(image) “Feeling safe in someone’s energy is a different kind of intimacy. That feeling of peace and protection is really underrated.” ~Vanessa Klas The first time I said, “I love you” to a romantic partner, I was met with silence. Nine months into what I believed was a deep, mutual relationship, I felt certain we were on the same page. But when the words left my mouth, he froze. No words back. No reassurance. Just silence. The next thing I knew, he disappeared for weeks, leaving me […]

(image) “For fast acting relief, try slowing down.” ~Lily Tomlin “Are you the owner?” asks, well, yet another customer at our local Italian eatery. “Nope—I’m just old!” I reply, all sheepish but pleased. It’s true. At fifty, I’m not exactly your classic, college-struggling part-timer. Actually, I’m the oldest employee at our restaurant—the staff “mom,” if you will. I’ve been at this serving gig three years now and haven’t looked back. Which might seem weird considering how I got here in the first place. What a contrast to the […]

(image) “In the depth of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.” ~Albert Camus Life has a way of throwing us curve balls when we least expect them. For years, I had been managing the usual ups and downs of life when I was blindsided by a diagnosis that would forever change the way I lived: psoriatic arthritis. It’s one of those illnesses that most people don’t quite understand because it doesn’t always show on the outside. I looked fine, but inside, […]

(image) Since you follow Tiny Buddha, I’m guessing you might be familiar with the benefits of meditation and perhaps have already experienced many of them yourself. I first found meditation through yoga, which I initially started at a gym solely because I was curious. I didn’t know then that meditation can help with depression, anxiety, stress, and insomnia (all of which I’ve experienced); that it can literally rewire the brain to help with healing from trauma (also a battle I know very well); or that it can […]

(image) “Removing old conditionings from the mind and training the mind to be more equanimous with every experience is the first step toward enabling one to experience true happiness.” ~S.N. Goenka I just spent ten days sitting in absolute silence with about 100 strangers, time I previously thought I should’ve spent networking and applying for jobs as an unemployed twenty-something with little savings and no assets, living in a completely new country with no network or job prospects. There were no conversations, no eye contact, no listening […]