Tiny Buddha

Category: Perspective

  • Tiny Wisdom: On Hard Times

    Tiny Wisdom: On Hard Times

    “Whenever something negative happens to you, there is a deep lesson concealed within it.” -Eckhart Tolle

    Things might not happen for a reason, but we can always find a reason to move on enriched.

    We can let disappointments devastate us, or we can move on in humility, finding opportunities within the hardship.

    We can let frustrations consume us, or we can foster a sense of peace and balance, choosing not to live in a constant state or reaction to our circumstances.

    We can let dissatisfaction gnaw away at our spirits, assuming it’s too late to create life as we want to experience it, or we can live powerfully in the now, choosing every day to do something that makes us feel fulfilled.

    These are the options we’re given in life—to drown in our sorrow about what we can’t control, or soar in the possibilities of everything we can.

    What do you choose today?

    Photo by zackzen

  • Tiny Wisdom: On Choices

    Tiny Wisdom: On Choices

    “We must never forget that it is through our actions, words, and thoughts that we have a choice.” -Sogyal Rinpoche

    Nothing is as discouraging as feeling you don’t have a choice—that you’re trapped in a situation you can’t change, with a person who won’t change, or with feelings about yourself that you’ve stopped believing you can change.

    We’ve all been there before.

    We’ve accepted thankless jobs just to make ends meet. We’ve hurt or watched friends hurting, feeling powerless to end the pain. We’ve waited for love, or mourned unrequited love, or wondered if it was really better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.

    We’ve all felt helpless before, and we’ll all be there at some point again—yet we have far more power than we think.

    We can’t always control our circumstances, but we can shape them with our actions. We can’t always save the people around us, but we can support them with our love and attention. We can’t always create a world that feels safe, but we can choose how to experience it with our thoughts.

    Every day we have limitless choices, thousands of mini-opportunities to live a peaceful, empowered life.

    What choices will you make today?

    photo by jaitra.gillespie

  • Tiny Wisdom: On What Matters

    Tiny Wisdom: On What Matters

    “What matters is the value we’ve created in our lives, the people we’ve made happy and how much we’ve grown as people.” ~Daisaku Ikeda

    We spend so much of our lives looking for meaning—a sense that it all makes sense or will in the end—that we sometimes drive ourselves crazy trying to make the moment good enough. To do the right work, have the right relationships, make the right decisions, make the right impact so hopefully our lives will matter. We’ll matter.

    All that struggling, striving, and racing toward something better can make the moment feel like something to escape instead of something to celebrate.

    This moment is all we’re guaranteed. Don’t fill it worrying about being better or doing more in the world. Even if you spend today creating a tomorrow you visualize, go through it knowing you create a lot of value and happiness, just as you are. You might be amazed by how much you can accomplish when you’re satisfied with the present, exactly as it is.

    Photo by xiffy