Happiness Articles

Learning how to find happiness can certainly be a lifelong journey. But that does not mean you'll never know how to be happy long-term. It's simply a process like anything else, with peaks and valleys. But the reward can be a more consistent ride and finding a flow with less extreme highs and lows.

31 Quotes About Love to Ignite Your Relationship

by Jared Akers

quotes about love

We were married on a beach. It was amazing.

Our wedding service consisted of Emily and myself, our wedding official Caroline, and about a dozen chickens. As part of our service, Caroline read something that would be the foundation of our life together.

Your “homework” is to practice an ancient Sufi tradition: In your life together, speak words to your beloved only if they can pass through 3 gates: First, is it truthful? Second, is it necessary? Third, is it kind? If your words are truthful & necessary & kind, then the love you have maintained up until today will be nourished and continue to grow & your name will continue to remain safe in your beloved’s mouth.

Love for self first and foremost is the Secret to Love that Lasts.

Sometimes love is hard to put into words. Here are 31 quotes about love that will inspire your relationship: [Read more…]

The Pain and Joy of Discovering Who You Are (and are not)

by Jared Akers

discovering who you are

I was standing outside talking to a few friends when she came up and asked, “would you like to catch a movie?”

Quickly my mind started racing, I needed to come up with an excuse. It’s not that I didn’t want to hang out with her so much, I honestly just wanted to get home and relax.

“Sorry,” I said, “can’t, have groceries in the car and need to get the ice cream home.”

“What kind?” she asked.

“What?” I responded, as my brain needed a few milliseconds to come up with a flavor.

“What kind of ice cream?”

“Oh, rocky road.”

On my drive home I felt guilty, so I dropped by the store and picked up a pint of rocky road. And it occurred to me that I lied for no logical reason. I lied simply because I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.

In that moment a rush of memories flooded my consciousness; every time I’d ever lied to someone for no other reason than I didn’t want to hurt their feelings. I didn’t want to hurt their feelings because I needed them to like me. [Read more…]

5 Tips on How to Stay Positive no Matter What the Circumstances. #3 Saves me Everyday

by Jared Akers

stay positive no matter what the circumstances

“You cannot have a positive life and a negative mind.”
– Joyce Meyer

It was a typical July day in the Midwest. Hot. The previous night my wife Emily and I had returned home from a short trip to see my parents. My father, just ten days previously, had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.

The phone rang, it was my mother. She said, “It’s dad…” and in the background I could hear something was going on; people talking and scurrying around. Then I heard my mother say to whomever else was there, “he wants to live!”

He didn’t live past that night. But he did live for 65 years. Which is more than some get.

How Do You Stay Positive no Matter What the Circumstances?

In pondering this question what first came to mind was: No matter how bad you think your circumstances are, someone else has it worse.
[Read more…]

How to Take an Awesome Vacation Every Six Months, 4 Tips on Finding Travel Deals

by Jared Akers

We met online and it was my first date in almost a year. Just after her margarita and my iced tea arrived, I asked my qualifier question, “If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?”

Her answer, “Las Vegas.”

She didn’t even think about it.

I have nothing against Las Vegas, but I was hoping for something a little more exotic or at least outside of the U.S.

The following day I had another date with a woman named Emily.

Again, “If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?”

Her answer, “Belize, because I want to learn how to SCUBA dive and hear the diving is good there.”
[Read more…]

How to Be Happy Everyday: 10 Tips (#8 is golden)

by Jared Akers

Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever
state I may be in, therein to be content.
– Helen Keller

Sometimes… I just don’t want to be happy; let alone worrying about how to be happy everyday.

I want to sit in a morass of self-pity.

But I don’t.

Because for me, feeling that way for too long can be dangerous!

So I get off my ass and do something. I take action and and it starts with a choice.

Although it’s not realistic to be happy 24/7, you can make a choice to be happy (at least at some point in each day).

Below are ten tips on how to be happy everyday. Not all are required, but working through the list can produce happiness at some point everyday:

[Read more…]