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.

Life is not a search for happiness

by Jared Akers

For years I searched for happiness outside myself. If I could just obtain the perfect job, relationship, or material possessions, then I would be happy. I thought that if I only managed well, stayed focused, and dug in, I could wrestle happiness out of life. My thinking was backwards:

Life is not a search for happiness. Happiness is a by-product of living the right kind of a life, of doing the right thing. Do not search for happiness, search for right living and happiness will be your reward. Life is sometimes a march of duty during dull, dark days. But happiness will come again, as God’s smile of recognition of your faithfulness. True happiness is always the by-product of a life well lived.
– Twenty-Four Hours a Day (Hazelden Education Materials) December 16th.

Who would have thought? Not me. Not until I was forced, out of desperation, to seek a new way of thinking. My way was just not working. In fact, it was slowly killing me. [Read more…]

I am free

by Jared Akers

i'm free I am free. Standing on the tip of a rock overlooking the pacific ocean on the beautiful island of Kauai, I am free. A few days prior I married my best friend, Emily, I am free.

I’ve been to this island before, I’ve been married here before, but I was a prisoner then. A prisoner to living a life on self will. I don’t remember much then, only that I was terrified inside of what my life had become and where it was going. I was chained to the thought that I could find happiness in my life if only I could manage it better.

The life I had then is gone, the person I was then is gone, it died the day I turned my will and my life over to my Higher Power, God.

This time, I see God’s presence every where. The day before our wedding, Emily and I went on a shore dive off Koloa landing and saw two octopus mating. How cool is that! It’s rare to see octopus, not to mention to see them mating! On our boat dive, we saw lots of critters (too many to mention) but the highlight was the endanged Hawaiian Monk Seal. [Read more…]

Giving Thanks, an Attitude of Gratitude!

by Jared Akers

“If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice.”
-Meister Eckhart

Today we give thanks. I want to thank all those who are making me a better person today and have helped me learn how to be happy. All those who share with me their struggles and life challenges—and those who listen to mine.

Having an attitude of gratitude can be a life changing experience and a keep to finding happiness. When feeling a slight uneasyness, I recognize I’m getting into self and know it’s because there’s something I think I want that I’m not getting, or something I have that I’m afraid of loosing. When this happens, I often stop and take three to ten deep breathes. While inhaling I think God and while exhaling, self. This helps me realize it’s not about me and to look around to see who I can be of service to. Often being of service can be a simple Thank You to someone. When this doesn’t work, I get out a piece of paper and write down a gratitude list, listing all the things I’m grateful for.

Gratitude will not only change your life, but those around you as well. As Leo over at Zen Habits points out in his post, 8 Tremendously Important Ways That Gratitude Can Change Your Life:

It’s amazing how one simple, easy, positive action can change so much in a person’s life.

Can it change your life as well? I can guarantee it. You might not get the exact same benefits as I have, but there’s no doubt in my mind that the simple act of gratitude on a regular basis will change anyone’s life, positively and immediately. How many other changes can claim to be that quick, that easy, and that profound?

Check out Leo’s list of 8 ways one can find gratitude in almost any life situation.