The Painful Beauty of Impermanence
By Leo Babauta
The cherry blossom falls after its short beautiful bloom.
It floats gently down to earth. Its life is over, but the limitedness of its existence is one of the biggest reasons the blossom is so gorgeous. If we knew that the blossom would last forever, it wouldn’t have the same poignant beauty, and we’d take it for granted.
The blossom’s impermanence, its fleetingness, its transience — this is why we appreciate it.
Our lives are similarly short. We have but a moment on this rock, but we forget that impermanence and take our days for granted. We fritter away those days with the wasted ac...
Source: Zen Habits - July 11, 2014 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Happiness Source Type: blogs
How to Change Other People
By Leo Babauta
If only we could get others to be more considerate, less annoying, more diligent, see our point of view …
How often have you wanted to change other people so they’d be better? Better spouses, kids, roommates, coworkers, employees? We want our kids to study harder and clean up after themselves, our spouses to be more considerate, our coworkers to be on time, our roommates to be neater, our relatives to be healthier, and so we try to change them.
How often has that worked?
People don’t want to be changed. And we can’t force them to change. This causes no end of frustration, for us and t...
Source: Zen Habits - July 9, 2014 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Happiness Source Type: blogs
Pursuing Happiness When It’s Already Within You
By Leo Babauta
One of the key learnings I’ve had since starting Zen Habits is that everything I need to be happy is already within me.
I firmly believe that, but I’ve been asked a good question: if happiness comes from within, why should you pursue anything in life?
Why should you pursue goals, achieve anything, connect with others, exercise, eat good food … if you don’t need to do any of that to be happy? It’s a great question, and I’ll answer it with a simple exercise:
Let’s assume you don’t need to do any of that to be happy. You have happiness, from within, and you can go...
Source: Zen Habits - July 4, 2014 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Being Mindful of Your Stress
By Leo Babauta
Yesterday I had to drive somewhere, which I don’t do much anymore, and it was a fascinating experience.
I kept checking in on my body, and finding myself clenched, as if ready for an attack.
My entire torso would be tensed, my neck and shoulders were scrunched up, my face was tight. For no good reason other than I had to react to a lot of cars around me.
And so, noticing this, I was able to relax in that moment. Straighten up, let my muscles stop clenching themselves, breathe, smile. Instant calm, because I knew there was nothing actually attacking me.
This is a skill I’ve been getting bette...
Source: Zen Habits - March 24, 2014 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Habits Happiness Source Type: blogs
What if You Didn’t Have to Worry About Yourself?
By Leo Babauta
Have you ever had people annoy you at work? Or maybe family members whose little habits bothered you? Have you been frustrated by a store clerk or waiter, or maybe another driver? What about frustration with your kid, or spouse?
How can we become more tolerant, find calm in the middle of all of these annoyances and frustrations?
For me, when I remember, the answer lies in getting outside of myself.
Nearly every moment of every day of our entire lives (more than 20 million seconds for me) is spent worrying about ourselves. We are preoccupied by concern about ourselves: am I doing the right thing, will I m...
Source: Zen Habits - March 21, 2014 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Happiness Source Type: blogs
The Universe of a Single Task
By Leo Babauta
In the neverending rush of our day, what does one little task matter?
It is everything.
We speed through each task as if it’s nothing, looking already to the next task, until we collapse at the end of the day, exhausted. Having spent a day cranking through nothings.
That’s one approach, and I’ve done it many times. But here’s another: make each task its own universe, its own specialness. Then every moment of your day is ridiculously important and wonderful and powerful.
Here’s a process for one single task, whatever you have in front of you right now:
Pause and consider. ...
Source: Zen Habits - March 18, 2014 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Productivity & Organization Simplicity Source Type: blogs
Simplifying Is Painful
By Leo Babauta
Creating simplicity and focus is anything but easy.
It requires saying no, and in doing so you make others feel rejected. It requires giving up things you love, so you can truly say yes to the most essential.
In the past two weeks, I’ve simplified my work projects, drastically and heart-wrenchingly. To give myself a laser focus.
Last week, I canceled or put on hold four dear projects. It meant having some painful conversations with business partners who were psyched about those projects. Those were some of the hardest conversations I’ve had in recent years.
Today, I further simplified:
I&#...
Source: Zen Habits - March 14, 2014 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Productivity & Organization Simplicity Source Type: blogs
Becoming Emotionally Self-Reliant
By Leo Babauta
I’m the first to admit that for many years, I have been a bit emotionally needy.
Not in a crazy, desperate way, but in the way that many of us are. I wanted someone else to make me happy, blamed others for my unhappiness, sought to fulfill my emotional needs through others.
