Tiny Buddha's 365 tiny love challenges

562 Pages·2015·1.31 MB·English

by  Deschene

Dedication
For Ehren;
Home is where you are.
And for the family night crew;
I love every loud dinner I get to share with you!
Contents

Dedication
Introduction
JANUARY Kindness and Thoughtfulness
FEBRUARY Compassion and Understanding
MARCH Authenticity and Vulnerability
APRIL Releasing Anger and Forgiving
MAY Attention and Listening
JUNE Honesty and Trust
JULY Kindness and Thoughtfulness
AUGUST Acceptance and Nonjudgment
SEPTEMBER Releasing Comparisons and Competition
OCTOBER Support and Encouragement
NOVEMBER Admiration and Appreciation
DECEMBER Giving and Receiving
Contributors
Acknowledgments
Copyright
About the Publisher
Introduction
It’s ironic, isn’t it? We live in a world with billions of people, and we’re more
connected than ever through our rapidly advancing technology, yet many of us
feel disconnected—if not physically, then emotionally.
We collect friends online like pennies in a jar, and in much the same way, it
doesn’t always feel all that valuable. Sure, you might get a “like” here and there,
and you may even command more than your share of comments on updates
about your breakfast, your birthday, or your baby. To be fair, you may also have
incredibly deep and meaningful connections, online and off, and you may have
bought this book to strengthen them even further. But many of us find ourselves
with an ever-growing friend list that doesn’t necessarily translate to an increased
sense of belonging or closeness.
We all need to feel not just connected but deeply seen and accepted. We
need to feel that people get us, value us, and love us—flaws and all. To meet
these needs—and meet them for others—we have to open up, step outside
ourselves, and prioritize our relationships. But we don’t always do these things,
perhaps because we get caught up pursuing everything that seems to be missing
from our lives; or, if you’re like I was, you may not have fulfilling relationships
because you don’t yet believe you’re worthy of them.
For much of my life, I focused all my energy on improving myself and my
circumstances because I thought others would only see my value if I became
someone better. It was only after years of pushing myself—and ostracizing
myself, in fear of being seen and judged as inadequate—that I realized yet
another irony: I didn’t need to be someone else or somewhere else to get what I
wanted; I needed to accept who I was and be right where I was. Because right
there, in the present, there were loved ones I failed to acknowledge while
wrapped up in my self-involvement, there were friends I’d yet to meet, and
wouldn’t, if I didn’t get out of my head and look around, and there was a whole
lot of love I could be giving if only I stopped worrying about the love I wasn’t
getting.
If you’ve ever visited tinybuddha.com, the website I started in 2009, you
may have recognized in reading the blog and forum posts that we’re all more
similar than we are different. Every one of us wants to find our place in the
world and feel part of something larger than ourselves. Every one of us wants to
feel that other people care and will be there for us. Every one of us wants to form
and maintain close, loving relationships. And every last one of us can do
something, no matter how small, to create these relationships right now.
The challenges in this book are all things I’ve worked at since deciding to
focus less on myself and more on the people around me. While I’d like to say I
make time every day for a thoughtful conversation, a kind gesture, or even just a
few moments of reflection, I sometimes struggle with consistency. If I’m not
deliberate, I can easily fall back into old habits of self-absorption and get bogged
down by worries, wants, and obligations. On those days, I try to remember not
only how much better I feel when I prioritize loving others in action, but also
how much better the world would be if we all did this more often. That’s why I
created this book: to help us all remember to do something, every day, to make
the world a kinder, more loving place.
Though the majority of the challenges here involve other people, many
pertain to self-love, since we need to love ourselves before we can truly love or
be loved by someone else. They’re all simple, but that doesn’t mean they’re
easy. Some might test you, stretch you, and draw your attention to fears and
beliefs you’ve never before acknowledged. Some might surprise you in their
difficulty, given how simple they look on paper. Others may be things you
already do regularly, and with ease.
Regardless of how challenging these are for you, if you commit to working
on these things daily, you will slowly start to see benefits. The challenges may
help you:
• Develop closer bonds in your relationships
• Let your guard down more easily to let people in
• Express your feelings instead of hiding them
• Let go of anger, bitterness, and fear
• See the best in the people around you
• Relate to and better understand your loved ones
• Let go of insecurity so you can relax in your interactions
• Turn strangers into friends
• Attract healthier relationships—and believe that you deserve them
I’ve organized the challenges by month with eleven different themes, as
outlined in the table of contents. As you likely noticed, “Kindness and
Thoughtfulness” starts the book and makes a comeback at the midpoint. Since
all loving relationships grow from a foundation of thoughtfulness—and because
