in Dutch at Bol.com.
  • Interview and Giveaway: A Spiritual Renegade’s Guide to the Good Life

    Interview and Giveaway: A Spiritual Renegade’s Guide to the Good Life

    Note: The winners for this giveaway have already been chosen. Subscribe to Tiny Buddha for free daily or weekly emails and to learn about future giveaways!

    The Winners:

    Though we may all have varied goals and paths, ultimately, we all have the same objective: happiness. It’s with this in mind that Buddhist monk Lama Marut wrote A Spiritual Renegade’s Guide to the Good Life.

    Through a series of meditations, exercises, and insights, he helps us overcome suffering and create contentment—two essential prerequisites to happiness.

    Playful and entertaining, A Spiritual Renegade’s Guide to the Good Life distills complex ideas into a light-hearted, easy-to-read manual for happiness and fulfillment.

    I’m grateful that Lama Marut took the time to answer some questions about the book, and also offered 5 books for Tiny Buddha readers.

    The Giveaway

    To enter to win 1 of 5 free copies of A Spiritual Renegade’s Guide to the Good Life:

    • Leave a comment below
    • Tweet: RT @tinybuddha Book GIVEAWAY & Interview: A Spiritual Renegade’s Guide to the Good Life http://bit.ly/TuAGfP

    If you don’t have a Twitter account, you can still enter by completing the first step. You can enter until midnight PST on Tuesday, December 4th.

    The Interview

    1. What inspired you to write A Spiritual Renegade’s Guide to the Good Life?

    I wanted to try to summarize—in ordinary, non-technical language—what I had learned over the years about living a life conducive to happiness. We are all driven by the desire to be happy, but I know in my own case that I spent a lot of time barking up many wrong trees before I found a method that really worked! (more…)

  • Letting Go of Stress Around Your Goals: 4 Tips to Help You Relax

    Letting Go of Stress Around Your Goals: 4 Tips to Help You Relax

    “Control is never achieved when sought after directly. It is the surprising consequence of letting go.” ~James Arthur Ray

    I have always been a bit of a control freak, and if I’m not mindful, it can suck the joy out of my work and my passion.

    I like tasks done a certain way, which means I don’t always do well when it comes to delegating to others and can end up overextending myself.

    I want things to be done on my timeline, which means I may feel a need to micromanage tasks I have delegated to decrease the potential for delay.

    And I sometimes feel a need to know where things are going, which means I often need to remind myself to stay open to new possibilities.

    In short, I like to feel that everything is going according to plan—my plan—so that I leave very little to chance.

    Chance can be a scary place. It’s the realm where things could go wrong because you didn’t steer, compel, or manipulate them to ensure that they went right.

    It’s the place where anything could happen because you weren’t clear or pushy enough to make things happen as you visualized them.

    It’s a space where things are unpredictable, random even, where you don’t feel you have a say or a choice.

    These are things I’ve thought before.

    If you have a controlling instinct like I do, it can be difficult to ascertain when you’re being too heavy-handed, causing yourself stress in the process, and when you’re simply being proactive and taking responsibility for your life.

    It’s a thin line between empowering yourself and taking your power away.

    On one side, you know you’ve done your best but accept that other factors contribute to your outcome; on the other side, you cause yourself immense anxiety trying to foresee and eliminate those factors.

    It can feel terrifying to simply let things happen, particularly when the stakes are high—when you care about something so deeply that it feels like a piece of you.

    But ironically, trying to control things can actually limit their potential.

    Imagine you stood in front of a flower all day, trying all kinds of fertilizer to push it to grow faster. In addition to trying too many things, minimizing the effectiveness of any one, you’d essentially rob it of sunlight while casting your overbearing shadow.

    The fear that it might not grow would all but ensure that outcome.  (more…)

  • Groove for Good and Inspirational Bracelet Giveaway

    Groove for Good and Inspirational Bracelet Giveaway

    Buddha Groove was one of the first sponsors on tinybuddha.com, and a natural fit given the company’s mission and message—to share wisdom through inspiring Buddhist art and artifacts, including statues, home accents, and more.

    A family-owned business based in New York, Buddha Groove offers products made by skilled artisans from Indonesia, China, Tibet, Nepal, and the United States, to name a few places.

