“If you are invested in security and certainty, you are on the wrong planet.” ~Pema Chodron Eva and I and our two younger kids are in the process of moving back to California from Guam, where we’ve…

On my 46th birthday recently, my (mostly adult) kids wrote out a list of lessons I’d taught each of them in their lives so far. Each wrote their own list, and my wife Eva sweetly put them together in…

When we set out to work on a meaningful, important task, something interesting happens. We feel quite a bit shaky. It’s the feeling you get when you step into uncertain ground, where you don’t know…

Our society is obsessed with productivity and optimizing our lives — having the perfect routine, perfect diet, perfect productivity system, perfect todo app, and more. It’s an ideal that not only…

There’s nothing we can do more to further our meaningful work and make the impact that we want to make in the world than to: Pick our most important, meaningful tasksAnd dive into them with full focus…

Leo Babauta could be one of the most steady, devoted practitioners of personal change I've ever witnessed. Leo has written for over a dozen years about his

How often have you half-assedly committed to something, but didn’t really put your entire being into following through on that commitment? How often have you said you were going to do something, and…

Someone recently asked me about getting frustrated when they feel overloaded, and then shutting down or lashing out. “This has been something I’ve struggled with for most of my life. I had an instance…

A little boy was told by his father, from a young age, that he wasn’t good enough. Not in so many words, but through his actions — by criticizing him, yelling at him, hitting him, leaving him. The boy…

We all deal with stress on a daily basis — whether it’s the stress of being busy and overwhelmed at work, having to deal with personal crises, traffic, relationships, health, finances … stress can be…

I have a problem, and I think most people do as well: I want to do everything. OK, not actually every single thing, but I want to do more than I possibly can: I want to do everything on my long to-do…

Our days are filled with chaos, busyness and noise — often with very little time for intentional activity, quiet, solitude, mindfulness. But we can intentionally create that lovely, mindful space that…

Creating a life of focus, purpose and mindfulness is a tough thing these days. If you’re like me, you want to bring forth your gifts to the world, but you’re pulled in a thousand directions, plagued…

I’ve coached thousands of people who want to change habits, in my Sea Change Program, and I’ve found there’s a key difference between those who actually make changes and those who don’t. That key…

A man I know wanted to create a non-profit organization that was going to help give people a voice who don’t have that voice in our society. He felt really strongly about this issue, and knew that…

“I discovered that when I believed my thoughts, I suffered, but that when I didn’t believe them, I didn’t suffer, and that this is true for every human being. Freedom is as simple as that. I found a…

When we’re trying to change a habit — whether its exercise or meditation or writing or quitting smoking — there are two key factors whose power most people don’t understand. The two factors are…

In my Fearless Training Program, one of our members talked about how she gets a lot done during the day, but inevitably puts off her two scariest tasks, and doesn’t get them done. Does that sound…

While most people want to find a way to eat healthier, they are up against forces stronger than they understand. Sure, we’d like to eat healthier — but then why do we keep failing? Why are most of us…

There are very few people among us who doesn’t want his or her diet to get healthier. So I’m issuing a challenge for March: the Healthy Eating Challenge! This challenge is meant to be doable and…

Most of the time, we are caught up in what can be called “small mind”: the small world of self-concern, of wanting to get what we want and avoid what we don’t want. This is the cause of our suffering…

The wind and rain were swirling around me powerfully, as I sat in my mom’s tropical flower garden in Guam and meditated. A tropical storm was passing close to Guam, where I’m living at the moment, and…

Shifting from a convenient but unhealthy diet to one of healthful, delicious joy can be a challenge when you’re living alone — but there’s a whole new level of challenge if you are part of a family.…

How often do you take time to go out for an hourlong walk? To just sit out in nature doing nothing but contemplating and enjoying the silence? I’m sure there are a few of you who indulge in this…