Relationships Articles

There's no doubt that meaningful relationships bring happiness into our lives. Although at times, they can also bring sorrow and frustration. Leaning how to be happy with oneself is crucial in building health relationships with others which ultimately bring happiness into our lives.

Goodbye For Now, Dad

by Jared Akers

dad and me — Dad and me running on the beach, Florida 1980

On June 26th my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Yesterday, on July 6th, 2010, he passed away.

I had been working on several posts talking about what I’ve experienced emotionally and spiritually over the last 10 days, things like Matching Calamity with Serenity, Fear, Sadness, Grace, Inner-Peace and Gratitude. However, since so much has happened over the last few weeks and days, I’ve decided to post them at a later date while keeping them in the context they were originally written—or something like that.

Over the years—as a result of my spiritual growth—I’ve had the opportunity to learn more about my father through changes in myself. I’m thankful to have spent some time with him on Monday the 5th and was reminded of his kindness, humor, and dedication to his family and the love that surrounds us all.

As I’m still somewhat in shock, I do feel an inner-peace that everything is right with the world. Losing someone we love dearly can be tragic and sad, yet if we let it, can be a beautiful thing. Although right now it’s hard to put in words anything beautiful about it. But I’ll try…

Today my wife, mother, sister, 4 year old niece, and I were looking through photos to show at the funeral service. My sister had explained to my niece what had happened and as we were looking through photos she said, “it’s too bad grandpa died, but it’s great that we have pictures of him.” That’s beautiful I think. I’m so grateful I have memories of a loving father and a great man.

Right now it’s the little things that are huge, things like seeing his watch and socks still sitting where they were yesterday; knowing he’ll never be putting them on again.

I’m not sure when I’ll get to posting the before mentioned articles; but here are a few articles I’ve written in the past about my dad and relevant topics:

Today Could be Your Last Chance; Make it Count! (Jan 18th, 2010)

Learning My Fathers Love Language (May 27th, 2009)

Where I’m Supposed To Be (Jan 20th, 2009)

Does Everything Really Happy for a Reason? (March 29th, 2010)

Matching Calamity with Serenity: Finding Peace in the Midst of Chaos (June 27th, 2010)

The Power of Spiritual Love and 22 Ways It Will Change Your Life

by Jared Akers

You’ve probably heard the saying, “We’re spiritual beings having a human experience.” I have no idea who originally said that… but I believe it to be true. Do you?

The first question you should ask yourself before getting too far into this subject is: do you believe you are a spiritual being?

No? (stick around and see what you find)
Yes? (keep reading)

Here’s a guide on Spirituality Without Religion.

Call it intuition, a heightened sense of awareness, enlightenment, etc., the idea that we’re spiritual beings is nothing new yet people still seem confused on what this actually means. For me, it simply means I’m part of something bigger, i.e. I’m not the center of the universe.

Whether we believe this something bigger to be God or some creator, who knows and honestly… who cares. We can live a spiritual life, and find spiritual love, without defining what or why we should believe in something. More importantly, we can allow others to do the same. Now that we have that out of the way…

[Read more…]

Potholes and Emotional Pain

by Jared Akers

Life can be a lot like potholes; you start to learn where they are and how to avoid them. But what happens when you keep hitting the same ones? Maybe you should start thinking about a new route. Pretty simple huh? So why don’t we apply the same thinking to behaviors that continually cause us emotional pain?

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”
–Albert Einstein

Most people avoid pain if possible; much like potholes once they know where they are. Albert from Urban Monk post titled False Patterns, False Meanings reminded me how strongly I had clung to “my story” for so many years. Most of us have a story (or two) that defines us, influences our decisions and has a lot to do with our perception of the world around us. The amazing and almost scary thing about my story, was I didn’t even realize I was living it. I can see my old story clearly now that I’m living a different one. [Read more…]

Step Into My Office, Cause You’re Fired!

by Jared Akers

Hello middle man, please step into my office. Huh? What’s that?

Why you say?

Because you’re fired.

I always want to have the best stuff up here as possible in case my future agent stops by and realizes today is the day, if I have something amazing posted, she’s going to offer me that book deal. And then I was reading a post by WSL (Worlds Strongest Library) and he quotes Seth Godin,

If someone can write down your job description, they can find someone to do your job cheaper. There’s no job description that describes being yourself.

I was thinking the other day (you’ve been warned) that I used to be quite witty; funny actually… although that’s what people say when they’re not funny. Do crazy people know they’re crazy? And then I started to wonder if I still was or if any humor comes through in my writing at all. Of course I also wondered once if I was a sociopath since someone smarter than I suggested they always seem to know just what to say and how to make people happy. And now I’m realizing that anyone that says they’re witty probably isn’t. [Read more…]

From Fear to Love: A Spiritual Journey

by Jared Akers

I‘ve been searching for practical tools and exercises on how to best initiate the walk along a spiritual journey or path for quite some time. A few days ago, after reading his free report on transforming fear, I came across Dr. Tim Ong’s eBook “From Fear to Love: A Spiritual Journey.”

I come across products like this all the time, yet I’ve always felt that a spiritual journey is too intimate or personal to put into a one-size-fits-all type program. And as I’ve discussed some ways to increase our spirituality through practical prayer, and other techniques on spiritual growth, I was still in search for something easily understood that could be practiced by anyone from any faith or walk of life. So I decided what they heck, what do I have to lose? So I purchased this product and gave it a thorough review. I must say I was really impressed. [Read more…]