This is my last week of school and my wife and I leave on Saturday (06/13/09) for a week vacation in Curacao.
I really wanted to get this awesome article I’m working on up before I left. However, it’s really turning into something I’m excited about and so I am considering making it a series. The working title is: “The Happiness Series: 6 Steps to Inner Peace and Happiness” “The Spiritual Serenity Series: 7 Steps to Inner Peace and Happiness” and it was inspired by this quote:
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
~Ghandi
The quote really resonated with me and I believe it to be right on! The article(s) will be about getting our thoughts, words, and actions in harmony.
Instead of rushing it (or deciding to make it into a series simply because I’m running out of time), I’m going to wait and finish when I get back from vacation. This week is pretty busy already and I really want to be present… especially with my wife as we get started packing and gearing up for our vacation. If I’m thinking about this article in the back of my head… well, I just won’t be as present as I need to be.
In the meantime, I’ll leave you with a few thoughts and quotations I have accumulated for article topics. I thought I would throw some out here and see what sticks! Let me know in the comments if any of these hit a chord or inspire you! Maybe they’ll end up as article topics someday! (We return to the States on the 20th, so look for a great new post somewhere around the 24!)
“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”
~Lao Tzu
“When I hear somebody sigh, ‘life is hard,’ I am always tempted to ask, compared to what?”
~Sydney Harris
“The idea keeps persisting that the instincts are primarily bad and are the roadblocks before which all spirituality falters. I believe that the difference between good and evil is not the difference between spiritual and instinctual man; it is the difference between proper and improper use of the instinctual. Recognition and right channeling of the instinctual are the essence of achieving wholeness.”
~Bill Wilson, As Bill Sees It
“Forgiveness means giving up all hope for a better past.”
~Lily Tomlin
photo credit: Erica_Marshall
About Jared Akers
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”
~Lao Tzu
First let me say – hip hurrah school is over and your trip sounds so wonderful – have a good time.
Today I got the worst lab tests of my healing process and it just made me look at what I am. I felt so many emotions, I just had to stop and taste each one, then I worried that I would not be well enough to go on my trip to Scotland…I just sat in sad and a teary despair for awhile.
Then I thought I must just get on with it…let go of what the lab tests say and listen to how great I feel …I will find clothing to fit and wear, or maybe a mud wrap to draw out the extra and impurities…there is still time for remedy…and if I go on the trip maybe, just maybe it will be the vision of the life I will lead and the health I will have…
now I read your quote! Synchronicity? maybe good teacher right moment.
I have the Lily Tomlin quote on my post idea list too…just love it.
Thank you Happy Travels
Patricia,
Hope everything works out for you. What a great gift that you were able to step back and re-align your outlook!
Thanks!
You really saved my skin with this ifnoramtion. Thanks!
you’re welcome.
Hi Jared,
I love the Lao Tzu quote. Within our souls, we have the answers to who we really are. The thing is, if we’re not willing to let go of who we currently are or have been, then we end up keeping buried the real and authentic us. Good thought for me on this one today!
Have a fantastic trip – enjoy the time away!
Lance,
Thanks for commenting. That is so true. It takes a lot of faith sometimes to let go of who we are (or at least our perception). But then we’re able, as you said, to become our “real and authentic us.”
I’m so excited about what you’re working on. It sounds great and thanks for including all of those amazing quotes in your post. Have such a great time on your trip!