“Happiness can only be found if you free yourself from all other distractions.” -Saul Bellow
I have had a long-standing love affair with bath tubs.
I stayed in numerous hostels while completing a semester in Europe; I stayed in hotels …
“Trust your own instinct. Your mistakes might as well be your own, instead of someone else’s.” -Billy Wilder
A few months ago, when I was creating my book marketing plan, an associate advised me to allocate resources to something that …
“Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend.” -Theophrastus
There are certain things I don’t want to do that I sometimes feel I should.
Case in point: A lot of people who run blogs similar to Tiny Buddha …
“Love is not love until love’s vulnerable.” -Theodore Roethke
Sometimes people submit posts and I swear I could have written them myself. In reading their stories—learning about the emotions they’re feeling and the pain they’re healing—I feel close to them; …
“Sometimes questions are more important than answers.” -Nancy Willard
A friend of mine once told me she frequently asked herself, “When is the other shoe going to drop?”
Whenever things were going well for her, she braced herself for an …
“Man stands in his own shadow and wonders why it’s dark.” -Zen Proverb
I’ve recognized that I come to my computer to write for one of two reasons:
Either I feel the need to explore something that’s relevant to my …
“Your belief determines your action and your action determines your results, but first you have to believe.” -Mark Victor Hansen
In my early 20s, I got involved with a pyramid scheme that I mistook for an ethical company.
I didn’t …
“Wisdom is nothing more than healed pain.” –Robert Gary Lee
In a college acting class, my teacher had my peers surround me in a circle so that I could toss my body in various directions, while improvising a scene based …
“If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.” -Oprah Winfrey
When I’m not working on Tiny Buddha, I write for ‘tween girls, both as a contributor for a magazine and a ghost writer for …
“The use of money is all the advantage there is in having it.” –Benjamin Franklin
I just came back from the dentist where I learned I need $1,400 worth of dental work, and it’s largely because I failed to make …
“Expect the best, plan for the worst, and prepare to be surprised.” -Denis Waitley
The other day I was watching reruns of a show I’ve recently found and now love. In one scene, the main character talked about the “perfect …
“Anger always comes from frustrated expectations.” -Elliott Larson
Before I left for my two-week holiday family visit, I asked my boyfriend to wash our sheets before I returned. I hoped to come home to a clean, organized apartment, with everything …
“Give thanks for a little and you will find a lot.” –Hausa Proverb
Last year, someone asked me in an interview what I’d say to myself, from 10 years ago, if I could meet that person now. I said something …
“Suffering is not caused by pain but by resisting pain.” -Unknown
The other day I was watching TV when one of those pharmaceutical commercials came on.
You know, the kind that shows a blissful looking woman running through a field …
“Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what’s right.” -Isaac Asimov
Last week a woman emailed me to let me know she holds the copyright for a photo someone submitted for the Life’s Hard Questions contest.
She …
“Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” -Voltaire
Last week I got sick. Really sick. Head-spinning, stomach-retching, body-trembling sick, and just before the holidays, while visiting my family.
I completed a radio interview for my book through …
“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.” ~Friedrich Nietzsche
Recently, a blogger I admire wrote a long note on a social media site …
“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves.” ~Carl Jung
The other day someone I love, who we’ll call Tania, got in a massive fight with her boyfriend. She called me to explain …
“Don’t let the past hold you back; you’re missing the good stuff.” -Unknown
There have been times when I’ve regretted that I missed out on so much when I was younger.
Because I held onto pain so tightly, I missed …
“Before someone’s tomorrow has been taken away, cherish those you love, appreciate them today.” -Michelle C. Ustaszeski
Familiarity can sometimes seem like permanence. Oftentimes the more comfortable we are with someone, the less effort we put into our time with …
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