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.

The Key to World Peace: Children and The Media

by Jared Akers

If I were running for WPO (World Peace Officer), this would be my campaign speech:

Make no bones about it… world. Things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. And I mean a lot worse. At times, we will wonder if it is worth the fight, as we lay down our weapons to shield the dust from our eyes that settles from the apocalyptic sky.

True peace only comes from within, within each one of us as individuals. Moreover, for that to happen, each society and thus its citizens must discover truth on their own. It must evolve and not be forced through punishments and rewards.

In the words of Steve Pavlina regarding reward and punishment structures of traditional religions, ‘When you see enforcement based on the promise of rewards and punishments, you’re not witnessing real truth. You’re witnessing marketing masquerading as truth.’

A peace that evolves on its own, through evolution is the only long-lasting path to world peace. Forcing peace is a paradox. A paradox perpetuated since man began demanding more than his fair share of resources. A cycle that will continue until something great comes to pass, something with unfathomable depth and weight.

Most likely, it will be destructive in nature, the likes of which we have never seen or could have imagined. In the end, if anyone is left, love is all that will unite us. Love which first we found for ourselves through the greatest gift of all—desperation. From which will spawn true unconditional love and acceptance between all people regardless of race or religion.

In the meantime, we are all in this together, so we had better learn how to get along. Live long and prosper. Peace out.

So here it is, the key to world peace…. drum roll please:

Children. Teach our children to love and accept themselves for who they are as individuals. Self-acceptance leads to self-enlightenment, intrinsic love for oneself and thus empathy and compassion for others.
Media. Stop scaring everyone! Stop telling us how horrific we are, and start reminding us of how loving we can be.

The other night my wife and I watched the movie Watchmen. There was one line in there that really spoke to me. The character Rorschach was responding to a question about why he brutally killed a man who murdered a little girl: [Read more…]

100 Secrets on Finding Happiness

by Jared Akers

Every personal development/self-help blog has one, the “100 ways to find/achieve (fill in the blank)” list post. Here’s mine on finding happiness:

Action x 100

I bet you thought you were getting a quick and easy list to read huh? Sorry.

No matter how many things I could come up with for my list, people would read it and then move on to something else. Reading doesn’t accomplish crappola unless you put it into action. A list is easy and usually generates more blog visitors than anything else, because people are lazy and like lists. I admit I like them too, but they rarely, if ever, have any real effect on my life. There’s nothing wrong with coming up with an extensive list of things which we think will make us happy, the problem is… it is still just a list. A list can even be a set of decisions, but unless actions are taken… well, nothing happens. A list and decisions are hypothetical, on paper or in our minds. Actions move through space and time and affect the universe around us. [Read more…]

The Secret Power of Gratitude and How to Get It

by Jared Akers

Two nights ago it happened.

My wife and I had just finished dinner and I was watching TV when I was consumed with this overall feeling of dread.

Doom and gloom from out of nowhere.

I could not put my finger on the reason why, but I was overcome with this feeling of hopelessness and that something in the universe was not right. There was a disturbance in the force or as Obi-Wan put it “I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.”

OK, that’s a little dramatic, but sometimes it can certainly feel that way when you’re normally brimming with gratitude.

So I laid back on the couch and just felt it. I considered grabbing a pen and paper and writing a gratitude list, knowing the action would help and then I could share how I “walk the walk.” But I didn’t, instead I used the power of now and then went through a mental list of all that I was grateful for such as my wife, granddaughter, parents, job, legs, food, home, etc. and that all my basic needs were met. [Read more…]

Wants vs. Needs and Spiritual Growth

by Jared Akers

Happiness is often equal to the amount of gratitude I have, at any given time, that my needs are being met; while sadness being equal to the degree in which I have confused my wants with my needs.

Needs are items such as food, water, and shelter. If I do not get them, I will die. Wants and desires are things which I “think” will make my life better and/or bring me happiness. No matter what the price, many people spend their lives striving to obtain their wants, and yet still never find true inner-peace and happiness.

Think about the last thing you really wanted and obtained. For me, it was new laptops for both me and my wife. Oh yeah, and a camera too. Once we had those things, we were set. We eventually got them, now I want a bigger TV. I don’t need one, the one, I mean four, we have work fine. [Read more…]

9 Ways to Get the Funk Outta Here!

by Jared Akers

I can be selfish with my time. After all, I’m busy. Graduate school, work, writing, family, etc. One thing I have found however, that after long periods of being selfish with my time, I get into a funk. I may think I’m being helpful and unselfish, but holding the elevator at work does not count.

The funk may be hard to categorize, which means it’s impossible to put a finger on the cause. Am I restless because I have a ton of homework to do this week? Am I afraid of losing something? Is there something I think I want that I’m not getting?

Regardless of the cause, I have discovered a few ways of relieving the funk and get back into happiness. These actions always work—except when they don’t. However, one thing I always know, this too shall pass. [Read more…]