acts of kindness can be both fun and rewarding—it seemed fitting to start both
the first and second half of the year with this theme. My hope is that by working
on each of these areas for an entire month, at the end you’ll find it easier, if not
instinctive, to regularly practice these habits.
At the start of each week, you’ll find one or two relevant stories from Tiny
Buddha contributors, who’ve shared their experiences, insights, and lessons on
giving and receiving love. If you’d like to learn more about any of these
individuals, flip to the back of the book to find more information about them in
the contributor index. I’ve included two of my own stories in July and
September. For consistency, and to avoid confusion, I’ve put my name on top of
these.
Almost every challenge page includes questions for reflection, which may
help you complete the activity or put you in the right headspace to do it, and
space on the bottom to write about your experience at the end of the day. You
may want to get a separate notebook if you’d like more room for writing. (Even
if you choose not to track your daily progress, you may want to keep a pen
nearby, as some of the challenges involve short writing exercises.) Alternatively
—or in addition—you’re welcome to visit the forum at
http://tinybuddha.com/love-forums to share your experiences with other readers.
Although I’ve arranged the challenges by theme, you don’t have work through
the book from start to finish. If you prefer, you could do one week on a given
theme and then pick a different theme the following week; or, you could open to
any page when you wake up in the morning and do whichever challenge you see.
You’ll notice the final week of every month includes more than seven
challenges. This is to accommodate for the additional two to three days in a
given month.
However you choose to use the book, I hope it helps you feel more loving,
more lovable, and more loved. And I hope it helps you feel more connected—to
yourself, to the people around you, and to the world at large—one tiny action at
a time.
JANUARY
Kindness and Thoughtfulness
Reflections from ERNEST DEMPSEY
Maybe you’ve experienced it before—that feeling of dread when you’re driving
down the highway and suddenly something goes wrong. You’re stepping on the
gas pedal but nothing is happening. All the little lights on the dashboard come
on, and you notice one particular gauge you’ve been meaning to address sooner.
The needle is just past the E. You’re out of gas.
Desperation flashes through your mind as the wheels begin to slow. Other
cars start passing you as you attempt to merge over to the emergency lane to get
out of the way, the whole time hoping you can coast just a little farther, ever
closer to the oasis of fuel at the next exit.
I experienced this recently when I was cruising down a long hill on the
interstate and ran out of gas. Fortunately, I was able to get over and coast all the
way to the next exit and even up the ramp. When my vehicle’s momentum
finally slowed to a stop, I was relieved to see the gas station only a few hundred
yards away, and that I’d only have to overcome a slight incline to get there.
So I got out and started pushing. As I grunted and heaved, I was unpleasantly
surprised at how heavy my little car was on a relatively flat stretch of road. My
muscles strained against the heavy burden, legs and arms burning from the
exertion. Suddenly, the car felt like it was half its weight. I first looked down to
see if I’d reached some kind of a downslope. Then I heard a guy’s voice from
behind me.
“Thought you could use a little help.”
I turned around to see a total stranger pushing hard against the back end of
my car. I smiled broadly.
“Thanks, man!” I shouted over the passing traffic.
He had parked his truck just off the exit, probably as soon as he had seen my
plight. He hadn’t hesitated or thought about helping me for more than a second.
“You should be okay once we get to that little downslope up ahead,” he
commented.
A minute or so later, we reached the downhill section of road and my car
began coast. “I think you’re good,” he yelled and waved.
I thanked the man again and hopped in my car, steering it into the station on
nothing but gravity’s sweet momentum. I don’t know much about karma, but I
do know this: life presents us with opportunities, little moments where we can
make the world a better place with a simple action. That stranger made my day
better by lending a hand, a simple action that lightened my load and thus lifted
my spirits. Had he not helped, I may have become annoyed at the situation and
more easily bothered the rest of the day. I could have returned home less happy
and let those feelings pass from me to the people around me, making their day
worse.
We have an extraordinary power to change someone’s day for better or
worse, and we have no idea how far-reaching that impact will be.
I kept smiling as I filled up my tank, feeling grateful that a random stranger
had helped me. As I started to replace the gas cap, I heard a familiar sound on
the other side of the pump. A police officer in an old, beat-up pickup truck was
trying in vain to get the engine to turn over.
“Battery dead?” I asked. “If you need a jump, I have some jumper cables in
the trunk,” I offered. The man’s frustration visibly eased a little.
“Thanks, man,” he replied. “I’d appreciate that.”
“No problem,” I said as I reached in the trunk and grabbed the cables. “It’s
always good to help someone out.”