Why We All Go Through False Enlightenment First

  • Post last modified:December 4, 2025
  • Reading time:2 mins read

I think the first step on the path to enlightenment, the 10,000-step path, should be called false enlightenment. Because we have these little glimpses of awakening, and we feel like we’re enlightened, and then someone who is cruel or unkind or unthoughtful pulls us right back down to reality, makes us mad and furious. And instead of realizing we’re not so enlightened after all, we try to cut out everyone…

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How to Keep Unkind Words from Hurting You

  • Post last modified:October 8, 2025
  • Reading time:4 mins read

From Path to Peace With Todd Perelmuter NewsletterYou may not know it, but I am by nature a very private person. Even on my spiritual journey that took me around the world, I never posted about my travels. I understand the stress that social media can cause when people see others posting their travel photos, and I didn’t want to contribute to that.But then I met the remarkable woman who…

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What I’ve Learned from My Travels

  • Post last modified:February 25, 2025
  • Reading time:3 mins read

When I was a Creative Director in advertising, I had to travel a lot for work and my companies would always put me up in 5-star hotels. It wasn’t the sheets or marble walls or gold trim that impressed me. It was always something that cost absolutely nothing: the attention and generosity of the staff.I am currently on a family vacation (hence the infrequent newsletters), showing my dear mother-in-law the…

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Is Responding with Kindness a Strength or Weakness?

  • Post last modified:July 11, 2024
  • Reading time:1 min read

Q: Dear Todd, shouldn't we respond with our true feelings to people who hurt us and not with love and kindness?TODD ANSWERS: Someone recently asked me this question about how to respond to people who hurt us. I get it, believe me. Our first (unconscious) instinctual reaction is to respond with anger. But this would be a reaction that lacks wisdom, patience, perspective, and most importantly, efficacy. It is just…

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How to Love Yourself Before you Love Others

  • Post last modified:July 5, 2024
  • Reading time:3 mins read

Every single thing we experience outside of us is a projection of our own mind. If we lived in a tribe on an island with no connection to the modern world, we may think airplanes flying overhead were shiny birds. We can only experience the world based on our understanding, our mental state, and our emotional state.If we are hard on ourselves, we expect other people to be hard on…

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