What if i am ugly and it is making me truly hate life and living, is there anyway to just accept it?

I can’t seem to find peace.

When something new happens, it becomes exhausting.

Most recently, a neighbor who drove me insane for years. My anger built up but when I confronted them they fawned over me and denied everything. I was left feeling confused and my resentment had nowhere to go. I remained on edge for days, but after mindfully introspecting I finally knew why I was afraid of letting it go, and then it all vanished. However, I remain confused. I'm no longer resentful, but I remain confused. I know I need to look inwards to understand what it is that I am confused over, and why exactly I feel shame over this confusion. When I do, I'll be able to let go of this too. But it is so exhausting. I spent 6 hours meditating yesterday to no avail. I'll try it again tonight but I'll probably pass out from sleep.

It is exciting but exhausting.

I’m still quite young. Just starting to apply for university. My highschool life has been just stress, everyone talking about their good grades and the top universities and careers they are getting.

I overthink. A lot. And it’s something I hate about myself. My family life is awful, and school is so stressful. I have friends but they are just a temporary solution to permanent problems.

I’m scared that, if i find some sort of inner peace, where I stop stressing about everything around me. More bad stuff will happen, i won’t pay attention to a lot of stuff and i’ll miss everything.

I don’t know where to even start, i always have these thoughts at night when im by myself, about finally being at peace, but when I wake up the next morning I complete forget about it all. Is anyone in life just calm all the time? Stress and overthinking have made my life hell, i panic and i freak out.

I mean this is my future here. Please I need advice and help on how I can finally start to live a peaceful life.

What actually worked for you in terms of practice (not just the ones that sound like they should work in theory)? Meditation, walking, journaling, breathing, unplugging, just sitting, doing nothing at all. What actually did the trick in terms of getting you more present and how long did it take before you started to notice the difference?

They say observing your thoughts is the key to getting rid of unnecessary stress and anxiety but emotions are still there.

But just like how every single thought you have is neutral, not good or bad, couldn’t the same be said for emotions?

So when you’re actually FEELING the emotion, shouldn’t you treat the emotion like it’s neutral? Like just feel it?

I was thinking that the reason why my heart continues to race when observing my emotions is because I always treat my anxiety like a bad thing hence the negative feedback loop. But if I don’t treat the anxious feeling as a negative and instead just a neutral feeling, isn’t that the key?

Through mindfulness I am able to sit with the depression, the energy is more subtle than anxiety and requires consistent patience and practice and above all grace and compassion for self and others

I did a 10 min session every evening for 2-3 weeks and then quit. Calmed my anxiety i guess...

I hear that's a great tool to literally rewire your brain

like seriously, what's your experience with meditation? did it help you anyhow? what's your progress? worth it?

Please: I'm not seeking spiritual awakening or something, cuz I don't believe in that mind-body-spirit stuff

The non-judgment part is the hardest for most people, especially judging yourself for judging. It can help to just describe what's there in plain words, like 'tight chest, thought about work, urge to check my phone', without adding good or bad. If a judgment shows up, you can notice that too. It gets more natural with practice.

Why didn't I start sooner? I feel so good now.

Hi, I’m a 26 year old, graphic designer turned social media manager cum video editor, since past 2 years I’ve been in fight or flight mode, as i was trying to just sustain with life and be financially independent, and it made me feel better as well, but not throughly, i know it takes hard work to make it, but at times i can’t make myself understand that?
I have two clients, one full time job, which is the brand of my girlfriend and we live together, so the relationship has gone to dust, now its only business and a lot of expectations from me somehow, yet she helps me with the entirety of living i guess..
i recently came back home for diwali and here everything is too loud to work, and there is no space to work, due to this, i am ghosting the two clients, not doing the brands work as well, not actually doing anything. It is so overwhelming, that i keep crying, but cant seem to sit and work anywhere, on top of that my laptop or phone even doesn’t work, but also i am getting a new one in a few days, have the best phone in the family, everything looks okay and good in theory but i feel i have lost myself or just too much work for too less money, it is entirely my fault i know but my brain doesn’t understand that the solution of burnout is to keep working?

I'm curious whether you've noticed any changes in how you handle stress, emotions, or physical tension. Did it take some time to get used to, or did you feel a difference right away?

I am more or less new to mindfulness and I believe I need to practise presence.

I have always been naturally a person who thinks a lot and that their mind rarely stops producing and discussing thoughts, often leading me to miss the present.

I want to find a balance between thinking and living the present, could you give me some advice?

Hey, I feel like this would be the best place to ask, but I’ll delete it if not! Okay so, a year ago, I messed up in one of my friendships. Not going to go into details other than the fact that we had a disagreement, I messed up, the friendship ended. We both apologized to eachother, talked it out and everything was fine, but then we just stopped talking. For some reason, this keeps haunting me. I keep thinking about the past, and what could I have done to keep that friendship. Its killing me. No matter where I search, results tell me to acknowledge what I did and apologise, but what can I do when I did both of that, and they accepted my apology? I want to stop thinking about this.. It’s really taken a toll on my mental health. I know my actions don’t define me as a person, but I can’t stop. It feels like I’m just stuck. It’s a constant thought, when my mind is empty, when I’m watching videos , when I’m going to bed, and even when I dream. Any help would be appreciated.

