By Leo Babauta A well-known climbing coach said that the biggest obstacle in the way of people’s growth as climbers is, basically, fear of embarrassment. When people want to get better at climbing, they try to do it privately, so that no one can see them doing things badly. They’ll go to the climbing gym when no one is watching, or hang out in a corner hoping no one is looking. But they’re missing out on the biggest opportunity — feedback from people who can see things they can’t see. And the thing getting in the way is fear of embarrassment. I’ve found that this is true no matter what you’re ..read more

I’m creating a new Fearless Retreat in October that will be a part of my Fearless Mastery program … and it has me reflecting on the most recent retreat I led in Costa Rica in March. I’m moved to share with you the lessons I learned from the March retreat, because I was so inspired by the transformation that people went through … Here are some of the lessons I took away from the Fearless Retreat on March: Just coming to the retreat fills people with uncertainty. Everyone who came was excited, but nervous, and fears about themselves in this retreat came forward. They found themselves ..read more

By Leo Babauta One of the things that really humbled me in recent years is the realization that I am often only halfway in on anything I do. I’m rarely ever really all in. For example, I might join a coaching program with the idea of trying it out, but not really sure if I can do it. Then when things start to get hard or overwhelming … I might be looking for the exit door, or hiding so I don’t have to be embarrassed. This is being halfway in, with an eye on the exit. Another example: I commit to meditating every day. Then when I’m meditating, instead of being fully in the meditation, maybe I’m ..read more

By Leo Babauta Most people think that if they’re struggling, that means something is wrong. If you’re struggling to write, to meditate, to eat healthily, to be focused and productive … or struggling in a relationship or job … that means something is wrong with you, or you need to change your circumstances, or this just isn’t right for you. If we think something is wrong with the struggle, we will usually try to fix it, get out of the struggle, change ourselves … so we don’t have to have this problem anymore. I’d like to propose a different view: that struggle is the place of growth, learning ..read more

By Leo Babauta Creating a new habit like meditation, journaling or exercise isn’t incredibly complicated — at the most basic level, you tie the habit to a trigger that’s already in your life, start small, and find ways to encourage yourself to remember it and actually do it. But it becomes a much more complicated and much messier ordeal because: We have resistance; We give in to the resistance; We feel bad about ourselves as a result; and We make that meaningful, get discouraged, and let that derail us. This is an almost universal thing, in my experience. No one escapes this trap. So how do ..read more

By Leo Babauta I’ve noticed that so many of us are incredibly focused on getting stuff done. Productivity systems and tools, anxiety about being behind on all the things we have to do, a complete focus on all the stuff to do, at the exclusion of all else … But here’s the thing: if you ever get really really good at executing and getting stuff done … you realize that it’s an empty, meaningless game. I’m a testimony to that — I’m very good at getting things done. And I can absolutely crush my task list for months on end. And at the end of all of that, I still don’t feel much more satisfied. Ther ..read more

By Leo Babauta The boy awoke one morning to a startling discovery — that everything he believed was not the truth. He realized that the way he’d been seeing things was only one way of seeing things. His view of things was not absolute but tentative. What he saw this morning is that everything was made up of a luminous cloudlike substance, an energy. Including himself. Including the air and wind and light. Luminous and full of wonder. His body was made up of this energy — there was no difference between inside himself and out. Even his emotions were forms of it — anger, sadness, love, fear, gri ..read more

By Leo Babauta I’ve noticed that most of us let ourselves be driven by our resistance to something difficult, scary, unknown. We take on a hard task — creating something, for example — and then we feel some kind of resistance. Or maybe it feels like overwhelm. It’s simply uncertainty, and fear of the unknown. This is quite normal, to feel uncertainty, fear, resistance, overwhelm. Then we let it drive our actions, letting the fear be in the drivers seat. That’s pretty normal too, and very understandable. What would it be like if we didn’t need ot let this resistance drive us? What if we could l ..read more

By Leo Babauta I’m on my first international flight since the pandemic started, and I got lucky enough to have a window seat. Flying to Costa Rica by way of Guatemala to lead a retreat, I’m looking out at a vast expanse of mountains in Mexico … and I’m in absolute awe. What a miracle this is, to be flying so magically through the air, over such majestic stretches of this Earth! I noticed that when I was traveling a lot before, I got pretty jaded about flights. Ho hum, another flight, let’s get this over with, no big deal, I’m an experienced traveler, not some wide-eyed child. How did I get thi ..read more

By Leo Babauta Everything we believe about ourselves and others is an idea, an image constructed in our heads. And these mental constructs can be some of our biggest obstacles and struggles. Letting go of our mental constructs — our ideas about ourselves and others — can be one of the most liberating things possible. I’m not saying it’s wrong to have mental constructs — we can’t help it, it’s human and often necessary for whatever we’re doing. But sometimes it’s an obstacle and cause of pain. So let’s look at what it would be like to let go of these mental constructs, and then how to practice ..read more