Podcast

Join Jared and Emily Akers as they talk about life, love, happiness, and respect for oneself and our partners in life. They explore many topics from life, love,
relationships, self-respect, travel, and keys to living a happy life; all from personal experience. Through Jared’s personal blog - How to Be Happy: Happiness for the Practical Mind - they receive questions about living a happy life from people all over the world. Through sharing their personal experience they humbly demonstrate how self-respect, authenticity, and love are vital components of living a happy life regardless of circumstances.

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HTBH 016: Travel Tips (Budgeting, Packing, Deals, and Expectations)

by Jared Akers

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Traveling is important to us so we make it a priority. In this episode Emily and I share some things we’ve learned over the years to make traveling more enjoyable and affordable. Some topics we touch on are: budgeting, packing, airline tickets, finding deals, saving money, and managing expectations.

Some places we’ve visited: Kauai, Cancun, Cozumel, St. Croix, Belize, Playa Del Carmen, Curacao.

Topics in this episode:

Obstacle vs. Challenge
Funjet.com
VRBO.com (Vacation Rentals by Owner)
Travel Scale
Expectations (listen to Episode #5)

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HTBH 015: 5 Keys to a Healthy Relationship

by Jared Akers

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In this episode Emily and I discuss 5 keys to have a healthy relationship. This is certainly not “the” five keys. Over the years we’ve certainly had some unhealthy relationships in our lives. We go over 5 keys which we feel have helped us maintain a healthy life and relationship.

Key #1 – The 90 Second Rule

When you first see someone that you haven’t seen in more than two hours, the first 90 seconds is the most important. That first 90 seconds is more important than spending hours with them later. Check out the 90 Second Rule post.

Key #2 – Respect

Self-respect is essential first; if we don’t respect self then it’s difficult for others to respect us.

Emily makes a point that it’s important to think about what you’re saying and the consequences it may have on your partner or spouse. For example, if you feel you’re doing all the work around the house, ask for help instead of being sarcastic about it. [Read more…]

HTBH 014: How to Feel Happy When Everything Sucks

by Jared Akers

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The question often arises of how to be happy in life when we’re unhappy with our circumstances. Whether your job, relationships, or other parts of your life, Emily and I sat down to talk about how to find happiness when everything in life seems to suck.

In particular we discuss a quote from Immanuel Kant in the The Rules for Happiness:

Something to do
Someone to love
Something to hope for

Is it possible to be happy if we have none of these in our lives?

At the least, the most important would probably be hope.

Unhappiness can and does drain us of our energy so it’s hard in these times to think upbeat and be positive. This is where the “act as if” theory can help or as some call it “fake it till you make it.” [Read more…]

HTBH 013: Faith and Walking the Walk

by Jared Akers

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We all know how important it is to tell those we love how we feel, but do we live it?

We had a scare a few weeks ago when Emily went into the hospital for an emergency appendectomy. The experience enforced the concept of maintaining our spiritual condition. That we stay in good spiritual shape—making deposits into our spiritual bank account—to draw upon in times of need.

In a brief off topic discussion, I brought up the practice of replacing the phrase “I don’t have time” with “it’s not a priority for me.” This can really change your perspective on the importance of something. This concept was sparked by the post The Illusion of Time.

Emily experienced some pain on Monday, April 30^th while working and realized that night she needed to go to the hospital. After they discovered some blood in her urine, we realized this could be one of those moments that change your life significantly. We discussed the concept of how we talk the talk, but now we get to find out if we can walk the walk. [Read more…]

HTBH 012: Happiness and Emotional Intelligence

by Jared Akers

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“Emotional intelligence as the subset of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions.” – Salovey & Mayer

Emily and I just returned from a trip to Belize and shared a little bit about our great vacation; diving with sharks and eating lionfish!

We start off by sharing what emotional intelligence means to us. The ability to make rational decisions and not just react based on the immediate emotion felt.

We talk about how to avoid emotional blind spots by feeling the emotions completely and then being able to detach from them in a healthy manner. In the past, I had a lot of emotional blind spots; emotions I avoided because they were uncomfortable since I was emotionally immature. [Read more…]