    Recently, the company launched a new initiative that I’m happy to share with you today: Groove for Good.

    Groove for Good is a social initiative created to positively affect humanitarian causes within the United States.

    Offering a special line of uplifting American-made items, Buddha Groove donates a portion of all sales to organizations vetted by the company’s online community.

    Each product has its own donation amount, ranging from $5−$10.

    You can get involved by nominating a nonprofit on the Buddha Groove Facebook page or through this form; browsing the selection of products; and following project updates and donation figures on the blog.

    To celebrate the project launch, Buddha Groove has donated three inspirational bracelets to Tiny Buddha readers, each displaying the message “Live in the moment.”

    To enter to win, leave a comment on this blog sharing the most inspirational message you’ve ever seen or received. You can enter until midnight PST on Friday, November 30th.

    Update: The winners for this giveaway have already been chosen. Subscribe to Tiny Buddha for free daily or weekly emails and to learn about future giveaways!

  • JUICE Energy-Tracking App Launches Today with Tips from Tiny Buddha

    JUICE Energy-Tracking App Launches Today with Tips from Tiny Buddha

    I may be the only person within my social group who doesn’t own an iPhone—but I’m seriously considering changing that now.

    It’s largely because I recently contributed a series of tips to a fun new energy-tracking app called JUICE, which I got to try on a friend’s iPhone; and I recognized how using this type of tool can be helpful in creating and maintaining healthy habits.

    JUICE officially launches today, and I’m excited to share it with you!

    The latest offering from interactive media company Mindbloom and workplace wellness company Vivacity, JUICE helps you develop awareness around your daily routine so you can make changes to increase your energy.

    As you easily track your daily activity in the app, you’ll recognize self-defeating patterns—for example, replacing regular sleep with a Band-Aid solution, like caffeine—enabling you to replace them with healthier choices.

    You can then browse through close to 300 related tips; and set reminders for your favorite ones to help you regularly apply them.

    The app also allows you to track your progress through weekly reports, so you can see how your tiny shifts are adding up to create big change.

    Some of the other tip contributors include:

    • Shawn Achor, author of international best-seller The Happiness Advantage
    • Brett Blumenthal, bestselling author of 52 Small Changes
    • M. J. Ryan, one of the creators of the New York Times bestselling Random Acts of Kindness series and the author of The Happiness Makeover
    • Patricia Bannan, registered dietitian and author specializing in nutrition and health communication
    • Keri Gans, registered dietitian and author of The Small Change Diet
    • Brian Johnson, author of A Philosopher’s Notes

    JUICE is available today as a free download in the iTunes App Store and includes energy tracking against nutrition, exercise, and sleep.

    Additional tracking areas including stress, mood, and lifestyle are available in-app for $.99 each or can be earned through application use.

    You’ll find most of my tips in the stress and mood categories, with suggestions pertaining to mindfulness, gratitude, positive psychology, and more.

    You can learn more about Juice through this training video, and redeem a 100-credit coupon, for extra tracking areas, using the (case-sensitive) code: Juice4Lori.

  • 5 Ways to Validate Yourself: Be Part of Your Support System

    5 Ways to Validate Yourself: Be Part of Your Support System

    “You have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.” ~Louise L. Hay

    We all have techniques we depend on to lift our spirits when we’re feeling down about ourselves or our lives.

    A while back I realized something about the ones I’d found most effective when struggling to forgive or accept myself: Many of them involved seeking validation from other people.

    Some of my most effective mood-boosters included:

    • Reading emails from readers who’d benefitted from my writing
    • Calling loved ones and reminding myself of how much they valued me
    • Sharing my experiences and recognizing, through the resultant conversations, that I wasn’t alone with my feelings and struggles

    These are all perfectly valid approaches to feeling better, but they all hinge on praise and external support.

    Getting help from others is only one part of the equation. We also need to be able to validate, support, and help ourselves.

    With this in mind, I’ve come up with a few ideas to create a little more balance in my support system, making myself a more central part of it.

    If you’re also looking to increase your capacity for self-soothing so you can depend less on validation from others, you may find these ideas helpful:  (more…)

  • How Fear Can Deepen Joy and Love If We Let It

    How Fear Can Deepen Joy and Love If We Let It

    “Fear has its use but cowardice has none.” ~Gandhi

    On Monday, my boyfriend and I took a ferry to Catalina Island, where we planned to spend the night.

