To be alive is to be on a lifelong mission of learning. That means that we will have regrets, mistakes, failures, setbacks and difficult challenges in our lives. While we think our past determines our present, it's actually how we relate to our past that matters. In this podcast, I talk about how we can change our relationship with a difficult past. I share ways we can reframe our pain,…
This is the story of how I cured my ADHD with meditation. When I was 13 years old, being a bit impulsive and a bit of a dreamer, neither of which was too pleasing to my school teachers, my parents took me to a place with many doctors and experts in lab coats who specialized in diagnosing children with various behavioral disorders. I didn’t really understand what was going on…
Why did you choose New Zealand?During a meeting with the high Buddhist lama, Karmapa, he asked me which forest I was going to meditate in for 50 days and if there were any bears or tigers there, as he was living in India which has both. I told him I was thinking about New Zealand and that they did not. “Very good,” he said. That really sealed the deal for…
If we were to put all of our focus on one little ant, that ant would take up all of our attention and awareness. Similarly, even though there’s always so much happening within us and around us, if we put all of our focus on our thoughts, those thoughts will become the only things that exist to us. Similarly, when we become triggered because of traumatic events in our past, we…
In Viktor Frankl's book, Man's Search for Meaning, we learn how Holocaust prisoners were more likely to survive if they felt there was some meaning to their senseless circumstances. In this evil place and time where life had no meaning, to survive meant finding and creating meaning wherever they could. For many, becoming hopeless meant certain death. Meaning and hope are like oxygen for the soul. So how do we…
Society rewards success. It is the most alluring addiction there is because it is the only addiction that we are celebrated for having. It becomes ingrained into everyone of us that we should delay our happiness until we have achieved success later in life. But what happens when we postpone our happiness? Is happiness greater than success? Will wealth bring us happiness? Can we have both success and happiness? In…
If we overthink about it, life can be very confusing. There is so much information that we are bombarded with daily, from ads to movies, from social media to our in-person interactions. Within all of that information are subtle cues that tell us how life should be, what a perfect life looks like, and how you'll finally be happy if only (fill in the blank). But, all of that noise…
Our minds are thinking machines, constantly jumping from thought to thought, constantly looking for something to overthink and obsess about. That's what they do, it's their job. A hand will do hand stuff and the mind will do thinking stuff.But what happens when our minds get out of control? What happens when they no longer think the positive thoughts we wish they would? What happens when they only dwell on…
Send me a message There is an infinite amount of success and wealth in the world. There is no limit except by our own beliefs and mindset. The economy is not me versus my neighbor. Others don't have to fail so we can succeed. In the information age where any creative idea can become a success, every one of us can achieve our dreams. We just need to know how…
Q: Dear Todd, my girlfriend told me she hates me and wants me to die a horrible death. Should I forgive her? TODD ANSWERS: Forgive her, yes. Break up with her, maybe also yes (although that’s a personal decision only you can make). The definition of forgive is to stop feeling angry or resentful toward (someone) for an offense, flaw, or mistake. It doesn’t mean telling them you forgive them.…
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