This caused all kinds of problems I didn’t even realize were there: I’d have relationship problems because if the other person wasn’t meeting my needs, I’d resent it. I’d be unhappy lots of the time, because I thought happiness was outside of me, and therefore it was unreliable and elusive. I was hel...
Source: Zen Habits - March 12, 2014 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Happiness Source Type: blogs
How I Cleaned House & Simplified My Work Life
By Leo Babauta
Last week, I spent two days doing some productivity housekeeping.
What the heck is that? It’s liberating and wonderful, that’s what.
Imagine your house was messy (hard to picture, I know), because you kept putting off little things like putting away your clothes, washing your dishes, throwing things away, putting things where they belong, sorting through your mail. You’re too busy.
Then imagine you took a day to clean everything, put everything where it belonged. Your house is immaculate, and you’re incredibly relieved, because it was all weighing on you mentally.
That’s what I did for my work...
Source: Zen Habits - March 10, 2014 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Productivity & Organization Source Type: blogs
The Busy Person’s Guide to Reducing Stress
By Leo Babauta
Stress is one of the biggest causes of health problems in many peoples’ lives: it can cause heart disease, depression, anxiety attacks, sleep problems, auto-immune diseases, weight problems and more.
But we’re busy — how do we drop the stress levels down while still getting our jobs done, taking care of ourselves and our families?
The busy person might have no time for weeklong meditation retreats, mini-vacations, or weekly counseling sessions. So what can be done?
I’m going to be brief about this: there are five small things you can do. A few shifts in mindset, a couple actions t...
Source: Zen Habits - March 7, 2014 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Happiness Health & Fitness Source Type: blogs
My Month Without a Smartphone
By Leo Babauta
In February, I went (almost) completely without my iPhone. I thought it would be hard, and it was at first, but it turned out to be one of the best changes I’ve made in my Year of Living Without.
I highly recommend periods of no cellphone: for disconnectedness, quietness, and full attention to people you’re with and your thoughts and your surroundings.
It wasn’t easy at first. Having a smartphone everywhere you go (which I purposely didn’t have until last summer) creates mental habits — checking things constantly, sending messages, looking things up immediately when a thought...
Source: Zen Habits - March 5, 2014 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Simplicity Source Type: blogs
What I’ve Learned as a Writer
By Leo Babauta
I’ve been a professional writer since I was 17: so nearly 24 years now. I’ve made my living with words, and have written a lot of them — more than 10 million (though many of them were duplicates).
That means I’ve made a ton of errors. Lots of typos. Lots of bad writing.
Being a writer means I’ve failed a lot, and learned a few things in the process.
Now, some of you may be aspiring writers (or writers looking for inspiration from a colleague). Others might not ever want to be a writer, but you should still care about writing. I’ll tell you why: it’s an incredible...
Source: Zen Habits - March 3, 2014 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Goals & Motivation Productivity & Organization Source Type: blogs
What the Exercise Habit Did For Me
By Leo Babauta
There was a point in my life, back in 2005 and earlier, when I couldn’t exercise regularly. I really wanted to, I knew I should, but I couldn’t.
Some of you might be in this boat today.
I’m here to tell you: that’s OK. There’s nothing wrong with you. Not being able to exercise regularly is the norm, and it isn’t a deficiency in who you are. It’s a deficiency in your method.
Today I exercise on a very regular basis. Anywhere from 4-6 times per week, depending on how you count (is racing my kids up a hill or taking a 30-minute walk for pleasure considered exercise?...
Source: Zen Habits - March 1, 2014 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Habits Health & Fitness Source Type: blogs
Fear is the Root of Your Problems
By Leo Babauta
Every problem you or I have (and they are many, small and large), is rooted in fear.
For some, that might seem obvious: the question is how to beat the fears. For others, it’s not so self-evident: why are my financial or relationship or procrastination problems caused by fear?
Let’s tackle both questions — the Why and the How.
First the Why: think about each problem you have, and then think about why you have the problem. Or why you aren’t able to solve it.
A few examples:
Procrastination: you probably fear failure, or the discomfort of doing something hard, or your fear missin...
Source: Zen Habits - February 27, 2014 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Happiness Source Type: blogs
This Moment
By Leo Babauta
We all suffer, every day: worry, procrastination, anxiety, feeling overwhelmed, irritated, angry, frustrated, wishing things were different, comparing ourselves to others, worried we’re missing out, wishing other people would be different, feeling offended, loneliness, fear of failure, not wanting to do something, wishing we had less fat or bigger boobs or bigger muscles, angry at being controlled, wanting to find the perfect someone, wishing our partner was more perfect, stressed about finances, not wanting to think about problems, not knowing how to fix things, uncertain about choices, rushing from ...
Source: Zen Habits - February 24, 2014 Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Happiness Simplicity Source Type: blogs
