By Leo Babauta There’s a practice that I find to be really valuable, and I call it “Examining Beliefs.” If you regularly engage with this, it will transform you. Let’s say there’s something you want to do but you feel stuck — maybe you’re procrastinating a lot, maybe you’re stuck in an old habit. The practice starts...

By Leo Babauta When we’re looking to grow, what we’re really trying to do is step into a new, expanded view of ourselves. For example, if you want to be more mindful, or live more simply, or be more compassionate with yourself or others, or be more disciplined about your meaningful work … these are all new versions of you. They’re...

By Leo Babauta Most of our stresses and frustrations come from our unwillingness to let go. Hear me out: think about something you’re stressing about, or someone you’re frustrated about. What thought do you have about that person or situation that causes the frustration? It’s often an invisible thought, that we don’t realize we...

By Leo Babauta Let’s imagine that there’s a big task you’ve been avoiding for weeks (or maybe a bunch of them!) … it just becomes this ball of dread that you don’t want to think about, but that you feel really bad that you’ve been putting off. Sound familiar? Everyone has something like this, whether it’s a big work project, taxes...

By Leo Babauta I talk to dozens of people every month — Zen Habits readers, coaching clients and Fearless Living Academy members — who struggle with a feeling of overwhelm from all of the things on their plates. Overwhelm from tasks, messages, and more is completely normal. It’s based on a fear that we can’t handle everything coming...

By Leo Babauta Something that has long been a struggle for me is when people complain a lot — I really don’t love the negative energy, and I tend to turn away from people who are complaining. So I’ve been examining this in recent years … and I’ve been learning a lot about myself. The first thing I realized is that I...