Today I am bringing you an excerpt of Lori Deschene’s new book, Tiny Buddha: Simple Wisdom for Life’s Hard Questions. Lori is the creator of Tiny Buddha, which has become one of the most widely read personal growth and inspiration sites on the web, with over 15 million views to date. Huge impact.
Some of you may remember I’ve guest written for Tiny Buddha a few times before – it’s a really lovely site and community. Three things I adore about Lori’s work:
1. She is playing big – but in her own very gentle, community-oriented, compassionate way.
2. Lori always reminds her readers that she is a fellow traveler seeking answers – not an expert with the answers. If you get to know her, you’ll sense how deep this conviction runs in her.
3. She shares her early journey, through her twenties. There’s an idea floating around that people don’t get interested in the deeper questions until the second half of life. I think this is entirely untrue – and patronizing! Lori is a part of a group of young writers sharing their searches for meaning and happiness in their twenties, in ways their peers can relate to. So important.
A Practice From the Book
I loved this money practice from the book and wanted to share it with you. Lori calls this “Meet Your Future Money Expectations in the Present:”
Make a list of everything you think would change if you were wealthier. Think about all the feelings you generally try to escape by pushing yourself to be successful. Do you think you’d feel better about yourself? Would you feel more satisfied in life? Would you feel less worried? Less pressured? Less
overwhelmed?
Now ask yourself: How can you create those feelings right now? If you think you’d feel better about yourself with more money, what actions can you take to operate with courage and integrity so that you feel good about the person you’re being now? If you think you’d feel more satisfied, what would need to change in your professional life in order for you to feel more fulfilled and purposeful now? If you think you’d feel less worried, pressured, or overwhelmed, can you start meditating, so that worries have less of a hold on you now? You may very well have a lot more money someday, but if you answer these questions now, someday won’t be the day you realize that money isn’t enough.
Create a second list of everything that makes life valuable to you. This list might include spending time with your family, helping people, trying new things—whatever you treasure most in life. Now cross-reference this list with your schedule from the last week. Did you have sufficient time to incorporate these things into at least some of your days? Or were you too busy working to fit them in? How can you do things differently next week so that these valuable things don’t fall by the wayside?
This is just a small taste of many beautiful and wise practices in Lori’s book, Tiny Buddha: Simple Wisdom for Life’s Hard Questions .
Click here to visit Amazon and buy the book!
Love,
Tara
I love how the practice separates our usual, habitual way of measuring success (how much am I making) with what else we can pay attention to and have without any financial change. This is a lovely time of year to be in reflection about what is important to us and I will incorporate it into my usual end-of-year reflective questions and practice. Thank you.
Perfect questions for this time of the year. Sometimes it’s hard to be confronted with honest answers, especially if they are your own.
I have just recently found your blog and Lori’s Tiny Buddha blog and have been really enjoying the writing. A copy of the Tiny Buddha book would be “icing on the cake” for me.
Thanks,
Kelly
Excellent topic as many Americans saturate themselves in superficial ‘things’. Losing sight of what is important and treating one and other poorly will never translate into value added content in ones life. Things never substitute for what is truly important in life.
Thanks for sharing the Tiny Buddha blog! This will become a new favorite and I can’t wait to get a copy of the book.
I appreciate this piece and the exercise in particular. The exercise really walks you through the process of making a mind shift: from feeling like you don’t have enough to cataloging what you do have or what you COULD have that doesn’t necessarily involve more money. It ties in gratitude, another important trait to cultivate for contentment, as well as focusing on what does truly make us happy. It also touches on thinking of the things we could do more of but don’t….Lastly, it made me feel great because last week I did a lot of things that make me happy (a day of play with my nephew and fiancee, a glass of wine with some girlfriends, and a few outdoor runs), and I plan to do more in the weeks ahead!
This speaks to me on so many levels… I am a widow, a single parent, and a teacher working a second job to help my daughter go to college. Money feels like a huge issue for me right now and I have been consciously working on taking action and letting go to the best of my ability. At the same time, I am keenly aware that what matters the most to me in this life has very little to do with money at all.
Thank you!