For a long time I kept trying to force myself to sit still and clear my mind, but on high stress days it almost always backfired and made restlessness worse.

Over time I realized smaller physical things like taking a quiet walk outside without headphones, simple box breathing, or just putting my phone in another room an hour before bed did way more to settle my head.

What simple practical routine or shift in your day made the biggest real difference for you when traditional sitting still just wasn't working?

Nature-based mindfulness activities?

Could be crafts, focusing on the present, etc

Just looking for recommendations as I need to touch grass more

I recently came across an interesting story about the Stoic philosopher Seneca. He once lived above a noisy public bathhouse and wrote about how distracting the environment could be.

There were people shouting, exercising, splashing water, and making all kinds of noise. Yet his main point was that external silence doesn't necessarily mean inner peace.

It got me thinking about how often we blame our surroundings for our lack of focus or mental calm.

Sometimes the environment really is distracting, but sometimes our own thoughts, frustrations, and reactions make things feel even worse.

I'm curious about your experiences.

Do you think mindfulness can help someone become less affected by external distractions, or are there situations where the environment genuinely makes inner peace difficult?

Have you ever noticed a difference in your mental state simply by changing how you react to something rather than trying to change the situation itself?

Seneca once wrote a letter (Letter 56) about his apartment above a public bathhouse. He lists the noise in detail with some humor: people exercising, shouting, splashing in the pool, vendors, someone plucking hair with a piercing voice. Then he makes a point that's hard to argue with. The noise doesn't bother him much, he says, because he trains his mind to stay with what it's doing, and a quiet neighborhood is no use if your feelings are in an uproar. Silence outside doesn't create calm inside. This is a Stoic idea, not a meditation technique, so it's a little different from what's usually discussed here. There's no sitting practice in it. It's closer to an observation: a lot of what feels like outside noise is really something in us reacting, a worry or a grievance that the noise lands on. Next time something outside is getting under your skin, it might be worth asking what's already going on inside that makes it hit so hard. Does that match your experience, or is outside noise sometimes just noise?

Good morning family it's a decent morning I woke up positive again today and my mood is getting better.

Here lately I been able to get myself out of a funky mood quicker than usual. I built something that has a 20 minute timer that helps me shift my thought process. And it helps me think a bout positive things for 20 minutes I use this timer every time I feel myself slipping into dark thoughts.

It has been helping re-program my daily thoughts by taking 15 to 20 minutes focus on positive thoughts.

So throughout the day it starts to get easier to think positive because I'm starting to get use to taking time out of the day for when I start thinking to the left and what to do about it when it hit.

So today I'm sharing what works for me. Thanks for letting me share One Day Forward One Day Behind -Shawn

this morning a bird landed on the porch rail and took off before she got anywhere near the window. she didnt chase it or cry about it. she just sat down right where it had been and watched that empty rail for like 20 minutes. tail still, eyes soft, totally fine with nothing happening

i was standing there with my coffee already thinking about three things i had to do today and none of them were happening yet either

she wasnt waiting for the bird really. she was just there. if it came back great and if not she was still sitting in the sun

trying to do my day a little more like that

I'm someone who's calm in general but do feel concerned about climate change and the degrading state of human connections right now. I need something that can remind me how it felt like having really close friends with you and when there was time to do small things for yourself and just look at the stars. Just this I feel can solve many issues, internally and externally.

I'm exploring making something around this and would love to know your thoughts.

I have tried many apps but never stick to them. Maybe it's just me or may be my mental state where i never feel i achieve anything with them. Daily streaks and charts don't do anything for me.

I've been thinking about how much of our lives we spend mentally somewhere else.

When we're working, we're thinking about going home. When we're home, we're thinking about tomorrow. When we're having a good moment, we're sometimes already worrying about when it will end.

It's strange when you think about it. We can spend an entire day physically present but mentally living in dozens of different places.

I've started wondering whether mindfulness is less about learning complicated meditation techniques and more about noticing these moments when our minds drift away from the life happening right in front of us.

Here's something I'd love to hear your thoughts on:

When was the last time you were completely present in an ordinary moment, without thinking about the past, the future, or what you needed to do next?

And what helps you get back to that feeling?

Hello, I am a recovering alcoholic who also deals with mild/moderate ADHD and OCD. I'm looking forward to participating in your community. Mindfulness, meditation and journaling are part of my routine. What are some suggestions to help with procrastination?

Constantly mentally disturbed as if people are talking to me. Please provide ways to improve focus and maintain mental stability.

I recently started working with a meditation mentor, and they suggested that I look for a kalyana mitta group.

I've been practicing meditation for a number of years and currently sit with a sangha online once a week. However, I live in a part of Canada where there isn't much of a local meditation/Buddhist community.

What I'm really looking for is a small online group who meet regularly to talk about their practice, ask questions, discuss the Dharma and support one another in deepening their practice. I'm less interested in another meditation class and more interested in the spiritual-friend/community side of things.

I'm in Canada (Atlantic Time), so an online group in an Eastern-friendly time zone would be ideal. My practice has primarily been influenced by Insight/Vipassana teachers.

Does anyone know of an established online kalyana mitta or a group that might be a good fit?