There was a Buddhist mandala that was hanging on the wall at the first Buddhist monastery I lived at. I was captivated by the details and craftsmanship. Really, the whole monastery had this level of detail and beauty. It was quite exquisite. Mandalas are symbolic representations of the universe, designed to transform ordinary minds into enlightened ones. They can be an object of meditation for Buddhists to focus on, either…
Overcoming the Failure Life Trap Q: I am currently struggling with a terrible sense of fear around the point at which I find myself in life right now… I have always been my harshest judge but that was what drove me on… now it is tearing me down. I am struggling to find the motivation or meaning in anything… I have read the books, done the classes, had the therapy,…
Q: Dear Todd, I am chaos, and I create it in everything I do and I want to stop it. I feel like a phony when I let my emotions take over.TODD ANSWERS: Don't be afraid of being a phony when your genuine emotions take over. Clearly you are trying to communicate something that is important to you. The more we practice not losing ourselves to these emotions (mindfulness), the…
Q: Dear Todd, what if you are in so much physical discomfort and have been for years and the only thing that seems like it will end this discomfort is death. How do you reconcile that? Take comfort in knowing that your discomfort will end when you die?TODD ANSWERS: That is unfortunately just life sometimes. You can try to find comfort in some possible tomorrow, but you can also find…
Q: Dear Todd, is it even possible to live peacefully in a city of chaos? Can you live peacefully in it without getting affected by it?TODD ANSWERS: It’s certainly very easy to feel at peace in nature. It is every animal’s natural home and humans are no different. It rejuvenates us and fills our hearts with beauty and minds with the wisdom of reflection.However, I also find that being in a…
Some people have such a loud voice in their head, that they are actually unaware they have a voice in their head at all. It's gotten so noisy and constant, that we don't even have the awareness to hear it because we are completely lost in our thoughts. In those cases, only when a person sits down to meditate and they actually turn their attention inward, do they discover the…
Love is the glue that holds this universe together. It is the gravity that unites two star crossed lovers. And it is the only reason we exist — it brought our parents together, love nourished and protected us through infancy, and it is the only reason we haven’ blown ourselves up yet.Love is a feeling as innate as hunger. Instead of leading us to food, love guides us towards being more…
Our lives — like all things — exist in cycles. Some years we are growing, and some years we are enjoying. Some years are for sowing, and some are for reaping. But sometimes, it can feel like we are trapped in an unending cycle, repeating the same patterns and choices over and over and over and over again. When these trying times go on for decades, we can easily begin…
We all want to be happy. But how do we get it? What makes us happy? And how do we get that long lasting happiness we all seek.In this episode, Todd reveals the true secret to lasting happiness. And it's not what we usually think it is.So many of the things we seek to bring us happiness are nothing more than temporary pleasures. After these pleasures are over, they're usually…
Q: Dear Todd, someone who has tried to get me to commit suicide multiple times doesn't deserve me to show them love. If I let it go and forgive, in their mind, wouldn’t that just justify hurting me?Q: Do we continue being our good selves, smiling, doing good deeds for other people, loving them, even if they treat us like something they have stepped in? After many years of trying,…
“I thought my biggest fear was growing old and dying in prison. In truth, my biggest fear was growing old and not knowing myself.”
- Rick Smith, Albama inmate
Path to Peace - A newsletter not just for your mental health but also for your spiritual health.
