"Being yourself is the simplest way to be truly happy."

The Afternoon Death Walked Into the Room It happened in July of 1896, on a normal afternoon, in a house in Madurai, India. A sixteen-year-old boy named Venkataraman was sitting alone in an upstairs room. He felt fine. Nothing bad had happened that day. Then, out of nowhere, a wave of fear hit him so hard his whole body went cold. He was going to die. Not someday. Right now. Most people would shout for help, or run downstairs. Venkataraman didn't. He decided to test the fear a

A Buddhist story about a man the Buddha called come instead of condemned, and what it really takes to let someone become who they already are.

The alleys of Basra were narrow enough that Rabia's shoulders nearly brushed the mudbrick walls on both sides. In one hand she carried a burning torch, the flame guttering in the evening heat. In the other, a clay jug of water, sloshing with every step. A neighbor stepped into her path, startled. Where are you running, he asked, with fire in one hand and water in the other? Rabia didn't slow down. I am going to set fire to Paradise, she said, and pour this water over the flam