Mahalo for sharing the Tiny Buddha Blog! I would like to say I too was interested in the spiritual path in my early years and pursued it, as best i could. What is meant by the “idea floating around that people don’t get interested in the deeper questions until the second half of life” -is not patronizing- is that those of us in our second half (or as i am -our third third) traditionally have the time and concentration to devote our lives to this in a single pointed manner.
Of course people of all ages are drawn to and practice a spiritual life. Yet with all the pressures and responsibilities of youth and middle life one simply has less time and energy to devote.
Peace
I’m glad to hear someone say that people in their twenties start their search for Truth/Meaning/Enlightenment – and don’t wait until they are middle aged. I know I did – actually started at 13 – sharing a book with my best friend about channeling. It was a profound experience in that it freed us from believing that our parent’s religion was the only truth.
what a lovely book…and give away. this is such a wonderful blog.
I would so much appreciate the Tiny Buddha book on my journey to nirvana..
Do we enter the giveaway by commenting on here?? I have been a fan of Tiny Buddha for a long time!! thanks!
Thank-you for the opportunity to win this spiritual and inspirational book!
Understanding and improving ourselves and our lives sometimes is a bumpy road. I find a lot of inspiration and compassion in both your and Lori’s writings. Happy holidays!
Tiny Buddha is great 🙂 and I’m new to your blog but have a feeling it is great as well… thank you for offering this give away, I’d love to own the book to share with my family and friends! <3
Sounds like a really great book! I enjoy the website, so I’m definitely interested in reading it!
Yes, the “big” questions do come to us in our early years — mine did to me 39 years ago! And it still helps to read wonderful poems and inspirational boosts to move us past sticky points. We are human — all too wonderfully. And by engaging in and relishing inspired writing, we can co-create our abilities to be our most magnificent in every moment. Thank you, Tara and Lori ~~
I’ve followed tiny Buddha for a long time. I’ve even been quoted in one of her books. Would treasure a copy of this one. Thanks!
I’ll be getting my hands on this one way or another. I’ve been pondering all sorts of things lately. I feel this could help shed some light.
Peace
Love Lori’s site and I can’t wait to read her book- it would be a real treat to win a copy! I love and appreciate how AUTHENTIC she is.
Tiny Buddha is a great website. I’d love to win this book!
I love this blog. I just discovered it but I think it is phenomenal. The messages are great and the way they are worked into practical examples make it seem so much more realistic to apply these practices to “real” life on a day to day basis. And today’s quote about looking at how far you have come and not how far you have to go really resonated with me in a big way. Thank you!
Thank you for promoting Tiny Buddha. The website and Tweets are an inspiration.
What a wonderful approach to life’s questions. I’d love to read more.
Sounds very interesting. Thanks for sharing the excerpt and chance to win the book.
ilove the positive energy in moving forward ,with the passion our hearts desire, after all its only love we seek and love we can have in this moment now. thank you for your words of wise warrior wisdom , namaste
Ha….all I had to read was the first sentence about hanging the towel “correctly”, and I was hooked. This book has got to be full of great simplicity to help most of us let go of our uneccessary complexities! Life is easy and fun, let’s start now!
Love Tiny Buddha!
Thanks for a chance to win. Really looking forward to this read. Just in time to start the new year with a fresh mind!
Thanks for sharing!
LOVE Tiny Buddha. Always a treat seeing the tweets.
I find that the second list in the practice mentioned in this post, to be extremely important. I like that it draws you into looking to see if your actions match the things you find important. I’d love to win and read the Tiny Buddha book!
Tiny Buddha has been extremely helpful to me. I highly recommend this site and following it on twitter or facebook. Always inspirational and educational, and keeps me on the right path. TY Tiny Buddha!
With two girls under 4, my recent discovery of the Little Buddha blog is helping me to enjoy every moment together even more. I would love to add this book to my collection.
I found Tiny Buddha on Twitter a few years ago and have been a faithful follower of her site and posts. Actually, it was though Tiny Buddha that I was introduced to Wise Living and Tara Mohr. I have just purchased Tara’s new book of poetry and would love to add the Tiny Buddha book to my ever growing collection of writings by inspirational woman.
Was injured. This book be a great companion. Am working on ~ if there is just love there cannot be hate.