    I knew the island would be quaint and charming, which was a big part of its appeal, but I was mostly looking forward to breathing in the salty ocean air.

    From vacations enjoyed with beachside lounging, to summer days spent running along the shore, some of my favorite memories involve the hypnotic lilt of crashing waves.

    We hightailed it to the upper deck as soon as we dropped our bags, allowing ourselves the best possible view of any jumping dolphins we might encounter.

    It wasn’t long before we picked up some speed, but this didn’t deter me from sticking my face into the wind.

    I imagined that was what dogs feel like when they poke their heads outside car windows—completely enveloped by the cool, crisp breeze; wrapped in it and yet so free.

    Thirty minutes and ten dolphin sightings in, though still windblown, I felt my cheeks go warm and flush as I giggled, “I love the ocean!”

    It was the kind of pure joy that comes being fully present, clearheaded, and immersed in nature—magnified because I was sharing it with someone I love.

    Three hours later, after we’d checked into our hotel and eaten lunch, I thought, “I hate the ocean.”

    We’d decided to go snorkeling, something my boyfriend loves, and, theoretically, I thought I’d enjoy.

    Nemo-like fish, machine-free exercise, and exploration are all things I appreciate. And we’d done it together once before in San Diego, a few months after we’d first started dating.

    But back then we’d stayed in shallow water, much like I do when I swim at beach. By “swim” I mean wade out to my waist, all the while fearing death by shark. (more…)

  • Giveaway and Interview: Turning Dead Ends into Doorways by Staci Boden

    Giveaway and Interview: Turning Dead Ends into Doorways by Staci Boden

    Editor’s Note:

    The winners for this giveaway have already been chosen:

    Subscribe to Tiny Buddha for free emails once weekly or on weekdays and to learn about future giveaways!

    Especially when we’re going through challenging times, it can feel tempting to try to control the future—but this doesn’t change that much lies beyond our control. Try as we may to avoid the unknown, the future remains uncertain.

    How do we navigate change knowing that nothing is guaranteed? How can we develop inner strength to grow, heal, and evolve?

    Healer practitioner Staci Boden answers these questions in her new book, Turning Dead Ends into Doorways: How to Grow Through Whatever Life Throws Your Way.

    From the book flap:

    “With compassionate honesty and a practical sense of humor, healing practitioner Staci Boden shows her readers how to navigate change without clinging to false notions that if they just do this or think that they can determine what happens next. How to let go of false expectations and still make excellent choices. How to grow and heal no matter what life throws their way.”

    I’m grateful that Staci has offered two free copies of Turning Dead Ends into Doorways for Tiny Buddha readers!

    The Giveaway

    To enter to win one of two free copies of Turning Dead Ends into Doorways by Staci Boden:

    • Leave a comment on this post. (If you’re reading in your inbox, click here to do that.)
    • Tweet: RT @tinybuddha GIVEAWAY: Turning Dead Ends into Doorways http://bit.ly/SBYrFX comment and RT to enter!

    You can enter until midnight PST on Monday, November 5th. If you don’t have a Twitter account, you can still participate by completing only the first step. (more…)

  • Dealing with Exhaustion: How to Function Better When You’re Tired

    Dealing with Exhaustion: How to Function Better When You’re Tired

    I’ve written about ways to get better sleep, and yet I am writing this post from a state of exhaustion.

    Despite knowing all the right things to do, sometimes it’s difficult to follow through.

    You can have the most calming, zen bedroom, and still toss and turn because of an ache or something on your mind. You can avoid stimulants and start unwinding early in the evening, and still wake up to the sound of a blaring siren at 2:00 AM.

    Sometimes the best laid plan can fall apart when you can’t seem to remove that pea from under your mattress. It will happen on occasion—hopefully less often than not, but from time to time at best.

    How can you function when it’s just not possible to call in sick and tired to life? How can you make it through the work day with minimal damage to your health, mood, relationships, and job?

    I have a few ideas, but first, in the interest of full disclosure: I have more flexibility than the average person might, since I work from home and make my own schedule. Hopefully these ideas represent a balanced mix for people who have flexibility and people who don’t: (more…)